Alfieri Magazine?

Anyone seen the new Alfieri magazine? It looks like it will be from the same group who published the Classiche Masters book, which is authored by fchat member Marc Sonnery.
I'm looking forward to it
https://www.classichemasters.com/product/alfieri-magazine-issues-1-2-and-3-in-2021

 

The first issue will come out early next year. I am not at all as involved with this as I was with the Classiche Masters book. We will see how this develops, certainly the classic Maserati universe needs a quality magazine beyond national club publications. In the first issue I have an event report.

Address any questions NOT to me but to the link referenced above.

 

Wish them luck, while there it is definitely a welcome need for the Maserati community as a whole especially in the USA which really doesn’t have a “Club”. While printing costs are have been greatly reduced in recent years, ad revenue which traditionally pays for the production and distribution has decreased even greater. Becoming viable on subscribers will be tough without appeal to the volume of modern FCA/Maserati owners.

 

Sorry if I gave the wrong impression, it has articles on current cars as well, see the summary of #1 in the link.

 

Interesting to note that the person who -unsccessfully- tries to sell the 300S #3069 since 2 years wrote a feature about that car in the upcoming issue.......................
Good luck to the magazine.

 

Marc,
As you know the magazine business has always been tough, even more so today. There is an excellent summary of it in the discussion you participating in on the sale of Cavallino. My point is that unless it can appeal to the modern Maserati owners its chances of being a viable publication are greatly diminished. The best chance for success would be striking a deal with SpA, (which would probably entail giving up some editorial control), where anyone that purchases a new Maserati would receive a 1 year subscription. To ensure success take it to 3 years (average lease term in US) where 1 year paid by SpA, 1 year MNA (or distributor in a particular country), and one year by the selling Dealer.

that would ensure the magazine’s success, increase dealer involvement and help build brand loyalty.

 

Control. That is the key word. This would only work if the contact person is the CEO of Maserati or at least the PR director to set clear ambitious innovative editorial goals. Otherwise you have to wait forever for input by some underling which in any big corporation will be watered down sludge....and their control means you are stuck with it, your hands are tied and the end result is mediocre.

Again right now I chose to be an independent writer providing some content to this venture, we will see how it evolves.

 

As a side note apropos car magazines and publishing decisions ...

The unilateral decision by Hemmings to end publication of their Sports and Exotic Car Magazine in 2017 remains the most mystifying decision I've ever experienced! ... a decision that came AFTER the first big jumps in valuations... with circulation of 70,000.

There was and still is nothing else like it in the US magazine market - unless I am missing out on some other US publications?
Three years later and the vintage exotic car hobby itself is still strong, hardly doing any better - C&C's are everywhere, there are ample Concours and shows in all regions, and sales and enthusiast interest remain strong...

Hemmings chose to continue their Classic Cars magazine, with the promise of publishing European sportscar articles within it, but no - that did not happen.

Crazy.

Totally crazy.

and disappointing.
- Art

 

Fully agree Art and another that was quite nice for whom I wrote some major articles was Sports Car International published near San Francisco. Its editor Randy Riggs was a great guy. The publisher not so much.

The US has needed an Octane/Classic & Sports Car/Magneto for years.....

You know you can find Octane and Classic & Sports Car at Barnes & Noble and of course you can subscribe. Another one I like is Motorsport another English one that is many decades old (not the German one) focused on racing and racing history. Excellent articles. Also usually available at B & N.

 

Reeceived the first issue of Alfieri Magazine this week and I am impressed!

It has a truly professional presentation which is rarely the case with the club magazines that so far have been the only choice for Maseratisti apart from the short lived and too corporate factory magazine.

I do recommend it and while I contribute as a writer I have no connection other than that.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CKOIJGWHeLA/

See post 1 for contact info.

 

The feature about the 300S #3069 is full of nonens!

 

Please oh Lord Walter teach us what nonens means.

Secondly what are YOU contributing?

 

Pass the Popcorn

 

The feature about #3069 is written by dealer Bill Noon who offers the car since almost 2 years....without success!
Various people contacted the owner (B.B.) and Bill Noon...and got about 4 different price figues until today.
The car is
- non matching
- has a complete new and not correctly made coachwork
- but the car has a very good spare parts package!
- Bill Noon "polished" the history of the car (which is definitely not correctly reported in all aspects)

Owner B.B. contacted me about 1,5 years ago, requesting a list of details that are not correct on the coachwork. He wanted to get the car "right" after it failed in the Bonhams auction in Pebble in 2017 (for which I supplied the history of the car). Based on many historic photos of the car I have in my archive, I found about 15 non-correct details, some of them very significant! B.B. forwarded my listing to his restorer in the USA, called me about 5 months later, telling me that the result of the resto is beautifull and how proud he is and that he had paid a 6-figure amount for the work. He sent me a lot of new photos, taken post-restoration. I checked them and found that NOTHING (!) has been done on the car other than a new paint job...

Its worth to mention that the original coachwork of #3069 is still existing but fitted on a different car. The owner commissioned a restoration of his car in Italy and I am supervising the work.

btw, Marc, don`t call me "Lord" or anything like that, ironically or not. Thanks. If you think that I have no knowledge about these kind of Maserati then it is your problem, not mine!

