I'll miss you, Pat Bedard
Just for the record, regardless of how this looks, this is not an RIP. Nobody has died
In the August issue of Car and Driver, editor at large Pat Bedard announced that he's leaving the magazine after 41 years in the saddle. This might not sound like big news; after all, editors and writers leave magazines all the time. But, to me at least, this is a pretty big deal.
I have been a car magazine junkie since roughly the age of 8, and Car and Driver has been my favorite magazine for most of that time. Other kids were fans of Magic Johnson or George Brett; I avidly followed Pat Bedard and Don Sherman. I'm not aware of any other young magazine groupies among my peer group, but had they existed, I'm sure we would have created and bartered Jean Lindamood, William Jeanes, and Brock Yates trading cards. As it is, over the years I've collected virtually every C&D printed back to 1968 and keep them lovingly preserved for reference and rereading.
This is why Bedard's retirement from C&D hits me so hard--I feel like he's been a life-long friend. While I have been alive for only 33 of the 41 years Bedard has been at C&D, I have read virtually all of the road tests, short takes, and columns he has written during his career. I frequently disagreed with his more political columns, but Bedard has always been a fantastic writer with a style so distinctively fresh and entertaining that I can recognize his writing even before I check the byline. Plus, he earns a little bit of extra credit with me for for his (painful) racing experience, and his various looks and styles (I was partial to the huge 1970s mustache), and his odd visual similarity to my dad.
The only constant is change, of course, and given the challenges C&D is facing, it's probably not a bad idea to bring in some fresh voices and ideas. There are still a lot of great writers on staff, among them John Williams, Aaron Robinson, Tony Swan, and, weirdly, for the first time in decades, David E. Davis. Still, it will be weird to read an issue of C&D that doesn't feature Pat Bedard, Brock Yates, or Csaba Csere on the masthead.
I have no idea what Bedard's plans are, but I hope he will continue writing somewhere, anywhere. Pat, any interest for writing for Car Lust?
--Chris H.
Chuck on July 17, 2009 at 12:01 PM
Yes, Mr. Bedard is one of the greatest automotive writers of all time. And I agree that his latest columns were a bit on the political side. Whenever the right-wingers bring up Bill Clinton, I like to ask them about Richard Nixon (I better stop here LOL).
Amazingly, Csaba Csere had an article in the latest Car and Driver ("Vette Dreams", page 104). I hope the magazine returns to its former glory. "Reader Sightings" is all but gone, and the latest "10 Best" Contests are a disgrace. Only four winners when there should have been 40?
I think part of the magazine's appeal was its connection to the readers, and they took most of that away. But at least I have a closet full of their sweatshits and a T-shirt or two.
Maybe Pat is not gone. Not as long as we remember him. Wait, that's another Star Trek line.
Javelin on July 17, 2009 at 12:35 PM
I'm right there with you, Chris; started reading Motor Trend around age 10 or 11, then switched to CD when I was 13 or 14, in the mid-70s. Their writing was just head and shoulders above the other car mags, and Bedard, Davis, and occasional contributors like PJ O'Rourke gave the magazine a distinctive voice--these guys just sounded like they were having tons of fun testing and writing about cars. Sounded like the best job in the world to me.
CD is also where I was first exposed to Jean Shepherd, who had a monthly column there from 71 to 76.
http://www.flicklives.com/Magazines/Car_and_Driver/n_car_driver.html
John B on July 17, 2009 at 01:25 PM
After about 20 years, I let my C and D subscription lapse.
With the great old writers going...or gone, I felt I know more about autos and history than the young kids they replaced them with.
The only thing I miss are the occasional features (usually by John Phillips) like the one a few years back about the Canadian ice road truckers...(long before the TV series).
besides, in the runup to the last election, not an issue passed without somekid making a political remark. Hey guys, I'm paying you to write about cars, not trying to impress the Dixie Chicks.
Oh well, for witty comments and humor, I can always come here.
renjith on July 17, 2009 at 11:25 PM
thanks!
Ben on July 18, 2009 at 01:08 PM
I stopped buying, or even casually glancing at Car & Driver years ago. They're writing, although well done, isn't suited at all for anyone under the age of 50, or with anything less than $40,000 to spend on a car. It's just not relevant to the current generation.
rossco on July 18, 2009 at 01:12 PM
I had a sub to C&D as a kid. I loved it. C&D had a sense of humor and great writers like Don Sherman and David E. Davis. The other mags were too staid. I quit reading C&D about 15 years ago. The writing just got too bitter and snide. The right-wing slant was in every editorial and it was no longer funny. Bedard and Csere were the worst offenders. Grumpy old men is what they became. Bedard especially should have retired long ago. He was a decent writer when he was younger and he's certainly intelligent on engineering matters. However, he started to remind me of G. Gordon Liddy in tone and appearance. Csere was a dullard from the start. They will not be missed and I am sorry to see such a once great magazine fall into irrelevance.
