At 5:39 AM -0600 9/18/2000, owner-mgs-digest@autox.team.net wrote:
>I know it was bought and sold several times. Did it get burdened with a
>debt service that requires that the thing be full of ads? Is there a
>conspiracy to destroy everything that I like or love (family-owned
>businesses, old-growth forests, cars with personality, politicians with a
>heart, beautiful music, etc.)? Or am I just getting old?
Don,
IMHO, probably all of the above. Both the car business and the
magazine business have changed alot in fifty-something years.
I remember dodging schoolwork (in the Sixties) at the local public
library by reading all the R&T back issues I could get my hands on.
If I were a kid today, I might do the same thing.
I had an interesting experience at the recent British day in Palo
Alto. My seventeen year old daughter and her boyfriend joined us for
the afternoon. I've talked a little about cars with her BF at
various times, and he has picked up copies of R&T during visits and
commented on the "cool cars"therein. He was interested in the show
from my description of past events, and I thought he might appreciate
seeing it first-hand.
When they got there, it was clear that his automotive tastes ran to
modern exotics and supercars. The first car he gravitated to was an
Eighties Lotus Esprit. He was pretty uninterested in the rest of the
show. I pointed out a cool Ginetta racer, but his only comment was
that it seemed too small. He wasn't too interested in restoration,
or any car made before he was born.
I mention this because it supports the theory of generational car
interest (cars of your youth), and that the money and interest, even
for kids who cannot afford much more than a Civic, is in the
well-heeled fantasy world. Add to that the interests and buying
power of Boomers and X-ers with cyberbucks burning holes in their
pockets, and it's not surprising that R&T looks like it does. Market
research is a powerful thing. And I imagine it's hard to resist
Daimler Chrysler and their competitors throwing money your way.
Magazine publishing has gotten a lot more specialized in the last
half century. There are still a lot of vital smaller publications
around (hotrodding, 4x4, hot econobox, F1,vintage racing, vintage
sportscar, etc.) both in the US and in Britain. I don't think one
publication can do justice to every area of the industry/sport
anymore. (I'm really fond of Classic and Sportscar myself.)
R&T used to be more critical (there was a lot to be critical of) and
focused than it is now. It was something of a niche publication when
it was founded, almost a newsletter. But then, the foreign car
business was much smaller (and more marginal), and motorsport was
much less diverse. I don't think one publication can do it all
anymore. R&T is in some sense a dinosaur and victim of the
popularity of "imported cars". I'm just glad they keep Peter Egan
around...
--
Chris Attias
Aptos, CA
'64 MGB
A file that big?
It might be very useful.
But now it is gone.
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