Disappointed in the latest issue

I came back to Classic Motorsports after being away for several years. I subscribed for a couple of years and really liked what you had done with the book. So, I decided to subscribe for 10 years, then everything changed after several issues. I am not happy with the direction things are going. Actually I have been disappointed for the last 6 to 8 months now. You have gotten rid of some very good columns, for example Andy Reid. You have had one person basically write the entire book for several issues. The number of pages that contain ads is almost greater than of number pages that contain articles. Compared to other books I get, like Hemmings Sports & Exotic, it has more pages containing articles than ads. But back to your book, in the latest issue Nov 2015 on page 76 "Design Details" features 2 pages of pictures of scoops with no info on what cars they are from or why they are important, and only 4 sentences of nothing. Is this an art magazine? In "Bodywork Basics" (pages 84-89) picture #3 - what the heck are we supposed to be looking at? His hands are blocking anything he is doing. I expect better from you.

Sorry for the rant, it takes a lot for me to complain but I am getting to the point that if I don't see improvement in your book I'll have to unsubscribe. But I wanted to let you know my feelings and give you a chance to improve first.

Sincerely, Bob

Thanks for caring enough to share your feelings, but I have to say that we enjoyed putting that last issue together as it had more of our favorite stuff--more cars like Alfa Spiders, more stuff like the Lotus wagon, more tech, etc. The Monterey coverage had more of the cars that we like (and can afford) to drive.

As far as the ads, we have largely moved them out of the features. This way the big stories aren't interrupted by the ads. It also allows the features to get more/bigger photos, with most of them starting on a two-page spread.

However, we take all complaints to heart and will be discussing your letter internally.

Thanks again.

Hi David, Thank you for the reply and I hope you take my comments to heart. I have really enjoyed Classic Motorsports in the past and don't want to leave again but I will if it keeps going the way it as been. Sincerely Bob

I enjoyed the last issue - I liked the Cortina wagon; really cool car.

Remember when you bought that Volvo for somewhere around $1200 and ended up painting it at the quick paint place? The blue Alfa Romeo? The tennis ball green (yellow) 240Z that I should have bought, along the that BMW 2002? I do realize those take a lot of time, money, and time but those type articles are my favorite.

Thank you for all your hard work. Pietre

I for one really enjoyed the Alfa article. As an owner of an early S3 I'm glad you didn't harp on the rubber duck tail too much. It is nice to see comparisons such as these. Thanks, Chris

A magazine that can still attract a healthy dose of ads in this day is a rare thing. So many have disappeared or become thin shells of their former selves because all the ad money has gone online. So I think us readers should be happy with ads as long as there is strong editorial content (and the ads have pictures of cool car stuff :). At least print magazine ads are not pop-ups or self-playing videos!

Guys, don't subscribe to any magazine with few ads. That is the sign of going out of business.

Yes, we did a Z and a Volvo, but have you forgotten the 2000 hours I just put in the Mini and explained in 12 installments and nearly 75 web updates, or the Tornado Typhoon, that we are fabricating from nothing, back into a beautiful car?

Next we have MGB, Lotus Elan, Bugeye Sprite, Triumph Spitfires and other project cars already purchased and planned for restoration.

It's funny that someone brought up the scoops "article". I was disappointed as well. I thought it was going to be an interesting article and it turned out to be a mere photo-spread with no information when I got to it. What a tease...

I thought the recent issue was pretty good overall though. I liked the Alfa comparison. It was very relevant to my interests.

Hi Tim & David, I see how you are not addressing the articles that I mentioned and trying to change the subject. I am not saying that your book is crap but in the least year thing have change and the quality is starting to slip. If it wasn't for columns by Peter Brook I probably would have left already.

Tim, you made a general statement "any magazine with few ads. That is the sign of going out of business". Or they have found a good balance between a big shiny book and the numbers of ads. Cheers, Bob

Decision based on one issue?

