Looking forward to it, especially the w111 article.

Is that cover Photoshopped?  I've never seen an ML with mud on it! 

For the record, the cover was photoshopped. Because the picture was taken on a very gray day with little lively color, we "warmed" it up a little bit with a yellow filter, accentuated the saturation to put more green into the trees, and -- to be quite candid -- borrowed a prettier sky from a photo from the day before. But the dirt on the side of Tom Croak's car? Honestly earned in the off-roading exercises and tours at StarTrails 2011.

Cheers
Gary

My ML still has dirt and dust on it from StarTrails!

Aaron's (who was voted the dirtiest) got detailed, and is still on the road at 220K+ and drove from CO to NC on a blown front bearing - and lived to tell the story!

It was quite an event, and a trip!

Got my copy on Saturday, and started reading.

Found it interesting to learn things that the club is doing that no one told any of us as elected Board Members!

Thanks Gary!

MTI--for the record, prior to Photoshop, every printed color image was adjusted in some manner, bar none.  The density range of ink on paper versus the density range of the original (either a transparency or color print) demanded it.  It would be impossible not to, unless of course you want awful printing.

Today, in the case of Photoshop, if you don't do it, the software does it for you; automated versus manual.  Human intervention is required to get somewhat pleasing results.  It's called color balancing and you sure can tell when it isn't done...the reproductions look lousy.

Now airbrushing mud on or off, or changing the sky is another story....

Is it just my copy or was there a problem with the blue ink used in the March-April issue?  The merest touch of the blue trim on pages 77-104 causes it to rub off onto one's fingers; likewise for the advertisement on page 119. 

I can only assume that you are referring to Doug Truitt's announcements concerning "new partnerships" on P.80.  Is there anything else?  Like the Harris book fiasco, it makes one wonder who is running the club - in some cases it appears that the Board doesn't even get enough information to serve as the proverbial "rubber stamp."  Is Truitt simply filling a power vacuum created by Board lassitude or does he have specific authority for his actions?

This is the same national board who in its infinite wisdom in jacked up the age requirement for the show class at Starfest 2006 fom 15 years to 25 years after most people had already registered and then wouldn't let anyone who'd registered before the rule change whose car met the 15 year age requirement participate in the show class. 25 years old is the generally accepted age for antique cars by the AACA and most motor vehicle departments. Csrs should'not have to be antiques to be able to participate in the show class. The Classic Center will work on cars that are 20 years old or older. The Classic Center age requirement should be the age for the show class since this is the Mercedes Benz Club. No explanation has ever been provided by the national board for why the show class age requirement was so hugely jacked up or why it's not the same as the Classic Center age requirement. This is severely limiting the participation in the show class and I don't understand why the national board wants to limit participation at Starfest. It doesn't make any sense to me.

Interesting question. Thanks for mentioning it.  I can't reproduce that problem with the issues I have, even if I rub hard on the Among the Stars page (77), which has as its whole page that blue shade of ink that's used on the edge of all the other club pages. However, my copies came from the first print run, and there had to be a second print run, so yours might have been mailed before the ink had completely dried on that section of the magazine. I'll point it out to our tech rep and see if they can check it for next issue.
 

Gary

Honestly, I don't follow the activities of the national board of directors as much as I should.  But, there seems to be a stark contrast between the openness and transparency of our Editor Gary and what people are saying about Doug Truitt and/or the National Board of Directors.  I suggest that we take the issues/complaints/questions about the board and put them in their own thread and give Gary the respect of not cluttering up his "The Star - March/April" discussion thread.

Gary - Yet another nice job!  It was a nice touch crediting the person helping with the layout/design work.  I can't imagine the work it must take to put this publication out on schedule every time, I'm sure everyone involved deserves a "shout out".  I'm glad you highlighted Jim O'Sullivan, he's a really nice guy.  The article on Star Trails makes me want to forget about gas prices and get an old G class.  A close friend is president of Ohio 4x4 Trail Riders, which is 95% Jeep Wranglers.  They would flip if I showed up in a G500!

