Retro Cars is no more

[Jim Bell]

I had a Craptical Plastics subscription years ago. The mag usually turned up a fortnight after it was available on the shelves, looking like it had been raped by a bear and a crocodile. Didn't renew. 

[SiC]

I'm probably be going against the grain here (when is that different...) but I didn't renew my subscription and cancelled the Direct Debit. I took a subscription out when it came out and was all excited. However I just did not find it interesting enough to read. I'm not an expert in print, language or literacy review to come up with a explanation why.

After about the fourth issue I even stopped bothering opening up them through the post and gave them straight to my Father-in-law to read. He enjoyed reading them though but admittedly likes reading anything automotive related. 

Sorry but for me it didn't float my boat at all. 

[Wgl2019]

I tend to find a newly discovered magazine is great for a few issues after which they seem to run out of original content and repeat themselves with a couple of tweeks. 

[Tamworthbay]

7 minutes ago, Jim Bell said:

I had a Craptical Plastics subscription years ago. The mag usually turned up a fortnight after it was available on the shelves, looking like it had been raped by a bear and a crocodile. Didn't renew. 

Not had that problem but won’t be renewing after many many years as a subscriber, the content for cars worth less than £5k has plummeted and they even had a buyers guide for an E type recently, yup I will really use that in January for my commute on the M42, in fact most of the recent buyers guides have been for cars £20k plus, lotus Exige, Audi Quattro etc. I think that they are either trying to save money by sharing material from more ‘prestigious’ publications or are being slowly gentrified like parts of London. And the letters are increasingly from foam breathing morons complainaing about things that will never happen. Either way it’s not for me anymore. With Retro cars gone as well, I’m not sure where to turn for that sat on the bog reading material.

[skoda_fan]

Oh no! Another bit of bad news! As Basil Fawlty said: "another small avenue of pleasure that's been denied to me". I believe the first issue in the current format was only July/August last year so obviously not proven viable. Like everyone here I loved the new format, though I have to say its appearance looked like a retrograde step compared to the previous "Max Power" style and it didn't exactly leap off the shelf at you, even if you could find it at all. That said, my local WH Smith themselves closed some while back. A sign of the times I guess. I still subscribe to PC and CCWeekly. I've often considered cancelling my subscription to the latter as even pre-Covid it looked like they were struggling for weekly content, but it would be sad to see yet another one go.

[PiperCub]

Was only ever a sporadic buyer of RC but it's a shame to see it go. Pity it couldn't have gone online-only as some other publications have done (one of the leading general aviation mags 'Flyer' has just done this) to cut it's costs and save the mag. Like CC's stuff, he writes in other Bauer mags eg: Car Maniacs mag where he has an interesting list of cars on his fleet - mainly up our street especially if you like Rovers.  Wish him and the team all the best anyway. 

[barefoot]

The problem will have been advertising, or the lack of it. How many companies are there who actually want to promote themselves as a repairer of cheap old tat?

I edit an air-cooled VW mag, a niche market if ever there was one. There are a lot of very specialised air-cooled specialists out there in VW land, but can we attract them to cough up for an ad? The response from 90% of them is along the lines of; everyone with a split/bay/wedge knows who we are and besides we are booked solid until next XXX. We do have a digital version of the mag, and a subscription costs less than a sub to a hard copy. The mag is also available at readly and single hard copies are available from a selection of online mag retailers. What more should we do?

[strangeangel]

2 hours ago, JimH said:

I have no objection whatsoever to paying for someone’s time to produce the content. It does seem a bit piss takey to charge pretty much the same price when you haven’t had to spend the money printing and distributing it. Does advertising in the online versions not bring in the same money so the cover price has to increase to compensate?

 

I worked in publishing for a couple or three years, and initially I made the same assumption that eBooks/mags should cost significantly less than printed matter. Thing is, printing is only one of your costs. Even without that, you still have to pay writers, copy editors, proof readers; you still have overheads - office, phones etc. You still have to pay for promotion, your distributor still wants a cut, and so on. I was working with books, as opposed to magazines, so I don't know if it's different, but there's also quite a bit of work (and cost) involved in getting your book into the different eBook formats so they'll render properly etc.

 

It's a tougher business than ever, especially with hobbyists putting content out there for free. And you've also got things like Pressreader, where you can pay a tenner a month and read 15 titles of your choice online. A lot of library authorities (mine included) offer Pressreader (or something similar) for free to their members, obviously the magazines get some income from this but not as much as actually selling copies.

 

 

[dollywobbler]

31 minutes ago, barefoot said:

The problem will have been advertising, or the lack of it.