J. Smith on July 18, 2009 at 05:48 PM
I'm partial to C&D because of the quality of the writing, although it even that has been in decline, and the passion and knowledge of its writers. Bedard, Yates and Csere are all great writers and enthusiasts, but the increasing political slant of their editorials over the past decade plus has been grating. Admittedly, most gearheads are on the right side of the spectrum (except for the Jamie Kitman, probably my favorite auto scribe). I can forgive them because of the quality of their articles. David E. Davis, on the other hand, I don't get. Perhaps his prime was simply just before my time, but I've never cared for anything he's written and his anti-Nader diatribe a few years back was completely over-the-top.
peter on July 19, 2009 at 05:09 AM
I started reading Car and Driver in the sixties, when I was ten. Read it for the next four decades. Stopped about two years ago, when the writing and editing got so bad, it was unreadable. Pat Bedard is great. I'll never forget how shocking his crash at Indianapolis was. I hope he finds an internet outlet.
Cookie the Dog's Owner on July 19, 2009 at 11:11 AM
The first C&D article I remember reading was "DeLorean Versus The World" by Larry Griffin, a five-car comparison test between the then-new DeLorean and a C3 Corvette, Ferrari 308 GTi, Porsche 911, and a 280-ZX Turbo. (http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/comparisons/archive/de_lorean_vs._chevy_corvette_datsun_280-zx_ferrari_308gts_porsche_911-comparison_tests) The first six paragraphs are still some of the most delightful automotive writing I've ever encountered.
CJinSD on July 19, 2009 at 02:38 PM
I feel that the William Jeanes era of Car and Driver was their last best attempt at maintaining their hertitage. He was all about improving the magazine, doing away with bribes from manufacturers in the form of decadent press junkets, press cars full of cash, and high paying advertising editorial writing. As a result, for a while the opinions expressed in the magazing reconciled with my own experiences driving then current cars. When he went, so did any vestige of integrity. Now there are chosen makes, and they will always get favorable reviews, even to the point of minimizing their shop rat products' service records in writing long term wrap ups. Audi and Porsche anyone? Then you've got the auto-porn format. I don't care how many variations of their 3 products Porsche produces. At the least, they don't all deserve covers. Look at a 'road test review.' There are a dozen entries for each German manufacturer, 3 for each US one, and 5 or 6 for the Japanese majors. Give me a break. Not everyone buys an expensive, unreliable car, and German cars are more like sausages than ever. Review one and point out that it is available in different lengths and be done with it.
I really miss Griffin, Baxter, Yates, Bedard, Csere, St Antoine, Lindamood, Schroeder, and O'rourke, but the current group don't have much of a voice. With the exception of Webster, I don't have any respect for the current clowns with their ignorance of automotive history and their imbecilic political views. They backed the monster that will destroy the industry that employs them. Oh well. I don't employ them anymore, having dropped Car and Driver after over 25 years as a reader.
David Colborne on July 19, 2009 at 04:57 PM
I started reading Car and Driver at about the same age you were when you started, which would place my entry to their wares at the late '80s and early '90s. I maintained an on-and-off subscription to them until about two years ago.
The biggest problem I had with C&D over time wasn't the politics - the editorials were easy to find and just as easy to skip. What killed me was when I realized they stopped writing about affordable cars anymore. One of my favorite articles when I was a kid was when they did a comparo against every car that cost under $10k (it was in the early '90s) - it pitted the Justy against the Metro, Festiva against the Shadow, and on and on. It had been far too long since they did anything remotely like that; instead, they focused their energies on the likes of Lexus, Audi, and BMW. It would be like a car magazine focusing on Buicks, Lincolns, and Chryslers in the late '70s - UGH.
So, I dropped the subscription. I still subscribe to their RSS feed, but I just can't justify sending them significant cash out of my own till right now.
Ken Davis on July 21, 2009 at 07:28 AM
Great post their, was really intresting to read i have to agree with some of the guys here it was a shame they did not keep it up writing about affordable cars.
CJinSD on July 21, 2009 at 10:30 PM
Ken Davis,
Good point. 20+ years ago, Car and Driver was a way for enthusiasts on a budget to learn the best ways to spend their money on rewarding cars and rewarding upgrades. Does anyone else remember articles like Project Discount, which detailed the most effective ways to turn a Toyota Corolla into a driver's car while spending hundreds of dollars? Can you imagine the current Car and Driver nitwits digging through a junkyard looking for slightly larger stamped steel wheels that fit an unmodified econobox?
