Jolly Jeeper Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Windscreen 136 landed on the mat this morning and the cat is well and truly out of the bag so I can post this! I'm pleased to say that from early 2013 I'll be editing Windscreen for the MVT. For anyone that's interested I can say that I'm an irregular visitor here; have had a variety of MVs over the years - Land Rovers and Jeeps mostly but also a Harley WLC and a Scammell Explorer; have a Jeep project in the workshop at the moment; am a magazine professional and have been a member of the MVT long enough to have 3803 as my membership number. I really am looking forward to the challenge ahead. JC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowtracdave Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Congratulations and good luck JJ . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fayjo56 Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Best wishes in your post, I really really must get around to joining. :blush: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fv1609 Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Congratulations John in your new post. I hope there will still be some room for occasional articles from me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
private mw Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 good luck mate . mine arrived this morning too . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ferrettkitt Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Good luck can you give us an idea of what you will be doing in regards to the 'new' magazine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jolly Jeeper Posted September 4, 2012 Author Share Posted September 4, 2012 Thanks for the positive comments guys. I just wanted to post something so that people knew what was what rather than rumours circulating as they sometimes can. To answer a couple of the specific questions; Yes Clive, your continued input will be much appreciated. As for the 'new' magazine, there's a few things to do here and there but Windscreen has to remain an authoritative club mag for the community that is the MVT so there's still an important place for the current content. That said, there will inevitably be sympathetic changes to the running order, the design layout and so on. JC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Farrant Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Hi John, Congratulations at becoming the new Editor. Hope any changes are not too radical. The mag is a very good one and I always enjoy reading it. I joined in the late 70's when the first Windscreen was launched, in those days there no military vehicle magazines, and if someone was organising an event it was advertised in the Exchange & Mart under "ex-Military Vehicles" ! Because of the lack of regular info (unlike today), the Windscreen in those days was eagerly looked forward to, with its small ads pages as well. All the best, Richard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jolly Jeeper Posted September 4, 2012 Author Share Posted September 4, 2012 Richard - I remember those days a bit as I was still at school in the Seventies but used to buy the Exchange and Mart to read the Metamet Jeep ads as I was desperate to own a Willys Jeep... I believe (and hope) you'll approve of the Windscreens I intend to do - the key to it is maintaining its community feel which is one of the things that differentiates it from the MV magazines from newsagents. Keep in touch please, I'll appreciate your input. JC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Farrant Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Richard - I remember those days a bit as I was still at school in the Seventies but used to buy the Exchange and Mart to read the Metamet Jeep ads as I was desperate to own a Willys Jeep... I believe (and hope) you'll approve of the Windscreens I intend to do - the key to it is maintaining its community feel which is one of the things that differentiates it from the MV magazines from newsagents. Keep in touch please, I'll appreciate your input. JC Thanks John. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Degsy Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Congratulations John, as Richard said it is a superb mag and I look forward to continue to enjoy it under your editorship. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woa2 Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 Good Luck with the new magazine. As a past Editor of 'Windscreen' I know some of the problems you will get and also the benefits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jolly Jeeper Posted September 5, 2012 Author Share Posted September 5, 2012 Good Luck with the new magazine. As a past Editor of 'Windscreen' I know some of the problems you will get and also the benefits. I have your editions of Windscreen in binders and hope to give it back some of the attributes you gave Windscreen. Thank you for your note. JC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woa2 Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 I have your editions of Windscreen in binders and hope to give it back some of the attributes you gave Windscreen. Thank you for your note. JC Thank you for that. Things have changed a lot since I did Windscreen - You can now use a PC to set up the magazine, where I used Typesetters. Also the MVT has grown - I used to only get 1,200 magazines printed per issue back in the 1980s. Just remember it's an enthusiasts magazine and you can't please all the people all the time, especially those submitting adverts..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick W Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 Well done JJ, there isn't another monthly publication like it, especially for the in depth tech info. I'm sure it will only get better under your editorial leadership! