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The New Road & Track


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Road & Track is like a completely new print magazine. The current issue has a wide ranging custom car theme which includes an article called Birth of Cool about the Hirohata Merc as well as an article on Roth's Orbitron and for sports car fans there are many custom Porsche 911s featured

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I think this is the second issue using their new format for the magazine. This issue to me seems much better than the first. I do like that the information portion is short but does supply you with a pretty good in depth explanation. I have just let my Car and Drive subscription of many years lapse since the writers I always liked are now gone and  they focus more on cars that I don't relate to.   

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2 hours ago, espo said:

I think this is the second issue using their new format for the magazine. This issue to me seems much better than the first. I do like that the information portion is short but does supply you with a pretty good in depth explanation. I have just let my Car and Drive subscription of many years lapse since the writers I always liked are now gone and  they focus more on cars that I don't relate to.   

David....as a Car and Driver subscriber since the mid 1970's, I am utterly appalled at what they have done to OUR magazine.   The current editor had no qualifications that I could find in her past work that would justify her being placed in charge of the single most authoritative new car magazine of our lifetime, and the changes since she took over (whether directed by her or those above her) are, well, I can't come up with a word to describe my reaction. 

The only things good that have happened are that the Letters section remains, and that Elena Scherr was picked up as a columnist (though  I would have preferred John Phillips and the others to have stayed instead).    And now they have slyly changed the publication schedule to ten issues a year vs. the 12 a year we paid for. 

Meanwhile, Rich Ceppos (who has a decades long history with the mag, and is a deeply respected professional who also had direct auto industry  OEM experience (Ford SVT/Campbell Marketing, and later on, working for Bob Lutz at GM)), is back at C&D in an online role.  He would have been a terrific choice to become Editor. 

TIM 

 

Edited by tim boyd
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Both of them (C&D and R&T) are huge disappointments in their new 'visionnages.'

But honestly, I don't think they care. They have no interest in the auto-philes that have been their bread and butter. They both seem to be striving to appeal to the nuevo-riche youngsters who grew up on video games and have no real world experience or appreciation for real world . . . anything. 

Their desired audience is virtually virtual entities.

Too bad. But, for them, the good news is they'll never miss me or my subscription dollars.  I've subscribed to C&D for 55 years. Guess I reached the limit.   LOL. That was a pun, right there! True, but punny.

🌵😎 

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9 minutes ago, Danno said:

Both of them (C&D and R&T) are huge disappointments in their new 'visionnages.'

But honestly, I don't think they care. They have no interest in the auto-philes that have been their bread and butter. They both seem to be striving to appeal to the nuevo-riche youngsters who grew up on video games and have no real world experience or appreciation for real world . . . anything. 

 

🌵😎

They seem to be turning into "lifestyle" magazines. I guess there is no money in pursuing enthusiasts anymore.

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FYI - FWIW - When I leafed through this new R&T booklet, I thought . . . "Nice of them to send me a Porsche Sales Catalog."  But, I'm still not interested in a Porsche.  I guess we won't be getting magazines any more . . . just art gallery programs.

🌵😎

Edited by Danno
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I haven't subscribed to any dead tree edition magazine for over 10 years.  R&T was my first subscription, when the Porsche 928 came out, the last page was always good.  Tried a couple other magazines for short times.  Still have them piled in the storage shed corner, for reference (yea right, happens all the time).  I think all magazines, including Fine Homebuilding, lose their original mission, and become glamor rags.  Seeing the McLaren painted like that is a clue.

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I bought the R&T book.  There is some interesting stuff in there, but it's not worth the cover price.

The magazines of John Bond, Henry N. Manney, Rob Walker, Tony Hogg, David E. Davis. Brock Yates, et al are no more.

Octane is what a car magazine should be.

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I much prefer my Hemming's titles. Great mags plus Collectible Automobile. Even good ole Hot Rod is only a shell of it's former self. I got a couple of HRs from the early 80s and even then there was more content where you actually learned something. Not anymore. Collectible Automobile also has no ads which is nice plus they put in photos of the styling studies of what could have been of the cars they are featuring. Great modelling ideas there. And speaking of models, they have a section in the mag where they show a list of models or promos that correspond with the actual cars that are being written about.

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This topic has generated lots of interesting points of view. As a teenager and young man I preferred Car & Driver while my best friend read Road & Track which I switched to as an adult until discovering Autoweek and Autosport. A couple of years ago I was offered subscriptions for 2 years to R&T and  1 year to C/D at price I could not resist. Before either subscription expired and  only a few months after renewing long-term to Autoweek it was taken over by the publishers of R&T - C/D and now only exists on-line. After many emails I was finally offered an extension to either R&T or C/D. I never warmed  back up to C/D so chose R&T. I have to agree that just like C/D, the magazine being discussed is only R&T in name. None the less, I am much happier with this substitute magazine than I am with Fine Scale Modeller. I think I will at least find the new R&T entertaining if not as   informative as it used to be.

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They all read as though the writers are just mailing it in. There's no "life" in any of them any more.

And, of course, they're all blaming it on Covid.  But, I don't think so. It's just a convenient excuse for artsy-fartsy-ing it up, dumbing down with career editors, and jacking up the price-per-pound.

🌵😎

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Road & Track, Motor Trend and Rod&Custom were the magazines were the magazines I purchased regularly when I was young, and R&T was my favourite of the three, especially when they still did the Salon feature.

I'm okay with some style, just so long at it isn't at the expense of content, which more than a few magazine publishers fail to get.  A regular birthday present from my folks was renewing my Automobile Quarterly subscription.  Those were a thing of beauty, as wel as a gold mine of automotive history, and I devoured them almost as much for what they did with layout as for the content.

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The problem with all of these magazines is what we are all doing while talking about them.  Looking and posting on line.  A magazine will never be able to compete any longer. I love a good magazine but just like the Station Wagon they will also be gone. 

I think you've nailed it on the head. Neither the advertisers or the subscribers are there to keep many magazines afloat. Looking old magazines you could follow trends. That will be lost with this electronic media. The print media had permanence to it. Now, the content is only available as long as the link is good. Sadly when I look at the newsstands, I don't see magazines I want to pick up. I used to pick up a magazine about once every two weeks. I subscribe to the Rodder's Journal. I don't believe I bought a magazine off the newsstand in a year. The last magazine I bought was at a hobby shop, Model Cars.

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