Mark, I keep having to go back to my new issue to see exactly what all the hoopla is about.  The more I go back, the better I like.  Some how I keep missing the nearly nude girls (LOL). I've been a Mustang owner since 1970 and haven't had one yet that I didn't modify in some manner.  I'm looking forward to many great future issues.

I've been known to take a few pictures of Mustangs with girls hanging around them too.  Is that a bad thing?


P.S.  Can I get a new MM&F front license plate?  My old M&F one is now out of date.    

Mark,
My subscription runs out FEB 09. I'm willing to give MM&F till then before I decide if I'm going to renew. Tell the bosses that the only gals I want to see are owners or spouses of featured cars. I expect most would be dressing more conservatively. If they think they need models to peddal a magazine it won't be to me. Good luck.  

Now where's that "stir the pot" smiley/emoticon from the Cobra forum...

Thanks for your post and comments Bill...

This hobby runs many directions and there's no ONE magazine that will please them all. My Cougar guys want Cougars every month (and why wouldn't they), and so forth. We have but so many pages and some months the magazine is more "yours" than others, but it still has something to offer. Yes, some of the classic content was cut to make room, but it's not "gone"...

Even Rare Finds, which some other forums have griped about, is not completely gone. Jerry will still do them (when one is merited) in his Heasley Files column, and that was mentioned in the magazine, but I guess some readers were too hot to notice...

I've taken a lot of this way too personally, cause I feel like I've let some people down, but this is corporate life and the best I can suggest is if you like it, it's only going to get better, and if you don't like it, cancel or transfer your sub and move on. Life is too short...

Thanks...
Mark  

Jack, your post must have gone up while I was replying to Bill...

As I stated earlier, the July After Hours photo session was not "under my watch" and future AH photos will be using a professional model and I've mandated a "girl next door" look with more conservative clothing. I'm trying to get a balance between it being interesting for the late-model guys (and the classic guys like Bill above who don't mind/care) and the classic guys who are up in arms over it.

Thanks...
Mark  

MustangMan:
Jack, your post must have gone up while I was replying to Bill...

As I stated earlier, the July After Hours photo session was not "under my watch" and future AH photos will be using a professional model and I've mandated a "girl next door" look with more conservative clothing. I'm trying to get a balance between it being interesting for the late-model guys (and the classic guys like Bill above who don't mind/care) and the classic guys who are up in arms over it.

Thanks...
Mark

Mark,

I haven't bothered to read all 4 pages of this thread because I think I can where most people stand on the "new" mag.  Personally, I don't think it's bad.  I like newer mustangs enough if they're tastfully (I know that's subjective) done.  I enjoyed most of the articles on the later model mustangs in the new mag.

I do agree that the trashy models have to go.  Nothing's wrong with a good looking woman, but if my wife had mag's lying around with dudes in banana hammocks, I'D BE PISSED.  I won't disrespect her by doing essentially the same thing.

Good luck with the new mag.  I'm willing to stick with you and see what happens.

-Brian  

Mark -

After briefly skimming through most of these posts my wife actually came up with a couple of questions having been in the publishing industry herself for several years -

Where were the email marketing campaigns? Where were the user polls and the First, Second and Third Flight Tests sent out to subscribers (both online and direct mailings) to find out whehter the READERS would follow the direction? Both my wife and I can't imagine that your "management," a large publishing corporation, wouldn't have the knowledge and experience in direct mailings and email campaigns to not have done their marketing and sales research!

If these tests WERE done, what was the outcome? (Roughly) - 60% of the longterm subscribers wanted to read about both classic and late model cars? 70%? 90%? 30% and your "management" didn't give a rat's ***

Don't get me wrong - my wife is a classic lover and I'm a late model kind of guy - but my wife and I share everything else - for god's sake man, leave my mustang magazine alone! It's all she'll let me have!!!!!

In all seriousness, this is one more subscription your "management" will lose out on - NOT because of anger or that I think my piddly $20 bucks or so a year is going to bankrupt the company - but because it's not what I want or thought I was buying when I purchased the original product. NOR was I asked if I wanted a DIFFERENT product than I was paying for in the first place.

Tom & Kim  

What happened to your reply Mark? Did you get in trouble?

ClassicStangFan  

I think all the whiney babies should be given free subscriptions to Super Street...if you've had the "pleasure" of flipping through one of those, you know what I'm talking about.

