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R.I.P Cars and Parts


Jrope

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3 hours ago, SaddleRider said:

... Looking now - betcha I "take the plunge"  at a well-maintained '91 GMC 2500 Series Suburban...  By the time you guys read this, it will almost certainly be MINE!

 

Not to get too far off the subject, but you'll find

that forum member "AnnieSS" and her husband 

have a Suburban from right around that year.

You might want to to send her a private message.

It's pictured in her "avatar," the small picture by her user name.

 

But does anyone know whether Cars and Parts is still 

around and doing okay?

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No current answers were given on our forum,

so I called the publisher.  Amos Press (Amos Media)

sold Cars and Parts.  The magazine is now owned,

they said, by Xceleration [sic] Media (Phone 901-260-5910),

so I called the new company.

 

Cars and Parts has been merged into Power and Performance News.

The new owner has had it since April 2016 (this year).

 

I found a link where you can see a current magazine:

https://issuu.com/xcelerationmedia/docs/ppn2016-3_issuu

The new publisher said that 70% of the content reflects that name,

while 30% relates to the rest of the old-car hobby;  but in the

issue above the only "stock" antique cars are a couple of muscle cars.

 

It's a good thing there are other magazines supporting antique cars!

I have absolutely no interest in its current form.

Edited by John_S_in_Penna (see edit history)
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33 minutes ago, John_S_in_Penna said:

Cars and Parts has been merged into Power and Performance News.

The new owner has had it since April 2016 (this year).

 

I found a link where you can see a current magazine:

https://issuu.com/xcelerationmedia/docs/ppn2016-3_issuu

The new publisher said that 70% of the content reflects that name,

while 30% relates to the rest of the old-car hobby;  but in the

issue above the only "stock" antique cars are a couple of muscle cars.

 

It's a good thing there are other magazines supporting antique cars!

I have absolutely no interest in its current form.

 

Hey John, thanks for refreshing this thread the other day, I did not know about the latest on Cars & Parts so I looked it up too.  The website and content are of little interest to me; no evidence of the Cars & Parts I liked remains, I agree with you on the above, Todd C

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On 12/24/2016 at 1:39 PM, Terry Bond said:

Interesting this should surface again just as I was going though some boxes of "stuff" and found a pile of C&P magazines.  I was an early subscriber, and even while the Navy had me away on official business I enjoyed it.  There were a few times I was away from the family for extended periods of time and I always enjoyed those care packages from home, that included the issues I'd missed.  Susan had carefully gone through them and circled ads for Model A parts I might be interested in.  It works much faster with the net now days so Ovalrace25's point is well taken.  Still, I've spent a couple of hours reading once again and enjoying all the memories.   I recall one time that my magazines began arriving a week or two later than normal, and a complaint to the post office had no result - that is until I got an issue late and found that someone at the post office had written notes in the margin.  Apparently they had called about a Model T for sale and were negotiating the price.  So, it was nice to figure out what had been holding up delivery of my magazines, and the post master was quite upset with his crew who had obviously been reading my magazines on their lunch-breaks.  Fingerprints in ketchup helped nail the culprit.

Terry

I bet that is why some magazines are mailed in a brown paper wrapper. Your post cracked me up, you know that stuff goes on. Too funny.

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I like the ones I receive in sealed plastic.  

 

I once was talking to a mailman years ago who loved old cars.  He told me how he would read through the whole Impala News magazine before he delivered it.  I was surprised that he admitted it, lol. 

 

In a more or less un-related point, Cars and Parts always tried to get me to run classified ads in their publication.  I got numerous offers in the mail.  I finally said "if your publication is that powerful, why don't you just give me a free ad to show me what it can do" ?  I was told "no", but I still kept getting the offers, which actually cost them more in the long run.  I finally did give it a try though and it did not out-perform my other publication's ad.  I still liked reading through it though, anytime I had a chance to read one and also hate to see it gone like it is.  

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Mr. MM was banned a couple of years ago.

 I don't think Hershey has shrunk in size, but I do think it has shrunk in the amount of people that display parts for sale.  

