Practical Classics.. when was it best?

[r.welfare]

I'm not sure if his first comment about his talents is really that tongue-in-cheek or not - I dimly recall a feature on "Driven" or "Classic Cars" on the telly when he was in a battle to stop a Leyland Princess being featured at the NEC classic car show, and he didn't come over well at all - but in a lot of ways he was right that, during the Holman era, it probably was more about the team than the cars. But, to me, that's what made it good.I do suspect that Peter Simpson is the man you'd want at the helm of a classic/practical mag that would embrace most of the Autoshite ethos, though. I'm pleased that Car Mechanics hasn't changed significantly since he vacated the editor's chair, although I suspect this is because he is still very much hands-on with it.

[dollywobbler]

Arse. I'll have to back-track on Martyn Moore's era a little as that 100 Classics thing was epic. Nigel Boothman really is a top bloke. That was a great (and a nightmare to organise!) feature, and I was glued to his Cadillac adventures every month at the time.

[warren t claim]

Quoted from the PC forum...Then the editor of Practical Classics was sacked after questions were asked about his competence and integrityI would love to know more about this! Why did all his staff leave with him? Was it through choice?Someone please put me out of my misery!

[Angrydicky]

I voted for Will Holman because him and his team made me laugh. There were also some fantastic articles back then, such as driving a PB Cresta to the Czech Republic to buy a Tatra 603, then driving them both back. However, I was very close to voting for Peter Simpson, he always come across as someone who is a genuine enthusiast and extremely knowledgeable, rather than a journalist who was offered an editorship of a classic car magazine. Lets not forget John Pearson however, his staff cars weren't as interesting as some but he had an excellent team (Nick Larkin, Peter Simpson etc) and the mag was definately run well by him.I haven't read PC on a regular basis since Will Holman left. I read CCW instead.

[CortinaDave]

Agree RE : Peter Simpson - Seems a very knowledgeable bloke. Car Mechanics is always a good read, a shame he has left although he does still seem to be keeping a fairly close eye on proceedings there, long may it continue.

[Richard]

I didn't really read PC much during the Holman era but it sounds a bit like it was Top Gear in print form.I can't remember who was editor in the mid-1980s when I last bought Practical Classics on a regular basis.

[scruff]

Quoted from the PC forum...Then the editor of Practical Classics was sacked after questions were asked about his competence and integrityI would love to know more about this! Why did all his staff leave with him? Was it through choice?Someone please put me out of my misery!

It's all there on the PC thread and a peek at the contributors/staff list of PPC should give you a big clue! Martyn Moore is a nice bloke and did several emap mags back in the day including Practical Photography of all things, and I don't think his current job could in any way be classed as a penance, trust me...

[GJR 11L]

....Interesting that this thread has over 400 hits now but only 30 odd votes... we have a heck of a lot of lurkers on AS

Peter Simpson got my vote. Having met the man a couple of times at shows in locations at opposite ends of the UK, I can say that he's one of the most genuine, engaging and thoroughly likeable people ever to have written for and/or edited PC or any of the other publications he's been involved with.He and Larkin were holding what appeared to be a contest to see which could get more of their ice cream on the other's shoes on one of the show encounter occasions. No ego, no "look at me, I'm Peter Simpson, don't you know" just a really good bloke whose only failing during his PC era was, IMHO, the crunching of his lovely 1600E's nose when he couldn't get his eyes off the rear end of a young woman in time to see the car in front of him. The earlier years of the mag gave us John Williams among others, he's a bloody nice bloke too. So why are the likes of him and the guy from the Channel Islands with the big 'tache (name escapes me, but he had a big old Alvis as a staff car) not on the poll?

[seth]

Hang on, just realised. Hasn't Russ Smith been forgotten somewhere along the line? I'm sure he was at PC for a bit

[saabhappy]

He was the last editor of Popular Classics, but I don't think he ever edited Practical.

[Tayne]

.

