Discussion
Classic & Sportscar - Excellent
Clssic Cars - OK
Octane - Excellent
Practical Classics - sometimes amusing
Motorsport - lost its way
The Automobile - my personal favourite, superbly written and with sensible in-depth content. May be a bit minority interest for PH`ers though
Retro Classics - Good idea for a new mag` but haven`t made my mind up
Your Classic? - never read it
Classic Cars For Sale - as it says on the tin but with a bit of half decent content
Classic Car Monthly - bit drab and not very interesting.
Additionally there are a plethora of single marque/single interest mag`s out there of which Auto Italia and 911 & PW are the only ones I occasionally read!
Clssic Cars - OK
Octane - Excellent
Practical Classics - sometimes amusing
Motorsport - lost its way
The Automobile - my personal favourite, superbly written and with sensible in-depth content. May be a bit minority interest for PH`ers though
Retro Classics - Good idea for a new mag` but haven`t made my mind up
Your Classic? - never read it
Classic Cars For Sale - as it says on the tin but with a bit of half decent content
Classic Car Monthly - bit drab and not very interesting.
Additionally there are a plethora of single marque/single interest mag`s out there of which Auto Italia and 911 & PW are the only ones I occasionally read!
cheers for the info One of my favourite clasics magazine used to be "Your Classic". They were progressive and open minded and got away from the snobbish boring recycled crap I'd read over and over and over on either E types, Spitfires, MGBs Golf GTi Mk1s, Triumphs or anything else-usually British. They got swallowed up unfortunately.
Retro was Ok, but tended to focus on SD1s or Mark 2 Escorts.
Yes I would love to read about Old Jags, I love them, but not EVERY 2 months! Cars I'd love to read more about are obscure classics, perhaps even more contemporary ones that mean something to me.
Examples being
Saab 99s, Volvo Amazons, The original E21 BMW 3 series, Honda S800s, The original Toyota Celica,
may be a Lancia Gamma with its Boxer-4!
Retro was Ok, but tended to focus on SD1s or Mark 2 Escorts.
Yes I would love to read about Old Jags, I love them, but not EVERY 2 months! Cars I'd love to read more about are obscure classics, perhaps even more contemporary ones that mean something to me.
Examples being
Saab 99s, Volvo Amazons, The original E21 BMW 3 series, Honda S800s, The original Toyota Celica,
may be a Lancia Gamma with its Boxer-4!
Retro is a good magazine, went to their show at Santa pod this year which has potential to get a lot bigger.
Preactical Performance car is a fairly new magazine in the same vein as Retro. It's produced by Will and Kev formerly of Practical Classics fame and also Dave Walker from CCC. It's also a good read although some I reckon some of their DIY projects are slightly ambitious for the average enthusiast. Stuff like, 'Turbo/Supercharge your car using scrapyard parts'. Still, it's interesting to read all the same!
Preactical Performance car is a fairly new magazine in the same vein as Retro. It's produced by Will and Kev formerly of Practical Classics fame and also Dave Walker from CCC. It's also a good read although some I reckon some of their DIY projects are slightly ambitious for the average enthusiast. Stuff like, 'Turbo/Supercharge your car using scrapyard parts'. Still, it's interesting to read all the same!
I buy nearly all of them so I can give a pretty accurate run-through.
Classic & Sports Car - very well written but a tiny bit elitist.
Classic Cars - the best one. Cross-section of all stata of classic cars, and they have Martin Buckley writing for them, who is a genius.
Practical Classics - very informative from a buyer's point of view (best price guide in the business IMO), but the subjects for their articles won't set the world alight.
Classics - Oh dear. Seem to think anything built pre-1980 is worthy of their complete attention and anything built after is not. Cue articles about Austin Allegros and interminable buyer's guides for cars not many people are bothered about. Their ads are free though.
Classic Cars For Sale - Bible-sized Classic Auto Trader. Articles are a bit thin, but for sheer content of ads it can't be faulted. Free ads mean that sellers aren't charging a premium to cover and recoup the cost over several weeks.
Retro Classics - A sort of cross-breed between Evo, Max Power and Practical Classics, all about making classic cars more fun to drive. Purists will be outraged, but it gets more - and younger - people 'into' classic cars and away from Lax Power et al. Must be a good thing.
Octane - probably written by millionaires for millionaires. Full of drool-worthy stuff you can't and never will be able to afford. Has a price tag that fell off a telecommunications satellite.
Motorsport - Written by blokes with quadruple-barrelled names and handlebar moustaches who seem to be under the impression that no motorsport we can see anywhere today is any good at all. Anachronistic, but frequently with free stuff. Makes Octane look cheap.
Classic American - Very good if you're into your classic Yanks. A bit self-indulgent, and they do music reviews at the back that would put you under the impression that '50s-style rock'n'roll is about to make a massive comeback, but the car content is very good and the classifieds are even better.
