OVERVIEW:
Chevy Power was published by Engeldrum Publishing, Bronx, NY. The editor and publisher was Phil Engeldrum, who had previously
edited Super Stockers magazine before starting his own publishing company. The focus of
Chevy Power was on street performance and competition classes for Chevrolet vehicles, mostly Corvettes, Camaros and Chevelles.
It was densely packed with performance tips, performance part numbers and product details.
Mr. Engeldrum had a business partner, Pat Cunningham. Both had gone to high school and New York University together. And both shared a love of drag racing on the streets of Brooklyn and the Bronx. Phil started his own company in 1967, and Pat joined him to sell ads.
In his new company, Engeldrum started High Performance Stockers and Super Street Cars. He added Hot Cars in 1968 and dropped High Performance Stockers. Then, Engeldrum re-titled Super Street Cars as Chevy Power in late 1972.
Chevy Power was a magazine with East Coast attitude!! The editor's goal was to fill the information and entertainment needs of all Chevrolet owners. He featured car owners, the so-called "little guys", who Engeldrum considered the backbone of drag racing. No funny or fuel cars, and God forbid Engeldrum would feature "Brand X" vehicles from Chrysler or Ford. Letters to the editor from anyone other than a Chevy owner were immediately dismissed. This intense focus on a specific audience was matched with biting humor and road tests or product comparisons by the famous Seymour Balz, a fictional character and persona of Pat Cunningham. Great value for $1.00 and 100 pages of content!
Mr. Engeldrum took a distinct approach to the magazine numbering scheme. He might include the typical volume and serial number, but more significantly Engeldrum used a sequential numbering scheme that was interpersed across four titles - Hot Cars, High Performance Stockers, Super Street Cars and Chevy Power. For example, issue number 45 would be Super Street Cars, number 46 would be Chevy Power, and number 47 would be Hot Cars.
Mr. Engeldrum developed an interest in guns in the early 1980s and in parallel began publishing titles including Pistolero (1980 to 1990), Handgun Tests (1979 to 1992), Magnum Power (1980 to 1982), Pistol Power (1982), Assault Weapons (1981), Exotic Weapons (1982), and Concealed Handguns (1983).
Starting in 1983 or so, Mr. Engeldrum began transferring ownership of Chevy Power to Mr. Cunningham. Engeldrum moved to California and was the west coast sales branch as Mr. Cunningham took over the operation. By 1985, Mr. Engeldrum had completely phased out, and, unfortunately, so did the frequency of publication for Chevy Power and Hot Cars.
The table of contents, if available, can be seen by clicking on the icon.
CONTENT COMPLETENESS:
Because of the unique numbering scheme, it is difficult to determine the exact number of issues. However, we estimate there were 44 issues
printed from October, 1972 through June, 1987 under both owners. All cover images are complete.