Whats better Retro or Classic Ford?

[martin c]

Sorry mate but I do find these comments very unfair.

Usually Harrised engined? Yes we have Harris built engined cars but not all that often and as much as anyone else. Not sure where you get that from really.

Seen at the Pod. We have a had a few drag cars in recently but that reflects the poularity of the sport. Again, not sure where you got that from.

Get north.We always have and will continue to feature cars from from across the country, north, south, east and west. If you check out the cars in the magazine they are from all over the country.

Car that have been in the mag years ago. We just don;t do that, unless the car has been radically altered and then perhaps we will revisit it. Not to be funny or upset anyone but Retro Ford does feature a lot of old ex-Classic Ford feature cars so you might be thinking of them when it comes to that point.

Steve, Classic Ford

Us Scots offered CF our Rolling road feature several years ago and were told you were not interested( RF got the feature) We all go to Crail once a year for the Fast Ford/ Classic Ford day yet there is nobody from the mag there?
RF editors have been to Scotland several times this year, I even bumped into them in Ireland on my travels, covering some of the biggest events over there.
The RF team did the Lakes tour this year which was the biggest gathering of Escorts seen for many years.
I've never seen you at any of the big events in Scotland and we probably have more unseen/un-featured cars than most.

Martin, SOSE Chairman.

[CFED]

i think, like any publication, both reflect the characters of the editorial staff. probably retro ford's boys are into fords themselves whereas cf's maybe aren't. on the other hand, the layout of cf appeals to me more( not quite so fast car/vis/loaded)

good point about geographical coverage

I can tell you if Gareth and me weren't into our classic Fords we wouldn;t spend as much money as we do on ours and we'd go mad pretty quickly doing the jobs we do - I'm sure the RF guys will agree with me on that. What we do do at Classic Ford is try and deliver a magazine that appeals to the whole old Ford scene and includes everyone's interests and tastes. I personally think we do this very well. Trouble is this canmean that we run thin on appeal in specific areas sometimes but that's just life, other wise we'dhave a magazine that was over 250 pages each month - and I;d have a nervous breakdown!

It's great to see that the magazines matter so much to you guys that you have discussions like this though.

[lee bishop]

i subscribe to CF ( nearly cancelled but as mark says, they seemed to have improved over the last year ) and buy RF, which is good and has fab articles, but i did start to feel like it was turning into bens mates cars mag, but that has seemed to have changed lately too, i'm sure it can be hard geting fresh material.

as to the point about cars being re-featured in CF, unfortunately some have, craig rainers for one, have noticed other 'repeats' over the years but the mag has had a change of editors once or twice.

i know ben morley was big into fords before he turned journo, but what were the CF boys into?? has their interest only come out of the job they do??

[RS2000CUSTOM]

Just one comment on the Oop Norf issues

Where was Classic Ford at The Lakes Tour 2006 and 2007 ?

[CFED]

Us Scots offered CF our Rolling road feature several years ago and were told you were not interested( RF got the feature) We all go to Crail once a year for the Fast Ford/ Classic Ford day yet there is nobody from the mag there?
RF editors have been to Scotland several times this year, I even bumped into them in Ireland on my travels, covering some of the biggest events over there.
The RF team did the Lakes tour this year which was the biggest gathering of Escorts seen for many years.
I've never seen you at any of the big events in Scotland and we probably have more unseen/un-featured cars than most.

Martin, SOSE Chairman.

Hi Martin, I'm not sure you would have been told we weren't interested in the feature. It was probably more a case of not having room for it in the mag due to having stock in which often happens.
As for the shows, well we try and get to as many as we can throughout the year, however we do work our arses off in the week and don't always want to work our weekends too. I also feel that if we did do this other areas of the magazine and the high standards we have would suffer and slip. This is just the way we work. Often I;d love to be out more having a laugh but the hard work needs to be done in the office as if we didn;t do it, nobody else would and as I said the magazine would suffer.

[CFED]

i subscribe to CF ( nearly cancelled but as mark says, they seemed to have improved over the last year ) and buy RF, which is good and has fab articles, but i did start to feel like it was turning into bens mates cars mag, but that has seemed to have changed lately too, i'm sure it can be hard geting fresh material.

as to the point about cars being re-featured in CF, unfortunately some have, craig rainers for one, have noticed other 'repeats' over the years but the mag has had a change of editors once or twice.

i know ben morley was big into fords before he turned journo, but what were the CF boys into?? has their interest only come out of the job they do??

I've always been in to old cars, not specifically Fords I will admit and I don;t think that's a bad thing either. Before I worked on Classic Ford I owned both Escorts and Capris along with Minis and an old Saab. Obviously my job has had an effect on my taste in cars, how could it not but Fords have always been towards the top of my list as far as what I want to own, drive and play with. And now they are at the top.
I am however a professional journalist and magazine editor first, I've just been very lucky to get a job on a mag dealing with the subject I love. I think it's important for the magazine that it is that way around too.
In my personal opinion and experience, a magazine works better when the people running it, or at least the editor are professionals first and enthusiasts second. Otherwise you end up creating the mag for you and your mates as opposed to the wider readership. That's is just my opinion though.