That was my fear but actually, my understanding was it was doing very well, at least to start with in the new format. But, advertisers are slashing expenditure at the moment, shop footfall is plummeting and my feeling is RC was more a victim of circumstance than its business model. It sort-of lives on as a section in Classic Car Mart.

Naturally I'm gutted, especially as the Hyundai Stellar feature I snapped at Shitefest last year hasn't been published yet! It was slotted for an edition this year. We may not have seen the end of RC though. We'll just have to see what happens when the dust settles and things get a little more back to normal.

If you want digital versions, they do exist at companies like Pocket Mags. Subscribing is by far and away the best way to support mags, as the cost of putting magazines into shops is frankly getting unworkable for smaller titles.

[DSdriver]

Advertising was a large part of the revenue for magazines before the internet but with falling readership the advertisers were not getting perceived value for money so stopped paying to advertise in print. Back in the seventies there was always a small ads section for joe public to sell his stuff as well as the full/half/quarter page ads.

Technology is moving on. The monks who used to hand copy books were put out of business by Gutenberg, lead-type compositors were put out of business by IBM MT/ST golfball and magnetic tape which was then superseded by Linotype and Diatronic photosetting which in turn was made obsolete by the AppleMac - the last four all happening during my career in print/publishing with the pace of change increasing each time.

 

[sierraman]

I liked Retro Cars but it doesn’t surprise me its folded, I accept I’m probably in the minority of people who get aroused by the sight of an S reg Focus. To be honest I don’t buy any car magazines these days unless I’m on a long flight, Car Mechanics used to be a good read until it became Rover 75 Weekly. The anorak in me frequently finds the buyers guides in these publications badly researched as well. 

[barrett]

15 minutes ago, DSdriver said:

Advertising was a large part of the revenue for magazines before the internet but with falling readership the advertisers were not getting perceived value for money so stopped paying to advertise in print.

That's quite a bald statement, and not one I'd agree with. Not all print media has falling readership for a start, and I can assure you people still pay good money to advertise in magazines, which not only have a percieved level of legitimacy that the internet does not, but also reach thousands (hundreds of thousands, or possibly millions overall) of people who do not use the internet, or only use it in a limited capacity. If a product has a reputation, for quality or prestige or respect in the community it serves, then advertisers recognise it is important to 'be seen' on the page as it lends them credibility.

I think the problem magazines are facing is when advertising revenue outstrips sales revenue by a large margain. If a couple of big advertisers decide to drop out, and suddenly the balance sheets don't look so good. This is obviously much more likely to happen with a new magazine which hasn't gained a large subscriber base, yet.

[DSdriver]

https://www.statista.com/statistics/322476/magazine-print-sales-volume-uk/

So here are some statistics for what they are worth.

[chaseracer]

RC was also competing with Modern Classics, which has Bauer behind it.  Currently.

[dave j]

Shame it's gone, I really enjoyed it. I had a free copy and then subscribed shortly after. The only other one I subscribe to is a vw mag called Hayburner that is free- the subscription cost is for the postage. Lot of ads in that mag which I guess is how they mnanage to keep going 

[AnthonyG]

The only magazine I’ve read recently and really liked was The Automobile.

It covers the same sort of cars as Classic and Sportscar (without the 15 year old Ferrari’s) and none of the ‘big money/city boy’ feel to it. It’s also written for the intelligent reader. It’s the only one I’d consider a sub for now.

Never read the newer format of Retro Cars, although I quite liked the earlier version from the 00s covering things like Avengers, Datsuns etc, tastefully modified. A interesting range of stuff covered and not wall to wall Escorts.

I’m old enough to remember Rover 214/Renault 19 group tests the first time around, so I’m not going to pay £4-5 for a second go.

The trouble for me with most of these magazines is that you can buy a paperback novel for the same money in Tescos etc and one of those will occupy me for a lot longer.

I buy the occasional ‘Car’ for moderns but it’s not a patch on the older (60-90s) ones. 

[sierraman]

The 80’s and 90’s were the peak time for me in car mags, mid 80’s  CAR had some great photography in it, wasn’t into the highbrow rubbish spouted by LJK Setright but the road tests were objective unlike What Car ever have been. 90’s Car Mechanics was great as well, said it before but Peter Simpson should be revered as some sort of Autoshite god. I liked his writing and his ‘give it a go’ style towards running bangers and fixing them.

90’s Top Gear was ace as well, some great writing in there and a bit of a broad church, there was road tests with Clarkson on some Ferrari whatever but there was also Quentin Wilson’s input on the oldies. Fell out with Crapital Plastics when it became all hipster, the sad bastard in me liked it when it was all about strange men tinkering about in sheds welding bits of biscuit tin into the floors of a Hillman Hunter. 

