TW Feature articles - anyone got a clue?

[Scott]

I wanted to get an idea how many people wish they knew what the TW feature articles are going to be. I've talked to Ann at TW, who was little help. I've also sent messages to Mr. Fort and Mr. Swanson (upper Miss. valley officer), neither of whom have written back (I sent a message to Colin FOrt on Nov. 24). Now I'm getting a little annoyed. The issue is WE don't know what Mr Fox or anyone else is going to be writing about in upcoming Turning Wheels issues. We used to know months in advance and memebers had an opportunity to send in information or photos about the cars or trucks to be written about. Unless everyone else in the club is clairevoyant, it seems a little unfair to me that the membership at large gets no notice of upcoming articles. Does anyone else agree?

I'm trying to get a little accountability going here. WHY don't we know what the articles are going to be? WHY was TW more forthcoming about planned articles years ago than now? WHY are standards slipping?

I noticed this a long time ago, but kept hoping it was a temporary thing. Now I can only conclude that we will always be kept in the dark as to future articles in TW.

I also have to say that I'm more than a little annoyed that after a promise to investigate that fraudulent cover photo (and artcle??) about the last Packard a couple years ago, I haven't seen a single follow-up. WHAT'S going on?

I'd like to know if anyone else cares to help me get this issue before the powers that be. I don't seem to be having much luck, that's for sure, and I'm getting pretty unhappy about it.

Scott

[DEEPNHOCK]

What's your beef?
Any club or organization struggles mightily to get material submitted that can be used in their monthly publications. TW is no different. Knowing ahead of time what is in there means little. I can say this, though. TW's lead time from submission to publication is way, WAY shorter than you'd imagine. Hot Rod magazine and the like have a 90 to 120 day lead time. TW is more like 60 days. (spoken from experience of submitting and then reading).
The 'supposed' faked Packard article did help to tighten up the submission rules for articles. A good thing is that you can still submit digital photo's (if they are of a high enough quality).
To answer your question... I do not agree.
Give Art and Ann and Barlow and the crew a break.
If you want more input, start by writing and submitting articles.
Swamp them with material.
They won't be mad....really.
Jeff[8D]

DEEPNHOCK@worldnet.att.net
'61 Hawk
'37 Coupe Express

[Scott]

Jeff,

Thanks for the reply, but you totally missed the point. I coldn't care less what other publications do. I want to know why TW can't do what it did for years. I'm comparing Turning Wheels with Turning Wheels, not Hot Rod or anything else.

[Sam Roberts]

I think he was referring to the little 1/8th of a page blurb telling the planned feature articles 6-8 months out in future issues. I thought it was a nice thing to do, but have no problem now that they don't do that. As he suggested, it did give time to submit articles relative to the featured article of a given month.

Sam Roberts

[Scott]

Yes, Sam's right. I'm talking about the 1/8 page section that laid out the major subject for upcoming feature articles. It gave the amount of time needed to submit photos for upcoming articles. It did not include information on any other articles like modifieds, etc.

I still would like to know how anyone is supposed to automatically know when they could send in a photo for the cover of TW if they don't even know know what's coming up! That's part of my beef. It seems like member participation is being cut-off or granted only to those "in the know".

[DEEPNHOCK]

I guess I see your point.
I wonder how many people submitted info based on what was in that section?
I also wonder if, because of a lack of submissions, that this feature might have been to unpredictable to continue?
Sometimes the wonderment of TW is the total suprise of what is in each month's issue (not counting prototype Packards <lol&gt
Jeff[8D]

DEEPNHOCK@worldnet.att.net
'61 Hawk
'37 Coupe Express

[Roscomacaw]

Well, not only that but the Fred Fox series of reviews of different Studes has just about run it's course as far as postwar Studebakers. I love Fred's detailed coverage of each model year and subsequent rundowns such as the station wagons and long wheelbase offerings.
But Fred has said repeatedly that in spite of the 1/8th page blurb about upcoming articles, most times - very few (if any) photos or descriptions showed up anyway. There were some model reviews where not ONE photo showed up for his use in convering that particular car or truck. That's hardly decent justification to perpetuate the practice of using precious page area.[|)]

Miscreant at large.

[Scott]

Mr. Biggs does have a good point. Of course the members at large don't have any information on how many persons sent in a photo. I do remember a time or two where there was mention that he got LOTS of submissions.

I don't think it would be hard to print something cluing us in to what's coming. Certainly Fred Fox and the TW editors know a few months in advance what the plans are. I don't really mind the occasional surprise topic, but having it this way month anfter month, year after year is kind of unpleasant after years of ample notification.

The other thing that advance notice is good for is for advertizers. If I had, say, a 1955 sedan that I was thinking of selling, I might want to put an ad in to correspond with an issue where there's an article about that kind of car. There have been several times where I would read one of the feature articles and wonder if there's one for sale. It's not a big deal for the more common models, but since the idea of the feature articles is to inform and stir interest in a model, it makes sense that more people might be interested in ads for that particular subject. It's just a thought.

Touching on the subject of the articles having run their course, Fred Fox has done a number of revisited articles updating earlier feature articles. A few months ago I tried contacting him (with no reply, I might add) about doing a new article on the 1966 cars. The last time he did it was in 1986 and the photo quality and overall coverage of the article is considerably inferior to what we've been getting in the last 10 years or so. There are lots of older articles that could be updated and expanded and published anew. And don't forget that a lot of members weren't members in 1986! I wasn't (I joined in 1989, I think).

[Chris Pile]

Well, Scott - Perhaps it might be because the Editors have changed, and it's just not their style to do so. That's my guess! - Chris Pile