The member's letters section is always just a two page spread.  Are there not many letters being written?  Are only a select few appropriate for print?  Are you restricted to two pages?  I'm also in the BMW Car Club and their monthly magazine is full of reader comments, many commenting on what other readers wrote in previous issues.  Parts of it are almost like a discussion forum published monthly in print!  But, it is interesting that one club has 8 or 10 pages of comments per month and the other has 2 pages every other month.  I was just curious of why The Star is the way it is.  With our typically older demographic, I assume we have fewer active internet users than their club, so if we have reader comments it my be worth publishing them in print.

Thanks,

Rodd
 

That is an excellent point.

I totally agree that this thread needs to be about the Star magazine. Sorry, I didn't mean to vent my frustration with the national board but since there's no thread in this forum for the behavior of the national board I decided to piggyback onto Ed's frustration with recent national level decisions post. I would strongly suggest that a thread be started where such national board level issues can be written about and maybe forwarded to the national board so they are made aware of the unhappiness in the field. I think the lack of participation by most of the national board in this forum speaks volumes. Maybe an actual forum thread that addresses members complaints will be able to penetrate the board's little cocoon fifedom and provide some badly needed transperancy and answers. Unfortunately it's the local sections that are forced to implement the bad decisions of the naional board and I think that puts a very unfair burden on the local sections as they have no control over what the national board does.

For MB Enthusiast, comments regarding club policies and leadership can be made in General Discussion.

For Rod and MBE, like the NYTimes, I publish all the letters that are fit to print, which is nearly all of them. (Once in awhile I get rants about e.g. why a particular dealer can't diagnose a problem on a 2006 E-Class, proving that both dealers and E-Classes in general are dreet, and I don't publish those.) 
I too wonder why we get fewer letters than the BMW club, but maybe that's one more way in which the Bimmerheads differ from M-B folks.
I also go into the Star comments to pick up potential letter material, but except for the Jan-Feb issue this year, there's generally just enough to fill two pages.
Thanks for the positive comments on the magazine. This one was full of photo essays, but we are carrying more tech stuff as well. You might also note that we bumped up 8 pages for this issue because we had three more pages of ads to pay the additional cost, and we had the material. Please post here if you think I'm weighting any particular topic too heavily, or not giving it enough space.
Keep in mind that I'm balancing new car news from MBUSA, F1 news, heritage, passion, pride, and technical in the features, regular tech columns on classic, restoration, and recent models, driving tips, club news, member columns, section event reports, upcoming event notices, and want ads, making sure we get some of each in every issue, so let me know what you'd like more or less of.

Best

Gary

If there are not enough letters coming in then there is nothing Gary can do.

Also, instead of writing incognito from an undisclosed location, your signature would add weight to your comments. We're all M-B enthusiasts here, glad to hear from other enthusiasts having varying viewpoints. I'm not aware of any poster whose signature has come to harm during the eight years that I've been on this Forum.

Finally, why not join MBCA and speak from the inside?

Ha. I didn't even notice that mbenthusiast is not a member. Interesting how or why he would be so interested in the well being of the club? His suggestions, member or not are valid though. Some people like to remain anonymous on the Internet and I can't fault them for that! I don't think that being anonymous makes ones' posts less credible but it does put a "face" to a name and therefore might make other members pay more attention to their comments and perhaps even treat them better.

Thanks for your kind words Gary. For the record Alex, I'm a former member so I do speak from the inside and the incident I noted previously is why I'm a former member. I've since heard that alot of people were upset about the naional board's behavior concerning that incident. I think the big drop in MBCA membership since that incident is more proof. I don't think general discussion is enough for discussion of the national board. I really think there should be a seperate thread to focus soley on that particular topic,, especially since so few of the national board members particiate in this forum. That's my suggestion. A seperate thread might actually increase participation by more national board members. I think it's worth a try. It's my suggestion for trying to improve the communication between the national board and the field. I've said my piece on this so I'm done. I only responded because my previous post was noted by a couple of posters. This particular thread does belong to the Star magazine.

I too have noticed this, not just on this issue (though it seems to be worse on this issue than the past) I hope it is just the nature of the ink, environmentally responsible ink, which causes it.

