How Shifterati began

For the first article on my all-consuming passion project, I think it's worth talking about where "Shifterati" came from, what it is currently, and what I can see it being in the future.

Before that, let's start with this: hi there, I'm Ellis Camber. I am an avid enthusiast of the automotive industry and all the marvels it has created over the decades. I also orbit the industry professionally, which has led me deeper and deeper into some weird tastes and odd knowledge. Over time I've grown curious about the more overlooked details, like odd colors and their names: Ford's Volcanic Ash, with its absolutely stunning red tinge peeking through that shimmering gray on a bright sunny day, or the Land Cruiser's Desert Bronze, sparkling like light off the Sahara itself. Or elite knowledge, like what DNA a Diablo and a Z32 300ZX share (IYKYK, and more on that soon).

My point is, I thoroughly love automotive shit, especially the really deep lore.

I often find myself taking wiki-walks or deep dives online on some tangent started by who knows what. Just as often, I'd find myself dissatisfied with the resources at hand for taking a virtual walk through different models. So I started working on a project for myself, originally named Model Citizen, as a way to store and organize a bunch of data in a way I found better than other places online. Can you look up what's special about an Isuzu Impulse RS Turbo on Wikipedia? I mean, yeah, it has everything, and Wikipedia geeks still scare me with the fervor they tend it with. But I never found a format that let me move through generations, colors, motors and history in a way that was satisfying. Sometimes I just want to scroll through the generations and look at the special colors, or maybe the packages offered for a given model.

As I wrote up the first dossier (a name that sounded cool to me, so that's what I'm calling them), I shared it with friends for critique, and they followed along with my process. The very first dossier I worked on was the 4Runner, because I always forget when the first and second generations begin and end, and I really wanted a manual 4Runner (still don't have one). The people I shared it with gave some good feedback and seemed to really like it, so I decided to expand through the Toyota catalog. The app became an increasingly common topic among my friends, especially some younger ones who were just getting into the hobby.

Next I wanted it easier to share, because my first way of hosting it was a little convoluted, which meant I needed a name and a domain. Let me tell you, that was a whole experience I never want to speak of again. Seriously, do you know how hard it is to find a good name that's not taken? After hours of staring at the ceiling, walking my dogs, some detailing and cooking dinner, I had zilch. I even started messing around with random name generators to try and get some inspiration. Then, by chance, I came across the word literati and chuckled that it sounded like illuminati. Well, as the brain does sometimes:

Boom: shifterati.com was born.

So what is Shifterati now? I've asked myself that a few times. Is it still a project for myself that I'm sharing? Is it something I'm working on for others? Am I working with others on it? To be honest, it takes more work with every change and option I add, and there are several ideas I've wanted to build but simply can't for lack of time right now. Shifterati right now is a resource, but I hope in the future it can become more than that and grow into a community.

So let me talk about what I want it to be. More than anything, I want to give the world, as far as I can personally reach, a resource that sparks conversations and community across generations. Something that serves as an information source, whether you're an everyday Joe or you own some one-of-ten special-edition museum car and you're curious about its history.

I love the automotive community just as much as I love the history and the cars themselves. It's such a wild meeting of engineering, design, creativity and good ol' redneck ingenuity, and it has spawned some of the most incredible machines.

Dream of dreams for the future? The Shifterati: a community I can hand down to the next generation when the time comes, and one that keeps this subject I've enjoyed so much alive as long as possible.

That's the plan: a resource today, and a community tomorrow. You don't have to wait for it, either. If you know the one trim piece that dates a car to a single year, own something rare, or catch us getting something wrong, tell us through the feedback page. That's how this stops being my project and starts being ours. Join the Shifterati.

Ellis Camber, signing off this angle.