KIT CAR magazine, gone?

KIT CAR magazine, gone?

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Discussion

Stuart Mills

Original Poster:

1,208 posts

205 months

Thursday 2nd February 2017
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I just heard a rumour that KIT CAR magazine is no longer. Anyone have any info?

tombs

135 posts

246 months

Friday 3rd February 2017
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March 2017 (out today) is the last issue to be published under Silverback Publishing.

Wacky Racer

38,099 posts

246 months

Friday 3rd February 2017
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Funny, I was scanning the latest issue today, and wondered how it was doing these days...

Wonder what Den's thoughts are....

Jukebag

1,463 posts

138 months

Friday 10th February 2017
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There is practically nothing in these kit car magazines these days. Looked through the latest issues of Total kit car and Complete kit car and there was barely anything of interest aside from a few "strange" looking kit cars. The classifieds was barely non existent.

I've a number of issues from the early to mid 2000s and they are jam packed full of interesting stuff, a great range of kit cars for sale (Cobras, Tigers, Robin Hoods, Merlin's, Healey replicas, the odd Challenger and Wildcat E Types, etc). A number of them up for sale for more than they do now; quite a few Tiger super cats in the 5-7 grand region (private sale), yet most I see now are sub 5 grand.

Edited by Jukebag on Friday 10th February 10:53

downsman

1,099 posts

155 months

Friday 10th February 2017
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Jukebag said:
There is practically nothing in these kit car magazines these days. Looked through the latest issues of Total kit car and Complete kit car and there was barely anything of interest aside from a few "strange" looking kit cars. The classifieds was barely non existent.

I've a number of issues from the early to mid 2000s and they are jam packed full of interesting stuff, a great range of kit cars for sale (Cobras, Tigers, Robin Hoods, Merlin's, Healey replicas, the odd Challenger and Wildcat E Types, etc). A number of them up for sale for more than they do now; quite a few Tiger super cats in the 5-7 grand region (private sale), yet most I see now are sub 5 grand.
Complete Kit Car said they stopped the classified ads, because the delay going to press meant most were sold online these days before the magazine reached the shelf.

There is certainly a reduced number of new kits for sale compared with the good old days of the 80s and 90s when I built my first kit. However, I subscribe to Complete Kit Car, and find the mix of new kit reviews, featured builds, running reports, "classic kit car" articles and engineering advice is always a good read.

Kitcar wasn't very good twenty years ago in my opinion, and when I've bothered flicking through it over the last five years, I certainly haven't been tempted to buy it.

gtmdriver

333 posts

172 months

Saturday 11th February 2017
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As Downsman said we stopped putting classified ads in the magazine and moved them online.

http://www.completekitcar.co.uk/classifieds.html

We typically work on one month lead time for print so it was felt that an online service was more relevant.

It is also the case though that there are far fewer kits for sale now than there used to be.

Ozzie Dave

563 posts

247 months

Saturday 11th February 2017
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the magazines must have a hard time, as it is a limited market, both in vehicle manufacturers, and buyers, this also refelects on news articles and such forth. You only have to think back and there was times when all the kit car posts would not fit on a single page for the day, over the last decade we have seen this drop.
Some of this is the increasing difficulties related to producng a kit car, and building it. We also expect a higher class of vehicle in most cases. There is still demand for fun vehicles. I would also think that magazine sales vary with what contents are in the magazine that month, hence longer 'buld features' become very important to promote long term readership. This is very much a nich readership and i suspect you would not get involved just to 'make money' but must have a real enthusiasm for the subject.

S47

1,325 posts

179 months

Saturday 11th February 2017
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I ain't bought a KC mag for a few years, as has been mentioned the Mags content fell off the cliff, all you got in the mag was bloody crappy adverts.
Another factor is cost - all car mags have almost priced themselves off the shelves, Why??
To sell a mag [any mag] you need decent articles, with the demise of KC industry there's few decent Kits to write about anymore frown
So why do we need more than one OVERPRICED KC mag?

