Retro Cars is no more

[ETCHY]

43 minutes ago, Joey spud said:

I loved Popular Classics.

It had the stalwarts of Martin Hodder,Mark Dixon and of course Nick Larkin,it was such a pleasant,excellently written publication that championed average,everyday car of the 50's,60's and 70's.

Where as Practical Classics was an in your face Oil leaks and Angle Grinder Mag which was ok but when they merged together they just didn't knit and Popular Cassics gentle nature was lost forever.

I used to enjoy Popular Classics too. I quite agree it was an excellent magazine & it was somehow gentle - well put.

I can well remember Martin Hodder & his gold Mk1 Granada Ghia that was his staff car for a while.

I was rather sad when that magazine disappeared.

[Richard_FM]

I’ve bought a few Practical Motorists from the early 80s & an annual from the 70s.

They are a good mix of current motoring news, road tests, plenty of tips & tricks for the home mechanic & lots of period ads.  They weren’t afraid to use ordinary cars that were a few years old in photos for the diy articles rather than gleaming press cars.

[Spottedlaurel]

This seems an appropriate place to drop these, presumably attempts to explore future directions for the magazines? Note the publication dates.....

Future Classics supplement 10/93 (Your Classic) by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

Modern Classics supplement 5/95 (Practical Classics) by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

Your Classic didn't survive for more than another year or two.

[Richard_FM]

For a long time the Hillman Avenger seemed to be the poster child for being a "non classic" car when 1970s cars had just crawled out of bangerdom & became collectable.

I can remember on another site someone mentioned that his boss in the 1970s regarded Morris Minors & the Farinas as old junk that would never become classics.

[HMC]

I’d love to thumb through an Old Issue of Motor Sport- I bet the same discussions were had long ago with pre war enthusiasts stoking their pipes up over vehicles with UNITARY CONSTRUCTION disgracing the pages. Or not.

[HMC]

It’s only a DERBY Bentley. SCRAP IT.

[lesapandre]

28 minutes ago, HMC said:

I’d love to thumb through an Old Issue of Motor Sport- I bet the same discussions were had long ago with pre war enthusiasts stoking their pipes up over vehicles with UNITARY CONSTRUCTION disgracing the pages. Or not.

It was running boards and freestanding headlights. Full-width ponton styling was considered 'American'.

[barrett]

There are still plenty of people in the world who think anything built after 1930 is just mass-produced modern rubbish. And in the vast majority of cases, they are correct

[vulgalour]

Stuff built before 1930 is merely low volume handmade rubbish.  It's still rubbish, there's just less of it, and we all know RaRIty eQUaLS VAluE.

 

In fairness, stuff that's 90 years old is allowed to be as rubbish as it likes really, especially if it still works.

[chodweaver]

Well, I am who I think I am.
Which book? I’ve done a few. I think you might mean the Quality Control one. That’s riddled with typos and has tall tales from old car factories, right? It’s on Amazon here https://www.amazon.co.uk/Confessions-quality-control-balls-ups-factories/dp/1532719795 I’ll make about a quid if you buy it from there.
Honestly speaking - as a fellow shiter, don’t bother buying it unless you’re minted. I’ll stick you one in the post if you DM me your details. I have a few copies at home. 

I'll have a copy too, if you still have one. Pm incoming.

Sent from my BV6000 using Tapatalk

[motorpunk]

2 hours ago, chodweaver said:

I'll have a copy too, if you still have one. Pm incoming.

Sent from my BV6000 using Tapatalk
 

Thanks. There’s no need to pay me the amazon price! I got your message and will reply when I get a tick. 

[Tadhg Tiogar]

On 5/3/2020 at 1:51 PM, motorpunk said:

.....the Quality Control one. That’s riddled with typos and has tall tales from old car factories, right? It’s on Amazon here https://www.amazon.co.uk/Confessions-quality-control-balls-ups-factories/dp/1532719795 I’ll make about a quid if you buy it from there....

I actually bought a copy. Quite entertaining.

[motorpunk]

8 hours ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

I actually bought a copy. Quite entertaining.

Oh! Thank you very much! ?

[Tadhg Tiogar]

1 hour ago, motorpunk said:

Oh! Thank you very much! ?

Especially enjoyed the bit about visiting the Skoda factory and finding that their apparently shambling workers were even more precise than the Germans!

[motorpunk]

1 hour ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

Especially enjoyed the bit about visiting the Skoda factory and finding that their apparently shambling workers were even more precise than the Germans!

We were really surprised at that, too. They were really nice guys once they knew I wasn’t German. Did I mention that I got a ride in a prototype mk1 Octavia VRs? I had a great time there.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

19 minutes ago, motorpunk said:

We were really surprised at that, too. They were really nice guys once they knew I wasn’t German....

Things haven't really been the same since about 1938.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

On 5/14/2020 at 8:45 PM, Spottedlaurel said:

This seems an appropriate place to drop these, presumably attempts to explore future directions for the magazines? Note the publication dates.....

Future Classics supplement 10/93 (Your Classic) by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

Modern Classics supplement 5/95 (Practical Classics) by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

Your Classic didn't survive for more than another year or two.

Why would you use such a crappy photograph of filthy cars on a magazine cover?