Jay in Omaha on July 22, 2009 at 01:49 PM
Geez, but "Y'all" are young !! In that I'm 63 -- and last raced nearly 40 years ago in Germany (Formula "V" at Hochenheim) I remember the START of C&D. Bedard and Csaba Csere have been the best of the whole thing. Anybody old enough -- heck, go to an antique store with old magazines, and look for old MECHANIX ILLUSTRATED with "Uncle" Tom Cahill .. (?) it might be McCahill, I forget. An old racer, early Hollywood stunt driver, and ONE FUNNY SOB. Not the technical stuff that C&D could do, but great car tests.
I've had Audis and Infinitis -- but the BMW thing mystifies me ... who pays the maint costs on the things??
C&D just is hardly worth reading without Bedard and Csere.
SullyAg on July 23, 2009 at 04:57 PM
I read C&D religiously throughout the 1970s, when it was not only the best auto book out there, but one of the very best American magazines, period. The letters-to-the-editor section alone was worth the cover price.
Bedard was a gentleman. Fifteen years ago I interviewed him on background for a story about the CART/IRL split. He couldn't have been more helpful, or more generous with his time. A class act.
A couple of my favoite C&D headlines:
On the Yugo -- "Attention, Kmart Shoppers"
On the Buick Regal -- "Bartender, Turbos for Everyone!"
Some of you kids might disagree with Bedard's politics, but then again, most of you didn't live through the Double Nickel Era, when C&D was the voice of the Gearhead Resistance. :-)
carforall.net on July 28, 2009 at 02:08 PM
Thanks for posting about this, I would love to read more about this topic.
http://www.carforall.net
Andy on July 29, 2009 at 05:19 PM
Some of us are old enough to remember when cars were designed by people, there were no govt standards of any kind. So there was no political commentary. Those were what we call the happy times. I had every copy from '67 thru '94. They went to an adolescent hospital ward. But i remember. Fondly.
bill on August 08, 2009 at 09:41 AM
For the 30+ years I've been subscribing, C&D seemed to me a nice combination of enthusiast writing, technical analysis, dry humor and politics that for me personally, worked well. It seems from many of these comments that it worked for others and we all have the same feeling of loss.
First they lost Brock, who while I personally didn't like him, I always read because the writing was ENTERTAINING. Then Larry Webster quit last year, who seemed like a younger guy in the C&D mould. These events concerned me for the direction of the magazine, but with Csaba and Patrick still on board, I trusted these were "painful but necessary" changes.
C&D has had a great sense of it's own purpose and seemed to consistently hire writers/reviewers/editors who shared a kindred spirit, one that I strongly resonated with. Given this track record, and their sudden removal from the magazine, I can't believe it was of their own doing. Given their respect for the magazine, I can't believe that if Csaba and Pat planned to leave/retire, that they wouldn't have groomed some folks in to take over their role once they rode into the sunset, make it a gradual transition and assure that consistency was maintained. But that didn't happen.
It appears (and I could be wrong) that the publishers "knew better" about what the mag needed and either proposed changes Csaba, Larry, and Pat couldn't accept, or Larry quit and Csaba and/or Pat were unceremoniously put out to pasture.
I don't appreciate the callous nature in which the magazine treated it's audience. Facts/figures/pictures of cars are commodities thanks to the Internet. Even much of the reviewed information in my monthly print magazine is "dated" by the time I get it. Yet I paid for a print subscription because of the excellent writing, opinions and perspectives from these individuals. It was valuable to me and I responded by paying for that privilege. Hatchette took that away, didn't even give them a respectful sendoff (surely a 2-3 page retrospective for Csaba and Patrick was the least they deserved if the mag is going to spend time reviewing a 15 year old Geo Metro?), nor did C&D do much to acknowledge that they understand what makes this magazine an institution.
As previous posters have noted, I still like many of the still-standing - Aaron Robison, John Phillips, and I have always like DeDjr. But I can't endorse the way writers/editors I respected and a magazine I was previously loyal to, have been treated.
Larry's at Popular Mechanics, maybe they will get my $ now.
Csaba and Pat - keep yourselves out there, you have my subscription $.
Bruce N. Cameron on January 10, 2010 at 08:30 AM
One of the best things about Csaba and especially Pat, were the common sense political comments. I miss their writing so much that C/D is no longer special.
tomm on June 17, 2010 at 01:30 PM
I loved C/D from 1977 to about late 90's. But, when they went along with Honda's upsizing and dumbing down of their cars, they sold out.
For years they praised smaller efficent cars. But in the 90's Honda kept making 'all new generation' cars bigger, and C/D would always say 'this is best Honda ever'.
When the Civic lost the double wishbone that C/D raved about for years, they then were apologetic and said "Well, we understand, Honda wants to sell more cars".