I have been a professional writer, photographer, journalist, photojournalist, and editor for more than 25 years. It's a difficult task to select a portfolio of what I believe illustrates my abilities in all areas (writing, photography, editing, and design) of my photojournalism.
Over my career, I've produced more than 1,000 magazine features covering automotive, travel, sports, culinary, and technology subjects. I've co-authored three published automotive books and self-published a compilation of a collection of more than 50 features from The Two Page Spread Facebook page.
Below, I'll start with downloadable PDFs of my four books. What follows will be more than three dozen of my favorite published magazine features dating back to 1990. Over the years, being the editor-in-chief of several print publications, and working with my art directors, I've picked up some design skills. While I don't consider myself an art director or designer, I do speak their language and can detail my vision for the feature. That's an important skill set. I've noted in the descriptions where I did the layout for the feature, placing those at the bottom of the folder.
And if you're curious about my verbal communication skills, I can point you to my 2012 appearance on Jay Leno's Garage while promoting my first book, Hurst Equipped.
bit.ly/HurstEquippedJLG
If you want access to a wider portfolio, visit this link.
bit.ly/RTPORTFOLIO
If you have any questions, don't hesitate to call me at 951/229-2989. I am available from 7 AM to 7 PM Pacific Time.
Album by Richard Truesdell. Photos by Richard Truesdell. 1 - 56 of 56 Total. 1939 Visits.
enlarge 59.31MB, 612x792 1 Hurst Equipped.pdf My first book, Hurst Equipped (2012), co-written with Mark Fletcher. It was republished in 2020 as a paperback.
enlarge 16.25MB, 666x783 2 1970 Maximum Muscle.pdf My second book 1970 Maximum Muscle (2020) co-written with Mark Fletcher, published by Motorbooks.
enlarge 28.10MB, 1872x852 3 Hemi Under Glass.pdf The late Bob "Hemi Under Glass" Riggle's biography, Hemi Under Glass (2020), co-written with Mark Fletcher.
enlarge 43.59MB, 612x792 4 T2PS Complete Truesdell Edition 51 Features HQ.pdf A compilation of almost 50 two-page-spread layouts for The Two Page Spread Facebook page.
enlarge 1.44MB, 556x752 5 Car Audio and Electronics August 1997.pdf When I look back on my career in publishing and as an Editor-In-Chief, this was one of the high water points. I was appointed as EIC of Car Audio and Electronics on 4/1/1997 and delivered my first issue to the printer, on time, just three weeks later, which was the May 1997 issue. It was incredibly stressful as I came onboard during the second week of the production cycle with no staff.
Just 60 days later, I had assembled a new editorial team and delivered the August issue with no holdover content from the previous editorial team. I consider this to be my real first issue of CA&E as everything between the covers was commissioned by me and assembled with a completely new editorial, art, and production team. Of all my publishing projects, this is one I am most proud of, especially as an editor.
Unfortunately, I can't find my copies of the issues of CA&E I edited so this PDF shows just the cover and one of my earliest epic road trips in the then brand-new 1997 Chevrolet ...
enlarge 18.47MB, 1125x756 6 Chevy Enthusiast Issue 1 January 2010.pdf Just a little more than 10 years after Car Audio and Electronics (CA&E), I was given the opportunity to start a new magazine from scratch, Chevy Enthusiast, for Amos Automotive Publishing. Like CA&E, it was a challenge as the first editorial meeting was July 15, 2009 and it had to be delivered to the printer less than 70 days later on October 1, 2009, in time for its debut at the 2009 SEMA Show.
Remember, this was 2009 and everything was done remotely. The Amos offices were in Ohio and I was in California. All my contributors were around the nation so in effect, I was a traffic cop for all the content.
