OVERVIEW:

This site contains archive and history information for performance- and custom-oriented automotive magazines published in the United States that started publication between 1945 and 2005 and that contain content as follows: hot rods; street rods; custom cars; lowriders; domestic and foreign production cars, trucks, vans, pickups and sports cars; Volkswagens; race vehicles; replica vehicles such as kit cars and dune buggies; tuners, sports compact and hot hatches; go-karts; model cars; slot car magazines; and electric vehicle retrofits.

History and cover images are accessed using the links to the left. Simply click on each magazine title or menu to see the covers.

FIRST TIME VISITORS: USE THE SITE MAP TO GET THE BEST OVERVIEW OF OUR LIBRARY!!

This library features the most popular performance-oriented periodicals based on circulation data, but it does include many rare issues. As there are 295 published titles so far (not counting limited series, annuals and one-shots) and over 29,300 images, they are grouped into 21 content sections as follows. Links to each content section are on the left navigation panel.


THE CIRCLE OF LIFE:
With the demise of printed car magazines at a faster rate since 2014, this quote from Howard Cohen seems appropriate.

"Rather than bemoan the things that are no longer what they were, think how lucky we are to have lived in such interesting times, played with such fantastic and demanding cars and known such passionate, eccentric and accomplished people. We've crammed a lot into our lives and enjoyed almost the whole of an entire golden age."


SUBMIT MISSING IMAGES!!
info_99wspeedshop@yahoo.com.

Most endeavors in human history are collaborative in nature, and this site is no different. In mid-2018, we started keeping track of those who contributed images and information. I am indebted to the following readers and contributors who helped make this site more accurate and complete: Rusty Adams, Roby Ballard, Jim Barnhart, Dennis Besler, Paul Best, Gerry Boudreau, Terry Boyce, Drew Brown, Edward Dean Butler, Bill Buxton, Ted Carlson, Chuck Coyne, Bruce Craig, Mike Day, John De Boer, Lou de Virgilio, Joel Driskill, Lars Enstrom, Darrell Greig, Ian Guilfoyle, Ken Gross, Geoff Hacker, Eric Harriott, Brandon Heine, Frank Hill, Jayna Huotari, Larry Kargol, Luke Karosi, William Kile, Shawn Kuehl, Allen Kuhn, Joey LeClaire, Tim Lewis, Mike Martin, Bill Mazer, Rob McDonald, Dale Moreau, Brian Morris, Erin Nash, Anders Norman, Nick Pettit, Neil Rosenberg, Bob Schmitt, Dennis Shaw, Brian Shepherd, Julie Stembridge, Eric Stone, John Taylor, Ray Tognarelli, Kenneth Walkley, Randy Webb, and, last but not least, Sondre from Kustomrama.


LEGAL:
This website is a database compilation. It is intended for general and technical reference, research, automobile history, genealogy and magazine collecting. All abstracts, publishing timelines, net paid circulation data compilations, market share rankings, publisher and title histories, searchable indices, graphics and other text and data are the work of the author and may NOT be reproduced without the author's written permission.

But the magazine covers and table of content pages on this website are digital images of physical printed matter. These image are from magazines owned by the website author, are in the public domain and owned by everyone, or are copyright-protected images owned by magazine publishers. The author of this website uses these images in a non-commercial manner to educate readers about the history of automotive magazines. Readers should fully understand their rights and responsibilities before downloading and subsequently re-using images on other websites or in printed matter.