We might have thought that the choice of magazine title for the motorist between the wars was broad. But pity the (very) wealthy motorist, whose man would scan the shelves at the newsagents and come away empty-handed. Just imagine his relief, then, when Motor Owner appeared in 1919.
This beautiful, glossy title, printed mostly on art paper, was unashamedly for the wealthy inter-war driver. Consider the editorial in the very first issue (June 1919): ‘The standard which we have set ourselves […] is of the highest, and we may say that nothing in the way of expense will be allowed to stand in the way of the realisation of our ideals’. And, initially, it did. Page after page of beautiful full-colour ads. Accounts of delightful holidays touring Alpine passes, with articles on personalities and beauty spots. Ads for country piles. The Autocar this was not.
The cover price was an eye-watering 1s. And if that didn’t make sure it got into the right hands, how about this for a dig? Motor Owner, the editorial continued, is ‘in the interests of the man who buys the car, and not mainly, as has too often been the case, for the benefit of the man who makes it’. Ouch. Buyers of The Autocar or The Motor, then, paying their 3d – probably the people who (shudder) didn’t have a man to get the magazine for them – should keep their mitts off.
Motor Owner, then, had its heyday in its first few years, so let’s celebrate some of the full-page colour ads within with this 1919 sample here.
But all good things must come to an end. From the first, there had been an article on ‘The golfing motorist’, so the connection between high-end motoring and golf was clear. But let’s think about how the magazine panned out. Presumably there hadn’t been enough people shelling out their shillings because, by January 1929 it had become Motor Owner incorporating Car and Golf. The price was half – 6d – and there were very few full-page ads, with none in colour. Very much a shadow of its former self. Our set runs out in June 1929, and we think the magazine limped on until 1930.
