What's inside the September issue?

Glad you asked:

• Today's best deals on a true big-block car.

• Is the Triumph TR250 better than the TR6?

• Driving one of the famed BMW 3.0 CSL Batmobile racers.

• Monterey visitors guide.

• Why you want a VW Beetle.

• How to steal an Aston Martin.

• How to lower your rubber-bumper MGB.

• Driving our fin tail Benz all over creation.

• Drew Alcazar on why a 300SL will always be worth a mint yet he can't say the same about his 428 Cobra Jet Mustang.

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I want a VW Beetle?

But I already have a Ghia, and there like, you know, better.

The Beetle, the car that was everywhere, and I rarely see them anymore. I think it's the no-AC thing. Sadly the Beetle motors are not a cheap as they used to be either (smaller market I guess).

Looking forward to the issue, David!

This sounds like another good one!

For once I didn't see a single thing that interested me. Yet I'll still read it cover to cover at work over a handful of lunch 1/2hr breaks.

"For once I didn't see a single thing that interested me."

No?

WOW ! ! !

That sounds like one of the more interesting issues in a long while.

In reply to David S. Wallens:

You guys must have an Aston Martin up for sale?

TeamEvil wrote: "For once I didn't see a single thing that interested me." No? WOW ! ! ! That sounds like one of the more interesting issues in a long while.

I think that was 'tongue in cheek' response. Then again, maybe you know the poster better than I.

I bought a new TR 250.

chuckles wrote: I bought a new TR 250.

Very cool. What color?

I'll keep an eye out for it.

The TR250 was a booby prize for the North American market - a slightly heavier no faster six cylinder version of the TR4, without the extra 50 BHP the injected engine offered elsewhere in the world. At least the TR-6 also did a very creditable job of overhauling the appearance of the old model (and at a bargain basement price - I hope the story of this brilliant update also made it into the article).

It was just bad luck that the model came out just as Datsun was about to revolutionize the sports car market (late 1969, IIRC) and instantly relegate many of the British sports cars to buggy whip status.

Got it in the mail. Just paged through it during my lunch break. Looks like lots of good stuff to read.

The September issue just arrived. I have three words: weak, weak, weak. It's like the Cliff's Notes version. What the bloodyhell's going on at Motorsport Marketing? Ad content is still holding at around 50%, but pictures and text are considerably larger, yielding less actual magazine content. And the other day I received a free copy of GRM from the publisher with a special $10 subscription offer. (It's been a year since I let my GRM subscription lapse). So I flipped through the free August issue of GRM and could barely find any actual magazine content (56% ads vs. 44% magazine content and that was extremely weak too). So I don't think I'll be signing up for the GRM subscription. What's going on in Holly Hill?

I don't need to tell you that it's the magazine readership numbers that drive the ad sales. Weak and diminishing content leads to diminishing magazine sales. Where does that leave ad sales? You still need strong magazine sales to support all your other non-core peripheral activities.

BTW ... where's Andy? He's seemed to have slipped into oblivion (much the same as Burt did a few years ago) without a comment.

Got it, not read it yet other than a flick through and look at some pretty pics. I'm depressed by sale prices at auction. When I moved here 20 years ago you could get a nice Countach for $70-100k. What was the green one sold for that was shown in this issue. $1.2m Bork, I'm out of the game long before I got into it.

Interesting bit on the used 360 for $60ish K. Any chance of the occasional one pager where 'regular' people have bought these cars (or the Aston DB7 from the other month etc) and run them for a couple of years at what their actual experiences have been?

Hey Adrian, prices for cars like the Countach are definitely heading skyward. I saw this happening a few years ago and helped a few people get them while the getting was good. The other car that is moving from that era is the Ferrari Testarossa. You can still find great examples at under 100K but the top cars are definitely heading North of that number. Others of that era are the Ferrari 308 and the Porsche 930.

These are all terrific cars and are likely to continue to rise in price. Basically it is time to get while the getting is good.

We younger buyers are now buying the cars we always wanted and can afford to do so and this is driving the market for the cool 1980's cars.

I myself am looking for a 1983 911 SC Cabrio as these first year Porsche 911 convertibles are still very affordable in the high 20's and low 30's. This is probably a small window of opportunity for these so I am actively looking.

If someone does have one I will happily trade my new SL55 AMG I bought to get around Monterey this year for a nice SC cabrio plus a bit of cash. :-)

Gary wrote: The September issue just arrived. I have three words: weak, weak, weak. It's like the Cliff's Notes version. What the bloodyhell's going on at Motorsport Marketing? Ad content is still holding at around 50%, but pictures and text are considerably larger, yielding less actual magazine content. And the other day I received a free copy of GRM from the publisher with a special $10 subscription offer. (It's been a year since I let my GRM subscription lapse). So I flipped through the free August issue of GRM and could barely find any actual magazine content (56% ads vs. 44% magazine content and that was extremely weak too). So I don't think I'll be signing up for the GRM subscription. What's going on in Holly Hill? I don't need to tell you that it's the magazine readership numbers that drive the ad sales. Weak and diminishing content leads to diminishing magazine sales. Where does that leave ad sales? You still need strong magazine sales to support all your other non-core peripheral activities. BTW ... where's Andy? He's seemed to have slipped into oblivion (much the same as Burt did a few years ago) without a comment.

Sorry September didn't sit well with you. Our number one goal with the redesign was increased readability, as our number one complaint was lack of readability. As such, we focused on things like increasing text size, reducing the number of words per page, and arranging things in managed, researched ways that are shown to improve the reader experience and comprehension. And to prevent the fewer words on each page from cannibalizing the content, we added pages and reduced the ad ratio. While the aridness may give the impression of less content, an issue word count suggests otherwise.

But again, I'm not saying you're wrong. So much of design is a matter of taste and opinion, and sometimes a format just misses the mark for certain tastes. Hopefully you'll stick around long enough to let us convince you it's a move forward, not backward.

Mine came sometime last week. I found it when I was vacuuming the Fiat yesterday.

Adrian_Thompson wrote: Got it, not read it yet other than a flick through and look at some pretty pics. I'm depressed by sale prices at auction. When I moved here 20 years ago you could get a nice Countach for $70-100k. What was the green one sold for that was shown in this issue. $1.2m Bork, I'm out of the game long before I got into it.

I agree wholeheartedly. I am pretty much out of the car business due to the crazy prices. The high prices on the super expensive cars is dragging up the prices of everything, just not a fast. Even my lowly Spitfires are increasing in value. If I was welathy and could afford the high dollar cars, I would not be complaining, because it seems you can a flip a car every few years and turn a handsome profit (until the next proverbial bubble burst).