I would not like to be a vendor behind the stadium or in the far reaches of the orange field. 

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50 minutes ago, Curti said:

... I don't think Hershey has shrunk in size, but I do think it has shrunk in the amount of people that display parts for sale.  

 

It is indeed smaller than it was 20 years ago.

The number of show cars peaked around 2000 vehicles;

now it is a bit under 1300.  So it's one-third smaller.

 

And I've heard people say that the parts selection

is a bit less, too.  I have personally heard a couple of people

say something like, "I used to vend at Hershey.  Now I put

a few parts out for sale, to abide by the rules;  but now I

go for the friendships" and don't vend seriously.

 

But there are still a GREAT MANY excellent vendors;

and the number and quality of cars on the show field

is still hard to beat.  Hershey is still very much worth going to.

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Amazing how these threads sometimes drift away.  I guess it's all in how you define "size" for the Hershey meet.  Agree, show cars might not be at the level they were when it peaked a few years ago at around 2000, but don't think pre-registrations are too inconsistent over the past several years, so shrinking isn't perhaps the best descriptor.  I know there were a lot of no-shows this year because of the drizzle on Saturday.  Physical size is amazing.  Susan reports 30 miles walked on her fitbit this year.  Mine needed a battery charge by Thursday PM (so did I).  There does seem to be pockets of stuff, and gaps in the goodies where people need to park their trucks and vans, But-Hershey is still King and each year seems to keep getting better.  Perhaps it's just my tastes in automobilia, but it sure seems like a lot of great early stuff surfaces there like nowhere else.  We look forward to it each year as do many others.  It is indeed a big social occasion, meeting friends from all over the world.  We actually had a couple of club members who attended this year for the first time and are how hooked for life.  I know of another couple from our local MG club who are planning to get there for the first time this coming Oct, and we'll enjoy spending time showing them around.  They are already excited after seeing my photos from the last couple of years. 

 

Ok, back to Cars and Parts - I still miss it, as I do things like hip-pocket sized Hemmings, Dave Ficken's Hershey Directory of Vendors, Bill Harrahs semi-trailer load of brass lamps, and so many other things that have changed with our hobby over the years.  But - technology has been an interesting part of hobby evolution. This year at Hershey while Susan was out racking up the miles covering the swap meet, she would text photos back to me of interesting stuff she discovered.  She would periodically come back to replenish $ and drop off the goodies.  I did the same when it was my turn to wander.   It was like extra eyes constantly searching and I feel between us, thanks to our smart-phones, we saw more of it than ever before.  So, in a way, the same technology that helped the demise of Cars and Parts has had great benefit to the old car hobby overall.

 

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Haven't been out much lately, I even missed the Turkey Rod Run this year and had offer of a free space, been fully occupied by other things.

 

Have been building computer systems into closets for years and am surrounded by paper on all four sides (electronics are wonderful and have .pdfs of many service manuals (except for the strange SVG format Chrysler uses)). Have to measure magazines in linear feet. I remember Cars and Parts but was more into the mags from Paul Zazarine, Marty Schorr, Don Keefe, and George Ellis - for me it was personal.

 

Do find it amusing to hear people talking about a downturn after 2000, guess they missed the later 70's/early 80s when it was not PC to talk about cars at all particularly things like dual quads or tripowers. Muscle cars were going begging. A lot went underground so the openness today and all of the different forums are wonderful.

 

The one oddball thing is that back in the last century, one hot topic was how to distribute electronic media securely and prevent copying. A number of viable ways, a couple using the same technology as smart cards today, were developed (wonder why the new credit cards seem slow ? Technology was developed in 1993 and is running at 9600 baud. See the 1999 Common Access Card) but never went into play. So hard to make a profit.

 

It is a different world and really more enthusiasts today than ever, just are more fragmented and just three people anywhere can put together a forum and discuss niches  just as securely as they may want. "Mass market" has a whole different meaning. Paid advertising is a thing of the past when direct marketing is essentially free once you have an e-mail address.

