Brett Berk

Stick Shift


My car column Stick Shift appears every Monday on VanityFair.com. Read it live, or check out the archive here.

You can also follow Stick Shift on Twitter and never miss a column. Click below.
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Week 1:
Introducing Stick Shift
Week 2:
Honda Element

Week 3:
Jaguar XJS Convertible
Week 4:
Scion Tc
Week 5:
City Gay/Country Gay
Week 6:
Suzuki Samurai
Week 7:
Closet Case Car: Dodge Ram
Week 8:
Mercedes R-Class
Week 9:
Color Forecast
Week 10:
Knight Rider: Closet Narrative
Week 11:
Five Gay Cars for the Economic Apocalypse
Week 12:
Test Drive: Cadillac CTS
Week 13:
Test Drive: Corvette ZHZ
Week 14:
Gayest of the Run: Ford Mustang
Week 15:
Test Drive: Pontiac Solstice
Week 16:
Test Drive: Saab Turbo X Wagon
Week 17
Mini Cooper: Stray, not Gay
Week 18
LA AUTO SHOW! Bonus Coverage
5 Steps for the Big 3
Video-Fluffing the Audi S5
Champagne Bailout Buckets
Video-Driving Games
Video-Trolling for Twink-Mobiles
Video-2010 Ford Mustang: Gay Makeover
Video-Weird Stuff…and Dudes!
Going Gay for G.M.
Week 19
Test Drive: Mercedes GL320
Week 20
Lesbian Jetta-fication
Week 21
Test Drive: Chevy Equinox Fuel Cell
Week 22
Fagbug
Week 23
DETROIT AUTO SHOW – SPECIAL COVERAGE
Bailout Boudoir Video
Bringing Grandma Back
A Touch of GLAMour
Top 10 Gayest Cars of the North American International Auto Show
What Should Lindsay Lohan Drive Video
What is the Sexuality of the Maserati Quattroporte Sport GTS Video
Week 24
Test Drive: Mercedes SLK300
Week 25
Test Drive: Tesla Roadster/Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid
Week 26
Stick Shift Visits The Petersen Automotive Museum
Week 27
Test Drive: Acura TSX
Week 28
“Stalking a Soft Top”
Week 29
Fancy Feast: Jaguar XF
Week 30
Young, Gay, and Unlicensed in L.A.
Week 31
Global Review Round-Up
Week 32
Small Roller
Week 33
Man Magnet: Chevy Camaro SS
BONUS Film Review:
Sticking it to the Movies: Fast & Furious
Week 34
Pharaoh’s Revenge: Mercedes S550
BONUS NY Auto Show Coverage
Working the Angles at the NY Show
Week 35
What Car Will Get You Laid?
Week 36
Nostalgia in the Present Tense: BMW 135i
Week 37
Share the Wealth: Bentley Continental GT Speed
Week 38
Eddie-tor In Chief: An interview with Car and Driver’s Eddie Alterman
Week 39
Not Mercedes Material: Pontiac G8 GXP/Mercedes SL550
Week 40
Why Dealerships Deserve to Die
Week 41
Gayest of the Run: Datsun/Nissan Z
BONUS
Banking on G.M.’s Bankruptcy
Week 42
Teflon Icarus: Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupé
BONUS
Banking on Bankruptcy 2: Cock-Blocking Chrysler Edition
Week 43
Canada Week!
BONUS:
Declunkerization Nation: Clunking Along on Capitol Hill
Week 44
Superlative Urban Dogsled: Audi R8
BONUS:
Epic Nonsense: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Week 45
Fleet Week is Better Without Sailors
BONUS:
Banking on Bankruptcy III: “New” GM
Week 46
Pricked by Neptune’s Fork: Maserati Quattroporte
BONUS:
Movie Review – Pinkfacialization: Brüno/Humpday
Declunkerization Nation
Week 47
G.A.Y. It Up!
BONUS
Big Rubber Balls: Fordlandia and other Dumb Moves by Henry Ford
Who’s on Top: Porsche vs. VW
Week 48
Stick Shift’s First Birthday: Triple Vee, Double-Double You: VW CC, VW Jetta TDI, Cadillac CTS-V
BONUS
Declunkerization Nation III: Gilding the Clunker Lily
Week 49
Texting and Driving Will Fuck You Up!
BONUS
Declunkerization Nation IV: Wither Declunkerization?
Week 50
Guess My Gay Car
Week 51
Out of My Dreams and into a Lamborghini Miura
Week 52
Blowing, in the Wind: Jaguar XKR/XFR
Week 53
Corvettes are Fast, Even When It’s Wet
Week 54
Playing Family: Infiniti QX56
