OVERVIEW:
MuscleCar was started by ACS Direct, a division of Catalog Showcase Inc. of Lakeland, Florida.
The publisher was Curt Patterson, a veteran Advertising Director with Dobbs Publishing for 12 years. It featured restored
muscle cars and tips for restoring them, and it took a broad approach to include major
muscle cars brands. Other content included event coverage of stock racing events, and later it added
"restomod" or what they called "restified" muscle cars. Mr. Patterson relied on this friendships with other former Dobb's
editors and talent, such as Paul Zazarine, Donald Farr, Tom Shaw and Greg Rager. They all provided content to launch this new
muscle car magazine in the finest tradition of Muscle Car Review.
Everybody knows that advertising is what makes car magazines profitable. Mr. Patterson developed a scheme to display and distribute product catalogs from well-known restoration service and product companies. His firm handled ordering and mailing to subscribers and other customers. It is unknown to this website editor what made this offering unique from what other large publishers might do.
The title was purchased by Amos Press in Sydney, Ohio. Announced in the Feb/Mar 2003 issue of MuscleCar, it had a new title the following month, Muscle Car Enthusiast. The magazine grew from 36 to 72 pages with the name change, it came with a muscle car veteran Paul Zazarine as editorial director, and it expanded from a subscription-only model to include newstand distribution. Mr. Patterson then became the General Manager.
PUBLICATION DATA:
No print production data were submitted to the three periodical compendia.
CONTENT COMPLETENESS:
A total of 8 issues was printed from mid-2002 through Feb/Mar 2003 when the title changed to
Muscle Car Enthusiast. All cover images are complete except issue #2.
LAST ISSUE B/4 RE-TITLE
