I only ever read a few issues of DQ, but always enjoyed them. Sad to see them go.okayfine wrote:DQ's esteemed proofreader and contributing editor Mr. Fant linked me to this thread. I thought I'd pipe in since DQ is a topic near and dear to my heart.
Just to set the record straight...okayfine wrote:
DQ ending is nothing like FTA's end, or even the first "sale" of FTA. Ray got bored and moved beyond 510s, so he decided to dupe his then-editor to "buy" FTA. I've done everything to avoid a repeat of FTA's lack of quality, lack of timeliness, lack of content, and lack of notice regarding the end. If there were enough people still contributing content to DQ, this wouldn't be a topic of conversation.
Nobody dupped anyone. What happened was that Danny - who I had hired and who was working as our editor at the time - called me one day and threatened to quit if I wouldn't sell him the club. He told me, "I'm doing all the work and you're collecting all the money". I told him yeah that's how it works when you are the owner; I was starting another business and burned out on running the 510 club, so I took him up on his offer to buy the club.
Nothing against Danny. I think maybe he underestimated what it took to run the club and perhaps was also going through some difficult personal stuff in his life. But he certainly wasn't dupped into anything. We agreed on the terms, drew up a contract and he purchased the 510 club - simple as that. He made an effort to pay me what he owed for buying the club, but after a while the checks stopped coming. When I called to ask why, he bascially said he's not gonna send any more checks; he's gonna become a long haul truck driver and someone else is gonna run the club.
At that point, what he did with the 510 club wasn't really any of my business any longer. Yes, technically he skipped out on our original deal, but I didn't have any reason or desire to hold his feet to the fire over it. My other business had taken off, so I just marked the whole thing off as a tax loss on a bad debt and moved on. At least he published a few more issues than I would have been able to at that stage in the game, so that's something to his credit.
Danny was a good guy and we always got along fine. Please keep in mind I was a lot younger back then (and a bit hot headed) when I started and ran the 510 club. I might not have always been the easiest person to deal with at times, but I brought the 510 club back on-line after Rex out of a legitamate love of the Datsun 510.
Say what you will, but I have nothing but fond memories of running the club and publishing the 510 Again newsletters. I still have an entire set of them in the drawer downstairs - I felt we did an admirable job with what we had to work with and I know many of our members very much appreciated our efforts.
Anyway... long live the 510 and all that
Ray Johns