 

Even more, Amazon has a program that can adjust prices on the fly based on demand. And deliver to my doorstep the next day (available in select markets). The months long delay in print can't compete. Far better to have an online store, no inventory, no advertising cost, and source everything from an online supplier for a miniscule cut of every transaction (see "salami slicing").

 

"O tempora o mores" has been around for a long time.

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I can't believe that a thread that I started in 2010 is still getting replies !!  I still stand on my remarks.  My favorite automotive publications remain the AACA magazine, Hemmings Classic Car, and the V8 times from the early Ford V8 club.  One thing that gave me hope for us old "purists" (read geezer) happened last month.  An old buddy, called to ask if I would help him transport a recent purchase, a 1960 Rambler American, from the point of sale in West Virginia to our home in Northwestern Pa.  As we traveled down I79 with an empty trailer, I told Bob that he was going to have a lot of fun with this old Rambler.  Bob owns an older Corvette and, while he enjoys the performance and muscle, I pointed out that he will benefit from the memories that he will evoke from people that he encounters when he drives that old piece of American history.  I told him that no matter what kind of lousy mood that I am in, once I drive one of my old cars on a nice sunny day, the smiles and waves that I get from total strangers changes my attitude but quick.  Sure enough, once we got that old American loaded on the trailer and headed North, people passing us on the interstate were smiling and giving us the "thumbs up" sign.  I could tell by the smile on Bob's face that he knew that he made a good purchase.

 

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Good to hear from the original poster!

If the original publisher had read the topic you began,

maybe they would have seen the light and wouldn't

have had to sell a declining publication.

 

Changing Cars and Parts from an antique-car magazine

to just another hop-up speed publication would be

like turning The National Geographic Magazine into a travel planner!

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  • 11 months later...

As one of the former contributors to the original Cars and Parts, I was shocked to see this thread still active.

Maybe one of you can help me. In late 2009 or in 2010 I produced a story for the magazine on a 1960 Ford Thunderbird. The title may have been "The Last Squarebird" as it was documented to have been the last 1960 Thunderbird to roll down the assembly line. I have been looking for my PDF of the story and cant find it. If anyone reading this has Cars and Parts back issues from 2009 and the final year, 2010, can you tell me what issue it's in? I'd like to arrange to have you scan it for me.

Best wishes,

Richard Truesdell

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15 hours ago, autotraveler2 said:

As one of the former contributors to the original Cars and Parts, I was shocked to see this thread still active.

Maybe one of you can help me. In late 2009 or in 2010 I produced a story for the magazine on a 1960 Ford Thunderbird. The title may have been "The Last Squarebird" as it was documented to have been the last 1960 Thunderbird to roll down the assembly line. I have been looking for my PDF of the story and cant find it. If anyone reading this has Cars and Parts back issues from 2009 and the final year, 2010, can you tell me what issue it's in? I'd like to arrange to have you scan it for me.

Best wishes,

Richard Truesdell

 

Hey Richard, we have a copy in the AACA library. I've attached a pdf of the article here for you. Enjoy.

Cars & Parts 2010 May - Last Squarebird.pdf

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I never subscribed to any of the "Enthusiast" magazines,

and seeing just the covers on the internet today, I can say

(sorry, folks), I would not have been interested.

 

There's a lot more to Pontiac's 80-year history than

the "Mucho Macho" theme one cover story offers.

Even their Mustang cover proclaimed "Maximum Mods

for Driving Fun," which certainly isn't addressed to

anyone keeping cars in their historic factory condition.  

The impression I get (I don't mean to offend their editors)

is one of slang, hype, and the immaturity of trying to be "cool"--

and I'm probably younger than their editors were.

 

This certainly isn't current news, but the lesson is still valid.

We miss Cars and Parts as it was originally intended to be.

 

 

junk--Enthusiast magazines.jpg

Edited by John_S_in_Penna (see edit history)
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When I was growing up in the 70s my dad was a subscriber to Hemmings, Cars and Parts, a member of the ACD, AACA and CCCA as well as a bunch of other clubs.  I never liked Cars and Parts for some reason and those got thrown out (along with Hemmings).  When I was at Hershey this fall I bought 10 bound copies of C&P 1970-1980 from the AACA Library.  Go figure.

