New North American Land Rover magazine

Glad to hear there's sufficient interest and a market for another Rover magazine. I hope there's some original, substantive content. Things I would pay money to read:

• tech articles
• trip write-ups
• historical articles (retrospective of the 101FC, for example)
• real world product tests

Things that would make me lose interest fast:

• new model reviews recycled from press events
• lifestyle articles
• anything to do with the Evoque
• anything to do with Kahn

oh boy

Tactical

I love grits.

Tacticool abrasives...

I could be wrong but I believe that this is Steve Hoare's magazine. If so he is a true enthusiast and knows his LR shit. That being said he drinks scotch so.......

You...wrong...never

Quarterly works as long as it's 100 quality pages. Better than 30 pages of shit monthly.

Can't blame him for posting on all the forums. Need to get the word out somehow and dweb doesn't do ads. It's the only way I'd see it as I don't read twitter, facebook, or any of that shit.

He posted on expo too. Good. Make them squirm.

Devildog01 said:

I could be wrong but I believe that this is Steve Hoare's magazine. If so he is a true enthusiast and knows his LR shit. That being said he drinks scotch so.......

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Yes, Steve is the one who posted this. He and I have been working on this for about a year and a half now, but I started work on the original concept about three years ago. I guess Steve decided to to create a new user name rather than use his personal one, perhaps in case the admins aren't happy with us.

Those of you who know Steve know that he's been a contributor to LRO and LRM over the years. He's also very active in numerous Land Rover clubs and communities. As for me, I've been an automotive writer since 2004. I spent 9 years with Vortex Media Group, an online publisher that also hosted one of the largest automotive forums on the web (vwvortex.com). Despite that, I've never been a big forum user, including most of the Land Rover boards. I am currently a freelance writer, with stories in Collectible Automobile, Bimmer (BMW), Excellence (Porsche), and European Car magazines, plus websites like Petrolicious.com and Hagerty.com. My focus has always been automotive enthusiast publications.

I've been a Land Rover enthusiast for probably 25 years or more. As a journalist, I spent a fair amount of time in new Land Rovers, and it wasn't until 2009 that I bought my first one, a Discovery II with a blown engine. I picked up a donor engine from a wrecked Disco and put it back on the road entirely on my own. I think they refer to that as "baptism by fire." I'm on my second D2 now, and predictably, I am in the process of replacing head gaskets.

Steve and I come from different perspectives, but are equally passionate about Land Rovers. He's certainly the classic Land Rover expert, especially when it comes to Series and Defenders. I tend to favor the newer stuff, and still have my sights on a Range Rover Classic. He's active in the forums, I spend more time on social media outlets. Between the two of us, I think we'll cover all the angles.

We've also enlisted the talent of Dan Marcello for design work. He's a total fan as well, with a Series I and D90 currently in his fleet, having recently sold his Range Rover Sport.

I hope we didn't ruffle too many feathers by announcing our project. It's been a slow build, but we're getting close to launch and we've been eager to share it. We plan to work closely with the community to produce a magazine that connects with Land Rover enthusiasts everywhere in North America. We feel it's something that's been missing for a long time. We're also well aware of past efforts in this arena, and we've been working hard to make sure we don't repeat that publication's shortcomings (not referring to Rovers Magazine, either).

p m said:

Is it some formerly aspiring, now disgruntled, Overland Journal author?

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Nope. Fresh project, no history with OJ. I actually spoke briefly with Scott about this when we were in Iceland last year for the Disco Sport media launch.

chris snell said:

I don't care who writes this magazine. When you show up here and use the site to pimp your product without ever posting anything else, you're going to get the Muddy Chef treatment. Commerce is allowed here but there is no place for advertisements from first-time posters.

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I hear you, but Steve's been a long-time member here. Not exactly a first post, just a first post under a separate name. It's a community-specific project and as such it's more of an announcement than an ad. No offer to sell anything, just a heads up.

Tugela said:

Glad to hear there's sufficient interest and a market for another Rover magazine. I hope there's some original, substantive content. Things I would pay money to read:

• tech articles
• trip write-ups
• historical articles (retrospective of the 101FC, for example)
• real world product tests

Things that would make me lose interest fast:

• new model reviews recycled from press events
• lifestyle articles
• anything to do with the Evoque
• anything to do with Kahn

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Great feedback. we've worked hard to formulate a content plan that will appeal to enthusiasts across the board, so yes, there will certainly be coverage of new vehicles and new technologies. Land Rovers are a way of life (a lifestyle) for all of us creating it, and there will be articles that will be considered lifestyle, but they'll focus on real-life experiences and adventure travel. Believe me, we know how sensitive this area is. The problem is "lifestyle" means different things to different people. We'll do our best to keep those as authentic as possible. As for Evoque and Kahn, well, they certainly aren't at the core of most enthusiasts' interests, and the space dedicated to them will reflect that.

As for your list of desires, we're pretty well aligned with you. The one thing you may not see a lot of in print is technical articles, but that's because we plan to do more video content with tech. There will be some, but it won't make up the bulk of the magazine. We will, however, dedicate a fair number of pages to classics and built rigs. Each issue will also feature a Series Guide, essentially a buyer's guide to a single model covering the history, year-by-year changes, special editions, specs, issues, and aftermarket options. The first one will be the LR3/Discovery 3, as those are quickly becoming the replacement for D2s among enthusiasts. Trip write-ups will feature as well; in fact, we're also planning a book series based on regional trails and journeys. We will certainly be doing product tests as well, and I only hope we can live up to the standard set by Overland Journal.

We'll have more details to share in the coming weeks. Understand that we're looking at this as more than just a print magazine. We plan to take advantage of other media tools, such as video and web content, to round out the publication so that we don't feel contained by the page count.

I'd only be interested in articles about the newer products if they're shown doing some real off roading. Not interested in driving to the mall for a Gray Poupon refill or down some dirt road you could drive a '59 Cadillac down.

Articles on some of the suppliers and people who repair/restore Rovers for a living would be interesting providing they're not just a glorified commercial.

I hope the articles are US oriented. Not really interested in the rest of the planet. Canada would be OK since it's someplace I could drive to.

Tests/How to's on various modifications on various vehicles would be good.

Oh and the name is like bizarre. Sounds like a body and fender magazine.

Good luck.

jhmover said:

I hope the articles are US oriented. Not really interested in the rest of the planet. Canada would be OK since it's someplace I could drive to.

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Yep. The whole point of doing the magazine is to highlight the North American Land Rover scene, Canada included. I pick up LRO from time to time, but I can only read so many articles about 5-speed Tdi Discoverys or greenlaning before I check out. There may be an occasional feature from elsewhere in the world, but otherwise it's geared to American enthusiasts.

jhmover said:

Oh and the name is like bizarre. Sounds like a body and fender magazine.

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The interesting thing is we talked to Land Rover North America about some other name proposals. Every one of them they said would be a conflict with their branding. It might be possible to license the other names for a fee, but some future corporate attorney could decide not to renew a licensing arrangement in the future, potentially leaving us no choice but to rebrand. We decided to go with a more esoteric name with no "Rover" conflicts. The name is a compromise as such, but represents the two important elements of every Land Rover. Alloy, because aluminum alloy has played a major part in every Land Rover's construction. And Grit, because let's face it, you have to possess a certain amount of fortitude to own these things.

Thanks for the feedback.

If only I could read!

Kenny is not the only one that can type long post