[Pete-M]

Who was it that ran the nice Mk1 Granada 3.0 Ghia for a while? I'll vote for them as Larkin etc just bored me senseless and the current mob seem to be as knowledgeless as their predecessors.Then again, the whole PC idea seems more than a bit flawed to me. It's a magazine seemingly dedicated to people who want cheap old cars they can be snobbish about, but who can't afford / don't want the better old cars out there. It's a weird, weird situation. I'd expect Autoshite to champion the underdog, but for a national magazine to attempt to suggest some of the things they do is just insane. Then again, that fat bugger on "Classic Gear" was praising the Allegro the other week, so it's not limited to PC.Matt Jones is a decent enough chap, but he's not exactly a fount of knowledge. Can't aim that at him alone though, PC doesn't seem to have a 'facts' department so they can all get away with publishing frankly ludicrous things as gospel. Cars don't mysteriously become brilliant after 30 years of being shite, they don't ripen, and stuff that was shit in the '70s doesn't all of a sudden become better than the cream of its contemporaries just because it's cheaper.There are a lot of magazines guilty of this though, I was reading a group test of a Fiat 131 Abarth, Lotus Sunbeam, Chevette HSR and RS1800 not that long ago and the writer hadn't driven a Mk2 Escort before. All through the article were little comments about how one car was more advanced and one car had better trim, another had more power etc, but at the end I suspect he'd got the whole Mk2 Escort thing but didn't want to admit it. In the sum-up there was no doubt the Mk2 was the best, but there was no way on earth the writer would put that, it ended up being "Sunbeam is good, Chevette is good, Fiat is better, Fiat doesn't win though" type thing. WTF is wrong with these people? If something is better than something else, frickin' say so!Sorry, personal hobby horse thing this. Cars that were shit quite often get more interesting with age, but they don't all of a sudden become better than cars that were much much better when they were new. I have no problem with people smoking about in Austin 3 litres and enjoying them, I'm sure it's a fun old thing in its old way and yeah, I'd be happy if I got a lift somewhere in one. I'd quite probably enjoy it, but I'd get pissed off if the owner started to tell me that the Austin was a much better car than a Jag XJ6 or Rover 3500 because it quite simply isn't, never was and never will be. Possibly more reliable, but better? No.PC are often guilty of this, which is why I like to take the piss out of people who believe everything they write.

[barrett]

If I may interject briefly, whilst i've enjoyed this thread (and even had a vote), this is the 386,892,987th* thread on PC thats been on here within a few months, which always end up with a 'which era was best' or 'C&SC is better' debate..... and I was wondering if we couldn't draw some sort of line under it now? These threads are becoming about as predictable as a buyers guide on MGBs..... obviously if no one else cares then I shall shut up (and probably still read the next ''Practical Classics is....'' thread)*5th I think, actually

[warren t claim]

I first started buying PC because I enjoy the writing of John Pearson. I can remember him writing for Popular Motoring back in the 70's and 80's when I was a wee nipper. I wish I still had all my copies of PM.

[Split_Pin]

I voted for the current Editor.I have purchased (and kept) every issue of Popular Classics since January 1990 up until it was merged into Practical Classics in June 1996. I can honestly say I dont remember one Editor to the next, but I remember the content. That magazine went through a really bad period in about 1994 when pricey Ferraris featured in their dismal 'Great Cars' features.The same goes for Practcal Classics. I enjoy reading about the everyday cars, and the more recent issues have featured cars I'd lost touch with (spotting-wise), such as the Sierra and E30 BMW 3-series. In this issue they've featured the Panhard Dyna too, which is another unusual choice, and enjoyable to find out about, so thats the reason for my vote.

[Justin Case]

I don't think that there ever was (or is) a golden age of Practically Classics, there have always been some aspects that I liked and some that I didn't (so I haven't voted ) I've normally gone through the monthly ritual of looking through the ranks of car magazines and selecting the one or two that appealed most. I don't get PC as much as I used to, Auto Italia is my most common choice. I suppose that's more like Impractical Classics though

[dollywobbler]

"Sunbeam is good, Chevette is good, Fiat is better, Fiat doesn't win though" type thing. WTF is wrong with these people? If something is better than something else, frickin' say so!

Last year, I drove every small-medium Vauxhall from a HA Viva through to a Mk2 Ashtray GTE 16v and my favourite was the Chevette. A basic hatchback. Didn't do it to be controversial, it genuinely was the car that put the biggest smile on my face that day - though don't get me wrong, I'd love to drive a GTE on a race-track. Just felt like too much power for an actual road. I sometimes wonder what people made of that decision.

[saabhappy]

"Sunbeam is good, Chevette is good, Fiat is better, Fiat doesn't win though" type thing. WTF is wrong with these people? If something is better than something else, frickin' say so!