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Here I am again in disbelief that the post I started some 7 years ago is still going.  My first comment is that I worked for the Post Office for 35 years and while there might have been a few employees that took a quick look through some magazines, it was strictly forbidden by management.  You were in for some serious grief if you were caught.  I guess this was one of the reasons that Playboy and Penthouse were mailed in sealed plastic bags (LOL). Lastly, the Dec. issue of Hemmings has a (gasp!)  STREET ROD on the cover.  Seriously?  What is this world coming to? 

 

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11 minutes ago, Jrope said:

Seriously?  What is this world coming to? 

 

 

There are two business you don't want to be in right now.   Brick and Mortar retail and printed media.  They are desperate.   If you read their columns you will see a disconnect with the general outlook on this forum.

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1 hour ago, John_S_in_Penna said:

I never subscribed to any of the "Enthusiast" magazines,

and seeing just the covers on the internet today, I can say

(sorry, folks), I would not have been interested.

 

There's a lot more to Pontiac's 80-year history than

the "Mucho Macho" theme one cover story offers.

Even their Mustang cover proclaimed "Maximum Mods

for Driving Fun," which certainly isn't addressed to

anyone keeping cars in their historic factory condition.  

The impression I get (I don't mean to offend their editors)

is one of slang, hype, and the immaturity of trying to be "cool"--

and I'm probably younger than their editors were.

 

This certainly isn't current news, but the lesson is still valid.

We miss Cars and Parts as it was originally intended to be.


Hi John,

I was the editor of Chevy Enthusiast and contributed to C&P and all the other Enthusiast titles. C&P at the end was edited by Brad Bowling, an outstanding editor who is now the editor of Vintage Truck. In the end C&P features were a Mopar, a Ford, a GM and an independent (AMC, Studebaker), and one of the four (it rotated) was what was called a mod-stock, a car running a modern drivetrain but still appeared stock. And the four features were spread among the decades; a prewar car and one from the 1950s, 1960s, and into the 1970s.

For my title, Chevy Enthusiast, of the four features, one was always an original car (the First Yenko), one a restored car, one a modified car (never anything too far out), and a truck. Trying to keep a balance that will satisfy the readers is the editor's job and I'm really proud of the features I commissioned and published. They were the heart and soul of the magazine.

Musclecar Enthusiast was another excellent title in the Amos stable, helmed by another outstanding editor, Steve Statham. Steve kept the focus on original and restored cars for the features but a couple times a year he would run a restomod or a modern muscle car. One of those exceptions was the 2006 Challenger. I saw the car in Auburn Hills six weeks before its debut at the Detroit Auto Show in January 2006 and we had a cover story based on my advanced look at the Chrysler Tech Center in Auburn Hills. The issue came out as the Detroit Auto Show was in progress. We scooped every monthly auto title, something I'm really proud of.

Magazines at the time were trying to compete on news items with the Internet, who could not release anything on the web until it was revealed at the Detroit show. Musclecar Enthusiast had already been printed and was on the way to subscribers as the car was revealed. (BTW, the Yenko cover Chevy Enthusiast and the Olds 442 cover of Musclecar Enthusiast were the last and I shot the 442 cover for Steve. That it was a rear view, driving off into the sunset was sort of an inside joke between me and Steve and we both knew that these were the last issues we would produce. Here's a link to that story for you to review.)

I tell you this to try to explain that your dismissal of Chevy Enthusiast and Musclecar Enthusiast really rubbed me the wrong way. While the other Enthusiast titles may have been like you described, in the case of C&P, Musclecar Enthusiast, and Chevy Enthusiast, I would stack them up against any comparable titles put out by the bigger publishers. C&P was the equal of Hemmings Classic Car, Musclecar Enthusiast was the equal of Hemmings Muscle Machines or Muscle Car Review (to which I contribute to today), and with my more mature editorial approach, I felt that I positioned Chevy Enthusiast well against Super Chevy and Chevy High Performance, more towards original and restored cars, less modified cars, than my competitors. (I have a couple copies of the first issue of Chevy Enthusiast and would be happy to send you one so you can see what I mean. Send me a private message with your snail mail address and I'll send you one after the holidays.)

