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 2010, including: 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; and slot car magazines.
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 278 published titles so far (not counting limited series, annuals and one-shots) and over 24,000 images, they are grouped into 18 content sections as follows. Links to each content section are on the left navigation panel.
- Hot Rods / Street Rods (from 1945 to 2020)
- Antique, Vintage & Collector Cars (from 1966 to 2005)
- Corvettes (from 1957 to 2010)
- Customs, Kustoms & Lowriders (from 1958 to 2020)
- Drag Racing (from 1959 to 2002)
- Consumer Automotive (from 1947 to 2000)
- Motorsports / Auto Racing (from 1949 to 2000)
- Muscle & Performance Cars (from 1962 to 2010)
- Mustangs (from 1978 with images up to 2014)
- Replica & Kit Cars (from 1983 to 2005)
- Sports & Exotic Cars (from 1953 to 2017)
- Trucks, Pickups and Off-Roading (from 1962 to 2002)
- Tuners & Performance Imports (from 1997 to 2014)
- Vans (from 1975 to 1987)
- Volkswagens & Dune Buggies (from 1956 to 2005)
- Annuals & Limited Series (from 1950 to 2000)
- Model & Slot Cars (from 1960 to 2000)
- Go-Karts / Karting (from 1959 to 1969)
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. We started keeping track of those who contributed images and information just before the COVID pandemic. I am indebted to the following readers and contributors who helped make this site more accurate and complete: Edward Dean Butler, Bill Mazer, Brandon Heine, Bruce Craig, Eric Harriott, Eric Stone, Gerry Boudreau, Ian Guilfoyle, Joey LeClaire, John De Boer, Larry Kargol, Luke Karosi, Mike Day, Mike Martin, Neil Rosenberg, Paul Best, Rob McDonald, Rusty Adams, Terry Boyce, Brian Shepherd, Julie Stembridge, Chuck Coyne, Jayna Huotari, Bill Buxton, John Taylor and Allen Kuhn.
LEGAL:
This website is a database compilation and a knowledge base. It is intended for general and technical reference, research,
automobile history, and genealogy. 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.