Frequently Asked Questions
WHAT IS SO FASCINATING ABOUT CAR MAGAZINES?
- News in print has a very short shelf life, and periodicals are not too far behind. The average number of issues for out of print magazines on this website is 76 print issues or approximately 6.5 years. Car magazines contain snapshots of changing fads and trends in style, taste and technology. When we view the past, these old magazines document the evolutionary path of modern vehicles and the application of technology and design aesthetics to older cars.
- Automotive literature is highly valued since it is a great resource for collectors, restorers, hobbyists and preservationists.
- Old magazines are a great resource for "how-to" and technical information, especially when rodders and customizers want to create a period correct restoration or build.
WHAT TYPE OF MAGAZINES ARE INCLUDED ON THE WEBSITE?
| SCOPE | INCLUDED | EXCLUDED |
|---|---|---|
| Publishing Frequency | Monthly, every other month, quarterly, annual | Weekly, every other week |
| Country | United States | All others |
| Target Readers | Consumers, hobbyists, racers | Service & parts, manufacturing organizations, repair shops, etc. |
| One-shots, limited series and annuals | Performance-oriented | New cars and general automotive |
| Make & model specific | Corvette, Mustang | All other marques including club newsletters & magazines |
| Other considerations | Rare & obscure; significant print volume; vintage motorsports | Newspaper or newsprint style; current motorsports |
HOW IS WEBSITE CONTENT ORGANIZED?
- Selected images and magazine history are published to the website when images from the start of publication to a desired end date are at least 90% complete. There are exceptions that cause a less complete collection to be published. It is generally when the title is rare and we use it to collect images from readers.
- Cover images are added in phases. We start with older dates and work forward in time to more recent ones. We are focused on bringing published titles current through at least 2010.
- Not all titles on the site contain all images ever printed. This is a practical matter since each title has to be researched and every image collected, edited and published.
- Most car magazine content rarely fits neatly into one category or genre, e.g., hot rods or muscle cars. Typically titles cover at least two or three separate genres or types of vehicles. For example early Hot Rod did a masterful job of covering rodding "A to Z" -- hot rods, dune buggies, drag racing, muscle cars, etc. Therefore, titles are organized into genres for reader benefit, but these are not always clean distinctions.
WHY IS THE WEBSITE CALLED 99WSPEEDSHOP?
I grew up in various rural and smaller cities in Oregon. As both a teenager and adult, I loved cars and mechanical devices. My homes growing up
were on Oregon Highway 99W. I learned the pleasure and fun of driving this two lane highway in cars of my youth -- Chevy Novas, Impalas and Chevelles,
and Pontiac GTOs and Trans Ams. It is Oregon's equivalent of the "Mother Road".
DO YOU OWN ALL THE MAGAZINES SHOWN ON THE WEBSITE?
Gosh, no!! My wife would kill me or would bury me under all of them!! We own many older hot rod and muscle car titles, and the rest come from the internet and readers who submit images.
DO YOU BUY AND SELL MAGAZINES?
We occasionally buy complete collections to add to our library, and we help our readers who want to buy a specific issue that we happen to have.
But this is infrequent and informal.
The site is intended to be non-commercial. We also keep this digital library free of advertising.
WHAT A HERCULEAN TASK!! HOW MUCH FARTHER DO YOU WANT TO GO?
My friend Robert E. Lee has been cataloguing car magazines and books for forty years -- see his lists
HERE. His list of U.S.
titles over the last century is over 6,500.
I have listed about 310 titles (not counting annuals and one-shots), and my collection process is starting to slow due to lack of access to rare titles and hard-to-find images. If my forecasting is accurate, I'll eventually top out at around 34,000 images and 320 titles.
This website, then, will be my small gift to those of us on this planet that love performance vehicles!