The decision to kill off C&P and fold the remaining Enthusiast titles into Auto Enthusiast was a huge mistake; all the Amos editors knew it. With the exception of C&P which was a multi-marque title very carefully curated and edited by Brad Bowling, the Enthusiast titles were all focused on a single marque, model, or manufacturer. Folding all seven titles into Auto Enthusiast made no sense, editorially but it was driven by advertising (which subsidizes the cover price) and costs. Think back to 2008, before the economy crashed, on how many more titles were published then as compared to today. There has been tremendous consolidation as many titles. Think of all the titles no longer around, the list is more than 30 magazines.

I have a feeling that this post will generate some responses, especially on the state of automotive publishing today. Things have changed. I've moved into self-publishing which offers a new opportunity to produce more specialized, niche magazines. I co-publish and co-edit a print/digital title called Legendary Cougar Magazine , which is a bi-monthly dedicated to one segment, 1967-1973 Mercury Cougars (not sexy older women). And I've produced a pilot issue of an all-AMC Magzine, Legendary American Motors Magazine and tested it on Amazon where it has sold more almost 800 copies since last October. Right now I am hoping to launch it as a quarterly in 2018. Time will tell as I have a lot on my plate.

I believe that even in our digital age, there still is a place for print, especially for those of us who grew up with traditional magazines, and for enthusiasts who prefer print to digital. I will be curious to get feedback from my post. The thing that we've proved with Legendary Cougar Magazine (I'm working on the 16th issue right now) is that enthusiasts will pay for content not available anywhere else. A subscription to Legendary Cougar costs $60 for six issues ($24 for digital) and we have 500 subscribers split 80/20 in favor of print. Each issue has only three pages of advertising, subscription revenue, not advertising dollars, makes it possible. (If you want to take a look at the LCM digital replica, click here for the preview.) 

Happy Holidays to everyone.

Richard Truesdell

PS: John, where did you get that graphic of C&P and the six Enthusiast titles? I'd love to have a high-res version if you have it.

LCM+LAMM.jpg

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Rich, I don't have a high-resolution of the 

magazine covers.  I was searching the internet

via Google images and it came up in the low-resolution

image you see.  Sorry!

 

I'm somewhat of a magazine aficionado, and have a

sampling of old magazines of various types dating back

to the 1800's.  Some covers in the first half of the

20th century had superb artwork, higher than 

anything seen today;  their content sometimes

was 90% text and 10% pictures;  and even their writing,

not at all ponderous, was at a higher level.

Readers' Digest in the 1930's, for example, was

highly insightful, and their articles are still interesting

today.  Such quality makes people of those decades

appear more educated than today's readers, but I suppose

it's simply that more people were willing  to sit down and

 read a magazine for hours.

 

Here's a tiny sampling from the internet.  They appeal to a higher sense.

Some of the old covers are so good that people today frame them.

Maybe they will inspire some moderns:

Magazine--Electric Vehicles cover.jpg

Magazine--Heart--Maxfield Parrish.jpg

Magazine--St Nicholas cover.jpg

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10 hours ago, alsancle said:

The Niche focus makes sense.  Obviously the hard part is coming up with continual content when focused on a narrow band of cars.

 

Al

You are absolutely correct with your second statement, which conflicts with your first statement. I was editor of C&P Corvette for just one year and was already banging my head on the wall with boredom. Through no effort on my own, I was then put in the Cars & Parts editor's chair, which suited my eclectic tastes much better, but at the cost of my good friend Bob Stevens being pushed out ( I DID NOT ask for the position, nor did I hint that I was bored with editing Corvette). That said, Richard's comment that dumping all seven titles into one was a HUGE mistake, and cost the jobs of a LOT of people in just one day. The problem, though, wasn't that there was too much content for one magazine, it was that they had already lost almost all of their core C&P subscribership due to the inclusion of modified vehicles, and continuous how-to features of upgrade [sic] modifications. The writing was on the wall even before all the "Enthusiast" magazines had started printing and the number of C&P subscribers had dwindled to hardly anything because of loss of its original focus (too much input by ad salesmen, the impossible-to-produce single-copy desirable-to-everyone newsstand issue, and no collector-car hobby knowledge – none, zip, nada – in the company executives chairs). I was most fortunate to haven gotten out when I did, which was much later than I really wanted. As it turned out, the timing proved to be perfect.

