Steve Cropley has been testing cars and writing about it for 48 years, more than half that time as editor-in-chief of Autocar. He began working in journalism in Australia in 1967, joined the staff of Sydney-based Wheels magazine in 1973, moved to the UK in 1978 to join the staff of CAR magazine, and was editor between 1981 to 1988, during which time CAR became Britain’s best-selling car magazine.
In 1989 he launched his own magazine, Buying Cars, bought two years later by Haymarket Media Group, who used its contributors and content to augment their existing titles What Car? and Autocar. He has worked “very happily” at Haymarket ever since. His Autocar column “A week in cars” has been a prominent part of Autocar for nearly 30 years.
In 2005 Cropley helped found the world’s first postgraduate course in automotive journalism at Coventry University, where was made a visiting professor. He is a Trustee of the British Motor Museum, Gaydon. Since 2005 he has organised and chaired a series of technical panel debates for the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and in 2013 was made a Companion of the Institution.
Cropley claims he remains as keen on cars - and the industry that creates them - as he was on day one.
