The Future of RUMCAR NEWS

[Jean]

Tony and I want to find out what people think of RUMCAR NEWS. We are facing heavier postal charges in August and the price of the magazine may have to go up again next year.
We have had an email from one unhappy customer but unless we can get people to voice an opinion we don't know which way to go. There are two alternatives - improve th quality, add more pages and increase the price or reduce the quality and the number of pages to keep within current price structure. The third alternative is to persuade many more people to subscribe to help us cover the costs.  We now have a Frisky Page added to Nobel, Peel, Goggomobil and the Invalid Carriage pages.  We hope to add a Scootacar page to this too.  All this should mean more subscribers as we cater especially for more  individual cars without clubs but there again we need all the help we can get from you to attract more subscribers. Tony is in the envious position of having more copy than he has space for most quarters so he could  easily fill four more pages providing of course you keep sending in your articles.  Please ,those of you who read this put your views on the forum, by email or just write a letter and encourage other people to do so too. The sooner the better of course August will soon be upon us and Tony and I  have to plan ahead..
 Come on at least let us hear from each of our current 29 forum members, and even if you are just visiting we would like your views too.[/b

[P50]

I wouldn't like to see the quantity of pages reduced in the mag.  I do like reading about the classic stuff but not terribly interested in asian tuk tuk type vehicles or ultra modern stuff. A scootacar page would be good as I have a mk1 and I'm biased!..

Would like to read about owners restos,fault finding/fixing articles,tales of antics bubble-wise in their day,bargains bought etc

I'd pay more as opposed to receiving less..   

[Bob Purton]

Strangely enough my tastes and preferances are identical to the previous contributors [Mr P50] I love all the 1950s/60 classic microcars. When I first became affiliated thats all the magazine was about. I would also like to read more fix it or tec articles.  Because I subscribe to quite a few other clubs and magazines I wouldnt like to see Rum car news continue to rise in price,I couldnt afford to continue to subscribe to them all, something would have to go and I wouldnt want to have to choose which of my favourites to have to drop. I would prefer to see the magazine slightly condensed using only the best articles and prevent the cost from rising. Thats just my view, Tony does a great job and I wouldnt want to him to feel in the least discouraged.

[Jean]

It would seem that both members who have posted replies so far agree they would like more technical information.  Thats fine, but neither Tony nor I have that sort of  expertise to impart we have to rely on YOU the members to help us.  So let the technical articles flow in!  If you have restored or are restoring an unusal vehicle let us hear about it, how you over came the lack of information that usually surrounds these "small run" makes.  Have you found compatible spares, have you found a realy good speicalist who provides value for money or a website that helped with your project?  Any information such as this would be most welcomed by the Archives so that we can help any future owners, after all that is what the Register is all about.  We can't proivide a spare parts service as the one make Clubs can do but we can provide information, and RUMCAR NEWS should be reflecting this and therefore making it special. Give Tony the ammunition to edit, and he will give you the magazine YOU want.

[Dan Rodd]

I would say that the reason membership is low is because people think it is just a register,ie just a database of a list of surviving cars.
I know i did before i joined,i had no idea there was a magazine etc,i believe that the register part throws people off track.
If it was the Unusual microcar Club,then it would be a bit more obvious what was offered.

[Jean]

But Dan we are only a Register.  The magazine is a separate entity for Unusual Microcars,we obviously need to advertise the magazine more but I am not sure how that can be done with out spending money with the motoring monthlies and we cannot afford to do that.  Any ideas?

[Bob Purton]

I think Dan makes a very valid point,everyone in microcar circles knows of the register but do they know there is a great magazine that goes with it? I wonder if the other microcar club mags like kabinews, isetta club mag, Bond info ect ect would allow a little free ad just to make known the existance of Rumcar news?

[Jean]

All the one make Clubs (except the MOC), many foreign microcar clubs and several other outside bodies exchange free magazines with us.  They are sent direct to the magazine editors once a quarter, which of course is an added expense to us.  Tony does however have the advantage of seeing the content of other magazines and does comment on items when appropriate and advertises their events.  Some magazine editors, particularly those abroard do advertise our existance and they also often use advertisements that appear in our magazine.  Maybe we should send each one of them an advertisement and ask them to publish it.

[marcus]

I really enjoy RCN and think it is very important to RUM, and that people know it exists. Personally I enjoy reading about all types of unusual cars, old and new, after all our "classics" were once new, and newer cars like Smart, Aixam and Microcar will one day be classics too. I am in several clubs so money is tight, but will al;ways find a bit more to keep up the quality of RCN, if there has to be change I hope it does not have to be too drastic!