Week 55
What Should a Rabbi Drive?
Week 56
The Great American Challenge
Week 57
Tesla Roadster: Urban Stalker
Week 58
How the FTC Ruined My Free Ride
Week 59
BONUS
Stonewall Flower
Grey Rainbow
BONUS #2
Movie Review: Where the Wild Things Are
Week 60
The Tokyo Auto Show in Pictures
Week 61
What Should a Rabbi Drive 2: Test Ride Edition
Week 62
Banking on Bankruptcy IV: Reverse Marshall Plan Edition
Week 63
“Which Shirtless Twilight Hunk is Your Hardtop Convertible?”
Week 64 BONUS L.A. Auto Show
Fiery (Gas Friendly) Phoenix
What Color is Your Parachute?
“Looking for Luxury”
Week 65
Saving the Earth, and Looking Good Doing It
Week 66
The Twenty Coolest Movie Cars of the Aughties
Week 67
Fishing for Compliments in the Nissan GT-R
Week 68
Stick Shift’s Top 5 Cars of 2009
Week 69 BONUS Detroit Auto Show
How to Love Detroit
Balls-Out Luxury in a Moribund Economy
Is Your Dashboard Trying to Kill You?
Back End Deal: Automotive Ass
Week 70
Homo On the Range (Rover): Land Rover Experience Driving School
BONUS
Boyota to the Rescue!!
Week 71
Do Auto Companies Hate The Gays?
Week 72
Boyota Returns!
Week 73
Driving While Snowmongering
Week 74
Putting the Cars in Oscars
Week 75
New Book Explains how the Hell the Yugo Came into Existence
Week 76
Driving with the Vanderbilts II
Week 78
Experiencing Autogasm
Week 79
The Most Important Car at the New York Auto Show
Five Standouts (and One Sad Bonus) from the New York Auto Show
Week 80
Two Gay Guys Walk Into A Car Dealership…
Week 81
April is the Kindest Month: Four Weeks, Four Mercedes
Week 82
Going Rogue in the New Jaguar XJ
Week 83
I Would Sell Both of my Testicles to Drive the Mercedes Gullwing Again
Week 84
How Do You Win the Indy 500? Will Power!
Week 85
Stick Shift Compares: Audi S4 vs. BMW 335xi
BONUS
Would You Drive This P.O.S. from New York to New Orleans: BABE Rally Slideshow
Week 86
Which Male Glee Star Does Your Sporty Compact Car Resemble?
Week 87
Audi Q7 Swallows Huge Load!
Week 88
Jeep Wrangler: Fuck Yeah, America!
Week 89
Acura RL: Nobody Puts Baby in a Corner, Better
Week 90
Ten Cars that Look Like Adorable Animals
Week 91
Fourteen Hours of Katy Perry: Road Tripping with an 11 Year-Old in a BMW Convertible
Week 92
How to Buy a New Car (in 100 Words)
Week 93
City Gay/Country Gay II: Mercedes Edition
Week 94
How to Keep Your Old Car from Crushing Your Spirit and Killing You
Week 95
Accessorize, Accessorize, Accessorize
Week 96
Gayest of the Run: Corvette Edition
Week 97
Stick Shift Reviews: Lee Friedlander’s “America by Car” at the Whitney Museum
Week 98
Cadillac CTS-V: Gorgeously Wedgy, Blisteringly Fast, and You Can Shave Your Balls With It
Week 99
Stick Shift Learns to Drive (w/VIDEO!)
Week 100
Of Pigs, Po’ Boys, and the Porsche Panamera
Week 101
Are Electric Cars Gay? Is Vince Vaughn an Idiot? Or Both?
Week 102
The Ferrari California’s Covetous VROOM Factor
Week 103
What is the Best Luxury Sedan in the World
Week 104
LA AUTO SHOW!
LA Show Prologue: Heading West in a Chevy Volt
LA Show I: Ballin’ in a Bentley
LA Show II: Meandering through Jay Leno’s God-Like Car Collection
LA Show III: The New Small Hotness
Week 105
Car Shopping with Glee’s Chord Overstreet (w/Video!)
Week 106
Stick Shift’s Top 5 Cars of 2010
Week 107
General Motors Fleet: Size DOES Matter
Week 108
Chris Burden Makes Automated Art out of LA’s Freeways
Week 109
DETROIT AUTO SHOW!!
Detroit Auto Show I: You Like Junk? What if Someone Threw a Whole City Away?
Inside GM’s Secret Onstar Bunker
Is Your Luxury Car Trying to Get With You?
Week 110
How Swede it Is: New Nordic Heat from Volvo and Saab
Week 111
