Hemming's Motor News Looking for Clean Older Rotaries
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 3,367
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From: Phoenix, AZ
Hemming's Motor News Looking for Clean Older Rotaries
Hi:
My name is Jeff Koch, and I am a California-based writer for Hemmings Publishing, including Hemmings Sports and Exotics, a catch-all title for performance-minded European and Japanese vehicles. I have been chosen, for lack of a better term, as HSX magazine's Japanese-car go-to guy. I happen to believe that the time has come for Japanese cars to ascend to a level of collectibility and interest that has not yet been widely broadcast in this country.
HSX's editor, Craig Fitzgerald, has sent me on a mission: he wants factory-fresh (restored or unrestored, no matter as long as it's clean) original sporting rotary Mazdas in the pages of the magazine, and sooner rather than later. This is an open invitation to club members with appropriate vehicles to email me a couple of quickie jpegs (exterior and engine are all I really need) and a brief list of what makes this particular car special and worthy of inclusion (ie, all-original? Original owner? Smuggled into the country in pieces and it's the only one like it here?).
Electronic photos are easier for us to deal with and will get approval more quickly than prints that are snail-mailed to me.
Models we're searching for would include (but are not limited to): R100, RX2, RX3, RX4, 808/Cosmo, and first-generation RX7. I've left more recent cars out on purpose, as we'd like to concentrate on the older machinery at this point. Japan-spec cars (ie RHD, trim differences) would be of interest to our readers as well.
We do a couple of different kinds of stories:
. Drive Reports. The car is not only comprehensively
photographed, but is also driven, so our reporters can give readers who have never driven an MG a sense of what it's like.
. Comparison. We pit two cars against each other-less to determine a winner than to get a sense of the different approaches that different car makers take to achieve the same ends. This also required the writer/photographer (me) to go for a short drive.
. Restoration Profiles. The owner will provide comprehensive photos of his car before and during restoration, while we take the after shots. No driving necessary.
. Drivable Dreams. This is a regularly-driven, unrestored,
slightly rough-and-tumble car that wears its scars and physical flaws like badges of honor. Cracked upholstery, rock chips, and high mileage are all encouraged.
. Collectors/collections. Does someone in the club have a dozen or more working examples of their favorite marque? It could be suitable for a profile on the owner.
Please note: we are looking for stock (and largely stock appearing) vehicles only at this point; vehicles modified with marque-specific parts (ie, a larger, more powerful later-model engine in an earlier body, swapping a 4-speed for a 5-speed trans) will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
The finished story generally runs about six pages of color in the magazine; please understand that the photos you submit are only to give us a sense of
whether we take the next step of contacting you for a photoshoot.
Can you please possibly connect me with the owners of clean, original cars like those listed above, who might be interested in seeing their car in a nationally published magazine? I'd love to communicate with them. Assuming they don't live in the snow belt I can pop around to take my own shots. (I live in Southern California, and simply for geography's sake owners in this area stand the best chance of getting my attention; I also travel to Northern California/Bay Area, Phoenix and Las Vegas quite a bit.
That said, our main office is in Vermont and anything in the New England/upstate New York area could be of interest too during the spring and summer months.)
Any story we do will of course give your club, and any others the car owner feels is helpful to a Mazda fan, a plug in the magazine. If you could, please post this on your site somewhere you think the most people will read it; if you feel it warrants mention in a newsletter as well, feel free to print it. Please include my email address, jkoch@hemmings.com, to any interested parties, who may contact me at their leisure. This is an open invitation and I'm happy to hear from everyone.
If you have any questions or clarifications please contact me!
I thank you in advance for your time and consideration.
Sincerely.
Jeff Koch
West Coast Associate Editor
Hemmings Sports and Exotics
My name is Jeff Koch, and I am a California-based writer for Hemmings Publishing, including Hemmings Sports and Exotics, a catch-all title for performance-minded European and Japanese vehicles. I have been chosen, for lack of a better term, as HSX magazine's Japanese-car go-to guy. I happen to believe that the time has come for Japanese cars to ascend to a level of collectibility and interest that has not yet been widely broadcast in this country.