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Good point West.  On the first part, I was looking for something positive to say.  The 2nd part (which was negative) was easy  because I see all the editors of the club's I belong to struggling for content for their quarterly newsletters.  AACA has the advantage of gaining another year to cover with each year that goes by.   I guess a club newsletter can cover club events, and generate content from that, but that is not interesting to me.   Hemmings has a lot of event and auction coverage these days too.

 

I think that the amount of writing is the same or growing, but the way it is monetized has changed a lot.  The fact that any amateur  can start a blog and reach as many people as Cars & Parts did in 1975 but at little cost  devalues the professional writer.  Technology is a blessing and a problem all at once.

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On ‎1‎/‎3‎/‎2017 at 8:48 PM, Jrope said:

My favorite automotive publications remain the AACA magazine, Hemmings Classic Car, and the V8 times from the early Ford V8 club.

 

 

Amen brother.  These are my favorite too. 

 

 

 

I still have back issues of Cars and Parts from the 80s. 

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6 minutes ago, Imperial62 said:

What raised my eyebrow the most in Richard's comments were the 80/20 split he has for his Cougar magazine for print v PDF.   This proves to me that printed copy of "stuff" we have an interest in is still preferred over going "all digital".  Most car clubs offer a discount as Richard does - for digital subscriptions.  But I like nothing better than to get a fire going on a cold dark evening, in my easy chair, now with my reading glasses, and a glass of wine and read a good magazine.

 

I'm probably as "techie" as anybody on this forum but I prefer all my publications hard copy like you.  Given the 12 clubs I belong to and various magazines that still happen to exist I get something a couple of times a week and always look forward to it.  Sadly, I think this particular pleasure is nearing the end.

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2 hours ago, Imperial62 said:

... my 2 main choices back in 1978 when I became active in the hobby at age 14 were Cars & Parts and Car Collector magazine...

 

Please know this comment warms the cockles of my heart. I suspect West likes it as well!
 

Why? Well, West's father, Don Peterson, and I were the editorial team that started Car Collector in 1978 and West later replaced his dad as editor after I had moved on. 

Nice to know someone recalls CC as a decent mag.

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18 minutes ago, gwells said:

 

Please know this comment warms the cockles of my heart. I suspect West likes it as well!
 

Why? Well, West's father, Don Peterson, and I were the editorial team that started Car Collector in 1978 and West later replaced his dad as editor after I had moved on. 

Nice to know someone recalls CC with as a decent mag.

 

Do either you or West recall Jeff Broadus of Car Collector.  I had entered me TR6 in the 2003 Burn Prevention  Councours d' Elegance held at Lehigh University.  Jeff happened to come by and we had a great conversation.  He certainly was interesting when discussing the many vehicles in attendance.

 

Regards,

 

Peter J.

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2 hours ago, Imperial62 said:

What raised my eyebrow the most in Richard's comments were the 80/20 split he has for his Cougar magazine for print v PDF.   This proves to me that printed copy of "stuff" we have an interest in is still preferred over going "all digital".  Most car clubs offer a discount as Richard does - for digital subscriptions.  But I like nothing better than to get a fire going on a cold dark evening, in my easy chair, now with my reading glasses, and a glass of wine and read a good magazine. 

 

Thanks again Richard - and best of luck with your new enterprises.   I am surprised you might not expand the Cougar years to 1979.  I know performance waned but many of us grew up loving the 70's personal luxury Cougars and Thunderbirds. 

 


Here's something to think about. All of our print subscribers to Legendary Cougar Magazine get a digital subscription at no extra charge and the digital edition is posted the same day the digital files are sent (electronically) to the print when our IT guy posts the digital edition. Almost all of our subscribers wait until the print edition arrives in their mailbox two weeks later, to read the new issue. Such is the power of print in this digital age.

