C&D has jumped the shark

Car & Driver used to be my favorite car mag growing up. I loved Brock Yates, the irreverent nature of the magazine, the cool car tests, and the oddball reviews that they would include of fire trucks and such.

All that is now gone, they are a mirror of their sister publication, and the writing mostly sucks. Now, they are sending me spam email about the latest men's fashions.

'You like cars? You will love these totally queer shoes!"

I wish i was man enough to be able to rock that outfit and not feel horribly stupid.

I hate the pants.

I REALLY like the overshirt thing, and the t-shirt under it is whimsical and summer-y.

Jealous of the hair. My locks are not thick, nor doth they floweth well.

Those shoes suck. Boat shoes are acceptable and in fact, encouraged, just not in fruity colors or materials. Brown leather or go to hell.

Mags are hurting for revenue, so sponsored goods tie-ins are the latest grab at monetizing their mailing list. I'm sure this move was arranged by Hearst Corp Marketing, and the C&D editors weren't given a veto.

OP, I feel your pain. Sometime in the last 30 years or so, companies went from making a competent product and selling it at a fair profit to making a product posing as competent which in reality is a "marketing tool." And corporate attitudes went from "How may we serve you?" to "Gotcha, sucker!"

Edit: Good to see that among car mags, GRM at least is staying "old school", and I mean that in the most positive way possible.

Here's GRM's fashion guide: cargo shorts and T-shirt.

And if you want to dress just like us, today's it's the usual for me: long-sleeve black Target T-shirt, Old Navy camo cargo shorts, black Old Skool Vans.

Swank Force One wrote: I wish i was man enough to be able to rock that outfit and not feel horribly stupid. I hate the pants. I REALLY like the overshirt thing, and the t-shirt under it is whimsical and summer-y. Jealous of the hair. My locks are not thick, nor doth they floweth well. Those shoes suck. Boat shoes are acceptable and in fact, encouraged, just not in fruity colors or materials. Brown leather or go to hell.

I lol'd. I hate the shoes though, well in fact I hate it all, seems like preppy boy E36 M3 to me.

I have awesome hair though.

Swank Force One wrote: Those shoes suck. Boat shoes are acceptable and in fact, encouraged, just not in fruity colors or materials. Brown leather or go to hell.

Just bought boat shoes (brown leather). Kinda need them as a dress shoe when wearing shorts. Only shoes that go with shorts are gym shoes or sandals, and neither is particularly acceptible in a nicer restaurant or church.

I also think that you can get away with a navy leather or black leather.

mtn wrote:

Swank Force One wrote: Those shoes suck. Boat shoes are acceptable and in fact, encouraged, just not in fruity colors or materials. Brown leather or go to hell.

Just bought boat shoes (brown leather). Kinda need them as a dress shoe when wearing shorts. Only shoes that go with shorts are gym shoes or sandals, and neither is particularly acceptible in a nicer restaurant or church. I also think that you can get away with a navy leather or black leather.

Ain't none of y'all mid-western corn farmers ain't never been on no ocean, has you? Leather molds. And on salt water, it turns into beef jerky. Real boat shoes are canvas or GTFO my yacht. Don't scratch the teak.

Javelin wrote:

mtn wrote:

Swank Force One wrote: Those shoes suck. Boat shoes are acceptable and in fact, encouraged, just not in fruity colors or materials. Brown leather or go to hell.

Just bought boat shoes (brown leather). Kinda need them as a dress shoe when wearing shorts. Only shoes that go with shorts are gym shoes or sandals, and neither is particularly acceptible in a nicer restaurant or church. I also think that you can get away with a navy leather or black leather.

Ain't none of y'all mid-western corn farmers ain't never been on no ocean, has you? Leather molds. And on salt water, it turns into beef jerky. *Real* boat shoes are canvas or GTFO my yacht. Don't scratch the teak.

Plz2be explaining why New Englanders love them some boat shoes? I see them everywhere in Bahstin.

