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Practical Classics have stolen £4.40 From Me!


Six-cylinder

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I've bought the odd issue of practical classics here and there but really it has nothing on what you can find on here but the main reason for not buying stuff like that is they just don't cover stuff I'm interested in.

 

Like the last one I saw had yet another Triumph on the front.what about a nice Toyota Starlet or a Volvo 340?

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No Volvo 340 or Starlet parts manufacturers want to take out advertising space in PC so theres little to be gained revenue wise from features. As I understand it, magazines, like the world, run on advertising. Morris Minors/MGBGT/STAGS are always going to feature because theres a lot of them, which means the market for parts is large, which attracts vendors to advertise to the captive market. Circle of life.

 

Correct me if Im wide of the slot.

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No you are bang on, you also have to bear in mind the suits who have the final say on stuff like covers know a lot less about cars and car people than they think they do. Given the circumstances I think PC do a pretty good job, a very passionate editor certainly helps. 

 

As an aside I had a flick through the mag I used to be features editor on for four years. In the most recent copy is a multi-vehicle buying guide and in great big letters across the page is RANGEROVER CLASSIC. Class

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Did have a PC subscription a few years ago (bought for me as a birthday present) but I don't think I've bought a magazine since. My reading material is mostly older magazines acquired from other shiters and I have to say I wouldn't pay good money for something like Classic & Sportscar. That really is another world, full of £10,000 watches and £500 books about Ferraris, and the car sales ads don't even have prices as if you have to ask, you can't afford it and you can guarantee it'll be a substantial six-figure sum. Magazines like that really aren't for ordinary people like us so I'm glad more down-to-earth titles like PC exist.

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No you are bang on, you also have to bear in mind the suits who have the final say on stuff like covers know a lot less about cars and car people than they think they do. Given the circumstances I think PC do a pretty good job, a very passionate editor certainly helps. 

 

Indeed. I think Danny has brought that title back from the brink to be honest. It was in a bad place six or seven years ago.

 

Personally, I'm just glad that there clearly still is a market for magazines. If there wasn't, I'd be destitute by now. As it is, I'm merely poor.

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Returning to the first post, write in and tell them! If I've made an error in a mag, I want to know about it, even though it's always mortifying. (I once managed to spell Citroën incorrectly on the front cover of Classic Car Weekly! Bloody Mac used in design didn't bring across the ë so we had a Citron GS feature that week...)

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As far as motoring writers go you can't beat Peter Simpson. His era of car mechanics mag was the best. He'd do all the work himself and 'have a go' with second hand bits from the breakers. I was reading this months issue and they were doing up a Renault Scenic, 06 plate I think, the amount they had spent on it was nuts and it didn't include labour as seemingly it was all done at a garage.

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As far as motoring writers go you can't beat Peter Simpson. His era of car mechanics mag was the best. He'd do all the work himself and 'have a go' with second hand bits from the breakers. I was reading this months issue and they were doing up a Renault Scenic, 06 plate I think, the amount they had spent on it was nuts and it didn't include labour as seemingly it was all done at a garage.

You never had to proof his copy. 

 

*runs*

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Chris, send us an email. I do a lot of work with Practical Classics and am actually writing this from the office, if we've made a mistake let us know. In fact, I handle the letters page, so send it straight to me. I'll PM you my PC email.

I have calmed down this morning and in addition to work I am worried about Rabbit wire, land drain pipe and Farm gates!

 

Not my style to use letter pages.

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I have calmed down this morning and in addition to work I am worried about Rabbit wire, land drain pipe and Farm gates!

 

Not my style to use letter pages.

 

Right, so you'll complain about it on here but not to the source? 

 

How are they supposed to get it right next time, then? They were unaware of the errors the first time it went to print - or are you waiting for it to happen again so you can score some forum points? 

I don't understand your logic. 

 

And - once again - AS is a niche within an enigma farted around an onion skin in terms of classic car magazine demographics. AS friendly publications (Jalopy and the incredible Original Tin) tend not to make any money because of their tight focus. 

 

Yes, classic car magazines depend on advertising. Weak lemon drink iconoclasts, unite. 

 

Unlike a production company (which simply wouldn't care about a trim mistake or number plate error on a screen vehicle), chances are you'll get a favourable response if, as a car enthusiast, you point out the mistakes to the editorial staff. 

 

Sincerely, 

 

J R Farting

Junior Encyclopaedia of Space 

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My magazine purchases through the decades has changed like fasion. It all began with CCC. Great mag and miss it. Some of the staff went on to another publication but I just can't recall it. Was it practical performance car or something? Not sure. I used to buy it too. When I was really young and a knob it was max power and total vauxhall, golf extreme, mini world, car sport to name but a few. Basically bought if I liked something on the cover! Later years the performance ford and such range caught my eye. Much closer years it's been some practical classics and pacenotes, but only if there is specific content which I'm interested in. Front cover just doesn't do it any more! I now find I buy the odd Rally Sport mag off the net. It's great reading old reviews, reports and adverts from the 80's. Ive got two old mags which both have write ups on my nova rally car, when it was originally built as a grp n car (been grp a for donkeys years now).

 

Nice having some of its history.

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I love practical classics BUT I have noticed a distinct increase in chequebook restos on £20k+ cars recently. They are of no interest to me so if that continues I will be looking elsewhere. They also seem to love slagging off our workforce of the 70s, if they bothered to talk to people who were there they would find the old line of 'unions killed the British car' is a load of Bollocks. Lazy journalism? Possibly.