Seems to me, the majority (if not all) of the complainers are from the Mustang and Fords camp. Which is pretty funny when you consider cars like the '65 Mustang featured in the July issue of MM&F. It's more late-model than classic, but I'm sure they're not even raising an eyebrow, let alone up in arms over somebody "ruining" their classic Mustang with late-model features (yet they'll say the same thing about a magazine).

I understand they paid for a certain magazine and now they're not getting that magazine, so I'm probably being insensitive, but I'm from the MM side and I love the change. I love new and old Mustangs and Fords, and I'm glad to see MM featuring classic Mustang/Ford content.

The whole debate about the models is a joke. I don't see any reason for anything to change there at all. They're not standing in front of the cars, so what's the problem? The July model is fully clothed in every shot except for one (not including the tiny cover shot) where she wears a nondescript bikini top and stands behind a pair of headlights. Woah, avert your eyes! I'm not sure but I think that picture is suggestive...i could be way off on this, but I think it might be suggesting she has breasts. A woman with breasts...what's the world coming to...  

Thanks for the clueless post! You are obviously a very new subscriber to M&F or a mental patient.  

Come on guys, no need to resort back to the name calling. He said he was from the Modified side, so he's never seen a copy of M&F pre-merger. I bet there's a nice age difference involved here too. He likes it, you don't. Let's all move forward and get on with our lives...

Mark  

Can't say much more than already has been mentioned.  Not at all a fan of the new mag.  Have been a subscriber since late 90's I believe but fortunately my sub expires with the August 08 issue.  Clearly driven by the corp execs chasing the almighty dollar, not an enthusiast driven decision.  Too bad.

Chris

Oh and BTW, what's that brown stuff on Jerry Heasley's lips?  Give me a freakin' break.  

"I bet there's a nice age difference"

You have no clue how old I am! I can tell you I was born well after the classic cars of the 60's were built. So much for assumptions. I do like the late model cars, but prefer the classics, that's why they are called classics.
I have to say Tom and/or Kim are right, your lack of professionalism through this whole situation has been deplorable. Remember we are/were the customer.  

Boy you guys look for anything to rip into me don't you? Geez. Lighten up guys. I speculated there was an age difference. Was I calling someone an "old fart"? No. You might be my age (40 in Nov) and Sidewinder could be 19. That, to me, is a "nice age difference".

So, on this informal forum, I'm suposed to say nothing more than "sorry you don't like the merger, please give the magazine a chance" and nothing else? We can't carry on a conversation as adults about what happened and why? I guess I should start cramming smiley faces in all my posts. You guys make me out to be some uptight jerk when I'm simply answering questions and speculating why some people don't like what's happened.

Like I've said above, not much else to discuss, and we should just move on. Life is too short to be this upset...

Mark  

"So, on this informal forum, I'm suposed to say nothing more than "sorry you don't like the merger, please give the magazine a chance" and nothing else? We can't carry on a conversation as adults about what happened and why? I guess I should start cramming smiley faces in all my posts."


Maybe you should not be so condescending to your customers.  

ClassicStangfan:
"So, on this informal forum, I'm suposed to say nothing more than "sorry you don't like the merger, please give the magazine a chance" and nothing else? We can't carry on a conversation as adults about what happened and why? I guess I should start cramming smiley faces in all my posts."


Maybe you should not be so condescending to your customers.

ClassicStangfan,

You should take it easy. You'll stroke out with all of that venom in you.

I also have to add that YOU are taking the fun and interest out of reading this thread and this forum in general. Cut Mark some slack. He is not the enemy here. I am sure he works hard to put out the best magazine within the guidelines and mandates that HIS bosses set for him. Anybody that has read his posts or columns knows he is a true FORD guy. So, get off his back already.

Yes. I know that the personal attacks will commence against me shortly as well. So be it. I have a '70 Cougar. I don't work for the magazine. I build ships for a living. But I am a car enthusiast: always have been and will always be.

True that we may not all agree with the direction the magazine has gone, but it is there, and there is nothing that any of us can do about it. Not you, me or even Mark. The owners of the magazine have dictated the content and the target audience. It is done. You can do like me, and ride out your subscription and see where the magazine goes and what it covers or you can do like some others and bail out now. The magazine will go on as long as they can sell a certain number of copies a month. That is it.

Now. Can we please quit acting like a bunch of bratty children and move on to something more interesting? Cougars? Fairlanes? Mustangs? Anyone?

More tech articles, please!

Steve