That's very true of car comparisons, because they're scared of offending readers, but also of comparisons between garage tools and equipment where they never say something is crap or a total rip-off at the money, for fear of losing advertising. All group comparisons therefore turn out to be rather anodyne.

[Pete-M]

"Sunbeam is good, Chevette is good, Fiat is better, Fiat doesn't win though" type thing. WTF is wrong with these people? If something is better than something else, frickin' say so!

Last year, I drove every small-medium Vauxhall from a HA Viva through to a Mk2 Ashtray GTE 16v and my favourite was the Chevette. A basic hatchback. Didn't do it to be controversial, it genuinely was the car that put the biggest smile on my face that day - though don't get me wrong, I'd love to drive a GTE on a race-track. Just felt like too much power for an actual road. I sometimes wonder what people made of that decision.

There's nothing wrong with not favouring the most powerful or the most popular, but the whole article was written in a manner as to suggest that the Escort really shouldn't be any good and Escorts are all hype - until the writer had a go in one and I got the feeling he was gutted with himself for liking it. To me, that's bad journalism. A writer is as entitled as anyone else to have preconceptions of whether something is good or bad, but the whole point of road tests is to pass to the reader an unbiased view of a car - not to reinforce things the writer may have read on t'interweb. There were positive comments about all the cars but it seemed biased. It was like getting an Apple Mac enthusiast to test Windoze 7 - they're never going to admit if it's good, that would be a loss of face.As for the Ashtray GTE 16v, bloody good engine attached to one of the least enjoyable chassis I've ever driven. A well sorted Chevette is more fun as it is controllable by both right foot and wheel. The Astra is about four feet wider at full throttle...

[warren t claim]

Well 35 votes cast so far. I'm hoping that this thread will finally end the debate once and for all. It would be interesting if anyone from PC is reading this and taking note...It would be interesting to hear peoples views on what they would like a classic car mag to contain and what they are prepared to pay for it.

[Heep]

Slightly off topic, but I just had a read through the last 3/4s of this thread and saw Nigel Boothman's name come up. I'd forgotten about him, but he always seemed to me from day one to be a fantastic chap and a great guy to have on staff.

[whitevanman]

If I remember correctly he moved to Edinburgh and now works for Classic American Magazine

[Martyn Moore]

Well, that was a sobering read! I thought my time at Practical Classics was pretty good. I think sales went up, and that was what I was measured on. Sorry to those of you who didn’t like my issues. I think more people did like them.

Truth is, I didn't want to edit PC. I had been on Classic Cars for two years with good results: favourable reader feedback and improved sales. Phil Bell was chomping at the bit to take over from me, so I decided to step back from editing day-to-day and let him have a go. He did well and I was having a great time attending classic car events such as Goodwood, the Villa d'Este concours and Pebble Beach (interviewing people like Carroll Shelby).

What happened next, I will tell as it was told to me.

One day, a Practical Classics ad salesperson rang a client to find out if they wanted to book an ad in the next issue. They were told that the client had decided to book a page in "Will Holman's new magazine" instead.  According to the story, Will had been developing Practical Performance Car while editing Practical Classics and then pitched it to the advertising market. This wasn't acceptable to Will's employers, obviously, and so they parted company. Kevin Leaper went with Will; Simon Goldsworthy stayed, as did Nigel Boothman.

The publisher turned to me and asked me to 'caretaker edit' the title while he found a permanent replacement for Will. I brought in Ben Field, who was as hardworking and diligent a writer as anyone could ask for. Danny Hopkins, on hearing of my appointment, returned from a stint on the railway and outdoors magazines, I think.

Previously, I'd edited Max Power, and it was a bit of a running joke that I owned and ran a 1972 Jaguar XJ6 while Will Holman on Practical Classics owned a Sierra XR4, or similar. His editing style was maverick but the tone was a bit clubby. The humour was difficult to get into for new readers and arsing about took priority over running, repairing, buying and selling affordable old cars.

In order to find the right balance of content, Ben and I set about stripping out the excess indulgence and it's fair to say that the readership may have found it boring; the existing readership, that is. New readers liked it.

Then the publisher made Phil Bell editor of Classic Cars, which Phil thoroughly deserved, so my route back to posh lunches with chilled wine on the lawns of stately homes was now closed.

So, I went to Fleet News, the weekly read of fleet managers who are responsible for about half of all new car purchases in the UK. Fleet News is a hugely influential publication and its editor carries a lot of responsibility. I wrote about road safety, the environment and new car technology. I really enjoyed it.