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Oh FFS. Come on! If you had a job where you could legitimately bag a drive in a Lotus Carlton, would you go "naah, give me a shonky Astra instead M8!" You need to remember that PC is not written purely for an Autoshite audience. 

 

In other news, I guess I don't like friends being called cockwombles.

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I've stopped buying PC, but hey I've stopped buying newspapers and CDs and DVDs too. Everything has de-materialised! 

 

Gavin Green edited 'Car' magazine remains my touchstone for car writing in the early 90s. Although they could have done with fewer 'scoop' (i.e. manufacturer leaked no doubt) pics of future models in the news section.

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Oh FFS. Come on! If you had a job where you could legitimately bag a drive in a Lotus Carlton, would you go "naah, give me a shonky Astra instead M8!" You need to remember that PC is not written purely for an Autoshite audience.

 

You are missing the point, there are lots of mags that feature super expensive cars that 99% of the population will never afford. PC is (was?) different, the restos were almost all owner done to at least some degree and the range of cars was brilliant. When they start featuring cheque book restos on rare alfas, as they did a few months back, they lose what makes them special. If you want to look at super cars there are far better mags out there than PC. I love PC because of the massive range of cars featured but also because the majority of them are vaguely affordable, super cars are of no interest at all, they aren't, never have been and most likely never will be part of my life. And the selfish idea that we should just accept what they offer as long as they are having fun doing it is utter suicide in a world where circulation is falling across most if not all printed media.
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I buy Car Mechanics and practical sports bikes. Practical classics possibly when I am on holiday (and need a shite).

 

To be honest I buy old mags off eBay -I like early 1990's stuff. Have tons of fast car magazines - from when it started until 1992.

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You are missing the point, there are lots of mags that feature super expensive cars that 99% of the population will never afford. PC is (was?) different, the restos were almost all owner done to at least some degree and the range of cars was brilliant. When they start featuring cheque book restos on rare alfas, as they did a few months back, they lose what makes them special. If you want to look at super cars there are far better mags out there than PC. I love PC because of the massive range of cars featured but also because the majority of them are vaguely affordable, super cars are of no interest at all, they aren't, never have been and most likely never will be part of my life. And the selfish idea that we should just accept what they offer as long as they are having fun doing it is utter suicide in a world where circulation is falling across most if not all printed media.

 

I don't disagree about chequebook restos and didn't in my post. That's a separate topic and I quite agree.

 

Truth is, though, a Lotus Carlton IS massively practical and they're cheap enough to fall in the scope of that title. It can't all be about Austin 1100s. I know of people running LCs on fairly tight budgets. Just because they have very silly power doesn't make them a ridiculously high-income-only machine. Though I'd rather have a GSi3000 myself...

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I'd bloody love to read about a Lotus Carlton and numerous other 'modern' cars. But then again, this is Autoshite and we're not allowed to like the media like PC or Wheeler Dealers, or anything like that.

 

THIS IS WHY THERE IS A GRUMPY OLD MAN THREAD. Might as well nuke that with the whinging we're seeing in new threads recently.

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Blimey, some people are difficult to please. I have the latest PC in front of me. Features include an Austin Maxi over 5 pages, a guy with an Opel Kapitan and stretched Carlton/Omega and MK1 2 AND 3 Fiestas tested (not XRs either). Staff car sagas include a Saab 9000, Peugeot 405, Citroen Xantia, Austin Ambassador, and a Peerless. That's a lot of shite for a mainstream mag.

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I used to download the back issues to my tablet when they were only £1.99 but when they went up to £3.99 I stopped, Funnily enough the latest issue is the first one I have purchased in ages as we were away in the caravan. I still enjoy reading it but I'm not as magaziney as I used to be.

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Blimey, some people are difficult to please. I have the latest PC in front of me. Features include an Austin Maxi over 5 pages, a guy with an Opel Kapitan and stretched Carlton/Omega and MK1 2 AND 3 Fiestas tested (not XRs either). Staff car sagas include a Saab 9000, Peugeot 405, Citroen Xantia, Austin Ambassador, and a Peerless. That's a lot of shite for a mainstream mag.

You see now I'm thinking about buying it for the Fiesta bit but a Maxi for 5 pages? Is it on the cover too?

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You are missing the point, there are lots of mags that feature super expensive cars that 99% of the population will never afford. PC is (was?) different, the restos were almost all owner done to at least some degree and the range of cars was brilliant. When they start featuring cheque book restos on rare alfas, as they did a few months back, they lose what makes them special. If you want to look at super cars there are far better mags out there than PC. I love PC because of the massive range of cars featured but also because the majority of them are vaguely affordable, super cars are of no interest at all, they aren't, never have been and most likely never will be part of my life. And the selfish idea that we should just accept what they offer as long as they are having fun doing it is utter suicide in a world where circulation is falling across most if not all printed media.

 

Yes, but PC's audience caters to slightly broader tastes than yours - and its feature spread is still eclectic. 

If it all it had were double page spreads on bilge, I'd lose the will to live - and so (shock horror! conspiracy revealed) would the advertisers.

 

I never understood why people buy a magazine on the strength of one feature - so they can read stuff they already knew about with the express purpose of knocking holes in it. Is it some kind of moral one-upmanship? The same mentality whinge about editorial accuracy but never want to help with said pieces while they're being written or stay out of the way to seek the final piece out (and then complain, loudly). 

The canny ones want the message about their chosen marque as precise as they can get it (and will help contribute). 

I seem to remember similar complaints from AS when Retro Japanese came out. There had to be quick stuff to draw readers in; like PC, RJ hasn't exactly been bereft of chod before or since. 

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