Vehicular Cures for the February Blahs, Part I: Rolls-Royce Ghost
Week 112
Vehicular Cures for the February Blahs, Part II: Ferrari 458 Italia
Week 113
Vehicular Cures for the February Blahs, Part III: Mercedes SLS AMG
Week 114
Vehicular Cures for the February Blahs, Part IV: Maserati GT-C
Week 115
The Fiat 500 is the Bedazzled iPod Touch of Cars
Week 116
Talking Cougars and Carburetors with Neko Case
BONUS: FagBug is Vandalized Again!
Week 117
Oops, I Had Another Kid. What Should I Drive?
BONUS: Fantastic Four: Ferrari’s New FF (from Vanity Fair PRINT)
BONUS: Q&A: Bradley Cooper Buckles Up
Week 118
The Lotus Evora is My New Second-Favorite Car
Week 119
A Very Stick Shift Passover: 10 Jewish Car Writers Share 10 Automotive Plagues
Week 120: NY Auto Show
The Jaguar E-Type, and 20 Other Cars That Look Like Penises
Sexy Fuel Sippers
Week 121:
A Very Stick Shift Mother’s Day
Week 122:
Why I Hate Racetracks
Week 123:
Bentley Continental GT: Rhapsody in Brown
Week 124
The Bugatti Veyron Throws Stones at Phillip Johnson’s Glass House
Week 125
Five Cars You Should Not Buy for Your Dad on Father’s Day
Week 126
Sheryl Crow Sells her Vintage Mercedes Roadster to Benefit Joplin, MO Schools
Week 127
The Five Brownest Cars from the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance
Week 128
On the Pleasure of Shifting Your Own
Week 129
Five Hot Convertibles for Your Cool Fall
Week 130
Glamping in an Airstream R.V.
Week 131
Five Cars that will Trick AND Treat You
Week 132
Apolo Ohno on his Burgundylicious Custom 1964 Cadillac Convertible
Week 133
Four-Wheeled Future: Tesla/Fisker/Rolls Edition
Week 134
L.A. Auto Show Preview: All Tomorrow’s Parties
Week 135
5 Cars that will Take You Over the River and Through the Woods to Grandmother’s House
Week 136
Porsche 911: Scheiße on the Inside, Solid Gold Beneath
Week 137
Four-Wheeled Future: BMW i3 and i8
Week 138
Stars & Cars: “Mission:Impossible’s” Paula Patton
Week 139
Stick Shift’s Top 5 Cars of 2011
Week 140
World’s Fastest Car Named for Sluggish Terrestrial Dinosaur
Week 141
The Most Exciting Car at the Detroit Auto Show
Week 142
Stars & Cars: JFK Edition
Week 143
The 7 Hottest (and 7 Not-est) Cars at the Detroit Auto Show
Week 144
Power Jag: Driving the Jaguar XJL Supersport
Week 145
The Return of the Affordable Japanese Sports Car
Week 146
Over 40 and Feeling Foxy: Cars that get 40+ m.p.g.
Week 147
Adrian Grenier Awaits the Electric Vehicle Revolution, Does Not Advocate Knee-Driving
Week 148
Test Driving John Chamberlain’s Automotive Sculptures at the Guggenheim
Week 149
Four-Wheeled Future: Ferrari in Bush, Ferrari in Hand
Week 150
The Luck of the IROC
Week 151
Stars & Cars: Classic Hollywood Glamour at the Amelia Island Concours D’Elegance
Week 152
Armored Luxury Cars for the Global 1%
BONUS
New Study Proves Democrats are from Volvo, Republicans are from Truck
Week 153
All Hail the Taxi of Tomorrow
Week 154
The 7 Hottest (and 7 Not-est) Cars at the NY Auto Show
Week 155
Cars on TV: Which is Greenest
Week 156
Five Cars from the Department of WTF
Week 157
Q&A–Victoria Beckham on her New Land Rover Evoque: “A Bag on Wheels”
Week 158
Squeezing the Juice out of Ford’s Focus Electric
Week 159
Celebrating Mother’s Day with the Five Coolest Minivans EVER!
Week 160
cArt: BMW Makes Weird Noises at the Frieze Art Fair
Week 161
The Chocolaty Paradox of the Mercedes SLS AMG Roadster
Week 162
An Everyman’s Guide to the New Ferrari Supercar
Week 163
Escape From New York!
Week 164
Five Hot Station Wagons Your Dad Should Buy Now, and Five You Wish He Could
Week 165
What to Drive to Your 25th High School Reunion: The BMW 2002
