New BMWCCA Roundel layout

[Koblenz]

For people looking to write about old BMWs, i can easily provide the space on the new site. Personal columns and blogs would not be a problem. So let me know if anyone is interested.

steve k.

And that I believe, IS the best alternative. Based on my gut feelings, the once sought out Roundel as we knew it, is gone.

[mcaden]

I have close to two hundred hard copy issues of the Roundel... many going back to the 70's. I am a devoted Roundel reader from cover to cover.

If you have ever read the old style, small size format issues (with brown mailing cover page) of the Roundel -- they may not have been that long, but it was still a very good read. Of course there were always several DIY articles related to all models (not just 2002). All I can say is that this "new" format troubles me. I will voice my thoughts by writing in. :-(

[BobBreed]

My old race car is shown on the lower corner of page 64 and is listed as a "320 race car". Nice edit job especially when they can't recognize a 2002!

Without the 2002, BMW would be nothing today!

Bob

[BobBreed]

My old race car is shown on the lower corner of page 64 and is listed as a "320 race car". Nice edit job especially when they can't recognize a 2002!

Without the 2002, BMW would be nothing today!

Bob

[gracer]

I read the Roundel cover to cover even tho I don't have a BMW that is newer than my 98 M3. The racing coverage is strictly about CCA club racing and profesional BMW racing. I would like to see SCCA results reguarding BMW's.

I will miss the Mike, Jenny, ETC articles. They are the ones that realy count. G

[jgerock]

Got my issue today. Flipped thru it and thought the font was easier to read and the overall look was less cluttered.

(2) Odometer mileage pictures

"Thanks for reading" adios column from Sam Smith.

Only ONE single page ad from Weather Tech floor mats!

Mike and Carol Self's travel article to The Florida Keys looks interesting.

Michael Bird's article about Al Taylor also looks interesting.

ANOTHER story about the Active E 3-series.

(1) 2002 + (1) E21 Tech correspondence letter to Mike Miller (only 4 pages in this issue.

COMING EVENTS on page 114 DOES NOT LIST VINTAGE @ the VINEYARDS. What's up with that?

Classifieds have a grand total of (7) 2002's including (1) Turbo and (1) tii!

[BMWCCA1]

In fairness to Satch, although Roundel is not a newsstand publication, we're subject to the same big trends as the rest of print, which means that ad revenue is way down, which means that page count needs to shrink. My understanding is that that was the driving factor behind the redesign and, with it, the cutting of certain columns.

In fairness to everyone who worked on Roundel over the years, had it been a newsstand publication it would have been gone long ago. The perennial problems have been lack of planning, laziness, playing to sycophants, and brown-nosing those who had the power to continue a failing "business as usual" method of operation. Columns are cheap and take no planning on the part of the EiC make happen. Racing news fills space much the same way.

Planning future feature articles rather than accepting whatever comes "over the transom" in Satch-speak is what the editor should have been doing all along to keep the magazine fresh and viable. When members of twenty, thirty, and even forty years don't crack the book for years you know you've lost your way. When you rely on yet another European Delivery article or another Satch Visits an Exclusive European Concours Event on BMW's Dime, you know the shark has long ago been jumped and has headed for warmer waters.

You can't blame declining ad revenue without blaming declining interest. This isn't new. When was the last time you saw the Club even post their membership statistics? Look at the debacle that was the CCA Web site re-make, followed quickly by the Forum re-shuffle, and instantly no one cared anymore. The Web site was to be the salvation of the Club and Roundel was chosen to be the driving force. The Club's new director was tasked with what must have been the third complete Web-presence revision in nearly as many years. The Club hasn't been viable since.

If ad revenu was the issue why do we still have the same advertising manager and not the same art director? And ask someone where the new "creative director" came from and who he knew to get the job!

I know Satch didn't give up his columnists willingly, except to save his own job. I know we didn't lose Roundel's graphic designer because design was stale. And I know this isn't the first time cutting or sharing columns has come up. Satch always insisted columnists had to appear monthly, with the exception of Bill Auberlen. Now he's forced to make that change out of desperation. He probably didn't even struggle this time though written history can show he railed against such suggestions in the past. Even recent attempts to hire new faces who owe their Roundel presence to Satch didn't create enough support to keep his model off the chopping block.

And while all this is happening we have a board considering spending millions on a physical building to store cars for a couple of members who no longer have space for their trophies. Don't we all wish for the same? Sounds like that vocal minority in our Federal congress who can't even agree to provide flood assistance without cutting something else but won't ever consider cutting war spending (notice I didn't say "defense"). Look at where the Board is meeting this month and tell me there's not some savings in choosing another location? How has Roundel, the one thing all Club members receive, come under the cost-cutting gun while we continue to hire office personnel, full time creative directors, and insist we've outgrown our office space when before the office moved to SC we ran the Club for decades out of a rent-controlled apartment in Cambridge?

Roundel is just the current scapegoat for poor management of your BMW CCA. And the worst part is that no one cares anymore. No one votes. No one runs for office. And if it wasn't for new term limits (not strict enough, if you ask me) we'd have even fewer new faces to help break out of the status quo. But we just seem to assimilate.

Don't talk about starting up your own magazine, talk about throwing the bums out and making the Club a club again.

[BobBreed]

Thanks Phil for the insiders view. I'M only a member to get a parts discount. I guess now is the time not to renew.

[Koblenz]

Well put Phil. Thank you.