Bryan, we polled the readers and there was almost zero interest in expanding the coverage of LCM to 1979. I think had we gone in that direction we would have never been able to build our readership to 500 (we started three years ago with 250). The 1967-1973 niche is manageable, the 1974-1979 Cougars are a totally different kind of cat.  

I'm wondering something as I write this. What would any of you think of a conference call where we can discuss, in real time, your thoughts on automotive publishing in this digital age, can a multi-marque magazine like Cars and Parts be produced today? If anyone would like to participate note your thoughts below.

Richard Truesdell

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Peter, Jeff Broadus is alive an well and can be found at most big automotive events and concours.  He certainly is at Hershey and will be at the Elegance I am sure this year.  He now works for Grundy Insurance!

 

As to the state of publications today.  It certainly is a difficult field but you can't paint the entire periodical magazine industry with one big brush.  There are huge success stories and increases in volume for some publications.  We are very proud of Antique Automobile but it's success has little to do with getting a new year added every year to our mix and everything to do with a great editor, wonderful contributors, great national events. loyal members and a very loyal advertising base which Stacy Zimmerman manages very well.  We are the envy of many as we have actually turned away some advertising so as not to overload the magazine with ads or we simply added even more pages.  I am happy to have played a small part in our success and happy I chose West to lead this effort.  Oh and I should also say we have a great printer who is wonderful to work with and gives us an outstanding product for the money. 

 

As long as our members keep telling us they want a hands on magazine we will deliver it to them!

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7 hours ago, West Peterson said:

...dumping all seven titles into one was a HUGE mistake...

The problem, though, wasn't that there was too much content for one magazine, it was that they had already lost almost all of their core C&P subscribership due to the inclusion of modified vehicles, and continuous how-to features of upgrade [sic] modifications. The writing was on the wall even before all the "Enthusiast" magazines had started printing and the number of C&P subscribers had dwindled to hardly anything because of loss of its original focus... 

 

This is good insight, West;  and far from being just a 

record of bad times, it can serve by reversal as a lesson

for everyone in business.

 

Were you the Cars and Parts editor near the end of the

original period, before it was subsumed into Auto Enthusiast?

Did they have the modified cars and hop-up features encroaching

when you were there?  What were the subscriber numbers

before the slide, and after?

 

Amos Press also produced (and produces) a coin newspaper and

a stamp publication.  Those are still succeeding, I believe.  Were the

executives better attuned to those hobbies, or did they see even those

merely from an accounting and investment point of view?

Edited by John_S_in_Penna (see edit history)
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4 hours ago, John_S_in_Penna said:

 

This is good insight, West;  and far from being just a 

record of bad times, it can serve by reversal as a lesson

for everyone in business.

 

Were you the Cars and Parts editor near the end of the

original period, before it was subsumed into Auto Enthusiast?

Did they have the modified cars and hop-up features encroaching

when you were there?  What were the subscriber numbers

before the slide, and after?

 

Amos Press also produced (and produces) a coin newspaper and

a stamp publication.  Those are still succeeding, I believe.  Were the

executives better attuned to those hobbies, or did they see even those

merely from an accounting and investment point of view?

 

Now that C&P no longer exists, I feel I can vent a little. Those of us in the C&P editorial department at Amos from 1999-2004 felt that C&P was treated like an unwanted step child by the executives. I was gone before the "resto-mods" stuff appeared, but I saw the writing on the wall ... as did the relatively few of us in the C&P editorial department at the time ... and I wanted no part of it. When they asked me to move to Central Florida to join a growing editorial staff in their new digs (the enthusiast magazines were just getting started), I refused and was handed my walking papers. I am thankful for the time I spent at C&P. Bob Stevens helped me grow as a writer, and he was one of the best guys I ever worked with. I miss him a lot. He basically built that magazine to what most people knew. We traveled together both professionally and as buddies on car tours, and there was NEVER a dull moment. The research he did on his feature stories was as professional and accurate as could possibly be. When they threw me in his Editor seat, it was a very awkward feeling for me. They treated him like dirt as they pushed him out. That was no way to treat someone who had worked so hard. That is all I'm going to say.