Or maybe I’ve just become a moaning miserable old bastard...

[HMC]

No offence to the (well liked on my part) staff on practical Classics but I would say Theodore j Gillam could fit that description with his liking for Gardner diesels slotted into 50s luxury saloons, he’s great. I take your point though.

[djoptix]

I used to buy RC but stopped a while ago, though I can't remember why.

Have occasionally bought Modern Classics but I can't help feeling it's a magazine by people trying to up the value of their own cars, that is similarly mainly bought by people trying to flip those cars.

I stick doggedly with PPC but it really is bloody awful a lot of the time nowadays. Thank goodness for Dave Walker.

[sierraman]

47 minutes ago, HMC said:

No offence to the (well liked on my part) staff on practical Classics but I would say Theodore j Gillam could fit that description with his liking for Gardner diesels slotted into 50s luxury saloons, he’s great. I take your point though.

Yeah he is an oddball, I quite liked reading his stories of fitting diesels into strange cars. A very skilled man. 

[HMC]

Its perhaps labouring the point a bit but perversely a current magazine that too strongly reflected the tastes of the forum would probably fold... as it wouldn’t be of sufficient wider interest. Whether bad or good is moot, but we are quite niche.

[DVee8]

I read Modern Classics,but even that is turning into the Porsche owners club.As  every  month there is some porsche or other.

[Shep Shepherd]

3 hours ago, sierraman said:

90’s Car Mechanics was great as well, said it before but Peter Simpson should be revered as some sort of Autoshite god. I liked his writing and his ‘give it a go’ style towards running bangers and fixing them.

The Peter Simpson era CM was excellent, as the magazine had consistently good/useful content and interesting/relatable project cars. It's never been the same since he left the editorship, in my opinion.

Fun fact: I bought The Volvo from Peter during his 'selling RWD Volvo estates on eBay' period 

 

[Craig the Princess]

Really sad that Retro Rides has folded.

 

But, how much time do I spend reading about cars on here for (next to) nothing?Because of that it is extremely rare that I buy a magazine.

[dollywobbler]

8 hours ago, chaseracer said:

RC was also competing with Modern Classics, which has Bauer behind it.  Currently.

Yeah, I don't see it as a competition to be honest. Modern Classics aimed further up the market than Retro Cars was. A bit like Practical Classics vs Classic Cars. 

While we're on about Practical Classics, Sam Glover has left his role on the mag, and seems to be trying to find his own place in the world. https://www.facebook.com/samgloversgarage/

[Isaac Hunt]

1 hour ago, Shep Shepherd said:

The Peter Simpson era CM was excellent, when the magazine had consistently good/useful content and interesting/relatable project cars. It's never been the same since he left the editorship, in my opinion.

Fun fact: I bought The Volvo from Peter during his 'selling RWD Volvo estates on eBay' period 

 

I still take Car Mechanics via subscription, but I don’t think it is as good as it used to be.   Although the ‘not so distant’ series of a fooked Insignia was really good and ‘hats off’ to them for seeing it through.

 Prac Classics I stopped subscribing to a few years back.  Some of the early stuff they did was brilliant.  

Car Mechanics I still hang on to, mainly because I learned to read using said and Practical Motorist (My Dads). My teacher used to ‘roll eyes’ when we were asked in class what books we had read.  Amongst typical answers such as Enid Blyton etc, yours truly spouted out ‘Car Mechanics’.  I don’t think my English Teacher quite ‘got it’ ?

[HMC]

21 minutes ago, dollywobbler said:

Yeah, I don't see it as a competition to be honest. Modern Classics aimed further up the market than Retro Cars was. A bit like Practical Classics vs Classic Cars. 

While we're on about Practical Classics, Sam Glover has left his role on the mag, and seems to be trying to find his own place in the world. https://www.facebook.com/samgloversgarage/

That’s a shame, he was great too. I thought he was particularly skilled at staging photos for the mag- like the main photo of that Facebook link.

[HMC]

Can he weld? He’d approve of working on the cx I recon (I think he has David Evans’s GSA)

[busmansholiday]

Well, fook! Just subscribed at Xmas for two years as BiL birthday/Xmas presie.

[tapir]

A real shame to see this go, I never read the old format but found on the Readly app a few months back and really enjoyed it.

I rarely buy paper magazines anymore just read on Readly or other online  platforms -not sure how much publishers receive from the online and if this is contributing to  their demise?