Yeah, sometimes there really isn't much to my interest one month but the next month and the next month after that makes up for it. Hard to please everyone. Sometimes the amount of ads are frustrating but understand bills gotta be paid and helps reduce our costs. Sometimes I even learn something from the ads. CM is motorsports. Vintage and classic. Restoring to be used. I also get HS&E. For stock restoration and show.

I have noticed some articles on newer cars lately.....but then thinking about it those newer cars are now old cars. Makes me feel old when I see cars that now old that I was grown when they came out new. And remember where I was when I either saw one or read about one the first time.

One trend I think I’ve perceived over recent years is the growing coverage of the various high roller events around the country. And I mean really high roller. $425 to enter a car show, or even a car and airplane show (page 41 current issue)? Or up to $2500 (Page 73)? RIDICULOUS! Who attends these things? Folks who have their cars delivered to events in closed transporters? I’ll bet nobody at those ever has dirt under their fingernails No band aids on their fingers, unless they’re from a tragic champagne flute accident. Is this the reader base this magazine now wants to serve?

The coverage of smaller events around the country that we saw in past years, which I found most interesting, is being crowded out by these overpriced extravaganzas.
Stu

Hi Tim,

I rereading your reply this morning and it made me think of a few more comments / questions: What does the 75 Mini web updates have to do with the book? I my mind it has nothing to do with the content in the book, which what I was commenting on. I still like getting the whole story in the book and not going to a web site if I don’t have to, call me old school.

Hi wlkelley3,

Where did I say that I was making my decision on one issue???? I pulled examples from the latest issue that arrived a couple of days ago. I stated that I was disappointed for the last 6 to 8 months and not just the last issue. I also stated that if I don’t see an improvement that I’ll unsubscribe. Which means That I’ll be watching the next several issues to see if there are any improvement. I know that a book has a fairly long lead time before it goes to press.

Hi Datsun310Guy,

Yes, the article on the Cortina Wagon was interesting but it could have been better by answering a couple of obvious questions: did it require any body/sheet metal changes to fit the Lotus engine & Xr4Ti 5 speed trans? It's my understand that the Lotus Cortina had a modified trans tunnel. What did it take to adapt the trans to the Kent engine block? Did the driveshaft have to be modified? What did it take to adapt the XR4Ti rear brakes to it? Does it have the standard rear axle or the GT rear axle? I am sure there are Cortina & English Ford people out there that would like to have a 5 speed and rear disc brakes. Answering those few questions would have made the article so much better.

A little thought goes a long way in taking something good and making it something GREAT.

Again I would like to see an improvement in the content. The bones are good, but there have been changes that aren't for the better.

Cheers,

Bob

aaiiiieeeeshhhh!

Tim,

I have subscribed to both over 10 years? I think you have a great product and nothing else compares. I did like the Mini articles and it really shows me the extreme effort and cost to properly restore a classic car. I would like to restore a car like that someday but life is in the way as my job, family, and church involvement do take priority so I live through you guys. Keep up the good work!

I still think I should have bought that 240Z........

Bob_S wrote: Hi Tim & David, I see how you are not addressing the articles that I mentioned and trying to change the subject. I am not saying that your book is crap but in the least year thing have change and the quality is starting to slip. If it wasn't for columns by Peter Brook I probably would have left already. Tim, you made a general statement "any magazine with few ads. That is the sign of going out of business". Or they have found a good balance between a big shiny book and the numbers of ads. Cheers, Bob

I wouldn't be to hard on them about them responding to you. First off, they responded, which is a big deal because a lot of magazines don't respond as well as these guys do. Second of all, when you get a response that says:

David S Wallens said: However, we take all complaints to heart and will be discussing your letter internally.

From the Editorial Director none the less, I'd take it that they are serious about listening to your complaints. If you go into the Grassroots Motorsports forum, you can see that the Magazine Feedback thread gets responded to constantly by the staff. In fact I made that thread and they kept it at the top of the board for a reason.