Like CA&E, a lot of this first issue was written by me but working with the Amos Automotive in-house Group Managing Editor, Eric Kaminisky, and Art Director Mark Potter, we put together what I think, even 15 years later is an outstanding publication. We needed to find a niche between the two existing publications, Super Chevy at Primedia which was the dominant title and Ch...
enlarge 10.92MB, 456x528 7 Cannonball Daytona MedRes.pdf My very first book contribution, dating back to 1990 when I produced (words and photography) a feature on the Cannonball Ferrari Daytona right after it had been repurchased by its original owner, Kirk F. White (who I maintained contact with over the decades until his passing in 2020). This is the car driven by Dan Gurney and Brock Yates. Probably more than anything it shows how far both my writing and photography has come over the last 25 years.
enlarge 21.13MB, 516x711 8 1998 Jeep Jeepster concept for Truck Trend.pdf This is the first of more than a dozen features I've produced since 1998 on Chrysler's concept vehicles. It was my idea to bring together with the 1998 Jeep Jeepster concept, two of the vehicles that inspired it, a Willys Jeepser and an AMC Jeep Commando.
enlarge 1,000KB, 1296x783 9 USA Motor Trend Classic 1967 Jaguar Bertone Pirana Coupe.pdf
enlarge 600KB, 595x842 14 UK Mercedes Enthusiast 1965 Mercedes-Benz 220SEb
enlarge 3.52MB, 2386x3200 15 Classic & Sports Car UK 11 2024 Damsels of Design.pdf
enlarge 10.37MB, 1152x1536 16 UK 1964 Porsche 901 Don Murray Total 911 issue 106.pdf
enlarge 4.12MB, 1536x2048 17 1967 Chevrolet Camaro First Z-28 1-2017 Muscle Car Review.pdf
enlarge 2.67MB, 558x756 18 Chevy Enthusiast 1967 Chevy Camaro Z28 with Courtney Day.pdf From this point to the end of the album, you will be able to review the wide scope of my work, some of it dating back to 1997 when I was editor of Car Audio and Electronics. This includes automotive adventure travel adventures like my 2004 Autobahn Adventure in Germany and Austria, my 2005 trip from London to Maranello and back in a Ford GT and a Dodge Viper, and my 2006 trip in a Dodge Challenger tracing the route of the cult classic movie, Vanishing Point. Most of the remaining features are automotive features that illustrate my writing capabilities as well as the scope of my photographic portfolio, much of it studio-based.
enlarge 2.56MB, 558x756 19 1969 Camaro V2 Chevy Enthusiast Icon Status studio photography.pdf
enlarge 856KB, 558x756 20 1968 Ford Mustang California Special Musclecar Enthusiast.pdf
enlarge 1.65MB, 1134x783 21 US Automobile The 36-24-35 AMX.pdf
enlarge 1.63MB, 668x866 22 AUS Polk MOMO Civic InCar Entertainment.pdf
enlarge 707KB, 1098x756 23 1967 Chevrolet Chevelle L79 hardtop and station wagon Muscle Car Review.pdf
enlarge 433KB, 1314x783 24 USA Maximum Drive 1956 Ford Crown Victoria.pdf
enlarge 2.34MB, 558x756 39 Chevy Enthusiast Corvair Retro Road Trip.pdf The next 10 features are just a few of some of my favorite automotive travel adventures. I think of myself as a story teller, that you don't need to be driving a six-figure Ferrari or Porsche to have a great adventure. This was a 1965 Chevrolet Corvair Monda hardtop that I flew up to Seattle to pick it up, then drive home to California.
enlarge 1.55MB, 557x756 40 USA 2004 Corvette In Europe Corvette Enthusiast.pdf Like many auto US enthusiasts I've long wondered what it would be like to let a new Corvette loose on the autobahn so while attending the 2004 Geneva Motor Show for Motor Trend Online, I arranged a vehicle loan with GM's Corvette and Cadillac importer, Kroymanns' in The Netherlands and drove it from Amsterdam to Geneva and back, picking up one speeding ticket along the way. On the Autobahn between Baden-Baden and Karlsruhe I was able to get this particular Corvette up to an indicated 186 MPH (at night) legally on an unrestricted section of the A6 Autobahn for Corvette Enthusiast magazine decided against using that particular photograph, using a shot of the speedometer indicating "ONLY" 170 MPH.
enlarge 3.25MB, 792x1224 41 Automotive Traveler Ferrari Panamerican 20000.pdf My one-week 2006 trip from Lima, Peru to Quito, Ecuador as part of Ferrari's epic Western Hemisphere 20,000-mile road trip in a pair of Ferrari 599s. I fractured my wrist photographing this trip which added a bit more adventure than I would have liked.
enlarge 1.50MB, 1191x842 42 Discover Touring final version.pdf An RV trip through southern California with my best friend from high school.
