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Posted by: ws91420 May 11 2007, 03:32 PM

OK bad reference to a sixties song. I go to the bookstores to find VW air cooled mags and the only one around is hot VWS. Weren't there more?

Posted by: Scott Carlberg May 11 2007, 03:36 PM

VW does Not make Air-Cooled cars anymore!

Posted by: ws91420 May 11 2007, 03:43 PM

Neither does Porsche. Point being? back at ya

Posted by: Aaron Cox May 11 2007, 03:56 PM

VW trends died a year or two ago....

Posted by: r_towle May 11 2007, 05:30 PM

VW Trends is still on the web.

HotVWs is all that is left right now, or at least in the US.

The good bookstores here in the East carry a few from the UK.
There are about 5 from the UK right now, on the shelf.
I cant remember the names, but they are there.

Rich

Posted by: sendjonathanmail May 11 2007, 07:13 PM

or you can check out the memoribilia section of the classifieds for my 80's vw & porsche mag :D --JON

Posted by: kwales May 11 2007, 07:24 PM

They died from repeatitis.

Look....., a VW with shiny wheels.
Look....., another VW with different shiney wheels.
Look....., a VW with a different color with shiny wheels.
Look....., an engine with bling.
Look....., a different engine with different bling in a VW with shiny wheels of a different color.

Yawn.

Ken

Posted by: SirAndy May 11 2007, 07:37 PM

his point being that all the air cooled mags died when the air cooled cars died ...
Andy

Posted by: ws91420 May 11 2007, 09:27 PM

If that were true air cooled VWs in the US stopped in 79.

Posted by: sendjonathanmail May 11 2007, 09:29 PM

no...what about the, o wait...but the other, umm, that died too...yea, i guess they died:D:D

Posted by: SirAndy May 11 2007, 09:57 PM

it usually takes a while for people to catch up. if you run a magazine, you need to be interested in your bottom line. if you aren't, you're gonna end up bankrupt.

there's no market for those rags anymore because there is no large following of car-owners anymore.

supply and demand. the point is very valid. air cooled VW stopped being sold in '79. it takes 20 some odd years to take a large percentage of those cars off the roads, owner numbers reach a critical low, magazine can't sell enough copies, voila!

Andy

Posted by: lotus_65 May 11 2007, 11:38 PM

I think it has more to do with racing. There's no shortage of Asian rags. So look at Honda, high visibilty racing 2-wheels and 4 makes the goal.
Trends maybe could have done better at promoting the tuner market but when that is your top shelf technology, you haven't got a chance.

No charge tonight.

pfb

Posted by: KaptKaos May 12 2007, 12:25 AM

You guys are missing a huge reason. The intrawebs and sites like this have done a lot to get rid of the specialty car mags that don't offer good content.

VW Trends was lame. Always was. Every story and article was the same; same number of pictures, same girls, same bling, blah blah blah. Oh look, BugOut 420020 and the winning Ghia is!!! Meh... The writing was 3rd grade level at best. Why would I pony up the $$ for that when I can get all of that PLUS questions answered, helpful advice and spare parts from TheSamba.com?

Hell, the only thing keeping Road & Track alive is Peter Egan. Otherwise, you can't tell the difference between R&T, C&D, MotorTrend or Automobile. They all have their 10BestRoundUpCaroftheYear whatever awards. They used to be edgy and fun, now they just suck up to the Corporate PR types.

David E. Davis (formely of Automobile fame) has an online Magazine called Winding Road. This is the future of that business. It's slick and fairly well done (Not that I am a huge DED fan), and it uses the internet for distribution. Why pay for printing and mailing, when you can give it away and make the same $$ off of advertising?

Enthusiast magazines used to be able to find a niche as THE purveyor of knowledge about a particular marque or model. Now, all of that info, and 10,000 times more is available at a click of the mouse.

Unless they begin to improve on their writing and their journalism (no more sucking up to the politicians and execs) and really do their damn jobs (think of Top Gear), they will all go the way of VWTrends.

Just my 2 cents, and no, I am not bitter.

Posted by: bigkensteele May 12 2007, 12:52 AM

I agree. The two things that keep me on the Road & Track list are Peter Egan and the $9.99/yr subsription rate. Every month, I read his column and skim through the rest, so I pretty much pay $10/yr to read Peter Egan.

My mag of choice these days is Hemmings Sports Cars & Exotics. I truly enjoy that magazine cover to cover.

I long for the days of VW & Porsche before it became Euopean Car, but I understand why they did what they did.

Excellence is OK, and I think that they are beginning to get the picture that most of their subscribers are old-school Porsche fans and not the Boxster/996-"I bought it because I could" kind of crowd.

That being said, I get WAY more information and entertainment from the online forums than I ever did from the rags.