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Hey I was in the uk at the weekend and i bought a copy of ‘Classics’ magazine. (couldn’t find ‘retro cars’ anywhere? Is that still going?) If anything is likely to make someone subscribe to practical classics, it’s this. What a half-arsed token rag of a magazine. Here is a quote: ‘The MGB GT (rubber bumper too!) is undoubtedly a no-compromise driving machine’. Yeah you’re right, that’s exactly what it is. There was also a staff car saga about some clueless gimp taking his Triumph Acclaim to a garage after it would not start. Big f***ing wow. Perhaps I should look at PC differently.
When you see the other magazines published by the same company – ‘Routing’, ‘Childrens Crafts’ and ‘Popular Patchwork’ are prime examples, it seems clear they are used to subject matter where youre research can be done without leaving the office between one issue and the next.
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1972 Fiat 130 1985 Talbot Alpine 1974 Lancia Beta Saloon 1975 + 1986 Mazda 929 Koop + Wagon 1982 Fiat Argenta 2.0 iniezione elettronica 1977 Toyota Carina TA14 BEST CAR EVER!!!!!!!! 1979 Datsun B310 Sunny 4-dr 1984 Audi 200 Quattro Turbo 1983 Honda Accord 1.6 DX GONE1989 Alfa 75 2.0 TS Mr T says: TREAT YO MOTHER RIGHT!
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Mr_Bollox, I couldn't agree more with your comments about Classics magazine. I have made the mistake of actually buying it, but never again. As for the comments about PC going downhill, I think that part (but not all) of the problem is that there is so much interesting and varied stuff on this forum!
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As for the comments about PC going downhill, I think that part (but not all) of the problem is that there is so much interesting and varied stuff on this forum! You might have a good point there Amazonsprite. Ive been thinking that Retro Cars has been a bit disapointing lately, that could be why. (I see we got a mention this month though)
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carnut1100
Part of things
If it's got wheels I like it!
Posts: 194
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Dec 27, 2004 13:00:53 GMT
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I do still ge PC but it is not the same. The editor hardly ever replies to emails, let alone print them! Will used to reply to every one I sent him, and still does now he is at PPC. I am AFAIK the only Australian subscriber to PPC so far, definately the first and I will be resubscribing. Everybody should read it. It is just a shame it is not on the stands here in Australia.
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They won't be restoring Hyundais in 30 years!
1970 Peugeot 404 1973 Volvo 164E 1979 Volvo 242GT
In the family, 1975 Volvo 245 1985 Volvo 360 GLT 1969 Ford Transit Mk1 1963 Humber Vogue Sports 1960 Morris Minor van
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Rob
Posted a lot
You know, for kids!
Posts: 2,515
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Dec 27, 2004 13:21:07 GMT
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yeah i used to race* to get my copy from the shelf and read it cover to cover... V8 Capris & Russian Lumps... pure class. made me feel like i wasnt completely insane for putting up with a badly running car just for those 'classic' quite-road-sunny day-drives! ;D theres no sense of humour in their choice of cars for the staff cars or the features anymore !! *yes, in the marina - f*ck off! ;D
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richy
Posted a lot
Flatheads forever....
Posts: 1,764
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Dec 27, 2004 17:21:36 GMT
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re: Practical Classics: I couldn't agree more with the postings about it. While it was always a 'worthy' magazine, it did contain useful technical articles and wasn't afraid to feature more unusual (ie, non-British) cars. It also had a sense of humour.
That's not the case now that MM is the editor. The magazine is slipping into terminal decline and, to be honest, with the way Classic and Sportscar has further sharpened up, PC needs to do something radical to encourage us lot to start buying it again.
Classics isn't even worth mentioning: its contents are bland, and often try to be humourous, but do not succeed at all. And I think we're all fed up with hearing about that Acclaim! Doesn't the editorial team ever read the opposition? I doubt it...
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Rob
Posted a lot
You know, for kids!
