Re: [AMC-list] Car magazines are bugging me - how about daily drivers

[tom jennings <tomj@xxxxxxx>]

I am sooo glad you griped about HCC before me! I've been holding back...

Not only do we have an HCC writer on this list, HCC has been a good
magazine; a bit limited range for my tastes (each his/her own of course) but
the latest changes in direction are utterly counter to my interests.

But ME TOO.

It's a class thing. I'm sure business reality is that they serve the
noisiest readers, and they probably want more reminscing about
when-they-were-kids and full classics etc. There's a lot of grouchy readers
it seems.

Personally, while I love to look at people's restored *cars*, restorations
are incredibly boring to *read about*. A NOS bezel is pretty enough, but
it's really uninteresting to read about, or hear about it's acquisition or
installation.

Here's the built-in problem with restoration articles: YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT
THE OUTCOME IS. Worse, though, nearly all are gross OVER-restorations.


I've been griping to my local friends that I want an AGNOSTIC car magazine.
HOT ROD is boring, and worse -- I love and drive American cars only, but
come on, the criticism against that guy who put a 1000hp turbo import motor
in a Camaro last year was borderline racist. Sheesh, the guy does an
interesting, well-thought-out and very well executed install, and he's
called Un American and worse.

Is there any car rag where people actually MAKE things? I know they gotta
sell Edelbrock ads, but come on. How many people can afford to drop a few K$
for a weekend project, never mind $10K+ for some undrivable monstrosity?
There's no diversity of engines or chassis. The "import" rags are as bad, or
worse, just product product product.

And not everything has to be 1000hp or even have 8 holes. I mean seriously,
it's 2010, not 1960, making HP, especially in a '350 or something, is so
routine as to be utterly predictable.



> I don't know. I want to see more articles on people keeping their old
> cars on the road and running.


yeah, even HCC had a column about 'yes, old cars CAN be driven reliably'.
Hell, you could drive a 64 Classic 60 mph all day long in 1964, why not in
2010?

But a lot of people are fine with their cars as summer weekend cars, and
that's totally fine too. Everyone has their own desires. For weekend use,
shiny paint and old leaky engines is fine.  To their credit HOT ROD has been
emphasizing ability to drive 1000hp monsters (usually by spending
uncountable dollars) but too many HCC articles have body-off restos and
"engine looked fine so we repainted it". Bulls**t. I know what 50 year old
engines look like inside, no amount of care will stop all corrosion and
wear.



> I want to read articles about cars like
> Tom's 440H and Classic wagon. Cars like wrambler's '69 American. Like
> Franks '63 wagon. Like Joe's '65 - getting closer and closer to being
> on the road. I want to see articles about regular guys and gals
> working on their own cars and using them. If they go for a weber carb
> or a Pertronix ignition to help driveability - fine! I really enjoyed
> the post on theamcforum with the guy that drove his '62 Classic from
> Oklahoma out to California. Cool, epic trip.
>

ME TOO!



> So - are there magazines out there about regular guys (and girls) with

basic daily driver and fun cruiser cars hitting the scenic highways,

stopping at old diners, wandering by the few drive-ins still around? I

don't really care if they have white walls and the correct amount of

overspray or not.


ME TOO.


Doesn't have to be brand-specific. I like all sorts of cars. Doesn't

have to be show quality. But should be about something the driver gets

in and happily drives.



ME TOO. I actually prefer non-brand-specific. I want solutions, techniques,
how-tos, crazy stories, oddball engines, one-off cars, driving events,
off-brand parts swaps (we do this all the time), OLD CARS ON THE ROAD!
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