enlarge 2.00MB, 1224x792 43 AT Colony Park Ocean Drive.pdf Another one of my fly-in, buy the car, then take off on an epic adventure down the US East Coast in a 35-year-old classic station wagon. This trip was a bit expensive since this 1969 Mercury Colony Park got 10 mpg on the highway, less around town.
enlarge 2.01MB, 825x538 44 USA Automotive Traveler Issue 9 Driving the Baltic Way.pdf This was a trip from the fall of 2004 to the Baltic countries of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. I wrote the text, provided the photographs, and laid out the feature for Automotive Traveler. The active, online version can be viewed at http://www.automotivetraveler.com/magazine/viewer.php?path=vol_3/iss_3&page=30
enlarge 990KB, 1296x783 45 MCLP-061200-RT66.pdf Another epic road trip, four muscle cars on a Chicago to Santa Monica trip on Route 66.
enlarge 4.18MB, 1224x792 46 Automotive Traveler Highland Fling.pdf A trip to the UK for my own digital publication, Automotive Traveler.
enlarge 10.14MB, 528x720 47 Four Wheeler 2002 Normandy Bastogne stories.pdf Two stories put together for Four Wheeler magazine back in 2001. I was covering the 2001 Paris Auto Show on 9/11 when the two planes hit the towers, the Pentagon, and crashed in Pennsylvania. If you recall all flights were grounded for a week. I called DaimlerChrysler in Stuttgart and asked if I could keep my Jeep press vehicle until I could return to the United States. They said fine and I set off on a bucket list trip, driving from the D-Day beaches in Normandy to Bastogne, the location of the Battle of the Bulge. While not my most polished writing and photography, this two-part story is the one automotive travel adventure that I am most proud of having produced. I think that if you look at the entire body of my work, this one illustrates the start of my evolution as a serious photojournalist. I hope you enjoy reading it.
enlarge 629KB, 1152x756 48 USA Out In Africa Jeep Magazine.pdf My first trip to Africa on a Jeep/DaimlerChrysler press trip that was a lot of fun.
enlarge 2.45MB, 723x922 49 GER Hitchcock Grand Cherokee MMM.pdf For the German magazine MMM, a trip through Northern California visiting famous and less-known Hitchcock filming sites in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond.
enlarge 5.34MB, 1292x842 50 USA Automotive Traveler Dream Drive plus sidebars.pdf From here to the end of the folder are a group of stories that I laid out myself.
My personal best week of my life, from London to Maranello and back in the then-new Ford GT and a Dodge Viper. This story appeared in more than a dozen publications around the world, most notably, Octane in the UK. Seven years later, in 2012, as my layout skills improved, I laid out the story as I would if I was a magazine art director for my own digital magazine, Automotive Traveler for its last issue which can be viewed here.
I would like to think this is the definitive version of this truly epic drive where I had the opportunity to drive the Nürburgring and Le Mans... just four days apart.
enlarge 37.81MB, 621x810 51 Bullittude Layout V7.pdf Although a version of this story was published in 2018 in Mustang Monthly before the magazine ceased publication in 2019, I decided to do my own layout of the feature in a more extended format. Being a huge Steve McQueen fan, this was a labor of love. I'm still hope to see more versions of this story appear in magazines outside of North America.
enlarge 1.73MB, 612x792 52 The Bronze Blow Torch RT 10-page layout compressed (1).pdf This is my own layout that I designed to show my editors the potential of this story on the historic 1963-1965 Chrysler Turbine Car program. It has been published in several overseas markets including Austria, Sweden, and New Zealand. the Austrian version of this story is slide #28 in Rare & Unique Vehicles.
enlarge 23.02MB, 612x792 53 1967 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 V4.pdf
enlarge 23.02MB, 612x792 54 1967 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 V3.pdf
enlarge 1.21MB, 612x792 55 Turning Japanese 10-page layout complete with captions-compressed V2.pdf Less than two decades after the end of the Second World War, the Japanese recovery was in full swing, the year the Olympics were held in Tokyo. This is my layout of three Japanese sports cars from the 1960s; the Datsun Silvia, Toyota 2000GT, and the Mazda Cosmo. The Swedish version of this feature that appeared in Classic Motor is slide #26.