Posts: 2,515
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Dec 27, 2004 18:55:48 GMT
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anyway . . .practical performance car ?... vas ist dis ? ive never heard of it...? looked for it but not seen it... anyone ? does everyone else find it at WH Smaith's ?
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Dec 27, 2004 19:09:57 GMT
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PPC? I always get it at WH Smiths, but it's nearly always late round here, Retro Cars is the same way round here, maybe it's the same way round your way?
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"He's not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy!"
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Practical classics magDarrenW
@darrenw
Club Retro Rides Member 74
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Dec 27, 2004 19:26:34 GMT
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There was also a mag called Retro which went on to become Classics. Bet they wished they hadent changed now! Got every issue of Retro ;D Must dig them out and re-read them!
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richy
Posted a lot
Flatheads forever....
Posts: 1,764
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Dec 27, 2004 20:17:39 GMT
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The reason that Classic and Sportscar has succeeded so well is because it hasn't changed very much.
The others, like PC, Classics and Classic Cars, are always being meddled with - changing design and content, so it's no wonder they have no sense of direction - and we all notice it!
Conversely C and S, plus Retro Cars and Classic Ford have gradually evolved, and will continue to so, but never losing sight of their original target audience.
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Last Edit: Dec 27, 2004 20:45:09 GMT by richy
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Dec 27, 2004 22:50:41 GMT
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The time I used to spend reading car mags is now spent on here!!
I take Retro cars and PPC in to work to read during my breaks but everyone else ends up reading them.
I'm not buying Practical Classics anymore unless I'm really bored. Same with Classics.
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BS Nymph Singer Chamois Coupe Series 3 Landy
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Rob
Posted a lot
You know, for kids!
Posts: 2,515
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Dec 27, 2004 23:17:35 GMT
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i think the best (worst for them) thing they ever did was put the car list at the front - ie what page each car was on... you just have to flick through the first 2 pages to realise that there are too many and 'obvious' classics and too many 'new' cars... IMO obviously the MG midget is a great car but i think we'll all agree (even those with MGBeasts!) that its not difficult to find reading material on these cars !
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richy
Posted a lot
Flatheads forever....
Posts: 1,764
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It's lazy journalism: yes, MG and Triumphs generate the advertising, but that doesn't (shouldn't) exclude rarer cars from editorial coverage. PC's editor has no idea...
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impmann
Posted a lot
Overcoming stupidity is the greatest challenge left to mankind
Posts: 1,089
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Dec 28, 2004 18:20:10 GMT
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It's lazy journalism: yes, MG and Triumphs generate the advertising, but that doesn't (shouldn't) exclude rarer cars from editorial coverage. PC's editor has no idea...That's an interesting point of view. And a valid one to a point. The trouble is getting the balance right between keeping the advertisers happy, the core readership content and those that pick the mag up if there is something interesting in the contents pages. Its a lot more difficult that you might think and certainly there is no room for lazy journalists any more - they get replaced! Frankly, Triumph and MG cars sell mags - and that is a fact. No matter how we all feel about them, these are the most popular classic cars there are and therefore, you will see a lot of them in the popular classic car press. And at the end of the day, the publishers of the magazines are only interested in what sells. The magazine market is a very cut-throat one - and if a magazine doesn't make enough money, its axed (just look at what happened to CCC). Thats just the way it goes. And Practical Classics is the market leader, so they must be doing something right! Cheers Tim Morgan (ex-Editor, CLASSICS Magazine)
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1964 Hillman Imp 1976 Hillman Imp 1967 Hillman Imp (And a few projects dotted around the country)
Just cos something is good for you doesn't mean its good for everyone - for example Marmite does not make good Dog Food.
