Reflection And Renewal
Art director Markas Platt has so many magazines in his office that if the piles were to shift, I'd fear for the stability of the earth's axis.
There'd be no way I could find him at fault for the resulting catastrophe, because I share Markas' obsession with the slick, colorful world of magazines. We both grew up using the pages of our favorite periodicals to explore lives and events far beyond our bedrooms, far outside the borders of town and country, poring over the words and images and preparing for the days when we too would safari in Africa, surf the Pipeline, tour the Smithsonian or date a Playboy Playmate (hey, we could dream, couldn't we?).
To Markas, to me and to the rest of european car's staff, the space between the covers of this magazine is more than a dreamscape; it's a real world. Ink and paper, when plied together properly, form a fertile foundation for the growth of ideas, a forum for civilized debate, a repository of vital information. Ink and paper, as transitory as they might seem, can be polished brighter than the purest steel, reflecting the deepest wisdom, hopes and fears. Yet, ink and paper can also can be tarnished in so many ways; witness the slimy avalanche of vacuous and pornographic magazines suffocating the newsstands. Those are worlds best avoided.
To say we take our jobs seriously is perhaps too serious a word to use. We make no excuses about deriving great satisfaction from building european car all over again each month. And though it ain't all that easy to make each and every page glow with compelling photography and authoritative commentary, it doesn't stop us from trying.
That effort includes, with this first issue of a new year, a new look. Given a free mouse to explore the vast continuum of formats and fonts, art-man Markas worked along with the staff to redesign the magazine, the primary goals to make it more readable and entertaining. We hope you like it.
We've also made a few revisions to the contents that we think will help the reader better navigate through the rich world of European cars. We're again offering you a forum for your rants and raves and a chance to show off your loved ones in the department we call "Communiqu." As a bonus, we'll pick one letter each month for its cleverness/acerbity/wit/whatever and award the writer a nice gift from Auto Art Models' catalog of high-quality car models and other automotive-themed items (www.autoartmodels.com). Technical correspondence will continue to be posted on europeancarweb.com; we simply need the extra room in cyberspace to fully answer your questions.