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big ray Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 Although I agree with many of the comments expressed, I do feel that I would like to show my support for the current editors who have done, and are still doing a very good job with this magnificent publication, its reached a degree of professionalism far beyond what might be expected of a mere " Club Magazine" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fv1609 Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 Although I agree with many of the comments expressed, I do feel that I would like to show my support for the current editors who have done, and are still doing a very good job with this magnificent publication, its reached a degree of professionalism far beyond what might be expected of a mere " Club Magazine" I agree, much as one welcomes John to his new post & wishes him well. We should not forget that we do owe a considerable debt to Andy Jones for bringing the magazine forward into a large format publication in colour with a broad spread of content & constantly honing it to suit the needs of members. Without Andy's co-operation & support I doubt that I would be writing articles today. I once submitted some ideas for articles & was told that my articles would be of no interest to Windscreen readers. After a year of campaigning I gave up & had one of the articles published in Wheels & Tracks. When Andy came along he encouraged me to submit articles for publication, this has resulted in over 50 articles spread over about 380 pages. He has always tidied them up for presentation but I am appreciate that he has not tampered with the content for journalistic purposes & given me a high degree of trust. So Andy I am very grateful for your encouragement, particularly at a time when I had been told to give up any expectation of having anything printed (and other disincentives I won't go into). Anyway back to writing the next two articles that are in the pipeline Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jolly Jeeper Posted September 5, 2012 Author Share Posted September 5, 2012 Thanks for the ongoing positive remarks guys. Just to be clear on one point; the change of editors came about when contracts were up for renewal, it was a commercial tender, there were three serious parties and the CoM awarded the contract as it saw fit. I can't say I know the current duo but concur that they have worked hard for a long spell on the magazine. I don't wish to dish dirt on here but, like you Clive, I have had a few unfair knock backs from all sorts of magazines over the years. If you had something published in Wheels and Tracks then you can be very proud of that because it prided itself on accuracy and detail. I read your 'cracking the codes' feature last night and learned loads; I have a few Land Rover, Morris Minor and other manuals with those sort of covers and have often wondered about some of that info on them. Windscreen is the ideal place to publish such detailed information and will remain so during my tenure. JC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fv1609 Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 John with Wheels & Tracks Bart said he had enough material he had written to keep going for 18 months in advance. So he wasn't short of material but would find room for something he thought the readership would be interested in. Quite a change from my own club! But things have now improved enormously. Winsdscreen I think has helped bridge this silly wartime/postwar prejudice. So much so that I read most articles in there even if I think it might not be of immediate interest to me. These monthly MV mags have their place, I don't buy them but I think they are particularly good at getting people into the hobby or if someone want to see lots of good pictures. But they inevitably cannot provide the spectrum of interests and the depth detail that Windscreen provides for us. Although one has to draw a line somewhere, the HMVF version of the "codes" is 50% bigger than the printed version & growing! I have already added some more details for a further version! I'm reassured that you want to maintain the depth of detail. For two years I have been working on an article on Rover screened ignition systems, the history, the variants & practical fault finding. In fact this morning, as a result of the research, I was able to troubleshoot a problem for someone who had the wrong variant of coil. I'm not sure whether I'm going to get it finished in time for the deadline for the next edition, so it might end up your in tray :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jolly Jeeper Posted September 5, 2012 Author Share Posted September 5, 2012 The thing with the codes feature is that many of us find it interesting especially those of us who like British machines and read the article if it wasn't for someone getting into the nitty gritty of something like this, much of the detail would never be explained. I like John Mastrangelo's detailed military Land Rovers stuff for similar reasons. As for the wartime/postwar conflict, I don't see a place for it; the Falklands War was 30 years ago now and WWII wasn't much over that when the MV scene got started. For example I like Land Rovers and MB Jeeps - that straddles the divide! Lots of people prefer postwar green machines and there's nothing wrong with that and some people like Tim Gosling on here prefer pre-WWII machines, nothing wrong with that either! JC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryH57 Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 Dear John, As Area Reports Editor I must concur with Clive Elliott concerning the great job done by the current Editors and at the same time appreciate that it was a commercial decision by the MVT to appoint you, so its a warm welcome from me. The show must go on! As for Windscreen it will remain an important outlet for the MVT - as believe it or not many MVT members do not attend any area meetings at all or aren't connected to the internet! They need Windscreen to know what's happening. I know this from attending the AGM where there were discussions concerning having Windscreen as an online magazine but there was uproar from many older members at this suggestion. I for one still like a paper version to read on the train or if I'm on holiday - so long may it continue! I think what would be good for John is if you tell him what you want and don't want in Windscreen for the future. Also if a few more of you write articles that would be great. PM Sent John. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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