Week 166
Hanging Out with 17 Handsome Italians
Week 167
Four Wheeled Future: Audi’s Gone Electric
Week 168
Turbo-Charmers: Five of our Favorite Blown Vehicles
Week 168
The Five Best, and Five Worst, Batmobiles Ever.
Week 170
Stars & Cars: Olympian Bryan Clay Discusses Not Making the 2012 Team
Week 171
Celebrating Stick Shift’s 4th Birthday with $1 Million in Cars
BONUS
Olympic Gold Medalist Ricky Berens on how His Body is “Nothing Abnormal”
Week 172
Is the Tesla Model S the Most Important Car of the 21st Century?
Week 173
Stars & Cars: Jay Leno Talks about the Worst Car He’s Ever Owned
Week 174
Ranking All Six Models of the Iconic Mercedes-Benz SL Roadster
Week 175
10 Things to Do at the Pebble Beach Concours (If You Hate Cars)
Week 176
Stars & Cars: Isaac Mizrahi Discusses His New Collaboration with Chevy, and His Inspiring Experience in a Cadillac
Week 177
Four-Wheeled Future: Eight Forthcoming Vehicles that Prove Downsizing is the New Upscale
Week 178
Stars & Cars: Brat-Packer Andrew McCarthy on Camaros, Car Crashes, Christmas Movies, and his New Travel Memoir
Week 179
Q&A: Designer John Varvatos on Rock ‘n’ Roll, Detroit-Area Bowling Alleys, and his New Collaboration with Chrysler
Week 180
13 Top Car Writers Pick the 2013 Model They’d Buy with $100,000
Week 181
Ryan Seacrest’s Worst In-Car Experience: Ripping His Pants Crotch on the Way to the Red Carpet
Week 182
Four-Wheeled Future: In Paris, Jaguar and Land Rover Ditch the British Stodge
Week 183
Five Top Convertibles for Best Enjoying Fall Foliage
Week 184
Honoring Amalgam Model Cars and More at the Long Island Concours d’Elegance
Week 185
Five Retro-Inspired Vehicles (VF PRINT)
Week 186
Stars & Cars: The Worst Car Patrick Dempsey Ever Owned was a Ferrari
Week 187
Four-Wheeled Future: Bacon? Pianos? Baby’s Cheek? Investigating the Future of Interior Materials
Week 188
Stars & Cars: Uma Thurman
Week 189
Inside the Secret and Changing World of the Auto Show Booth Babe
Week 190
What’s Hot and What’s Not at the LA Auto Show
Week 191
Previewing the Latest Cyborgs, Terminators, and…Cockroaches, at the US Army’s Robotics Rodeo
Week 192
The Top Five New Cars of 2012
Week 193
What to Drive off the Fiscal Cliff
Week 194
Four-Wheeled Future: How to Have a Carefree Road Trip in Your Electric DeLorean
Week 195
Driving BMW’s M-Cars
Week 196
The 13 Hottest Cars at the 2013 Detroit Auto Show
Week 197
Stars & Cars: Kate Upton
Week 198
Cult Cars (VF PRINT)
Week 199
Four-Wheeled Future: Full-Sized Pickups Transcend their Role as Exemplars of Genital Insecurity
Week 200
Test Driving the Jaguar XJL Ultimate Edition
Week 201
Five Average Cars for Average People who are Not Rich
Week 202
Validated at the Valet: The Most Envy-Inducing Cars to Drive to Oscars Week Parties
Week 203
Four-Wheeled Future: Is it Time for You to Relinquish Your Outmoded Notions and Buy a Diesel Vehicle (Short Answer: Yes)
Week 204
Stars & Cars: Famous, and Fame-Adjacent, Cars from the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance
Week 205
Examining the Ferrari LaFerrari at the Geneva Auto Show
Week 206
Celebrating Easter with Nine Automotive Acts of ReinCARnation
Week 207
The Top 15 Cars from the NY Auto Show (and 5 Duds)
Week 208
Four-Wheeled Future: Just How Fast Should a $1 Million “Hypercar” Go?
Week 209
Five Cars from the Department of WTF
Week 210
Relenting, Reviewing, and Recommending a Crossover
Week 211
The 10 Hottest Cars Unveiled at the Shanghai Auto Show (and 5 Duds)
Week 212
The 10 Best Mom Cars
Week 213
Four-Wheeled Future: Reinventing the Wheel
Week 214
The MazdaSPEED3 Wants to Kill You


