The Peter Filby Problem!

Before going into the Filby Fact Files in detail, it's perhaps worth reflecting on Mr Filby's experience and qualifications - or lack of them. He knew absolutely nothing about the engineering of cars and had no interest in the subject. He never built a kit car nor did anything of a practical nature. In fact he looked down his nose at people who did. It makes one wonder why he decided to write a magazine on the subject - doesn't it?

Despite Fibly's lack of interest and knowledge, for a short while at least, he became powerful in his writing about kit cars. He came to realise that people would buy on his recommendation. So, the simple advertising revenue and backhanders that he'd become accustomed to weren't enough for him. He wanted the whole cake, and to that end, he started promoting certain products.

Previous commercially failed products like the AF Sports, Bugrat, Razer, Nemesis and RV Python Cobra were relentlessly publicised in glowing terms for months, sometimes years on end. The sordid reality was that Pinocchio Fibly had acquired financial interests in them but forgot to tell anybody. He'd turned from gamekeeper to poacher, whilst thinking he could still draw his gamekeeper's salary.

One of the ways in which Fibly promoted his own products was by underhand smears and lies aimed against established competitors. Specifically, he published untruthful negative reports about Pilgrim's Sumo whilst proclaiming the merits of his Python.

Needless to say that the proprietor of Pilgrim wasn't happy - that was me. I took the matter to the High Court where it took more than 5 years to reach its final conclusion. Peter John Filby was forced to apologize for lying in print: but out of legal expediency rather than out of genuine remorse. Before the ink had even dried on the resulting Court Order, Pinocchio was proclaiming "Tanner didn't win anything" whilst publicly accusing Kit Car magazine of 'tarnishing' Which Kit Car magazine's reputation.

This opened a public debate (prior to May 2003 I'd said nothing in print about Which Kit magazine). I campaigned to expose Pinocchio Fibly. I pointed to some of his innocuous lies: like his claiming '50,000 readers' and that his magazine sales were 'Racing Ahead'. I also exposed his overt confidence tricks by demonstrating that certain products he was heavily promoting didn't even exist at the time. Basically, I illustrated that Fibly was prepared to write any lie in order to feather his own nest.

I persuaded his readers that every word he printed was tainted by either his ignorance, his arrogance or his greed. In the 3 years following my High Court victory, his readership fell and his advertisers withdrew their support to the point where, come the end of 2006, Pinocchio's magazine eventually collapsed. With only 2200 readers and only 20% of the industry's advertising, the rag simply couldn't support Fibly's standard of lying (and, no, that's not a typo).

I sincerely believe that the kit car industry would be better off without him. Sadly, that's not the case. The new owner/editor of his ressurected rag said "Blimey, if anyone has had a bad wrap recently, it's Pete........ He remains a good friend..... Peter will remain a contributor......" . He remains an advertiser too - just for good measure!

Contact me if you've any questions/concerns.