The evolution of a classic car magazine
08/04/2014
Yes, it's not just cars that are constantly evolving, but also the magazines that report on them. Even classic car magazines are constantly changing. A good example of this is "Oldtimer Markt".
In 1980, "Markt" started out in October with 52 pages in black and white (with the exception of the green cover), which cost two German marks.
By 1982 there were already 68 pages, which were always printed in black and white, but still cost DM 3.
By 1984, the front and back pages were in full color, the size had hardly changed, nor had the price.
Five years later, however, the magazine had truly exploded and now offered almost 200 pages, most of them still in black and white, but some already in color. And it could call itself "Europe's largest classic car magazine". At 4 DM, it was also more expensive again.
In 1995, color was fully introduced for the editorial section, the size had grown to over 240 pages, the price to DM 5.50. And the magazine was now called "Oldtimer Markt", no longer just "Markt".
Another five years later, in 2005, the Deutsche Mark was already history. However, the magazine held up well, was still over 200 pages thick and now cost three euros. Apart from the classified section, everything was now in color. The title page also showed that the " Oldtimer Magazin" had just been integrated.
The scope grew again and in 2012 everything was already in color, including the small advertisements. The price increase was kept within limits at 20 euro cents.
This was followed in 2014 by the "partial restoration" for the August issue and the jump to 272 pages, which cost 3.50 euros.
If you hold issues 1/1980 and 8/2014 next to each other , the differences could not be greater. And the perfect binding versus the staple is still the smallest difference. Layout and image quality have become much more professional and the density of information provided today is impressive.
In any case, we wish our colleagues in Mainz continued success with their magazine!