[martin c]

Hi Martin, I'm not sure you would have been told we weren't interested in the feature. It was probably more a case of not having room for it in the mag due to having stock in which often happens.
As for the shows, well we try and get to as many as we can throughout the year, however we do work our arses off in the week and don't always want to work our weekends too. I also feel that if we did do this other areas of the magazine and the high standards we have would suffer and slip. This is just the way we work. Often I;d love to be out more having a laugh but the hard work needs to be done in the office as if we didn;t do it, nobody else would and as I said the magazine would suffer.

Hi Steve,

It just seem a shame that your not prepared to go that extra mile to get to some of the best events like the Lakes tour which this year was awesome, our show at Kames this year( as featured in this months RF), Ford Fair N.Ireland and Kilrea etc
Always difficult I know but its the readers who want to read about these events and they will buy the mag which has covered them.

Martin

[CFED]

Just one comment on the Oop Norf issues

Where was Classic Ford at The Lakes Tour 2006 and 2007 ?

Unfurtunately as the tour was sponsored by Retro Ford it didn;t seem appropriate to cover it in the magazine. Although if you want to invite us next year I'm sure we'd love to come along and perhaps sponsor it ourselves.

[RS2000CUSTOM]

Retro Ford were initially slagged off for being "Old Skool Ford" orientated in its featured cars and event coverage and looked doomed to fail

But now since it became 1 Ben not 2 it has spread its wings and began to realise life does exist North of Watford Gap

NO magazine can survive without articles and ALL magazine need people to put pen to paper or finger to keyboard and write about their car, club or event etc

So come on get your pics and articles in to the magazine of your choice and watch them thrive or of course send articles into both magazines and see who "bothers" to print it first !!!!

[RS2000CUSTOM]

Unfurtunately as the tour was sponsored by Retro Ford it didn;t seem appropriate to cover it in the magazine. Although if you want to invite us next year I'm sure we'd love to come along and perhaps sponsor it ourselves.

Well contact Steve Ogle and Gazump the sponsorship deal offered by Retro Ford !

[CFED]

Hi Steve,

It just seem a shame that your not prepared to go that extra mile to get to some of the best events like the Lakes tour which this year was awesome, our show at Kames this year( as featured in this months RF), Ford Fair N.Ireland and Kilrea etc
Always difficult I know but its the readers who want to read about these events and they will buy the mag which has covered them.

Martin

MArtin I definitely hear you mate and know what you're saying. THere are certain shows that we have to cover in the magazine and other's that we change every year and that does leave little space in the magazine for other events. What happens if we have too many is that they are held on to for ages and then they're out of date and it just looks daft when we feature them - I know, I've had to do it before. Or you have amagazine full of events and nothing else, which again is something we don't want.
The other aspect, as I;ve mentioned is appeal to the readership and is something I really have to consider carefully. Having said that I did see the shots in RF of the Lakes Tour and it did look like a great event, shame it was sponsored by RF as it means we can;t really cover it. Maybe next year.

[CFED]

i subscribe to CF ( nearly cancelled but as mark says, they seemed to have improved over the last year ) and buy RF, which is good and has fab articles, but i did start to feel like it was turning into bens mates cars mag, but that has seemed to have changed lately too, i'm sure it can be hard geting fresh material.

as to the point about cars being re-featured in CF, unfortunately some have, craig rainers for one, have noticed other 'repeats' over the years but the mag has had a change of editors once or twice.

i know ben morley was big into fords before he turned journo, but what were the CF boys into?? has their interest only come out of the job they do??

Forgot to address the repeat cars bit.

Yeah, Craigs has been in twice, but the first time was a feature on spending a day with a racing car I think. But that's the only one I can think of off the top of my head, maybe if you go back over 7 years or something, but again I think if that's happened then it's been becuase the car's changed a lot into another featurable motor.

[plentysideways]

cant please all the people all the time i suppose. good to know that the ed of cf does come on to the board.

does anybody know which of the two has the highest circulation figures?

[CFED]

cant please all the people all the time i suppose. good to know that the ed of cf does come on to the board.

does anybody know which of the two has the highest circulation figures?

I'm on here all the time mate, pretty much everyday, just watching mostly though.

I'm pretty sure we have the highest circulation out of all the Ford mags: retro, fast and performance. And again I don't think retro has ever sold more than us. Ben, you can correct me if I'm wrong. Obviously that makes me pretty happy because it's the biggest poll there is - it's tough out on the newsagent's shelf! Doesn;t make us complacent though. We do try damn hard to please all you lot and your fellow old Ford fans.

[vtaggart]

Retroford ahead for me at the minute, however its good to have both.

Lets face it there is a market for both and £8 a month is not much to spend to pass the boredom while your on the white throne