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Fw: On British Car Magazine

To: "spridgets" <spridgets@autox.team.net>
Subject: Fw: On British Car Magazine
Date: Wed, 5 Feb 2003 12:39:21 -0500
----- Original Message -----
From "Richard Feibusch" <rfeibusch1 at earthlink.net>
To: <morris@autox.team.net>
Cc: <riley@autox.team.net>; <chapman-era@autox.team.net>;
<mg-t@autox.team.net>; <british-cars@autox.team.net>;
<british-cars-pre-war@autox.team.net>
Sent: Wednesday, February 05, 2003 12:15 PM
Subject: On British Car Magazine


> Dear Friends and Readers,
>
> I was as surprised and concerned as you all were when the word about the
> Motorsport Marketing Inc. buyout of British Car Magazine started to spread
> on the web. After all, I have been a writer and later on the Editorial
> Board since Dave Destler started the publication over 100 issues ago. I
was
> just as surprised when Dave sold the magazine to Gary Anderson, but having
> known Gary and Genie for almost 20 years through the SF Bay Area Healey
> Club and our Palo Alto British Car Meet, I knew that we were in good
hands.
>
> The internet is a wonderful communication tool that has the ability to get
> ahead of itself, and since I am on most British car lists, I get to see
the
> buzz from all over right away.  Gary called Monday to say he was sorry
that
> all of us had to hear the info before we were personally contacted - but
> that's the way the web is woven.
>
> As I understand it, even though British Car Magazine was getting
creatively
> and journalistically better with each issue, a ceiling had been reached
and
> the magazine had pretty much been built to it's potential. They had
> acquired most of the interested subscribers that there were, all of the
> advertisers willing to put their money into a hobby builder, and a size
> (amount of pages) that this level of participation could commercially
> support.
>
> I have edited club pubs, local neighborhood pubs and put in my time as
> editor, feature editor and production editor at Convertible Magazine,
> Collector Car News and Victory Lane vintage racing magazine. I know how
> much production costs and how limiting a tight budget and smaller pool of
> enthusiasts can be. Two of these mags went belly up while I was working
> there (damn, maybe it's ME!) and the other was bought out and changed
while
> I was off to organize the California British Car Meets. I came back to
find
> a bunch of strange staff in the office and my trusty Mac replaced with a
PC
> and a new production editor to operate it!!!
>
> I talked with Editor Gary at length and what I got from the conversation
is
> that we are in good hands with the new owners and we will be able to do
> more and better work with what we have been doing with our British Cars
> plus get the additional information about similar, competitive cars from
> other parts of the world. This merger of the minds and editorial policy is
> based from the editor's interest in vintage racing, where a primarily
> British lineup is augmented with cars from around the world. These are the
> cars that competed in the marketplace, on showroom floors and race tracks
> around the world.
>
> Just because the new Classic Motorsport will now include cars from other
> countries than the UK does not mean that this will become a scattershot,
> all marque affair with hot rods, '57 Chevys, and moody dark reflective pix
> of late model Ferraris and babes lounging on Porsches.
>
> The new mag is to feature classic Porches, Alfas, Datsun roadsters and
> 240Zs. Maybe I'll be able to sell them a VW/Morris Minor comparison
> article. I personally have owned a number of BMWs, Citroens, Datsun 510s
> and a Peugeot along with my MGs, Rileys, and over 50(!) Morris Minors -
> these cars are all fun and quite similar (except for the Citroen DS21 - I
> think that it was designed on Mars!). American cars will be more like
> classic Corvettes, Z28 Cameros and Boss 302 Mustangs, the cars that went
> fender to fender (OK, wing to wing!) with our Jags, Cobras and Sunbeam
> Tigers on the track.
>
> We enthusiasts have to realize that as the old car hobby condenses into a
> smaller group that will then break again into show-ers, racers and
backyard
> tinkers and then again into smaller groups of rodders, restorers and
> modernized cruisers, we are going to have to combine certain aspects of
the
> hobby to maintain our special interest publications. This one should be
> painless.
>
> Please don't winge about the loss, be happy about the fact that we are
> still here and are going to be bringing you more and better info on your
> favorite Britiron as well as additional info on cars from other parts of
> the world.
>
> Thanks for listening - the Official Word is included below.
>
> Cheers,
> Rick Feibusch
> Venice , CA
>
> -----------------------------------------------------
>
> Press Release
>
> Ormond Beach, Florida,  January 31, 2003
>
> Motorsport Marketing, Inc., Publishers of Grassroots Motorsports, has
> announced their purchase of British Car Magazine on January 30. British
Car
> will be relaunched this spring as Classic Autosport, with British Car's
> Gary Anderson as editor.
>
> Classic Autosport magazine will offer classic car enthusiasts  more depth
> in its technical coverage and a wider range  of classic performance
> automobile coverage, British, as well as European, American, and others.
> Classic Autosport will be all-color, perfect-bound and will start with at
> least 100 pages.
>
> From his office in Los Altos, California, Gary Anderson, editor and
> publisher of British Car Magazine  since 1996 said "I'm  really looking
> forward to editing the new magazine. With the strong technical and
> publishing resources of Motorsport Marketing, we'll be able to provide
more
> detailed information on our favorite British cars while covering the other
> marques that were so much a part of the sports car hobby as we knew it in
> the fifties, sixties, and seventies."
>
> In making the announcement, Tim Suddard, president of Motorsport Marketing
> and publisher of Grassroots Motorsports, said  "As classic car enthusiasts
> ourselves, we have had a dream for over ten years of adding a classic car
> magazine to our activities. With the acquisition of British Car, we have
> the core around which to create the kind of magazine we have always wanted
> ourselves, in the same way we have built Grassroots Motorsports."
>
> The expanded magazine will give British Car readers more tech features,
> emphasizing ways to improve reliability, safety, and performance of
classic
> cars. In addition, Classic Autosport will be building its own project cars
> like those that Grassroots Motorsports is famous for building. Classic car
> meet and vintage racing coverage will be expanded. All of this will be
> added while the magazine will still maintain the enthusiasm for classic
> cars that British Car readers have come to expect.
>
> The first project cars planned for the new publication include an MG
Midget
> and Porsche 911, while the magazine will also campaign a pair of vintage
> racers: Publisher Tim Suddard will continue to run his Triumph TR3 at East
> Coast events, while Editor Gary Anderson will campaign an MGA on the West
> Coast.
>
> The April/May issue of British Car will be the last one to carry the old
> name and logo. British Car readers will see no interruption of service, as
> they will be the first to receive this new and expanded publication. The
> first issue of Classic Autosport will be mailed in late May and on the
> newsstands by 3 June.
>
> For more information on the new magazine, a sneak preview of the new
> editorial calendar, and an opportunity to chat with the staff, as well as
> to find subscription information, check the Web site,
> www.classicautosport.net.
>
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