Mark Vaughn grew up in a Ford family and spent many hours holding a trouble light over a straight...(expand)

Mark Vaughn grew up in a Ford family and spent many hours holding a trouble light over a straight-six fed by a single-barrel carburetor. Soon after the Fords, British sports cars entered the family, first a 1967 MGB and then a 1957 MGA. These were vehicles that alternately leaked oil and electricity, but when they actually did run, they were fun to drive. When he came of age, he switched to air-cooled Volkswagens, which ran only slightly better. This led to a lifelong appreciation of VW vans, one of which he still owns. Mark started writing as a reporter for City News Service in Los Angeles, covering the police beat in the basement press room of the old Parker Center. After college, he moved to Europe and became editor of a car magazine called Auto. Given an abundance of autonomy at Auto, he decided that the magazine should cover racing: Formula One, sports prototypes and touring cars. This was in the late 1980s, possibly the best time to be doing it. After five years of that, he interviewed with Autoweek at the Frankfurt motor show in 1989 and has been at Autoweek ever since, first in Detroit and now in Los Angeles.