What's new(s)? Ferrari in periodicals.

What an absolute chaos and total mess.............
Seems they are now completely out of control.........

Marcel Massini

 

Seeing those covers leads me to believe I might also be missing some issues. Now I have to check.

 

Octane changed its U.S. distributor this year, so that might be the problem. Yet….three other UK based magazines have no problem getting here on time.

 

#235 is already the January 2023 issue

 

Yes, same here in Switzerland. It really is ONLY Octane magazine that is totally disorganized. A true mess. And nobody really cares.

Marcel Massini

 

Late edit: I find no evidence in the magazine or on the web site of any contact information for subscribers in the US. Up until this year there was a distributor here who could be reached by phone and was always responsive. .

 

I finally wrote to the editor of Octane as there is no way to find any responsible person on the business side of the magazine. He promised to have someone contact me to resolve the problem. This was about three weeks ago. It must have been referred to Miss Crickets in the subscriptions department because that’s all I’ve heard from………Am I in a Monty Python skit?

 

@jm2

Are you current on your Octane issues?

 

No I've always bought them at the newsstand. Was afraid to subscribe because of issues with other magazines. Unfortunately, the local source here hasn't been able to get Octane since the start of the pandemic. I can get them at the Barnes & Noble generally, but even that source can be hit & miss.
I think I'm several months behind on Octane.
My Magneto sub has been MIA for some time. Road Rat has been pretty good. AutoCar is at least 2 months behind.
My British Cinema/Audio are always on time. Go figure.

 

Thanks, John. I’m nowhere near a newsstand or B&N unfortunately. I get Classic & Sports Car, Magneto and The Road Rat, all on time. Octane is the only laggard, so I don’t think they can blame the postal services.

 

The local Automotive newsstand told me the European/British magazines have become costly due to postage rates. He said it costs him more for postage than the magazines are worth. He also said the US distribution chain is always changing and he can't get a reliable supply of the car magazines he used to get.

The latest Magneto I have is #13. Latest Octane is #232

 

I guess I’m going to have to buy them off of eBay.

 

I've had to do that periodically
Not my fist choice, but you do what you gotta do

 

See post 330.

Marcel Massini

 

The latest issue I have received is 233. Below are the renewal instructions I recently received. TBH I have no idea if my Enzo subscription was credited to Octane as promised. My Cavallino & Forza subscriptions are due to renew soon too. As I'm not as excited to read each issue as it arrives (and in fact several are still in their shrink wrap), I'm debating whether to save my money for books instead.

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Damn nice of them to invite you to make a $30 call to the UK.

 

My "Enzo" subscription was NEVER credited to "Octane" as promised..........
Interesting business model........

Marcel Massini

 

You should definitely save your money for books. That's what I have been doing all the last years.

 

Finally arrived this morning, very pleased with it.

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In other news, I don't think I'm going to renew my subscription to evo. They lost some signatures over time, and - to be fair - maybe as I'm getting older, I may not be interested as before in new cars.
evo is published by the same company as octane; it used to be dennis publishing but I just discovered this does not exist anymore - I read that most titles of dennis publishing have moved to a "future plc" company (which took over dennis publishing, apparently) while the car's titles have moved to autovia, which has several publications in the UK (the most generic probably being Auto Express).
One of the problems with evo is that, with their decision to go for international licensing (there are French versions of evo and octane, for instance) they may not be that interested in taking properly care of their subscribers of the original UK versions abroad.

 

Mr. Dennis died a couple of years ago. I think a lot of things changed after that. There is still a French version of Enzo, or at least there was a few months ago. I don’t know much about the publishing business but this arrangement seems odd. It’s too bad because I think Octane puts out a worthwhile product.

 

The French version of Enzo is publishing their 19th issue on 4th Jan www.ngpresse.fr/product-page/enzo-n-19-prévente and also now (or shortly will) have four special issues on 50s Ferraris, 80s Ferrari, 308 GTB and Testarossa www.ngpresse.fr/anciens-numeros-enzo.

Surely this arrangement makes sense? The UK publisher licenses the name and content which gives them extra income. The French publisher gets content for their market that (presumably) costs them less than it would to generate themselves - although there is some unique content in the French editions and, from what the editor previously told us here, will be more going forward.

I am in the UK and get Octane from a newsagent rather than by subscription but if you continue to have trouble with subscriptions via the publisher (or just want occasional issues of Octane or any other UK magazine) then it might be worth checking out www.magdirect.co.uk or www.newsstand.co.uk. Both ship worldwide in theory (although maybe not to Switzerland!!).

 

Yes, no way to get that stuff in Switzerland. And none of these are for sale at the very few remaining newsstands in Switzerland. A tragedy.

Marcel Massini

 

And, after no35 - dedicated to DTM 92 - a Ferrari Le Mans Special is announced:
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After not renewing my Octane subscription last year because I had enough of receiving my copies 6 to 8 weeks after their release date, I started buying my copies again at the book shop at my local railway station.
I was also disappointed of the quality of a couple of articles but issue #235 of January 2023 is a new low for me : in the letter of the month (which is honored with a steering wheel up to the value of 300 GBP!) the author writes that he was told by his mother that Enzo Ferrari himself broke down with his Ferrari in front of his parents farm in Leigh Sinton, UK and that his mother offered him a cup of tea and called the next garage to fix the car... He writes that it must be between 1960 and 1964.
My neighbors in the train were really wondering what strange noises came out of me when I read this nonsense.

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