Wacky Racer

38,099 posts

246 months

Sunday 12th February 2017
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I have hundreds of copies of both Which Kit? and Kit Car from the 1980's onwards and they are jammed full of interesting articles, such as the excellent build articles featuring Nigel Dean, it really was boom time in the Kit Car industry with most shows over subscribed, Newark, Stafford, Stoneleigh etc......

Hopefully, the industry still has a decent future, even if it is on a slightly smaller scale.

_Leg_

2,798 posts

210 months

Sunday 12th February 2017
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It's not just kit car magazines. Lots of people cancelling their Evo Magazine subscriptions and from what I've read, lot's of staff leaving the magazine too.


gtmdriver

333 posts

172 months

Monday 13th February 2017
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S47 said:
I ain't bought a KC mag for a few years, as has been mentioned the Mags content fell off the cliff, all you got in the mag was bloody crappy adverts.
Another factor is cost - all car mags have almost priced themselves off the shelves, Why??
To sell a mag [any mag] you need decent articles, with the demise of KC industry there's few decent Kits to write about anymore frown
So why do we need more than one OVERPRICED KC mag?
I'm sure if you look again you will see that the magazines contain more than just adverts but, that aside, it would be more helpful if you were to give us a some examples of the type of copy you would like to see in the magazines. When the industry was at its peak there were new cars being launched on a regular basis so the magazines could publish impressions, tests etc. but this is no longer the case so articles of this type are bound to be less frequent.

As regards cost trust me. No one is making a fortune out of Kit Car magazines. The price truly reflects the costs of producing a niche market magazine with a relatively small circulation.

Equus

16,770 posts

100 months

Monday 13th February 2017
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I must admit, Rob Hawkins, one of the regular kit car magazine journos, told me the writing was on the wall a good 15 years ago.

As an obsessive magazine buyer at the time, I didn't believe him when he said the future was online, but in retrospect it was obvious: why would anyone want to pay a fiver to have the same adverts, out-of-date classifieds and ever-shrinking editorial once a month, when they can find better content, free of charge and supported by multimedia and real-time discussion to share views with fellow enthusiasts, on here, whenever they want it?

Frankthered

1,619 posts

179 months

Monday 13th February 2017
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gtmdriver said:
S47 said:
I ain't bought a KC mag for a few years, as has been mentioned the Mags content fell off the cliff, all you got in the mag was bloody crappy adverts.
Another factor is cost - all car mags have almost priced themselves off the shelves, Why??
To sell a mag [any mag] you need decent articles, with the demise of KC industry there's few decent Kits to write about anymore frown
So why do we need more than one OVERPRICED KC mag?
I'm sure if you look again you will see that the magazines contain more than just adverts but, that aside, it would be more helpful if you were to give us a some examples of the type of copy you would like to see in the magazines. When the industry was at its peak there were new cars being launched on a regular basis so the magazines could publish impressions, tests etc. but this is no longer the case so articles of this type are bound to be less frequent.

As regards cost trust me. No one is making a fortune out of Kit Car magazines. The price truly reflects the costs of producing a niche market magazine with a relatively small circulation.
I can see both sides of this one. I recall buying editions of Kit Car magazine, probably in the mid 00's, to find articles reprinted from previous magazines that I'd read before, more articles reprinted as advertisement features, the same set of classified ads printed twice in the same edition and full page manufacturer's ads appearing 2 or 3 times.

I always found Which Kit, Which Kit Car and Complete Kit Car to be a much better effort, with Total Kit Car somewhere in between, I've not read TKC very much TBH.

Paper is definitely going out of fashion, though. What Car is getting very slim these days, it used to be my go to for data on mainstream cars, but now I tend to go to their website instead.

Online is the way to go really, how about some YouTube videos demonstrating your techniques, John, or have you already done that?

AdamWilkins

775 posts

239 months

Monday 13th February 2017
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I knew this thread would eventually attract the prophets of doom!

Yes, the kit car market has changed. Yes, the publishing industry has changed. But you either give up or you adapt what you're doing and work harder.

Complete Kit Car celebrates 10 years this year, and we'll having a major push at the Stoneleigh show to mark that milestone. I'm told by the organisers of Stoneleigh that stand bookings are looking great for this time of year too.