[c.d.iesel]

....back to small local Chapter run events ie rallyes, driver school/track days, karting day, wine tasting tour - Connecticut Valley Chapter and others do it right and don't need a mother ship.....

current bmw owners are renters - don't have any driving passion

They just argue about payments, never wash their cars,

turn in 3-year old dogs with interiors that have too much DNA!

stuck to everything - theres your new bmwcca member pool

vintage owned car owners is where its at

[wegweiser]

Phil.... I may run in to you at some future BMW event. If this happens, I might very well hug you.

For the record, I've sent samples of my writing to Satch et al (as well as Rolling Stone, Bimmer, Esquire, Playboy, European Car, etc) in recent months.

http://paulwegweiser.blogspot.com/2012_07_08_archive.html

I don't have children. My odometers rarely work, and I don't have enough money to buy scale plastic BMW pedal cars or a 3 car driveway in which to park my multiple iDrive social elevation appliances.

Thank you!

[Ian]

I think C.D. is correct. The club really functions at the local level, not the national level. Perhaps back in it's infancy, when there were so few members the club could be relevant at the national level. But with the club as large as it is now, it's impossible to relate to the average member anymore. Instead, local chapters have the biggest impact with social events and track days.

As a national magazine, the content of Roundel reflects this homogenization, and has resulted in a sort of appeal to the lowest common denominator. Back in the '70's and '80's the Roundel was a major source for BMW knowledge. Nowadays, the internet forums are probably the first place people look for mechanical knowledge. This leaves the Roundel with mostly entry-level type articles that new members will enjoy for at least a couple of years, before losing interest. So, I wrote in about my disappointment in the "new" Roundel, but can't get that worked up about it. The Roundel has become less relevant with every year, and I've developed an apathy towards the mag.

Instead, I think we need to keep active in our local chapters. It's at the local level that you can have an influence on what goes on. Want to add something? Volunteer! It's easy to get the ball rolling locally. Unlike national, which appears to be as moribund as our federal government.

[jmorganix]

Well,

Let me do something about this double post...DELETE!!

[jmorganix]

Well,

Seems everyone else has chimed in, I might as well cut my throat here and say a few words.

I am LIVID about all this. Here I sit the week of receiving my 35 year pin and feeling hatred towards a "group" that has been a pivotal part of my adult life. I feel like the trash that has been taken out and left in the alley, not even being given the honor of spending my last days in a trash can.

It is easy for me to hate Lil' Gordo at this moment, but my anger would be misplaced. His performance as editor has been, for me, a mixture of great and lousy. I had always hoped for an editor who directed the monthly theme of the mag, an editor who created a publication each month, not one who just managed what happened to come across his server. I think the past ROUNDEL would have been better for it.

I had also always hoped for an editor who would take a non-english major such as myself and instead of screaming tirades at my lack of grammarian discipline, would take the time to actually teach why what I wrote was so bad, not just assault my ego.

I had also always hoped for a Board of Directors who's collective head wasn't so far up their butt that they noticed they were slowly building their own self-fulling prophecy through their spineless non-decision making, "survey" dependent management of a club that they seemed was made up of purely those respondents and not a real core of genuine enthusiasts and DIYers.

I will miss the ROUNDEL more than you will miss me. You do know the columnists were all paid for their work, right? As my personal life has deteriorated over the last 10 years, it came down to my ROUNDEL income as my last regular monthly earnings. I'm 100% hustling for whatever I can find, now. Companies shy away from hiring 58 year old fat people with bad backs and bad hearts.

I can't tell you all how wonderful reading all your posting here about the changes makes me feel. The only feedback I've been getting lately has been from a raging Carlson. I wrote for you guys, I love the old cars as do all of you. Nothing makes me happier than gettin' down and dirty, learning everyday and then sharing that knowledge with people who want to hear it. You make my life purposeful.

As was said by one really smart writer, DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT (thanks, Dylan) . . . Rage, rage against the dying of the light! Rage on folks. But don't stop at writing Satch as he has only been the merchant of death, not the purchaser! Write the Board, write the staff, write BIMMER Magazine... Write on every forum you gaze upon. Rolling over and going away is what "they" want to have happen. Give 'em a surprise, knock on their door and kick their assembled ass. Satch is not the bad guy here, entirely.

The ROUNDEL does have to change with the time. ALL printed media are suffering and everyone is changing formats in response. BUT, ROUNDEL has NEVER given vintage cars and owners their due. "They" love to see 'em at the Oktoberfest Concours, they drool and lust, but they never have entertained even the possibility that there may be real money spending people behind those ancient gems. Not all vintage cars are owned by the Gentry class, not yet anyway. And this ignorance of the actual audience has lead to less interest IN the club by those ignored. . . and hence the self-fulfilling prophecy occurs.

If we as vintage geeks make up 15% of the club, then dammit, give us 15% of the ROUNDEL!

I love you all... I won't be leaving the club, but will lay low for an appropriate period of self-indulgent martyrdom.

But I also have a surprise for you. . . I've been invited to write a DIY/How-to series for BIMMER Magazine! AND, I also try to keep up a facebook page for Die Werkstatt {{ http://www.facebook.com/pages/Die-Werkstatt/185998467061 }} where I continue to share my exploits, when I am so motivated... A blog may be a better forum for this, but I don't know how to make a blog with pictures.

I hope to see you there!

And Phil, thanks for your support... Love ya dude!

Jenn Morgan

[Ian]

Jenny, sorry to hear about your latest travails; it's good to see that you landed on your feet. Now that Bimmer has Mike Miller and you, they would be wise to try and pick up Mike Self and Rob....