Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms The Muttering Rotter.

Setright (O he of immortal memory) would no doubt have said it in Latin if it were one of his. George Bishop it was, I believe, in a column bemoaning the then 'new generation' of motoring journalists. "They ought to belong to the Guild of Muttering Rotters, not the Guild of Motoring Writers." How sadly ironic given the current parlous state of Car Magazine. I bought a copy on a recent trip back to the UK, not having read it for some years. Granted, the likes of LJKS, Bishop, Llewellin, Bulgin are long gone, but even those who replaced them seem to have fallen by the wayside (Jamie Kitson's columns used to be faintly amusing; Steven Bayley's design articles were interesting; last issue's were juvenile by comparison).

+1.
Barker was a bit before my time, I think, but to me, that format of a coterie of opinionated, outspoken, yet erudite and eloquent columnists providing the centrepiece of the magazine was an unbeatable formula. Did Bulgin, Bishop and LJKS ever actually overlap on CAR? Those three, together with Phil Llewellin's travelogues disguised as motoring articles, are the names I conjure with when I remember the mag's heyday.

I first purchased CAR Magazine in 1973...
I stopped reading it in the late 90s.

Those 25 years when words were more important than "art" and where articles had to be read, not skimmed, were the golden years.

LJKS was unique: this is my most respected journalist talking about possibly the best car in the world.
E Type

What would he have made of Morgan today?

I met LJKS when I was working with FIAT UK in Brentford in '75. He'd just returned a road test car (maybe a 128 P3?) and I bumped into him at reception. It was like meeting God with a Sobranie in his hand :-) I've collected many of his books down through the years and for those that might be interested a publisher called Portico have produced two books, "The best of CAR, the 60s and 70s" and "The best of CAR, the 70s and 80s". There are some original articles by Setright and Bishop in the second volume.

I totally agree, it was LJKS that was a large part of the foundation of my love of cars. I did like the following crew as they maintained a level of independence and were insightful. As you say they made you read the article and you learnt something alongside the car information.

The article where they drove three Lamborghinis back from Italy to the UK was a founding moment in my lust for petrol. The castigation they gave the metro made me laugh and respect them. Bishop was different but retained a real identity.

Today I read hyperbole and the random chatter of personal opinion instead of broad insightful knowledge.

How many remember when Volvo pulled all advertising from Car and refused to talk to the magazine jut because Car wrote a rather honest article about the latest Volvo Tank?

How many publishers today would be willing to risk the revenue by allowing journalists to say exactly what they think? Which is why all the magazines mostly produce warmed over press packs as reviews.

I seem to remember the Car magazine summary of one of the Volvo models in the GBU

For: Built like a truck. Against; Drives like a truck; Conclusion; Confirms Volvo as truck makers.

(I write this as a serial Volvo buyer - I'm glad to say whilst Car's analysis may well have been spot on for the Volvo cars of that era, happily for the modern variants this is no longer so).

I remember their comments when Morris launched the Ital, as a facelifted Marina.
"A nail by any other name, is still a nail"

I still like the rather truck like 200 series, estates in particular. When they got in trouble for the soup tins advert, I did have to

I also remember when Volvo bought DAF CAR rightly pointed out that overnight the 66 magically became the safest small car in the World.

Alistair, The three Lambo drive is in the second volume I mention above.