But I’d also done a turn for the BBC on something called The 20th Century Roadshow, which was testing the ground for the Antiques Roadshow covering newer old stuff. The test was successful, which is why the Sunday tea-time viewing staple is not just confined to genuine antiques (more than 100 years old). I made a big contribution to the show by contacting owners’ clubs in the areas we were filming in and asking them to bring along appropriate vehicles for me to value. I got VW campervans to turn up in Cornwall, E-Types in the Midlands and Triumphs and Lambrettas in Brighton.

My experience of TV production, added to video production skills gained in Australia in the 1980s, led me to a second career in film-making. So far, I’ve made about 600 short films for industry, the charity sector, wildlife preservation and latterly, medical research conferences in Europe.

Sorry if this has turned into a bit of a record-straightening essay, with more than a hint of “Hey, I’m not that bad!” about it. Will Holman once said he thought I was arrogant. But a few weeks ago, Danny Hopkins asked me to write a Staff Car Saga, which appeared in the recent anniversary issue and I hope you all enjoyed that.

Photo: one of my Practical Classics covers, together with a more recent edition.

 

[lesapandre]

Thanks for the update Martyn - really nice to hear you are thriving. I've read most of the eras of PC and enjoyed them all - yes they have been different but then so has what may be loosely called 'the classic car world'.

Two of the other readable journalists were Peter Simpson and Nick Larkin - one loses track of people but I always enjoyed their very different writing.

I remember buying the first issue of PC when it arrived.

[Wibble]

I have read PC for decades and find it a far superior publication to Classics World.

[RayMK]

I've always enjoyed reading Practical Classics, at first buying individual copies if the content tickled my taste, but on subscription for the last few years.  I liked the Simon Goldsworthy days especially when he had rear engined Skodas and more recently Sam Glover's adventures with uncommon Eastern Bloc vehicles.  However, the current PC crew are still holding my interest despite my tastes not being tickled so often as the mag is rightfully aimed at incoming much younger readers.  It is a business after all  and needs decent sales to keep it afloat, probably not possible by solely pandering to the surviving old giffers who still hanker after Austin Counties, Wartburgs, Jowetts and three wheeled Reliants (to name but a few).  The present journalistic styles are nice and varied, depending on the writer.  The technical experts are even addressing the problems faced by the younger readers who have cars which are increasingly riddled with electronics - a black art as far as I'm concerned.  I hope the mag continues to prosper.

[delux]

Will was good but I always got the feeling that if Pete Simpson won the lottery he would just buy more shite to fix and I could relate to that!

I liked Will in PPC but I think the same things killed every magazine.

I blame me, price and Insurance adverts.

I blame me because when I started buying car magazines I was a fresh faced 15 year old hoping to be a mechanic one day. I didnt own any cars, I hadnt driven anything on the road. Now, I'm a mechanic. I have restored, raced, crashed and ruined loads of cars . This experience spoils car magazines for me. I dont want to read some journalism graduate trying to crack jokes and tell me the 1st step in a repair is to disconnect the battery and secure the car on axle stands! I dont want to read 3 pages about how some dude with more money/time/better garage has restored some shitbox MGB. Yawn!

I blame price/insurance adverts. I know how inflation works and I realise a magazine is a business that makes lots of money selling advertising space but how can I justify spending £5 for a book of insurance adverts? As a motorist, I do all I can to pay as little insurance as I can. What percentage of my premium goes on claims and what percentage goes to shareholders? So why would I pay for a book of adverts for them?

If the content had stayed gritty, if content Vs insurance adverts was better balanced, if there was less 'best to get a professional' shite people would still buy it!

[HMC]

Martyn Moore! Just had a good catch up in the 45th anniversary PC About your XJ6. I remember buying PC (in about 1997) when it was on the cover.  

PC was what got me really into older cars as a teenager, and have had a big soft spot for it ever since.

[chaseracer]

@Martyn Moore, remember 20-something years ago some opinionated tw@t emailed on a Friday evening to point out some issue with a cover - and you offered him a spare press pass for the Goodwood Revival that weekend?

Hello again!

😁

[Wibble]

I’ve moaned about Classics World before but the latest issue arrived today. Stars of 1985 includes the Honda Legend, with a photo of a 1995 legend saying, also known as the Rover 800. FFS!