[necdb3]

You always heavily investigate the cars you own or want. I own a 72 SSJ. I know "Pontiac" never offered an SSJ as an option. Yes there was literature in Pontiac dealers, people ordered them from there dealer, etc, but Pontiac did not sell it or produce it. It was nothing more than a aftermarket (Hurst) option.

I own a car that just happened to be owned by Pontiac (company car, rep car, picture car, who knows) and because of that, when it was sold, I have a factory Invoice where is shows the Hurst option. Pontiac still didn't build it just because it's on the Invoice either. They just had to bill the dealer for the option they added after the car was built.

I always thought the 73 F-body sunroof option was the same thing. It was an option but put in after the fact of assembly by an aftermarket company (ASC).

My point is, It's possible someone somewhere has an invoice with it on there but it still doesn't mean it came from the factory that way.

[Larry Navarro]

Originally Posted by Rocky Rotella

Larry, I don't know what you feel that HPP owes you? Whatever it may be, I advised in the past that you contact then-editor Tom DeMauro and address your grievances with him. If you didn’t attempt to reach him after my offer, then you’ll likely have a tough time convincing anyone that HPP continues to treat you unfairly. It doesn’t matter now anyway because Tom has moved to Hemmings and Chris Phillip is now at the helm. You can reach him at christopher.phillip@sorc.com to explain what you’re owed.

Rocky, you doing a fine job of flipping this discussion against me and in favor of HPP.
However, I never implied nor expressed that HPP owed me a dime!
I DID NOT ASK for my products to be promoted in HPP,...... NOR DID I ASK to have my car featured in the magazine.
I was approached by YOU for the linkage deal.....and I was approached by Randy to do the SD.
You are the guys who benefit and earn your living writing for the magazine so your opinion that I feel HPP owes me something, is ridiculous.
The folks, the readers..... are the ones you OWE something too. It is they who were deprived of knowledge and history of a rare automobile.
I gave up my valuable time to have the car prepared and available for the feature.
The delays came and I questioned;.... I was told that there was "a backlog of SD cars" ahead of mine.
Nice BS excuse to hide behind since a couple of SD cars were featured from car show events that were way after mine.
I have to really wonder that you don't know why the feature was never published......with the small amount of close-knit folks involved at HPP; it's hard to believe that it was never questioned, especially since you have an SD.

[Rocky Rotella]

Originally Posted by Larry Navarro

Rocky, you doing a fine job of flipping this discussion against me and in favor of HPP.

Larry, I flipped it? You’ve taken multiple shots at HPP including in this very thread, and this isn’t the first time you’ve implicated me in the conspiracy to keep you or your SD T/A out of HPP. See?

Originally Posted by Larry Navarro

I have to really wonder that you don't know why the feature was never published......with the small amount of close-knit folks involved at HPP; it's hard to believe that it was never questioned, especially since you have an SD.

I contend I have no idea why your story wasn’t printed. And I don’t really know that it’s any of my business either. The Editor has total control over what goes into print, not freelancers. I had no knowledge that Randy shot your car until you brought it up on PY.

I told you another time when you’ve suggested that I was part of the conspiracy, rather than speculate why your story hasn’t made it to print yet, I recommended you contact Tom DeMauro directly when he was editor. Remember your rant several months back on my topic and I offered you his direct phone number so you could call him and discuss your issues? See post #19 here:
http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...d.php?t=722003

To my knowledge you never requested that number from me, and you’re still going out of your way to complain about HPP. So tell us, did you ever email or phone Tom DeMauro to ask for an explanation?

[njsteve]

Just an FYI guys, I worked as a technical editor and managing editor for MuscleCar Review, Mopar Muscle and couple other magazines back in the early 1990's. From my experience any time a car didn't eventually show was one of three reasons:

1) The car was just featured in a competitor's magazine (that's not the case here) and a cooling off period was needed before it was eligible.

Back when I had my 70 Hemi Charger, Hemmings Muscle Machines came down and shot the car for a feature. That was 2004. When it didn't appear in the magazine for a year, I called the editor and asked what was up. He told me it was because it had showed up in a magazine right after they shot it. I said I wasn't aware of that and checked out the obscure magazine he was talking about. It turned out that the article was a reprint of old photos taken in 1990 by a photographer that I worked with back in the day. I asked the Hemmings editor to look at the date on the license plate registration decal and confirm my suspicions. When he realized I was right he scheduled an updated shoot for the car and it got in shortly thereafter. So sometimes it is something that is completely out of your control and not even something you were even aware of.