[ETCHY]

17 hours ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

I actually bought a copy. Quite entertaining.

Looks a good book, I need to do an Amazon order at some point, Ta for that

[Tadhg Tiogar]

49 minutes ago, ETCHY said:

Looks a good book, I need to do an Amazon order at some point, Ta for that

@motorpunk could always do with an extra quid in royalties....!

[Shite Ron]

On 5/14/2020 at 8:45 PM, Spottedlaurel said:

This seems an appropriate place to drop these, presumably attempts to explore future directions for the magazines? Note the publication dates.....

I have three of the future classics recommendations, I only had one when the magazine was published. I was not really interested in what was a future classic I just buy what I like. People were generally very negative about Cortina’s at the time but I always loved them. At the time I was not at all gentle on them but they took a lot of abuse and mechanically were indestructible, you just had to be able to weld!

[Alusilber]

In more bad news, Bauer announced yesterday that Modern Classics is to be canned, and Car Mechanics is being sold off to Kelsey.

Oh, and Q magazine too ?

https://pressgazette.co.uk/q-magazine-closes-modern-classics-bauer-fails-to-find-buyer/

 

[Bren]

I havd bought car mechanics for nearly 30 years. I don't enjoy reading it as much - because motoring has changed. I have no interest in electric or hybrid cars - I only ever buy old cars - I will have passed into the after life before electric vehicles are cheap enough for me to buy.

[loserone]

Car mechanics covers electrics and hybrids?  A £800 first gen prius is appealing!

[dollywobbler]

Yes, very sad news. Fair play to Bauer for persisting with Car Mechanics for so long though. It went back to Bauer in 2009, and I thought they'd can it immediately as it is not exactly flashy. It was with Kelsey before that, and doing very nicely, so I hope that will continue with its return. It's still plugging (literally these days) a valuable niche and proving that DIY can still be a thing with what we call moderns.

[St.Jude]

Well bugger. Disappointed with Car Mechanics going to Kelsey, only because I would buy the twin pack of CM and Practical Classics together for £7. Still it could be worse, it could've been terminated.

As for Q, meh. Only ever bought it when the Manics were on it. 

[BorniteIdentity]

I think this is Bauer looking at everything they have, and shedding things that are in the red or show little sign of being in the black.  They have spent millions and millions in the last 12 months buying radio stations (4 uk groups bought in a matter of months) and - with COVID - it's now time to balance the books.  It doesn't matter whether they say "we run publishing and radio seperately" - ultimately its the same company.  Global are doing the same with their radio and 'out of home' advertising too.

I was sad to hear about Q magazine, but then realised I was mourning for a part of my life that's already gone.  I hadn't bought it in 13 years.  Modern Classics?  Keith who started it is a nice sort and it's always sad to see something like this fall by the wayside.  But I bought the magazine in April (as something to read whilst BORED) and wasn't particularly taken with it.  I enjoyed Practical Classics far more.  That probably says more about me than the magazines though.

[sierraman]

Used to be an avid reader of Practical Classics but it seems it’s all about catering to the hipsters and buying old cars as investments.

I’m surprised Car Mechanics is still going if I’m honest, it’s fell into this awkward position now as a ‘trade’ magazine but with articles tailored to the rank amateur like how to change brake shoes. Nobody I know in the trade reads it. A lot of the articles are badly researched as well, it’s just generic badly researched car buying advice. I’d give it a year or so and it’ll get dropped I’m sure. Also I’ve not figured why it’s printed on Izal bog roll?

Recently I’ve just took to reading 80’s editions of What Car. Maybe I’m just a miserable old man but I’d just as sooner but a book these days. 

[MrDuke]

4 hours ago, BorniteIdentity said:

I was sad to hear about Q magazine, but then realised I was mourning for a part of my life that's already gone.  I hadn't bought it in 13 years.

The saddest thing was the fact that Q magazine was the one that survived for so long - back in the day I always thought Vox and Select were way, way better.

[ETCHY]

I do find it sad when mags disappear. I bought the odd issue of Modern Classics but it was a bit too hit & miss for me to get regularly & often had more sporty type cars in than appeal to me ( that's why I liked Retro Cars ).

Practical Classics is ok but its heyday (for me) was in the late '80's early '90's, it just seemed a better magazine & that's not just harking back, if I read an old issue now it is better.

New car type mags like Autocar, are now just biased towards anything German- if it's VAG it's brilliant anything else isn't (which just pisses me off), also the road tests don't really have the depth they did in say the 1980's.  AutoExpress too seems VAG biased a lot of the time.

 

[HMC]

I’ve got a bit of nostalgia for PC as I started buying it aged 15 in 1995 and it fed my love of old cars but inability to own one. I really used to lap up staff car sagas I suppose as a substitute for having one myself. I remember nick Larkin was trying to sell a wolseley 1500 for £200 and I wanted that car! 
 

I used to buy top gear (then a newcomer) and PC and between them it covered everything in motoring I was interested in. I liked how unpretentious PC was, although I did detect some ARG Hate/ shame during that period in the saga pages. (IIRC there was brief metro and maestro content but along the lines of being afraid to be seen dead in one) They seem much more open minded about all older cars these days; Late MG rover stuff is affirmatively embraced for instance.