Don Terrill’s Speed-Talk

Back before the interweb all we had were magazines, good or bad what have you learned from tech articles, past, present or...(future what would you like to see happen with auto tech info?)
As you can tell from the photo I have red a mag or 2.

I'm not drunk enough to tell everyone what I think about published articles yet..lol

But sober me will tell you westech dyno is about as happy as a fat kid in a candy store.

MTENGINES wrote: ↑Sat Feb 03, 2018 1:40 am I'm not drunk enough to tell everyone what I think about published articles yet..lol

But sober me will tell you westech dyno is about as happy as a fat kid in a candy store.

Thats why I say "good or bad"... I would have to say I learned a good bit but much of that came from disproving the article.

When I have questions because I can't figure something out I listen to experience and proven methods. Parrots and magazine editors quite often can't prove what they type. I find that people rarely use their own brain before asking questions though. Often your own brain is all you need.

I do think the magazine articles kept me thinking and in suspense though. I was thrilled when I'd be each car craft or superchevy

One thing I found helpful was how to weigh your car at each corner with a 2X12 and a bathroom scale, we corrected a 120 lb discrepancy and made the car very consistent.

Back then only high end chassis shops had the equipment and we were financially at the opposite of high end.

kimosabi wrote: ↑Sat Feb 03, 2018 1:48 am When I have questions because I can't figure something out I listen to experience and proven methods. Parrots and magazine editors quite often can't prove what they type. I find that people rarely use their own brain before asking questions though. Often your own brain is all you need.

I find it's better to know the source, though you're right concerning most of them, it seems. There are some guys out there that write articles that are actually enthusiasts, professionals, etc. Paul Huizenga comes to mind. He's been doing good tech articles with accurate info since the first time I met him in 2001, which was long before he wrote anything for any print or online mags. But his stuff was never really opinionated. Just documenting the facts, at least back then. These days, I only come across his articles randomly and not all that often so I can only assume he still writes in the same style.

I've learned a lot of interesting things.

I have also learned that a lot of magazine writers are full of ..it! if the magazine focuses on how a car looks over how it functions (basically 90% of the American magazine market and all of the UK market that filters to this continent) then you can read it but be prepared to throw the magazine in anger. ESPECIALLY the UK rags, there seemed to be a mindset that knowledge about how things worked was indicative of being in a lower class, so displaying ignorance was a sign of being high class. About the third time I saw a certain magazine say that a slipping clutch would "split the transmission case", I stopped buying them.

I'm also not afraid to read things out of my zone of enthusiasm. I hate trucks with a passion, but 4 Wheel & Off-Road used to be my tech pron, because they were all about wrenchin' on things, not looking pretty at shows.

You can't trust any numbers, or any results from any of those stories. They manipulate the test to give the results they want. Yes, even the ones I've been part of.

They're still useful. Right or wrong, they show you a way of thinking about a problem, or solution, you may have never considered.
Many times I've read an article, and realized what they were doing was not the correct thing to do, but without analyzing the flawed line of thought, I would never of figured out the correct thing to do.

you cant even trust the info on the featured cars. years ago i sold my 64 el camino to a good friend, about a 2 years later car craft saw it at a car show and wanted it for an article. i filled out the tech sheet they had, and when the article came out, not a thing was correct. i consider the magazines entertainment, and maybe a place to spot new toys, but not for good tech or accurate info.

Getting informed about some parts availability is about all.
My own testing has differed from those tech tests so often, I can't give them credibility for much else.

Years ago it became obvious that virtually all automotive magazines and T.V. shows were merely product placement vehicles designed to sell a certain product. The one exception appeared to be Super Stock and Drag Illustrated. Their articles at least appeared to be more about tech than product placement. Mr. Vizard's articles were part of that mix. Sadly, that lack of product placement may have led to the magazine's disappearance.

Some of the older snowmobile mags had some good tech in them, but they also soon became product placement publications also.

MTENGINES wrote: ↑Sat Feb 03, 2018 1:53 am I do think the magazine articles kept me thinking and in suspense though. I was thrilled when I'd be each car craft or superchevy

Same here, had subscriptions since I was old enough to wash the neighbors lawn and subscribe knowing it would be many yrs til I could have a car.
As the yrs went by the mags got skinnier, more ads then cancelled.

Learned here? Tons.

For sure lots of magazines are product pushers. Those products keep them in business, the price of a copy is not enough to run a magazine, they need advertizers. I skim through one every once in a while but mostly for classifieds or check out a cool ride someone built.

There's nothing like talking to guys who makes their own stuff though, like the F.A.S.T class for example I find very interesting. We have a well known former Rallycross racer here who pretty much built his own stuff all his career from the early 70's up until the 90's. He won the european championship several times with "homebuilt" stuff. Rally racers and whatnot still go to him for advice.

Or a man who ran his own shop for decades and when he retired he got bored so he bought a box of pencils and a notebook and wrote a 560 page book all from the top of his head. I've been through that book a couple times now.

35 years when I was in high school they taught me a lot. Painting cars, building engines, ect until I got past just picking parts out of catalogs. Though the years tech articles became just thinly vailed adds. I haven't bought a magazine in 15 years or so.