If you have visited TheClassicCougarNetwork.Com lately you may have noticed that the only remaining content is the GT-E registry section.
The Classic Cougar Network was, in my opinion, the single most important website ever devoted to our classic Cougars. It was the product of a very devoted group of enthusiasts that created a body of knowledge that was unmatched. The past 10 years or so Steve E. has done a fantastic job of hosting the site updating the content and generally keeping it going. This has really been a gift to the community as Steve’s interest in the hobby had waned many years ago. I believe that we all owe Steve a debt of gratitude for so many years of stewardship and support.
I will leave it to Steve to wrap things up, but my purpose in posting this is to thank him for everything, and to wish him the very best in the future. Thanks Steve!
That’s too bad. I thought the site redesign was coming along nicely. I wish Steve would make the content available to allow someone else to carry the torch.
At the risk of opening a can of worms, my recollection (and last I remember) much of the content was fixed up and put back up over the past few years? A total guess but maybe that content is now about to go the way of MCnet, i.e., sold and that would explain it being now gone?
P.S. In the spirit of your post, yeah, the info was great. What happened to it is of course the question that immediately follows.
I haven’t heard anything from Steve, but I doubt that he has sold it. My guess, and this is only a guess, is that he just had other things going on in life that took precedence over updating the site.
From talking to Steve in the past, it was much more than just the facts, the information, because that is really available to any one, it was the total package: the way the site looked, the way the information was presented. The site did not use a content management system or a template. He wrote every bit of it. It was a work of art. There were so many little touches, like the use of the headliner material for background… I think that he maintained it mostly out of pride in his art. I got the sense that if he couldn’t make it look the way he wanted it to look, then there was not much point in keeping it up.
Wasn’t there a bunch of stuff that was updated and put back up (the site was being rebuilt)? That’s my recollection and what I briefly remember seeing.
No to be a wisenheimer but removal of everything except what you mentioned would be considered an update, just that it’s not the kind of update we would hope for!
TCCN was the first Cougar Community effort to bring together into one on-line location as much information as possible about our hobby.
It was a community effort with many contributors and a whole bunch of effort from Steve and Gary Weizenberger - who both where very busy with their day jobs
If the site goes away I hope the information can be brought here if that’s possible. The times I visited TCCN it was great. The little things set it apart, headlight doors, turn signals leading to articles were cool touches. So thank you Steve for what you gave the hobby. I enjoyed reading the articles and used some on my Cougar.
Before I go any further; I have to ask “Mr B” if he would be willing to take over the massive amount of data involved in Steve’s project.
Assuming that Bill does; I would then ask Steve if he believes in the “Cougar Concept” enough to let Bill take it over. There are enough “authors” or “editors” (Phil, Royce, Scott, Mitch, et al) collecting data on and from the various sub-cultures of the Cougar hobby to provide the raw information; one only needs Bill and Jay to finish it out for presentation.
Having a '73 XR-7, I didn’t find a lot of pertinent tech information applicable to my Cat. But I could still read, learn, and be fascinated by the sheer effort and attention to detail in the individual articles; inspiring and pushing me to get on with the work needed to put Kathryn back on the road. Losing that is the greatest loss.
That’s my $0.02; correcting for the devaluation of the penny.
We would gladly host it if that were satisfactory to Steve. Steve has a ton of sweat equity in the TCCN site. It is really up to him to decide its fate.
If I remember correctly; Steve is/was in the entertainment industry… if he were to think about it, having his work (at least with Cougars) “immortalized” here is a far cry from being relegated to late-night movie channels like “This”; stuffed in-between commercials for zebra-print fleece “blanket/robes” and ads for “gospel music on CD” by barely-known performers.
Sadly, I’m not a creative person. But if I were, I’d like my work to be available in a forum where people gather to discuss and continue to appreciate the genre in which I’ve toiled. Maybe he DOES just need to be asked. Hell, he might even like to join in and offer his advice.
Unfortunately when we went down this road the last time he was unwilling to either give away or sell the content of the site. I offered before and I will offer again to contribute in any way I can to keep the info available to the community.
I would like to see the content stay available as much as any one. Jim Pinkerton is pretty close to Steve, at least much more so than I, and he has reached out to him. Steve has graciously provided Jim with the GT-E registry site, and I have started making arrangements to host it for Jim. Steve has made huge contributions to the Cougar hobby and if he has decided to call it quits I hope that we can appreciate what he has done in a positive way. I don’t mean to minimize the contributions of the many people that worked on the TCCN, but for the past ten years or so it really has been a one man band.
It would be nice if the other registry sites would be brought over and kept alive as well. Now the links from the CCOA will be dead as well pointing to the G and Eliminator registry. Dave W might beable to help with getting the Eliminator registry moved. I’m sure you would like to have the other two registry here as well Bill.
Undoubtedly. I must admit that, when this first came up on the other site, I was rather boorish. But, good Lord; it was almost like Micheangelo, knocking the ceiling off the sistine chapel because he wanted to retire! That may seem overgenerous; but not when you consider the enlightenment and encouragement to Cougar newbies such as myself. The breadth and scope of the “collection” covers areas that could take just as many years (if the knowledge and resources are in fact still available) to “rediscover” as it took to develop the original. And this could be Steve’s greatest ‘legacy’; something besides the big and small screen, something of real value. I’m sorry, but what generally passes for “entertainment” on the ‘Major Networks’ really stinks IMHO. There are two network shows out there that I strive to watch. The one I really like is brought to us by the same guy that brought us such thought-provoking serials as “Magnum PI” - not saying that “Magnum” was necessarily a BAD show but it was escapism, pure and simple. This new show (gee, can anybody guess what show I’m talking about) actually combines action with a little bit of education; and the dialogue and characters are just well-written enough to draw the audience back week after week.
The second one I’m just watching to see if I can determine whether I like it… it has its ‘moments’; but I can’t decide if they’re worth rest of the crap that fills the rest of 26 minutes.
For the “Big Screen” (or “Silver Screen” or whatever)… the last movies I’d seen that I went back and saw again (and bought the DVD’s as soon as they came out) were “Gran Torino” and “Cowboys and Aliens”. The first because it had Clint Eastwood playing himself along with a Gran Torino. And the second was such an unbelievable premise (and the lead actors stepped so far out of their standard personas) that it almost became mundane and “normal” in its presentation y the end.
This work of Steve’s (TCCN) is beyond either of them in terms of quality. And it will have a greatly appreciative audience as long as there are '67-73 Cougars that can be rebuilt and restored. Maybe not a lot of people, but they will be faithful - just look at this tiny “band of brothers (and sisters)” that come from all walks of life to participate in this Forum. Now that’s a legacy of which he could be very proud.
I got back into a Cougar and discovered TCCN after it had ceased taking subscriptions and had gone to its first archive version. I used many of the tech articles - especially the heater core article and suspension series. Far better instructions than you get in the shop manuals. Looking back on it, the thing I find remarkable is that Steve motivated so many people to spend so much time creating the content. How many times do you read on the forums that “we should have a tech article section …” TCCN did it. Bravo!
DDawg - well put.
Bill - As before, let me know if I can help - personally or thru CCOA channels. Would love to see the material available again.
Hrm… you would think that it would all be archived somewhere. I checked Google for an archived copy, and also looked in the Wayback Machine but both were empty.
Perhaps some savvy person can figure out how to dig up TCCN archives from the depths of the internet blackhole.