Press

Read what they’re saying about Stick Shift (or what Stick Shift is saying to, or about, them!):

GQ

New Cars: Tesla Model S, Lamborghini Urus, BMW i8, Jaguar F-Type, and more!
Drive Her (Him!) Crazy: A Guide to Date Cars

Esquire

China Loves Buick

L.A. Times

The Cars of New York and L.A.

New York Magazine

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2008/07/vanity_fair_launches_homosexua.html

Andrew Sullivan

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/07/just-when-you-t.html
Cold Shower

Jalopnik

http://jalopnik.com/399520/vanity-fair-introduces-stick-shift-the-gay-car-blog
http://jalopnik.com/400088/jaguar-xjs+c-the-car-for-small-town-closeted-gay-voyeurs
Lindsay Lohan Trades Down
Auto Review Line of the Week
Jalopnik throws Stick Shift some hot, Bentley-based, man-on-man love
Jalopnik Throws Stick Shift some hot, Lambo-Love
Farewell to G.M.’s Chief Gay Officer
“My Name is Ram; I am a Huge Closet Case”
Two Jews Walk into an MGB Owner’s Driveway
Inside Mercedes-Benz’s Classic Treasure Trove
Ask Me Anything: Brett Berk Edition
Only By the Grace of the Gays will a Car Succeed

Queerty

The Gay Blog That’s Been Saved by the Auto Industry Bailout
Advocate Fails; Stick Shift Succeeds
VF’s Top 10 Gay Cars

Your Editor Will Only Learn to Drive if Vanity Fair Teaches him How
Which is a Better Gay Movie, Bruno or Humpday?

Model D

How to Love Detroit, from Vanity Fair

Queertype

Stick Shift Shout Out

Gay Wheels

http://www.gaywheels.com/vanityfaircom_launches_gay_car.htm
Chief Gay Officer Leaves G.M.

Out Zone

http://blogs.outzonetv.com/breakoutnews/2008/07/gay_car_blog.php

WDET Detroit Public Radio

Interview with Brett Berk
2011 North American International Auto Show: Interview with Brett Berk

Detroit Fashion Pages

Brett Berk: Detroit Native and Vanity Fair Car Blogger

Celebrity Cars

Lindsay Lohan’s Ride–Hot Story, I Guess!

Car Connection

A.C.’s Carpet Matches the Drapes

MonVolant

Is the Camaro Super Gay?

CarEnvy.ca

Stick Shift: Interview with Eddie Alterman
Stick Shift Ruins the Ferrari 612 Scaglietti
We Can’t Drive the Rolls Royce Phantom Drophead Coupé, but Stick Shift Can
Stick Shift Covers CarEnvy

MovieLine

The Thinking Person’s Guide to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

The Truth About Cars

The Gayest Car Review Ever Written

TruthDig

What’s with the Pinkface, Fellas

MotorAuthority

Gay or Straight: A Look at the Maserati Quattroporte

About.com

The Perfect Stalker-Mobile

National Post

Maxed-Out Metaphor of the Week