I have had a bunch of cars over the past several decades get featured in magazines. And from both sides of the aisle, I can tell you that the more help you can give the magazine staff, the more (not less) likely it is for your car to get in.

or

2) There was a problem with the photography. - This situation happened way more than you would imagine in the pre-digital age. Whether it was the film being bad, or getting damaged or even lost by the processor, or the exposure levels being off, or the internal focus, or some idiot in the background "photo-bombing" the scene, it would happen. Add to that the fact that specific issues were preplanned to their content a year in advance and it could be several years before a car I shot got in - or never at all because the photos were then considered stale at that point due to the advance of technology.

Today with digital photography you have the added joy of possibly losing a digital card that is the size of a postage stamp or having the disc crash when you went to download it (both which have happened to me since the digital age started).

or

3) There was a issue with the freelance photographer. Here is the worst-case scenario of all times: Back in the day, there was a very well known, California-based photographer who was submitting photos of cars to various car magazines, with models in them. We didn't use models in our features back then, so we refused to use his work. It eventually turned out that the guy was a serial rapist who was luring these models out into the desert and was attacking them. He eventually murdered one of them and is now serving a life sentence. (Google Charles Rathbun)

[Tunas73TA]

I wondered why this thread grew so fast....
Time for a bit of humor.

[Larry Navarro]

Originally Posted by Rocky Rotella

To my knowledge you never requested that number from me, and you’re still going out of your way to complain about HPP. So tell us, did you ever email or phone Tom DeMauro to ask for an explanation?

Rocky, I had the pertinent information to contact Tom long ago so there's no point in making it look like I was avoiding the issue.
There was no reason for me to be fed ANOTHER line of BS, that Tom had already disclosed to me, via Randy.

If the guy can't be truthful up-front......using his freelancers as a mouthpiece, then there's no reason to waste my time in expecting anything different from the direct source of excuses and LIES.......PERIOD!

Ciao!

[Rocky Rotella]

Blame whoever you want, but keep me out of it. If you don't want engage in this same conversation again down the road in another post (just as we had in the past), then please don't continue to throw shots at me and drag me into your drama with HPP by inferring I had any part of your story not running!

Back to topic. Documentation, please?

[The Boss]

This has gone way off target.

Larry, if you have the chance, let me know what you have and what you gave the magazine for information - I would really appreciate it. Thanks

thebosspontiac@hotmail.com

[Larry Navarro]

email sent

[Larry Navarro]

Originally Posted by Rocky Rotella

...........then please don't continue to throw shots at me and drag me into your drama with HPP by inferring I had any part of your story not running!

NEVER did I say YOU had anything to do with it NOT running......
I suggested that you might KNOW WHY it wasn't published.
Big difference.

[Larry Navarro]

http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...d.php?t=743978

[muscle_collector]

I have a great suggestion for everyone. don't let any magazine do a story on your car. I had numerous requests back in the 80's from several different magazines to do articles on cars and had a few guys get down right rude with me for turning them down. I just didn't need any ego inflation and didn't want to spend the time and trouble to do any shoot.

[Larry Navarro]

Yep Gary........the guys were rude because you kept them from making a buck.

What an ignorant way to do business.

[muscle_collector]

yea one guy pissed me off so bad that I just said never and so far I have held to it. several of my cars have been featured in magazines and one is on the front cover of a major restoration book (funny thing it is an unrestored low mileage car) but all were done after I sold them. another funny thing is how so many of them all of a sudden had a story behind them that wasn't anywhere near the truth.

[bird72]

Originally Posted by muscle_collector

funny thing is how so many of them all of a sudden had a story behind them that wasn't anywhere near the truth.

haha, I have sometimes read the "history" stuff in articles and scratched head..... the only one I truly believe is NJSteve with his original owner correspondence. I know others have bought from original owners and have great insight also. But some of the "car was too fast and dad took it from son and put on blocks since 1971 as punishment" are a bit out there.... also the "dealer put the RAIV in, since it couldn't be ordered".... I know that stuff did happen, but it seems to be pretty common by article accounts.

[njsteve]

LOL. Someone believes me?

BTW, Enrico sent me a nice Christmas card with a photo of him and his wife. They are such a great couple!

[The Boss]

Digging up an old thread - Please leave the politics out of it.

Very few of these show up - this one has the glass roof panel.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/201304172311...;3AMEBIDX%3AIT

[RamAir]

Cool post Chris, when I worked at a Buick dealership in the 70's, there was an authorized American Sunroof dealer that used a similar placard when they did a sunroof install.

[Norwood]

I came close to using a Sawzall on my roof for a flipup back in the late 70's after all they were the RAGE. Then my Cousin hit me over the head with said Sawzall and that was the end of that idea. He also kept me from cutting holes in my door panels to install the Kraco speakers.

[The Boss]

Originally Posted by Norwood

He also kept me from cutting holes in my door panels to install the Krapco speakers.

Fixed that for ya Craig.