What most clubs fail to recognise is the wealth of information contained in there old publications. So do members. Many a question would be answered if folk kept there mags on a shelf, possibly indexed. They are better than a book on the topic, as they contain the alternative ways of doing things.
One of the best publications is Russell Church's Karotips book for Messerschmitt owners. That was edited out of the Kabinews pre dating its publication, plus some modifications to bring them up to date. As a companion to the Grosse Karotip issued by FMR you can sort most problems. Few other clubs have done this obvious and simple task. The Berkeley club used to offer a myriad technical sheets, but not really a publication of the lot. A sort of halfway house.
Oddly it is considered OK to recycle and print old media articles in club magazines, but rarely do these same tittles publish the cream of members items submitted over the years. They need not even be technical. 'Toad goes to Scotland' was a tour de-force in Cruisernews. The Hitch Hikers guide to the Messerschmitt and Bernard's 175 page both stand well from Take Off.
Not far from here is a chubby buddy who has ceased to put out his words in the disposable form of items for newsletters, preferring to unite output in the form of books, for money. I cannot say I blame him, and ultimately I think I am likely to do the same. I have written a book already, its scattered in many club mags for free. Certainly I can think of few cases of being thanked for my efforts to supply club publications with items, even when practically creating the whole thing, or having a clumsy editor destroy well crafted prose.
This pathetic excuse of nothing to write about, not the skill, is a cop out in many cases. I have not noticed it stop spirited discussions on the forums. And the forums themselves are a rich source of fillers. Though the uncomfortable truth is that magazines tend to be about 3 months behind the internet for topical information, which does rather hamstring them over 20 years ago when it was your main source of news and information.
Item, stop press, 13 Ligier for sale. It kind of looses impact when half of them might be resold again by the time you get to here about it. I remember a classic 'Messerschmitt found in Port Talbot' item in one of the monthlys. I arrived at clubnight to a scrum of folk looking at the mag like it was Penthouse.
'So and so is going to look at that car'.
'Don't bother' said I 'Seen it, bought it, sold it.' In fact it passed through 4 hands before publication was made and ended up being restored by Nick Haddon who bought it from me and found it still had a valid saleable V5 to be claimed after the rush.
