C&D subscription for $5

I'm like a few others on this thread. I got tired of reading about cars I wouldn't buy even if I had $40k in the bank. Especially when GRM does a great job highlighting cars I like AND can afford. Then you have sites like Jalopnik that speak my language, make me laugh, and are free to enjoy. C&D just hasn't kept up with the new way of publishing.

The new way is less stodgy. An example would be GRM's hilarious "chapter" titles that reference modern movies, music, and I swear - Simpson's quotes as fitting the subject of the next column.

The new way is also less about appearance and status. It's about performance and value. Who cares that your 90's Jag, bought new, was gorgeous and told everyone in downtown Manhattan you were trading in stocks. It's shown itself to be poorly made, slow, and a complete waste of cash to impress other people.

The new way also doesn't talk down to people who can get the straight dope by googling the very subject you're writing about. How can the BMW win every shoot-out when we all know that BMW performance isn't that much greater than domestic or Japanese cars?

Many types of magazines need to find their value-added to the consumer while taking into account the internet. Being cheap just isn't going to cut it anymore.

Also, Brock Yates needs to organize another cannonball run and stop farting around.

Xceler8x, it almost sounds as if you're describing C&D from a few decades back as the "new way of publishing"

Xceler8x wrote: The new way is less stodgy. An example would be GRM's hilarious "chapter" titles that reference modern movies, music, and I swear - Simpson's quotes as fitting the subject of the next column.

You know, I have wondered if anyone ever notices little details like that. A while back, all of the subheads in one story were titles to Judas Priest songs. Why? Because Priest rules.

Oh, we notice.

Xceler8x wrote: Also, Brock Yates needs to organize another cannonball run and stop farting around.

He's been doing it for years, although the format has changed a bit. It's now called the One Lap Of America

Ian and Peter (buddies of GRM) have run in it for the last few years.

DoctorBlade wrote: I got my first year for Free, then the two year renewal for $5. I figured I needed something for the bathroom...

I paid $7.50 for 12 rolls of toilet paper today. Maybe it is a good deal!

I read C&D for years. The new format sucked, the remake is better, but still not right. I miss Brock, Csere, and Sherman. Didn't Sherman pass away in a wreck? Missed out on the $5 deal. I used them mostly now or getting stats on the new cars. I call my 20 some year collection the "reference library"

slefain wrote: I have been getting C&D, R&T, Autoweek, and a few others free for years.

I love how they stopped putting "Autoweek" on the cover - using AW instead - after they stopped being a weekly. In light of their new publishing schedule, I've taken to calling the magazine "AutoOccasional." My subscription is about to run out, and I won't be renewing.

Gearheadotaku wrote: Didn't Sherman pass away in a wreck?

No, not Sherman. One of the younger guys did. I can't remember his name.

Woody wrote:

Gearheadotaku wrote: Didn't Sherman pass away in a wreck?

No, not Sherman. One of the younger guys did. I can't remember his name.

Don Schroeder, died in 2000.

SupraWes wrote:

DoctorBlade wrote: I got my first year for Free, then the two year renewal for $5. I figured I needed something for the bathroom...

I paid $7.50 for 12 rolls of toilet paper today. Maybe it is a good deal!

It's on glossy paper, so you have to be careful. :)

JFX001 wrote:

Woody wrote:

Gearheadotaku wrote: Didn't Sherman pass away in a wreck?

No, not Sherman. One of the younger guys did. I can't remember his name.

Don Schroeder, died in 2000.

Wow, I can't believe that was ten years ago.

The only ones I get are (in order):

1. CM - these I save and read over and over.

2. GRM - I keep Datsun articles - sold some on ebay once.

3. Japanese Nostalgic Cars (although they have gotten quiet) keepers.

4. NissanSports - really thin........keepers.

The rest I read for free from the library or my barber.

DoctorBlade wrote:

SupraWes wrote:

DoctorBlade wrote: I got my first year for Free, then the two year renewal for $5. I figured I needed something for the bathroom...

I paid $7.50 for 12 rolls of toilet paper today. Maybe it is a good deal!

It's on glossy paper, so you have to be careful. :)

It's not the gloss that will get you (although the print will stain), but the paper is so stiff- it's bound to cause rashes.

Even though C&D has little value over TP in that sense, TP is just so much softer.