As for Tim's comment about the ads, he's partially correct. Either they will have a short life expectancy or they have a lot of money backing it, which is actually why Hemmings can pull off so few ads, they have money from other sources to provide for their magazine. David even said that they have moved the ads around so they aren't in the middle of the articles. To me that's what a good balance is, because the ads have to go somewhere and I'd rather them not be disrupting an article.

To be honest, these folks at GRM/CM have been in the magazine game long enough to know what's going to keep their magazine afloat. Even though they've been doing this for 20+ years, they're still going to have growing pains and yeah there are going to be times that the quality will slip, I've seen it in many magazines, but they realize it, and revamp themselves and the quality comes back.

Thanks for the reminder that I let my subscription slip. I'll have to renew and slip by the store tonight to pick up the latest edition.

Years ago I used to write for a CDN publication called "Sporting Classics". It was nice little rag along the same line as Classic Motorsports but smaller. When the early 90's recession hit, we ran out of advertisers and the magazine shut down. I even looked into the possibility of reviving it, but with no advertisers you're dead. And now in this age of the internet print mags are closing even more often. You have to give these guys kudos for putting out such a high quality magazine in this age. Obviously not every issue will be a home run to everybody, but its the best mag of its type out there IMHO.

Thanks guys. We did address these issues in our editorial meeting Monday and have made some changes that you should like. The Details article idea was mine and I saw it as a simple spread, that showed people different details on cars.

This idea started when I was looking for styling cues to build the Tornado. I thought you guys would like a spread every issue of say; intake systems, dash boards etc. of different classic cars. I'll ask David to add some more content to the idea and we will try it a few more times and see if it catches on.

I also want to remind people, that just because we also publish Grassroots Motorsports and we do a lot of hands on work in Classic Motorsport, the concept for this publication was never to focus on just the low end cars and events, but to cover the entire scene; from MG Midgets to 300 SL Mercedes.

And yes, unlike every other magazine I have ever written to, it is our policy to take our customers seriously and answer every letter personally and address every post on this message board.

We know we can't win by being bigger, so we will need to win by being better. And great customer service is an easy way to win in today's horrible don't give a E36 M3 world.

And I would add to all readers, remember to compliment the crew when you see an issue or article you especially like. There's nothing wrong with a thread title that says "Elated with the latest issue!"

In reply to TR8owner: I remember Sporting Classics! I think I still have probably every issue. One of the car shows organized under your banner, in the early '90s, in Manotick, spawned the birth of a Datsun Z car Club in Montreal. That club is still chugging along.

GRM and CM: keep calm and carry on. Nobody's perfect, and to complicate things even more, everyone's definition of perfection is different and probably constantly changing to boot!

In reply to bradyzq:

Nice to see somebody remembers us. Norm Mort and I used to write most of the articles. It was a lot of fun with that mag. I had great fun interviewing Chuck Rethgeb from Comstock Race Team, the original Team Triumph guys, Eppie Weitzes, Bill Sadler, Ludwig Heimrath, etc. I was younger then and hoped that my involvement with the mag could have spun off into full time employment writing about cars. Unfortunately that dream ended when the mag closed shop.

Hi Tim,

Thank You for taking the time to reply and I can't wait to see the improvements/changes.

I did like the Alfa article, I was considering buying 86 to 90 model before I found a deal on a 2003, 34K mile, one owner Miata with all the maintenance records.

Thanks again,

Bob

All right then. We fix and then wait for the elated with the latest issue thread.

Next month we have a really cool and different story on the vintage travel trailer scene. Wonder if people love it or go nuts, because it is not strictly about sports cars. We have stories planned on vintage go-karts, car movies and slot cars too in upcoming issues.

Hi Tim,

The best I can say is that I'll be honest with you.

Sincerely,

Bob

Worry not, you have a great magazine with good issues, less interesting issues, 9to me) but it is the overall subject matter and all of the facets which make up the entire whole. You will never please everyone and will fail if you try. keep to your vision, it is what made you successful in the first place and brought in the audience in the first place.