Other Topic not about the current issue of the STAR Magazine

Many of our National Board members do read this forum and have posted on this forum.  They are not required to, and in some instances may not because they are not active online community people.  I have seen our National President, Steve Dierks post on this forum in the past, and he has an iPad at his side a lot of the time, so I bet he almost certainly reads the threads that are posted here.

My opinion is having a thread about issues pertaining to the National Board would quickly become a complete mess.  Like any political situation, no two people think the same way, but everyone thinks they are correct, and that everyone else should do as they say.

A thread about actions of the board would become a mud slinging contest and a place to beat dead horses.  Thus just furthering hate and discontent, which would not be beneficial to this club.

What members should do is become involved, active at their own local section, participate in running their local sections.  Attend Board Meetings, both local and national ones.  There they can be apart of the discussion and understand why decisions are made and be apart of the process.

If any member has any issue with anyone on our national board, all of our contacts are listed both in the STAR Magazine and on the mbca.org website.  We are here for our members, and welcome the chance to communicate with them.

The local sections are independent entities and are not forced to do anything.  It a local section wants involvement, the best thing for them to do is work with their Regional Director and have their voice heard.  Have their RD bring forth their concerns and problems at the national level.  That is our job to support the sections within our region.
 

As has been stated prior, being a former member takes you out of the playground!   A former member has no say in how the club is run.   I am sorry that you left, obviously it was because of issues that you felt were not dealt with properly.  Since we do not know who you are, as you do not use your name, there really is not much we can do to help you, and the issues you bring up are not new ones, nor are they specific to this club. 

We can blame the drop on membership on pretty much anything we want!  From people leasing cars, to the local sections not being welcoming or inviting, from the lack of time people have to spend on car activities, to the lack of actual local section events that interest them.  There are a number of issues, if any one person could put their finger on them all, they should be elected supreme MBCA ruler!

If we surveyed everyone who has left this club in the past year, I doubt that many of them would say that they left because of how the National Board handled the club. I was told recently by a young member that we do not have more young members in this club because we do not allow four letter words or cursing on our facebook page.  To him that is an important part of his interaction, and to restrict it, was obviously a reason for our member decline.  I had to disagree with him on that!
 
So back to the current issue of the STAR!

I should have finished editing the article that Aaron Streater and I wrote about our trip from the East Coast to the Rockies in our matching W163's and the members we met along the way!   -  The cross country trip was just as much fun for us as attending StarTrails!

Thanks Gary for another great issue!  Now lets see if we can get our website to be as good as our print publication!

I look forward to each issue of the STAR and immediately sit down and read it, then spend a longer time reading it in depth when I can.  I would love to have the same feeling about our website.

Ed--did you have 100% clean hands?  Sounds kind of silly, but most automated printing goes through in line dryers.  Some modern ink formulations are very suseptible to smuding, particularly if there are trace amount of solvents or oil on your fingers.  Happens to me often enough.

That being said, sometimes the printers make changes in processing which includes ink brand, formulation,  drying time, etc. which is generally their decision to deal with.  I have yet to see my copy of the Star, but "blue" is not a single ink color; blue is comprised of cyan ink and magenta ink.  I'm sure if there is an issue wider than your copy, Gary will hear about it and get an answer from Publishers...

I always have my hands in something, so no doubt there is some grease or oil on my fingers!

Because you are a Guest, I am unable to contact you via Private Message as I would be able to if you were a Member.  So I apologize in advance to Editor Gary and all those who are reading this forum for taking up space here before we get back to regular programming, because the following needs to be said:

 As I understand it from what you said so far, you quit MBCA because the National Board changed the age requirement from 15 to 25 for some kind of entry into Starfest 2006, and you've had sore feelings ever since – and that was six years ago!  In addition, since most of the members of the National Board don't participate in this forum you want discussion in which you can voice your beefs and provoke complaints from others, the results of which would be forwarded in some way for all of the National Board to see.

 Well, I say again, you can start such a discussion in a separate thread that you are free to start in the General Discussion forum.  And I will see to it that order prevails in that discussion. 