(ps- I'm bummed I missed the first bathroom use for C&D reply... )

E

my sub to R&T is set to run out after this issue so I re-upped for the $5. Doesn't seem that expensive to continue getting Peter Egan.... stopped C&D more than 25 yrs ago, got so tired of Yates I couldn't stand it, the sub to Automobile will expire soon.. so be it , not sure if I'll renew AW... can't stand the every other week ... makes the reports of the various races (the back several pages) almost useless

November 2009 was the first issue of C/D that I didn't buy and read avidly since the issue of April 1964, which IIRC was the one with Robert Cumberford's green Mustang wagon on the front. It didn't hurt a bit, somewhat to my surprise; maybe I grew up. I still miss Warren Weith, and I still remember Brock Yates heading out to Woodward with "the Cheater" in 1968. I lived through several of DED Jr.'s "last" columns; I wish him well, but I don't have to read about it any more.

wbjones wrote: not sure if I'll renew AW... can't stand the every other week ... makes the reports of the various races (the back several pages) almost useless

See? AutoOccasional.

Keith wrote: Oh, we notice.

x a bunch. You guys write what we would write if we could write.

Not buttering y'all up. There's a reason you're expanding while other car mags shrink. I was also going to mention CM, but others beat me to it. I'm glad I subscribed..even though y'all are spending more money over there, there's still the usual GRM "attitude" over there..reminding folks that there's no need to dream as long as you have a plan and aren't afraid doing the work (the recent vintage racing article, and sponsorship of the SVRA/HSR small prod races being a case in point!).

Since I don't smoke and never pay for coffee, I splurge and pay $10 an issue for Racecar Engineering at Barnes and Noble. The subscription doesn't save much and this spreads the pain a little.

Last time I attended a (free) Motortrend car show in Greenville, I signed up for a year's free subscription. I also get Automobile, but haven't been as impressed as I was when the magazine first came out. I read MT and Automobile, and then pass them along to my co-workers.

I keep my GRM, SportsCar issues and Racecar Engineering.

Cheers, Steven Cagle

Keith wrote: Oh, we notice.

+1

Of the now 10 magazines I subscribe to (I let 3 drop), GRM and Hemmings Muscle Machines are the only ones I save every issue of. HMM got close to being dumped until they hired a ton of ex-Freiburger C/C guys and started featuring more modified/driven cars and less trailer queens. All of the other mags get passed on, recycled, or an occasional article saved (yeah, article, not the whole mag).

P71 wrote: ....... GRM and Hemmings Muscle Machines are the only ones I save *every issue* of. HMM got close to being dumped until they hired a ton of ex-Freiburger C/C guys and started featuring more modified/driven cars and less trailer queens. All of the other mags get passed on, recycled, or an occasional article saved (yeah, article, not the whole mag).

Same here, just GRM and HMM. I keep them around until I forget which articles I wanted to save, and then I pass them on to my brother or a friend who is too cheap to subscribe, but is a mad fabricator. Never know when you might need to call in a favor!

I bought my first issue of C&D in 1967. They had a test of a Jaguar (a 420 sedan, I think) and a Cougar XR 7. Over the years I was a regular reader, then I gave up. What happened? Well, every comparo test either gave the win to the German car that was entered, or the BMW if more than 1 German make was involved. Most of their comparos also look/read like the criteria for deciding which car is "possibly" going to win is decided first....then they round up cars that fit that criteria.

And as others have said, they rarely test vehicles that "Average Joes" might buy.

$5 ? Hmmmm? Not all that tempting.

In reply to CagleRacing:

Racecar Engineering was in my stocking this year. Not bad -- odd, but eminently readable. Who wouldn't want to read the riveting story of how the 103 year old land speed record for steam-powered cars was shattered?

I get C&D, Automobile, Motor Trend, R&T, Hot Rod all for under $5 per year each. I read them in the bathroom and then give them to my younger brother or my brother-in-law. Automobile in particular is a piece of poop magazine and I pretty much just look at the pictures and throw it away.

I also subscribe to GRM & CM and keep those.

Car Craft is pretty good but I can never find a smokin deal on it.

I want more articles about crappy Kias and Tauruses and waaaaaaaay less information about Italian exotics that I will never see, much less drive. Also less BMWs.