 

Talking about club magazines. I think from all magazines I know of the EU-clubs -UK, France, Holland- the magazine of the German club is the most professionally made in layout, grafics and features. The actual issue has about 80 pages!
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Walter,

No one is criticizing your work, your books or your knowledge for which I have the greatest respect. You tend to interpret things in English the wrong way, that is another example.

I agree that letting a salesman write an article about a car he has for sale is, in my opinion as well, a mistake on the part of the creators of Alfieri. They are new to publishing and in the course of preparing the Classiche Masters book I was able to guide them on what to do or not to do in publishing; they had a great approach though a few times I had to set them straight. That is normal when anyone tackles something new. I think they have done a fantastic job all things considered.

For Alfieri magazine I have not been involved but today I am communicating my advice and observations to them for the next issue.

As to Bill I have known him since 1995, he is a salesman's salesman, we collaborated on countless articles that I wrote for Cavallino for many years based on very, very important historical Ferrari racing cars he supplied when he was already at Symbolic Motorcars.

I wrote the articles 1000% on my own. He supplied some data but I always did my own research Aa to Zz from scratch, I have never based my articles on seller's data. All he did was give me access to the cars from 250LM, pontoon fendered 250 Testa Rossa, 333SP, 166P 0834, 712P Can AM etc etc etc for test drives and photoshoots and I must say he was very helpful and never tried to influence my article's contents or said one negative word about my articles once they came out.

Trust me in 29 years of writing I have had several people try to control the text, one or two refused an article idea about their car before we even started because they said I would debunk a myth about that car.

Bill never did anything like that. I don't however doubt you regarding this 300S he is not lying just presenting it under the best light, that is what salesmen do. As I said I agree that articles written about a car by those selling it should not be included.

But that is not the point here, no one reading Alfieri is going to buy this car, to the readers it is not a purchase assessment tool. It is an entertaining article, that's it. Those who seek a 300S have other information channels and will do their due diligence.

What irked me, annoyed me in your comment is that here is a good valid positive initiative, this new Alfieri magazine for all Maseratisti something that has never been done, a noble attempt to bring Maseratisti around the world together, be they classic car enthusiasts or new car owners and everyone in between....and all you do is pounce on one thing jumping up and down instead of seeing the big picture.

Please stand back and see the big picture, show some positivity for crying out loud.

At Retromobile this year there was a very awkward moment when you walked pas the Classiche Masters stand and I wanted to introduce you to its creators...and you just shouted "No time." You made no effort to come back later in the day either...you don't win any prizes for tact or diplomacy or humor...when I tease you a bit it is humor and always with respect? I called you lord not peasant remember? Humor lowers tension and facilitates communication as opposed to everyone sulking in their bunker and doing their on thing in isolation. The Maserati world is too small for that. To the contrary thee needs to be collaboration to help it expand and fortify to everyone's benefit.

Regarding Dreizack it is certainly one of the better club magazines, it is a pity though that German is not a language many speak outside of your country. The whole idea of Alfieri is to share content internationally and one of the elements is to encourage clubs to share some of the more noteworthy articles, even articles that came out years ago because many articles are timeless. these can be translated by the providers or by Alfieri magazine. Voila; I encourage you and the Dreizack editors to get in touch with Alfieri magazine to create a connection; you will be welcomed. Food for thought.

All the best,

Marc

 

Marc,

I did not critizise the ALFIERI magazine at all and I think, its a good idea to do it.

I knew Bill Noon since about 13 years and yes, he is a salesman`s salesman but some of the comments in the feature about #3069 are simply wrong! Period! Because - what`s written is written and became a source and then the issue becomes complicated (in future) no matter if anybody who reads the article will buy the car or not!
Too many mistakes that had been written in the past created problems in researching these kind of Italian cars from the 1950s etc., etc.
Ask Marcel Massini about it and he will tell you numerous stories about that mess!

As of your comment regarding Retromobile: I was with a customer and simply had no time for anything else, sorry, but I do my job properly! Then: I had to shout because I was about 15 meters away and Retromobile is very noisy (as you know). Furthermore there was one person with you on the stand I did not want to meet.

 

All points dealt with thanks.

I have discussed just that problem with Marcel many times.

As I mentioned I will recommend to Alfieri editors not to publish articles on cars for sale written by anyone involved with the sale, unless thoroughly vetted.

Hopefully next time we can all meet with no one around you don't want to meet;-)

 

Well, the previous discussion is an interesting exchange. There is so much to learn from the Maserati section of FerrariChat.

 

Nice to see that the owner of the Kyalami on the cover of this magazine decided to have it repainted in the original rame metallic.

If I understand correctly he found it in the Netherlands and this Kyalami was also sold new in the Netherlands, I think I’ve seen it a few times years ago.

 

You are correct. The owner is a Maseratisti and has a Mistral, a Ghibli and recently found a Bi-turbo to add to his stable. He is also the art-director for the Classiche Masters book and Alfieri magazine.