 If the National Board wants a separate forum in which they can talk to each other in private, as opposed to having a conference call between themselves, that can be arranged.  But what good would such a separate forum do you and me, since we wouldn't be allowed to post in there?  And if we were allowed to post there, why is a separate forum needed rather than posting in an existing forum?  So I am obviously missing something that you mean but haven't made clear.

 Finally, a disgruntled complaining former member like yourself, hiding his identity, does not a credible witness make.  You may be able to shoot from hiding like a sniper and maybe even wound the target but you won't get credit for it, so how satisfying is that?  What can be expected is a whole lot of noise and trouble.  Noise and trouble is not the business of this forum.  So please, either come out in the open and speak your peace clearly in a separate thread so we can have a full discussion about what bothers you, or hold your peace so we can get back to the subject at hand in this thread in Gary's forum. 

This post has been deleted by the Administrator because it is off topic. 

Nevertheless, the post was copied and e-mailed by the Administrator to Peter Lesler, the chairman of the National Concourse Committee. 
 

Fashion tip: wash your hands before reading our beloved Star!!!

Never received my March-April issue of The Star magazine. What is the process to have a new copy sent to me.

Burt

For those who have not received their March-April issues: There was a problem in the mailing, and the March-April issue mailing was only completed last Wednesday -- February 29, so some members' issues (including mine, btw) are still in the mail. If you haven't received your issue by now, check your member profile to make sure that your address is correct and your membership is up to date. If you still haven't received your issue by March 14, email Gayle@mbca.org to notify the NBO and they will sort it out.

Well THAT explains it...we're always last to get it here anyway, so I suspect it is some days away yet...

I'm terribly sorry Burt but I seem to have received your copy as well as my own. 

Well, perhaps it isn't yours.  I was perusing this forum to determine who to let know that I'd received an extra.  They came over a week apart, and sadly I discarded both wrappers so I couldn't compare them to determine if there was an issue with my name or address.

Reading that there were issues this month, I'll conclude, at least for now, that a second was sent to me because someone was unsure the first went out and that I'll be back to one next issue. 

My understanding is that the first mailing had a serious glitch in the mailing lists, with the street addresses dropping a few cogs below the rest of their respective address labels. Consequence was that most of the first mailing was undeliverable. If you did receive two copies, then kudos to your post office, which was able to deliver your magazine using just your name and the zip code.
I'm told that a second printing had to be done and mailed with a correct set of labels.
Hope that clears things up.

Still haven't received my copy.

800-637-2360

I wouldn't panic yet. Mine just showed in Long Beach, CA yesterday.

Got my member copy in the US Mail yesterday.

Lots of members have been wondering where they have been!

Nothing like not having something to miss it!

Still waiting for it in Colesville (Silver Spring) Maryland.  We'll see if it arrives today.  Need something to read because the cleaning folks ditched all my magazines!   (I think my wife had them do it!!!)

I just received my standard mail copy of The Star today -- and given the slowness of our regional sorting station, that usually means everyone in the country has theirs.

For those who asked about whether the paper was thicker; actually the book is thicker this month. To accommodate the extra material, supported by extra spring advertisements, we were able to add eight pages to this issue. We'll be going back to 112 next issue, but will continue to increase pages whenever advertising permits.
G.

Still waiting here.  Our mail is usually very fast so I'll wait a few more days I guess.

Did the club have to "eat" this screw-up on the postage / mailing or was it the printing house?

Ray,

My personal copy arrived the other day, and I get mine after you do in nearby Maryland, so yours should be in your mailbox very soon.

Of course you have to be home to get it, not off running around the world in a Honda!

I also get the section promotional copies, so I am glad to share one with you, the next time we get together for a day of 16v technical fun!  (Ray and I are part owners of a 16v that needs lots of attention and work, the car was run successfully at StarFest 2010.)

From the reports I have gotten from the NBO, it was an NBO computer glitch, so the funds are coming from our national accounts to the tune of $24K to reprint and remail this issue to our members. 

Somewhere out there a lot of great magazines are being sent to the dead letter office.  I hope there the USPS has a lot of M-B enthusiasts there!

Personally, I really liked the article on "the secret life of keys" :)