[barchetta]

Jean and Tony,
 From my point of view I'm interested in the both the old and the new types of microcar,One of my reasons for including the newer vehicles is that they would bring in the new enthusiast who may not have encountered the fifties and sixties microcars before,but is looking to get involved and are not catered for by any other club. As for the magazine the bigger the better.
  The older cars are daunting in the amount of restoration work needed and the type of skills required to do the job,A new cheaper modern micro would be a better introduction to the world of microcars than the heaps of rust and twisted metal that we all love restoring.
    It would be interesting if some of the bigger club mags could provide a space to promote Rumcars .or prehaps as discussed on previous postings on the forum RUMCARS should be promoted in the bigger monthlys as a magazine as well as a register.
   Also I think we should all carry an A5 sized flier with us to hand out to all the people interested in our vehicles when we are out and about in them .If this flier was squeezed into the mag we could photocopy it and keeps a few with us to hand out.
   The problem with this is that we dont take our vehicles out to shows when they are unfinished even though the crowds are much bigger around a 'project' than a concours .( but most of the car shows nowadays want on-the-road vehicles mot'd and taxed )Is there more that individuals could do to raise the profile ,increase the membership and thus safeguard the magazine?

[robadob]

Hello everyone,
 Oh dear, I must be a real nutcase. After reading your comments I realized that I subscribe to a dozen vehicle clubs/registers and have eight magazines delivered monthly. Shall I stop all of this and retreat to my bed and laze the days away. No, I don't think so. I love the plop of all the mags. etc. that come through my letterbox. Every so often the price goes up, so what. Everything in the World seems to rise in price without us being forewarned. I don't think Magazines etc. would  sell if everyone was in monochrome. Wouldn't it be boring looking at the pictures of every vehicle in a colour of Ford Model Ts?
I note that members don't like various articles on different cars. Without these in RumCars News would there be your favourite magazine fabulously edited by Tony?  Where would the technical information come from? Copied from the vehicle's manual or  does anyone do their own restoration to write about. It seems a lot of people farm out the various components  to auto technicians, upholsterers and body specialists and then put it together like Meccano. But even so, how do you get people to write about it and submit to the magazine.
Maybe a flier could be inserted in the next issue of RumCarNews asking what the members would like to see in the magazine and how many RumCars fliers they would like to hand out to interested parties. Does any one mention rumcars.org when talking to people? Whenever I talk cars, bikes etc. to anyone I always quote the website. Do you?
 How about a help page. Ask a question on microcar problems and see if anyone has the answers.
I started into microcars in the 1960s and then 1974 started a collection of bubblecars before anybody else thought about it, except Tony when he had the brilliant idea of the Burford Meetings. I have one or two tales, but would anybody be interested and would there be room in RumCar News? It seems to be full up now.
I read all the pages many times over so look forward to how ever many extra pages there are to come and I will pay more for the privilege.
Right, I had better get on with Jean's Gordon or there won't be anything to write about that's if you want to read about it.           Bob D.

[Dan Rodd]

I must say that i have enjoyed bobs Gordon restoration articles immensely,as it inspires others like myself to get on and do something!
Also very interesting seeing it come together and solutions used in restoration.

[ptv]

Hi Everyone,
In my opinion I prefere to pay more instead of receiving less.
I only like classic microcars, but of course is up to you the contents of your (our) pretty magazine.
Good luck !
Best Regards from Spain,
Toni

[merrythought]

I would pay more for extra pages for what is an excellent mag.
I agree a flier in the next mag wcould be photocopied to spread the news. I''ll try my library.

Richard

[riccalljim]

RUMCAR news is excellent value for money in any case - just look how much the specialist mags are in the bookshops - and no I don't mean THAT kind of specialist mags!! - As Editor of The Micromaniacs Mag I will be putting in a full-page ad in the next issue which will hit the streets in August ( the latest one has just gone to print)
As for the type of articles - I know just how hard it is to give the subscribers something fresh and I have to congratulate Tony on a very varied and informative read. 

Whilst I agree with the majority that "Classic" Micros generate more interest just remember that in the future all the modern ( 3rd generation) Micros will be classics and probably as rare as 1st and 2nd generation classics are today so it is useful to have some material about them now so that once the 3rd generation becomes " collectable and trendy" we will all be in a position to recall from storage all the info we - and future generations need.

Tony is doing a sterling job and seems to be a man after my own heart in his determination not to resort to "period ads" or " road tests" as page fillers - some of the other Microcar clubs do that and they do not have magazines half as entertaining!
keep it up Tony and Thanks!!!
Oh yes and the price - put it up - don't lower the quality