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15 hours ago, West Peterson said:

Now that C&P no longer exists, I feel I can vent a little. Those of us in the C&P editorial department at Amos from 1999-2004 felt that C&P was treated like an unwanted step child by the executives. I was gone before the "resto-mods" stuff appeared, but I saw the writing on the wall ... as did the relatively few of us in the C&P editorial department at the time ... and I wanted no part of it. When they asked me to move to Central Florida to join a growing editorial staff in their new digs (the enthusiast magazines were just getting started), I refused and was handed my walking papers. I am thankful for the time I spent at C&P. Bob Stevens helped me grow as a writer, and he was one of the best guys I ever worked with. I miss him a lot. He basically built that magazine to what most people knew. We traveled together both professionally and as buddies on car tours, and there was NEVER a dull moment. The research he did on his feature stories was as professional and accurate as could possibly be. When they threw me in his Editor seat, it was a very awkward feeling for me. They treated him like dirt as they pushed him out. That was no way to treat someone who had worked so hard. That is all I'm going to say.

 

Well, West, I guess we know where you stand today! Thankfully we already have been given the C & P Library!! :) 

 

You are of course 100% right about how great a guy Bob Stevens was.

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13 hours ago, gwells said:

 of course I knew Jeff Broadus, 

 

I had no idea. That is why I asked.

 

Will make a point of looking him up down the road.

 

Thank you,

 

Peter J.

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I found a link where the user can scroll through

all the covers of the Auto Enthusiast magazine

and then of the final soup-up-the-car issues of Cars and Parts.

This entire sequence has been new information to me,

because I wasn't following the magazine at the time,

and had incorrectly figured that the revival of Cars and Parts

was in its original popular antique-car format.

 

http://www.magazine-agent.com/Cars-and-parts/Magazine#covers

 

Cars & parts Cover - 2/1/2013

 

Cars & parts Cover - 7/1/2015

Edited by John_S_in_Penna (see edit history)
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  • 2 years later...

Here's a bit more of an update on the remains of

Cars & Parts magazine, which was bought by Xceleration [sic]

Media and then merged into the magazine Power and 

Performance News.  From an antique-car fan's standpoint,

the story is like a once-pristine car rusting and sinking into

the ground, now unrecognizable and practically out of sight.

 

I infer that Xceleration Media wasn't especially successful,

nor was their magazine.  They were bought by another company,

and Power and Performance News became simply "Power and

Performance" and stopped printing, according to the March 2018 

announcement quoted below.  They're just a website now,

and called www.streetmusclemag.com for some reason:

 

https://www.streetmusclemag.com/features/editorials-opinions/welcome-new-power-performance-online-magazine/

 

          "To start, Power and Performance News technically doesn’t exist anymore. The new title is simply Power and Performance. The site has never been an exclusive news site, with the majority of our content focusing on tech, builds, features, etc., with little news to really speak of, so this was a logical change, and a small one considering everything else.

          "With its new name, Power and Performance has joined the Power Automedia network, and will no longer exist under the old Xceleration Media platform. The entire Power Automedia family has welcomed us as one of their own, and we have a whole new structure that will allow us to really elevate the title, starting right now. This is a part of an acquisition of Xceleration Media by Power Automedia that was announced back in October [2017]. Since the announcement was made, employees from both companies have been working tirelessly to figure out what makes sense for the magazine. This has been based largely on what our readers have asked for, and what we have learned from reading the numbers and reports from the last few months, and last couple of years as well.

          "The decision to change the title was an easy one, but harder ones were made to better reach our readers, and provide a new type of content in a market that we don’t think is being properly covered. Before we get to what type of content you’re going to see coming from Power and Performance starting in 2018, let’s talk about the elephant in the room, Power and Performance is no longer going to be a printed magazine.

          "At the end of the day, it just made sense to move Power and Performance into the digital only, online magazine sector...." 

 

 

 

 

Edited by John_S_in_Penna (see edit history)
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