Alternative cars (magazine)

[motorpunk]

Anyone remember this? I do. It was good.

A publisher friend of mine (Adam) has resurrected the title with the aim of sharing features on stuff that doesn’t usually find the limelight elsewhere. There are features on Marcos, TVR, Ruf and Morgan who you will have heard of but perhaps don’t get to read about, and other marques that had me reaching for Google and still scratching my head. It’s all about the automotive oddities.

I’ll occasionally be writing for this magazine. I dunno if that’s good or bad, but felt I ought to mention it. There’ll be no watch adverts or Evo-style 911-jizzathons. This must be a good thing.

More info and whatnot online here - https://www.performancepublishing.co.uk/ac-subscribe.html

Adam has a few other successful titles and runs a tight ship. He has a Sylvia kit car, a knackered Smart and some very early (and slightly broken) Mondeos. I think Autoshiters might like the mag.

[motorpunk]

I’ve just subscribed. £16 for the year with free postage. My feature on the Morgan PlusFour should be in it.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

Just now, motorpunk said:

I’ve just subscribed. £16 for the year with free postage. My feature on the Morgan PlusFour should be in it.

Reminds me of the time Classic Car Mart borrowed my CX for a feature. Complimentary copy? Forget it. I still had to buy the magazine when the feature was published.

[motorpunk]

22 hours ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

Reminds me of the time Classic Car Mart borrowed my CX for a feature. Complimentary copy? Forget it. I still had to buy the magazine when the feature was published.

I always post a free copy to the owner if I’ve written about a car! I’ve subscribed because I want to support their business. 

[St.Jude]

22 hours ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

Reminds me of the time Classic Car Mart borrowed my CX for a feature. Complimentary copy? Forget it. I still had to buy the magazine when the feature was published.

Probably thought if you had a CX worthy of being a cover car then you had enough money to buy a copy!

You know what, I read the first post about the different car brands and thought well if it's going to be covering obscure or less spoken about brands, it'll have to be covering Venturi.

And do you know what? First issue? It's mentioned. That's enough for me to part with my "hard earned" dollar.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

2 minutes ago, St.Jude said:

Probably thought if you had a CX worthy of being a cover car then you had enough money to buy a copy!

You know what, I read the first post about the different car brands and thought well if it's going to be covering obscure or less spoken about brands, it'll have to be covering Venturi....

Mine wasn't a cover car as such, but was in one of the head-to-head features inside the magazine. CCM isn't easy to find, either; not that common in newsagents.

Venturi Atlantique is one of those cars that just looked right. Even had CX S2 door mirrors. Pity they didn't sell well; think they managed to shift maybe 10 RHD cars before giving up.

[St.Jude]

31 minutes ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

Mine wasn't a cover car as such, but was in one of the head-to-head features inside the magazine. CCM isn't easy to find, either; not that common in newsagents.

Venturi Atlantique is one of those cars that just looked right. Even had CX S2 door mirrors. Pity they didn't sell well; think they managed to shift maybe 10 RHD cars before giving up.

It's one of those cars I got on Grand Turismo 2, and I thought it was a great looking thing and couldn't understand why no one spoke about it. I don't think I've even seen one in the flesh. Which is mad when I consider I've seen a Bugatti Veyron a foot away from me in person. 

[motorpunk]

Cracking feature in a recent issue (not one I wrote!), thought I'd share;

[Crackers]

On 01/08/2021 at 10:49, Tadhg Tiogar said:

Reminds me of the time Classic Car Mart borrowed my CX for a feature. Complimentary copy? Forget it. I still had to buy the magazine when the feature was published.

One of my photos was used on the cover of a major Bauer Media magazine without me knowing. They paid me, but I had to go and buy the magazine to find out they'd used my photo! 

[Missy Charm]

30 minutes ago, motorpunk said:

Cracking feature in a recent issue (not one I wrote!), thought I'd share;

I must admit to misreading the text as: "I moved in with Brian Luff, we threw the television out and got disgusting", which has entirely different connotations...

[warch]

On 7/14/2022 at 9:32 PM, Missy Charm said:

I must admit to misreading the text as: "I moved in with Brian Luff, we threw the television out and got disgusting", which has entirely different connotations...

I rofled. 

[High Jetter]

On 7/14/2022 at 9:32 PM, Missy Charm said:

I must admit to misreading the text as: "I moved in with Brian Luff, we threw the television out and got disgusting", which has entirely different connotations...

You know you want to! 😁

[motorpunk]

A bit of VW-bashing from me in the latest issue. 

[Rust Collector]

25 minutes ago, motorpunk said:

A bit of VW-bashing from me in the latest issue. 