Classic & Sports Car - very well written but a tiny bit elitist.
Classic Cars - the best one. Cross-section of all stata of classic cars, and they have Martin Buckley writing for them, who is a genius.
Practical Classics - very informative from a buyer's point of view (best price guide in the business IMO), but the subjects for their articles won't set the world alight.
Classics - Oh dear. Seem to think anything built pre-1980 is worthy of their complete attention and anything built after is not. Cue articles about Austin Allegros and interminable buyer's guides for cars not many people are bothered about. Their ads are free though.
Classic Cars For Sale - Bible-sized Classic Auto Trader. Articles are a bit thin, but for sheer content of ads it can't be faulted. Free ads mean that sellers aren't charging a premium to cover and recoup the cost over several weeks.
Retro Classics - A sort of cross-breed between Evo, Max Power and Practical Classics, all about making classic cars more fun to drive. Purists will be outraged, but it gets more - and younger - people 'into' classic cars and away from Lax Power et al. Must be a good thing.
Octane - probably written by millionaires for millionaires. Full of drool-worthy stuff you can't and never will be able to afford. Has a price tag that fell off a telecommunications satellite.
Motorsport - Written by blokes with quadruple-barrelled names and handlebar moustaches who seem to be under the impression that no motorsport we can see anywhere today is any good at all. Anachronistic, but frequently with free stuff. Makes Octane look cheap.
Classic American - Very good if you're into your classic Yanks. A bit self-indulgent, and they do music reviews at the back that would put you under the impression that '50s-style rock'n'roll is about to make a massive comeback, but the car content is very good and the classifieds are even better.
Motorsport - I have a sub but not a huge fan of the recent redesign.
Classic Cars, Classic & Sportscar - indistinguishable and seldom buy any more.
Retro/Retro Cars - I buy if there's something interesting, like Iain Daniel's supercharged Scimitar, but the writing is sometimes poor or misinformed.
I used to spend about £20 a month on car magazines, maybe I'm getting too old, but spending the cash on petrol is more fun.
Classic Cars, Classic & Sportscar - indistinguishable and seldom buy any more.
Retro/Retro Cars - I buy if there's something interesting, like Iain Daniel's supercharged Scimitar, but the writing is sometimes poor or misinformed.
I used to spend about £20 a month on car magazines, maybe I'm getting too old, but spending the cash on petrol is more fun.
Classic and Sportscar - I've got every edition from no 1 so you could say I'm a fan.
Classic Cars - look at in WH Smiths .... buy every now and again.
Octane - excellent and has some good non car bits as well.
Practical Classics - not my cup of tea really
Automobile - excellent
Motorsport - hmmmm well written but crap design
Vintage Motorsport - American mag ... excellent articles but difficult to get hold of over here.
Classic Cars - look at in WH Smiths .... buy every now and again.
Octane - excellent and has some good non car bits as well.
Practical Classics - not my cup of tea really
Automobile - excellent
Motorsport - hmmmm well written but crap design
Vintage Motorsport - American mag ... excellent articles but difficult to get hold of over here.
Practical Classics
Classic and Sportscar
(Thoroughbred and ) Classic Cars
Classics
Popular Classics
Retro Cars
Your Classics
Restoring Classic Cars
I have got a near full collection of each- the hunt goes on for the missing few!
Anyone want to do swaps??
Need...got.....need.....got...got
I have got loads (several hundred) of doubles if anyone is in a similar position.
Classic and Sportscar
(Thoroughbred and ) Classic Cars
Classics
Popular Classics
Retro Cars
Your Classics
Restoring Classic Cars
I have got a near full collection of each- the hunt goes on for the missing few!
Anyone want to do swaps??
Need...got.....need.....got...got
I have got loads (several hundred) of doubles if anyone is in a similar position.
I only ever bought Practically Classic. Now they gather dead spiders in the loft. I was thinking of dividing them (the mags, not the arachnids) up into years and flogging them on Ebay...
Ironically I stopped getting them just before they did a series on the Rover V8, but by then I'd already rebuilt mine....
Ian
Ironically I stopped getting them just before they did a series on the Rover V8, but by then I'd already rebuilt mine....
Ian
If you are glancing at this months copy of Total MG (used to MG World) you will see my supercharged BGT in there - made front cover too! 
As for mags, Retro is the least pretentious and a nice change from the usual more purist or grease-monkey scribblings.
Could go a bit max powerish if not careful, but its not all MGs and triumphs which is nice. There are some nice "Other" classics in there too!
As for mags, Retro is the least pretentious and a nice change from the usual more purist or grease-monkey scribblings.
Could go a bit max powerish if not careful, but its not all MGs and triumphs which is nice. There are some nice "Other" classics in there too!
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