>One of our FOT members, Paul Richardson, was recognized in
an article in
>the Fall issue of Moss Motoring magazine. In his article,
John Sprinzel
>talks about about visits he has had recently from old
friends. One of
>these 'old friends' is Paul, who visited John at Molokai.
John had some
>nice things to say about both Paul and Ken Richardson. He
also plugs
>Paul's magazine. Take a look if you have a copy of this
issue of Moss
>Motoring. It's on page 8.
Jack
I've known Paul for many years and there are some who might
think I'm trying to 'plug' his magazine. I'm not - and I
think its only right to inform the list that Paul was forced
to cease its publication earlier this year. As a long
standing friend and former Triumph employee, I was desolated
when I heard he'd be shutting it down.
Paul will undoubtedly read this post and I'm sure he won't
mind me saying this - but...
the key reason for the demise of Triumph Over Triumph was a
failure of many of its subscribers to recognise that there
were costs in its DELIVERY (not its production) that were
entirely outside Paul's control. Too many people compared
its price in North America to a newstand publication without
considering it was a highly specialist publication for the
Triumph enthusiast. What the world has now basically 'thrown
away' by not allowing this magazine to continue is a wealth
of material about Triumph and written by Triumph people.
I might add that all of us were delighted to contribute
without seeking a cheque or payment in kind from Paul in
return. I certainly turned down an offer from Triumph World
to write for them because I felt (and still do feel) that
TOT offered something completely different and far better -
even if it was thinner. If nothing else, Triumph Over
Triumph featured material from people who knew what they
were talking about - something that cannot always be said
about Triumph World.
The bottom line is that by the demise of Paul's mag, the
world may now never see the veritable raft of material in Pa
ul's possession that never made it to publication - and it's
material which is totally inaccessible to people like
Robson, Piggott - and even Gaydon doesn't have it!
Triumph Over Triumph may have been a small magazine in terms
of page count and circulation - but the majority of
enthusiasts unknowingly threw away the opportunity for it to
flourish because they were too tight-fisted with their cash.
Rant mode OFF
John Macartney
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