I was driving back from the Kaufland in Rača on the outskirts of Bratislava when a black Tatra 603 drove past in the opposite direction. I was so excited that I could only point and make garbled shouting noises when what I was really trying to do was to tell my partner to take a photo 😅 Absolutely beautiful machines. It just blew my mind to see one being driven through city traffic in 38 degree heat!!

[motorpunk]

I've just submitted a 3700 word feature for the next issue of Alternative Cars magazine. I love writing this stuff, nearly 10pm and I've spent most of the day hammering out something special. A tiny taster pic below. 

Current issue has;

Lotus Emira – Driving the final ICE car from Hethel
TVR Sagaris – Is Blackpool’s final car really such an animal?
GTM Coupé – The credible Mini-based kit car from the 1960s
24 Hours of Lemons – Taking part in the weirdest endurance racing
Panther Westwinds – The story behind the hand-crafted cars
Forgotten Alternatives – Left-field cars from history
Morgan 3 Wheeler buyers’ guide 

It's only 5.50 and includes postage, I love the effort the tiny team have taken to put this together, and hope a few of you will click this and try it - https://www.performancepublishing.co.uk/spring-2023-issue-7.html

[garethj]

52 minutes ago, motorpunk said:

Panther Westwinds – The story behind the hand-crafted cars
Forgotten Alternatives – Left-field cars from history
Morgan 3 Wheeler buyers’ guide 

It's only 5.50 and includes postage, I love the effort the tiny team have taken to put this together, and hope a few of you will click this and try it - https://www.performancepublishing.co.uk/spring-2023-issue-7.html

I have been mulling over writing something about Panther for here, although obviously it wouldn’t be as detailed as a magazine article.  
 

Reading through old copies of the Daily Express Motor Show magazines (basically the only place we could get lots of car info in the late ‘70s and ‘80s) there were lots of small manufacturers listed and while their production volumes were tiny compared to the major manufacturers, they were given equal importance in the magazine - one small photo and a paragraph per model.  That’s very different to the other magazines or other media handled them.

Maybe that’s the reason I have a soft spot for them, and who here doesn’t love an underdog?

Good luck with the next issue!

[motorpunk]

10 hours ago, garethj said:

I have been mulling over writing something about Panther for here, although obviously it wouldn’t be as detailed as a magazine article.  
 

Reading through old copies of the Daily Express Motor Show magazines (basically the only place we could get lots of car info in the late ‘70s and ‘80s) there were lots of small manufacturers listed and while their production volumes were tiny compared to the major manufacturers, they were given equal importance in the magazine - one small photo and a paragraph per model.  That’s very different to the other magazines or other media handled them.

Maybe that’s the reason I have a soft spot for them, and who here doesn’t love an underdog?

Good luck with the next issue!

Thanks Gareth. I like old newspaper motorshow preview supplements for the same reason - equal coverage for monster corporations like BL and man-in-shed makers like Stimpson. 

I'd love to read something on Panther, I am sure others would, too. I think I got pissed with their ex-PR man at Goodwood once and he was as eccentric as you'd imagine.

[garethj]

10 minutes ago, motorpunk said:

Thanks Gareth. I like old newspaper motorshow preview supplements for the same reason - equal coverage for monster corporations like BL and man-in-shed makers like Stimpson. 

I'd love to read something on Panther, I am sure others would, too. I think I got pissed with their ex-PR man at Goodwood once and he was as eccentric as you'd imagine.

It’s funny where we got information from in those formative years, buying a weekly or monthly car magazine was a big stretch for my pocket money but an annual motor show booklet was ok and of course there was Top Trumps.

The Panther J72 was in one of them and obviously the V12 Jaguar engine made it a pretty useful car.  Even now I can’t look at a Mercedes W123 without thinking of the dread of someone choosing 0-60 and me having the woeful diesel.

 I also vaguely remember there being a TV advert for Timex watches featuring the Panther 6 and I had a Timex watch at the same time.  Is that as close as I ever got to being a cool kid?

When I was studying Engineering in university, we had access to the IMechE library and one of their recent papers was on the carbon fibre used in the Panther Solo.  I got a copy and was amazed at how such a tiny company was using such high tech materials and analysis for their design.

Stick at it with the magazine, it’s really interesting and that doesn’t happen often anymore 😀

[motorpunk]

7 hours ago, garethj said:

Stick at it with the magazine, it’s really interesting and that doesn’t happen often anymore 😀

Thanks. It only works if people buy it, and even then it certainly doesn’t pay any of my bills! 😁

[motorpunk]

I did a lap of London's Monopoly board, in a Caterham, for Alternative Cars magazine. 

£5.50 for the Summer 2023 edition which has Elva, Lotus, Marcos, Citroen and even a bit of VW content. Some of which was written by me. 

Buy direct from the publisher. Or don't. I'm not your Mum. https://www.performancepublishing.co.uk/ac.html