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Dec 28, 2004 18:45:17 GMT
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The lucky thing is, I can feel the winds changing (and I'm not just taking about the sh*t Scottish weather either! ;D ;D), Minors and TR6s might be popular now, but they can't keep shunning the newer and more unusual stuff forever, with every new generation the tastes in old cars slightly change, and I can see the current crop of old buffers being pushed into the background slightly over time, years back people would have been outraged at the idea of a mk 3 Cortina or an Imp or A BMW 3 series ever being regarded as a classic and turning up at shows, they were just old cars and older stuff further back ruled the shows and got the attention of enthusiasts, even further back still anthing that didn't have separate mudwings, wire wheels and big headlights that stick out was "modern rubbish", well these days more modern and/or foreign and/or plain unusual stuff (Tatras! Made in the Soviet Union (which is all just Russia to these buffers!)! Shock horror! Never mind that they're easily a match for anything the UK was building in the 50s and 60s as an executive car, for a start they had all alloy V8s long before we had the Rover P5! But still they're apparently rusty unreliable and slow! ;D ;D) is shunned, but give it a few years, when there are more of us who're into the less conventional classics, and less of them who're stuck in 1963, and the magazines will have no choice but to listen to the new masses of the classic car movement, who are into the stuff which is being shunned at the moment. As far as I can see, when us lot are at the oldschool end of the movement ( some of us still have cars with steel bumpers for gawds sake! ) the newer members of the movement will have grown up with plastic bumpers and modification, and these days, when with the internet lets this message (written in a cold, dirty little town near Glasgow that's barely worth mentioning! ) be read by people in far off and quite probably more interesting places, and the end of the cold war means the east is no longer a strange mysterious place that you don't really want to hear about as it's apparently full of "no good ruskies" and reds who want to invade your country and steal your money (apparently! ;D ;D ;D) there's no reason why people who are newer additions to the movement won't be more interested in stuff that ws built further away than Abingdon or Cowley, and won't look snobbishly down on nice cars that happen to have came from Moscow or Sachsenring. I appolgise to those of you have just read through that page of bullsh*t expecting some sort of meaning ( ;D ;D ;D ;D) so here it is... The old buffers who dominate the shows and the magazines at the moment are all dying off, to be replaced by people who are not afraid of borderline or modified old cars, so soon the magazines won't be able to keep catering for the current establishment, and will start listening to the new tupe of old car fan, who is a lot more like us lot. So there! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
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"He's not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy!"
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Toptaff
Part of things
Close, but no cigar.
Posts: 43
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Dec 28, 2004 20:46:29 GMT
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TEXT I feel that this is an appropriate moment for an ignorant girlie type to interject. I take issue wih a previous comment that 'Frankly, Triumph and MG cars sell mags' & have the opinion that a horrid red Ferrari is more likely help to sell a mag ,but de nada~ that's just mho! Personally,I've never found PC to be any *practical* help whatsoever ( conversely C&CC was helpful) I don't find it an amenable read & am bored with the pervasive 'string backed gloves,matching fleeces & tartan flat hat' gospel according to MG(BGT).I feel that I speak from a fairly informed position as my other 'arf richy was offered the job of Editor of Classics, but turned it down for obvious reasons. I'm well aware that there is the old car movement & then there's the old Ford movement & never the twain shall meet ,but c'mon people @ PC.wake up & smell the Cola...this is (nearly) 2005 & there's more to life than sports cars.
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Last Edit: Dec 28, 2004 20:48:42 GMT by Toptaff
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GJM
Posted a lot
Alloy engines; like communism- great in theory.
Posts: 1,393
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Dec 28, 2004 20:53:50 GMT
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.... there is... ? HOLY S**T IVE WASTED MY LIFE !!!
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Dec 28, 2004 21:12:00 GMT
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this is (nearly) 2005 & there's more to life than sports cars. I was getting at that too but I was too busy talking sh*te, I could be a politician me, except that I don't want to exploit anyone! ;D ;D ;D ;D
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"He's not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy!"
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Practical classics magDarrenW
@darrenw
Club Retro Rides Member 74
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...oh, and I don't know if it's been mentioned elsewhere in this thread, but the crossword is TOO EASY!! ;D Takes me two or three minutes, tops... I keep meaning to get the software and make some crosswords of my own (for download and printing via this site?) but I don't expect to ever get round to it...
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