We had a record month for subscriptions in January which defied all expectation and we have a very loyal following who really like what we do. To those readers and subscribers, we are hugely grateful.

Complete Kit Car has a busy 2017 planned though, so that's what I'm focusing on. As well as Stoneleigh, where we'll be doing a lot, we have two of our own track days, four (and counting) classic car shows to attend, an open day here at our office and lots of plans around our 10th birthday.

Threads like this paint such a negative picture of the kit car industry, but out there in the real world - where you'll find the people who actually enjoy their cars and the kit car scene for what it has to offer - have smiles on their faces that do everything to counter the burden of internet threads like this.

Adam
Editor/owner, Complete Kit Car


tombs

135 posts

246 months

Monday 13th February 2017
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When I took on Kit Car Magazine 3 years ago I had planned to grow a publishing business, starting with KC. Today we have 6 titles, taking stock of what we were doing at Silverback Publishing it was clear that Kit Car magazine was the least profitable and to that end, a commercial decision was made to sell or close it.

It’s obvious to all the scene is a fraction of the size it was 10 years ago but there is still a good market there for kit car builders and owners to enjoy, it's just that Kit Car Magazine no longer was a good 'fit' for us here at Silverback Publishing.

We’ve taken on some exciting titles over the last 2 years, Retro Ford and Shindig! Magazine, for instance, both growth areas of interest. Commercially for us, it makes sense to concentrate on those magazines and put the time and effort where the return is far greater because as Adam has said, it’s about adapting to change.

tombs

135 posts

246 months

Monday 13th February 2017
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Equus said:
I must admit, Rob Hawkins, one of the regular kit car magazine journos, told me the writing was on the wall a good 15 years ago.

As an obsessive magazine buyer at the time, I didn't believe him when he said the future was online, but in retrospect it was obvious: why would anyone want to pay a fiver to have the same adverts, out-of-date classifieds and ever-shrinking editorial once a month, when they can find better content, free of charge and supported by multimedia and real-time discussion to share views with fellow enthusiasts, on here, whenever they want it?
I'm pretty certain that view Rob once had has changed. Back then the internet was very much in its infancy and many publishing companies were not sure how it would affect their business. Now, websites, blogs, social media platforms are used to support content in magazines, magazines still very much have a place in the majority of markets, even in the IT and internet market.

gtmdriver

333 posts

172 months

Tuesday 14th February 2017
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Frankthered said:
Online is the way to go really, how about some YouTube videos demonstrating your techniques, John, or have you already done that?
There are certainly some clips from my DVD on Fibreglass Techniques which have been posted by EC Fibreglass but, since I cringe every time I watch any of them,I haven't done anything else.

andygtt

8,344 posts

263 months

Tuesday 14th February 2017
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While the mags market has reduced due to the huge amount of content and speed of the internet, there is something satisfying about reading a magazine which is the reason I still subscribe to some (Evo etc).

Saying that I have a pile of 4 months of my subscription mags that I have yet to even open the wrapper let alone read as I've simply been too busy with work and in the garage so i never seem to get time to read them.


Stuart Mills

Original Poster:

1,208 posts

205 months

Wednesday 15th February 2017
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I love a magazine, comparing them to WWW. just doesn't work at all for me.

1. Online content could be written by a 10 year old with issues hiding behind a user name.

2. Kit car magazines are written by extremely experienced well respected professional journalists. They are at the sharp end of our scene, if it is news, they will know first and share it with us. If news pages are light, then there is little news.

3. Magazines can be read in the bath, or dropped in without a huge repair bill or frazzled nuts (ref to lap top).

4. Mags don't go flat or need charging, they are always ready for you.

5. You can read mags from a comfy chair, not stuck at the desk.

6. Mags don't have cables to light up a screen and they can be read in sunlight.

7. Mags are much easier to read than online via a little Iphone screen, and they are less likely to get nicked !

Wacky Racer

38,099 posts

246 months

Wednesday 15th February 2017
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Nothing to add, except to say good luck to Adam.

It's great to see someone with so much enthusiasm for their work, where the glass is always half full.