Latest issue - March 2011 on sale now.

[bnicho]

Yes, that's sort of true. We are used to travelling long distances to get anywhere.

I'm headed off on holidays in the next hour or so. 600 miles or so towing an 18.5 foot caravan. (Towing with the Pathfinder.)

[JAdams]

I think several readers are missing the overall point here. The article is about a guy, Paul Thorniley I believe he was called, who has used his Escort, presumably rather than a modern car, to go on his hollidays. He has then spent probably a couple of nights after work putting together some words and photographs to tell others about his "practical" use of his "classic" car. I found the article interesting and was exactly what I expected to read in a magazine titled "Practical Classics"

JPB, perhaps if your journeys in your Dolomite are so interesting then you will be putting pen to paper in the near future and telling the rest of us about them?

TerryG, If you like to spend your spare time looking for typos in a magazine instead of getting out and using your car then I think maybe you are reading the wrong magazine? By the way when you use the letter i on it's own it's a capital I not lower case.

bnicho, towing a modern (assumed) caravan with a modern car is not quite the same now is it? I would have been impressed if you were heading out on holiday in one of your classics, but you are not are you. It's a bit like me claiming to have covered 4000 miles on my last holiday but failing to mention it was on a Boeing 777. Why not take your classic cars on holiday and write in about it?

[JPB]

JPB, perhaps if your journeys in your Dolomite are so interesting then you will be putting pen to paper in the near future and telling the rest of us about them?

Hmm, travelling to and from work, making home visits, taking students to interviews, plus domestic and holiday use are what I would describe as typical use of any car that's in daily use. Since it's the only car I own which I'm currently licenced to drive, then the miles I rack up on that aren't exceptional for any car which is used daily by someone who chooses to live in the middle of nowhere, some 45 miles from the nearest motorway and around the same distance, but in the other direction, from the office which is itself midway and at the same distance between the two sites I attend in the course of each and every working week.

I'm not claiming that my typical day's motoring is interesting, that would be the rôle of the car, feel free to tell me where you got the impression that I described my routine in that way?

What I am saying, and this wasn't a criticism of the Escort or of its owner, is that the mileage it covered wasn't anything out of the ordinary. I liked the colour, if that helps...

[TerryG]

TerryG, If you like to spend your spare time looking for typos in a magazine instead of getting out and using your car then I think maybe you are reading the wrong magazine? By the way when you use the letter i on its own it's a capital I not lower case.

Everybody has their gripes. I have pointed out that the number of mistakes in the mag has dropped dramatically recently. There are requests for both positive and negative criticism, this was the latter but more often than not i am singing their praises. I read the magazine as well as driving my car although not both at the same time. I happened to notice issues while reading so I pointed them out.

(as you are a member of the grammar police I have corrected your quote for you)

[bnicho]

bnicho, towing a modern (assumed) caravan with a modern car is not quite the same now is it? I would have been impressed if you were heading out on holiday in one of your classics, but you are not are you. It's a bit like me claiming to have covered 4000 miles on my last holiday but failing to mention it was on a Boeing 777. Why not take your classic cars on holiday and write in about it?

I don't know if you read my blogs on the old site, but if you did you will find I wrote plenty about my travels in my classics.

Depending on a few factors I may be taking the Moke on a 900 mile round trip in two weeks.

I just checked and my Moke has done almost 14000 miles singe I restored it in 2006. I don't see the point of stringing all those journeys together and calling it one article.

My caravan is an 86 model, a recent replacement for a 78 model 14 footer that proved too small for two adults, two dogs and two kids. I did tow the old van with a classic in the distant past. Nowadays I have a modern company car which effectively makes the journey free as well as more comfortable for the kids. Besides, none of current classics are capable of towing the heavy 18.5 foot van anyway.

[Mr Banglia]

I think TerryG , Bnicho and JPB are missing the point of the article. It is just a bit of entertainment which I think is what JAdams has realised. I would imagine it was done over a number of years because time , money and and personal circumstances dictated that it could only be done this way. It was something the lad wanted to do and instead of just thinking about it he went and did it.

I don`t recall him claiming it was original or epic in the feature. Epic is something Practical Classics called it. I just think he thought other readers might get some entertainment reading about what happen to him and his car as he went around. Maybe if he had cut off his leg and done it blind fold some people would be more impressed !

If someone wants to claim the equivalent of driving round the earths circumference then they can , but it bares no resemblance to someone who actually has driven round it and experienced it !! What sort of argument is that ??????

It was an article about something out of the ordinary by a lad fulfilling a personal challenge who thought it might be of some interest to other readers.
I don`t think it claims to be , or even was , more than that.

[JPB]

....What sort of argument is that ?????

Exactly the same sort as the article made for the gradual accumulation of those miles on the Escort, the point being that, dress it up any way you like, it's not one big achievement as anyone who uses their car every day in the course of their work would realise.

Whether it's the equivalent distance to the coastline of the UK, completed over several years, or the largest circumference of the Earth, completed in a shade over two years, it's not a road trip.
As an aside, the magazine was offered the opportunity to cover the North Cape run in a Reliant Rebel back in 2008 but they were washing their hair that week or something.
There hasn't been a pukka road trip in PC since Matt went to the states a couple of years ago and drove a large, American car an impressive distance without the intervals of however many months, weeks or years.
Apologies for spelling it out if you already got the point by now.

[TerryG]

Everybody has their opinions.
I'm sure some of the readership enjoyed the article. If he had done it all in one go then i would probably have paid more attention but in my opinion lots of short driving holidays around the coast of the UK isn't a road trip. I enjoy reading the overland articles in various other magazines, PC has done some itself and they have been good BUT they have all been in a single trip.

[JPB]

...PC has done some itself and they have been good BUT they have all been in a single trip.

Remember the one in the ancient Rootesmobile (Superminx or Sceptre, can't recall which) that dribbled oil all over Germany? Now that made entertaining reading and it wasn't the distance driven that made it so. The picture of those Fräuleins in beer festival garb made no difference of course.

[Mr Banglia]

dress it up any way you like, it's not one big achievement

I don`t recall it being claimed it was one big achievement. As I put in my post the author never said that.

It is only you who persistantly thinks that this is what is being claimed !!

I think you may be getting bogged down in the dictionary meaning of a `road trip` whereas the context it was used in was to describe the sort of article it was , as opposed to a `Technical` one or `Restoration` one. I don`t think with a magazine you can ascribe literal meanings to these sorts of expressions. Magazines aren`t that deep, just entertainment pieces.

Whether it was done in one trip or a hundred trips doesn`t matter the point of the article was surely to entertain and inform not to lay claim to records of endurance or miles travelled. Don`t get to hung up on the detail and miss the big picture......

Following your line of argument PC should only feature a car that has been stripped down to the last nut and bolt and restored that way.Interesting and admirable I grant you but totally missing out on other stories just as interesting.