HSX's editor, Craig Fitzgerald, has sent me on a mission: he wants factory-fresh (restored or unrestored, no matter as long as it's clean) original sporting rotary Mazdas in the pages of the magazine, and sooner rather than later. This is an open invitation to club members with appropriate vehicles to email me a couple of quickie jpegs (exterior and engine are all I really need) and a brief list of what makes this particular car special and worthy of inclusion (ie, all-original? Original owner? Smuggled into the country in pieces and it's the only one like it here?).
Electronic photos are easier for us to deal with and will get approval more quickly than prints that are snail-mailed to me.
Models we're searching for would include (but are not limited to): R100, RX2, RX3, RX4, 808/Cosmo, and first-generation RX7. I've left more recent cars out on purpose, as we'd like to concentrate on the older machinery at this point. Japan-spec cars (ie RHD, trim differences) would be of interest to our readers as well.
We do a couple of different kinds of stories:
. Drive Reports. The car is not only comprehensively
photographed, but is also driven, so our reporters can give readers who have never driven an MG a sense of what it's like.
. Comparison. We pit two cars against each other-less to determine a winner than to get a sense of the different approaches that different car makers take to achieve the same ends. This also required the writer/photographer (me) to go for a short drive.
. Restoration Profiles. The owner will provide comprehensive photos of his car before and during restoration, while we take the after shots. No driving necessary.
. Drivable Dreams. This is a regularly-driven, unrestored,
slightly rough-and-tumble car that wears its scars and physical flaws like badges of honor. Cracked upholstery, rock chips, and high mileage are all encouraged.
. Collectors/collections. Does someone in the club have a dozen or more working examples of their favorite marque? It could be suitable for a profile on the owner.
Please note: we are looking for stock (and largely stock appearing) vehicles only at this point; vehicles modified with marque-specific parts (ie, a larger, more powerful later-model engine in an earlier body, swapping a 4-speed for a 5-speed trans) will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
The finished story generally runs about six pages of color in the magazine; please understand that the photos you submit are only to give us a sense of
whether we take the next step of contacting you for a photoshoot.
Can you please possibly connect me with the owners of clean, original cars like those listed above, who might be interested in seeing their car in a nationally published magazine? I'd love to communicate with them. Assuming they don't live in the snow belt I can pop around to take my own shots. (I live in Southern California, and simply for geography's sake owners in this area stand the best chance of getting my attention; I also travel to Northern California/Bay Area, Phoenix and Las Vegas quite a bit.
That said, our main office is in Vermont and anything in the New England/upstate New York area could be of interest too during the spring and summer months.)
Any story we do will of course give your club, and any others the car owner feels is helpful to a Mazda fan, a plug in the magazine. If you could, please post this on your site somewhere you think the most people will read it; if you feel it warrants mention in a newsletter as well, feel free to print it. Please include my email address, jkoch@hemmings.com, to any interested parties, who may contact me at their leisure. This is an open invitation and I'm happy to hear from everyone.
If you have any questions or clarifications please contact me!
I thank you in advance for your time and consideration.
Sincerely.
Jeff Koch
West Coast Associate Editor
Hemmings Sports and Exotics
Thread Starter
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 3,367
Likes: 86
From: Phoenix, AZ
Sorry Matt. I don't work for Hemmings. Just forwarding the email that I received. I should have placed an intro statement on the email explaining that! My bad.
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 3,438
Likes: 6
From: Outskirts of Road Atlanta
Mazda didn't have a nation-wide dealer network until the mid-70s, so you won't find many early rotaries in the NE. The west coast and Texas are home to 90% of the cars, so local shoots wouldn't be likely. There are, however a couple of nice cars to shoot. We'll keep an eye out, though.
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 265
Likes: 0
From: Brooklyn NYC
Originally Posted by Crit
Mazda didn't have a nation-wide dealer network until the mid-70s, so you won't find many early rotaries in the NE. The west coast and Texas are home to 90% of the cars, so local shoots wouldn't be likely. There are, however a couple of nice cars to shoot. We'll keep an eye out, though.
We are from Bklyn & held a meet with V Lopez who does some writting for RXTuner magazine we had a rotary meet in Qns NYC last year pretty good turnout but due to circumstances beyond Mr Lopez's control we had to end the meet early but again i do know quite a few FB owners in NYC
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