David S. Wallens wrote: And if you want to dress just like us, today's it's the usual for me: **GRM** T-shirt, Old Navy camo cargo shorts, black Old Skool Vans.

Fixed.

Javelin wrote:

mtn wrote:

Swank Force One wrote: Those shoes suck. Boat shoes are acceptable and in fact, encouraged, just not in fruity colors or materials. Brown leather or go to hell.

Just bought boat shoes (brown leather). Kinda need them as a dress shoe when wearing shorts. Only shoes that go with shorts are gym shoes or sandals, and neither is particularly acceptible in a nicer restaurant or church. I also think that you can get away with a navy leather or black leather.

Ain't none of y'all mid-western corn farmers ain't never been on no ocean, has you? Leather molds. And on salt water, it turns into beef jerky. *Real* boat shoes are canvas or GTFO my yacht. Don't scratch the teak.

Leather lasts longer than canvas in my experience. And I'm on Lake Michigan/Green Bay/tiny pond like lakes, so no salt water for me.

where's the Crocs?

fasted58 wrote: where's the Crocs?

My trunk. I love them, just can't wear them in public.

fasted58 wrote: where's the Crocs?

mtn wrote:

fasted58 wrote: where's the Crocs?

My trunk. I love them, just can't wear them in public.

Thank you!

David S. Wallens wrote: And if you want to dress just like us, today's it's the usual for me: long-sleeve black Target T-shirt, Old Navy camo cargo shorts, black Old Skool Vans.

I'm in a polo, Old Navy brown cargo shorts, and NB 574s. Can I work there or am I overdressed?

Side note: I love no longer being "customer-facing".

Side-side note: Are old skool vans good for lifting? Most skate shoes are but I think mid-tops are a bit juvenile for my style.

David S. Wallens wrote: And if you want to dress just like us, today's it's the usual for me: long-sleeve black Target T-shirt, Old Navy camo cargo shorts, black Old Skool Vans.

Long sleeve? You are in Florida right? It's June. How do you not melt?

Oh, and I agree that C&D isn't as good as it once was, but I still find it better than the other "mainstream" mags.

1988RedT2 wrote:

fasted58 wrote: where's the Crocs?

the crocs are down in south FL. Up here we have their cousin Al.

(BTW, I'm 90%+ sure that the photo above is of an alligator. American crocodiles usually have longer, narrower snouts) (....because crocodiles have more fish in their diet, i.e. less of a generalist predator than the alligator. The extreme picivore with the ultra-narrow jaws would be the gharial)

R&T used to be "last month's C&D, less manuals" until the refresh that just happened, making it the car guy with money's lifestyle mag (but damn good). C&D is kind of 2/3rds normal reviews and 1/3 wackiness (Mazdaspeed5, sponsoring LeMons, cool interviews). I've been with C&D for a few years and just picked R&T back up into my rotation.

GRM is still one of 2 (out of the 12-ish) that I actually keep every issue.

Recent stumbled across Fall-1989 catalogs for both "American Male" and "California Cheap Skates/California Surf Style".

Talk about conflicting fashion sense, its no wonder I never got laid in high school.

Swank Force One wrote: I wish i was man enough to be able to rock that outfit and not feel horribly stupid. I hate the pants.

Are you sure they're pants and not a swimsuit? I could see that working if it was a knee length swimsuit. But if they're pants, they'll be the go-to item the next generation uses for mocking this decade's fashion.

I'm pretty sure they're not swimwear. They might be shorts, but dudebro in the picture isn't wearing them by accident with that top.

Those aren't clothes, those are an outfit.

Reminds me of the straw that broke my 20-year subscription to Autoweek's back: Articles about watches. That, and the constant phone calls from some agency they hired to badger people about renewing their subscriptions. And Dutch Mandel.

My (27-year) subscription to C&D is due to end next month. Still debating renewing it. I like to stay current with all the new cars, but I couldn't care less about a comparo between $80k SUVs, which they seem to have some version of every month.

In reply to David S. Wallens:

Props for lacking the flat billed hat and DC shoes....