OVERVIEW:
Kit Car was published bi-monthly by Petersen Publishing in Los Angeles, California. It was the longest running
and largest circulation in the kit car genre. Although other automotive magazines covered kit cars as a secondary subject, Petersen was an early
entrant with dedicated content. Like most magazines, it covered new products, how-to articles, and feature articles showcasing owner-built cars.
The emergence of kit cars or component cars had been around since shortly after the automobile came into existence. There was a wave of fiberglass-bodied designs that were sold to independent builders in the 1950s and 1960s. However, a new wave of component manufacturers, plus better technology, emerged in the 1970s and 1980s.
It is fair to say that this title and others like it were essentially an advertising platform for kit car manufacturers and distributors. Feature vehicles were meant to convey the message, "you can do this too!" Most issues had very few technical articles, with generally just one, or at best two, "how to" write-ups. The content tended to skew towards VW-powered cars and highly popular replica vehicles like the AC Cobra, Lotus 7, vintage Porsches speedsters and others. As the title continued to be published, a boring pattern of content repetition emerged.
A subsequent competitor in this space was Kit Car Illustrated which came on the scene two years later in 1984.
The table of contents, if available, can be seen by clicking on the 
icon.
PUBLICATION DATA:
We only have publication data from The Standard Periodical Directory from 2002 through 2005. Annual volume ranged from
80,000 to 106,000 print issues.
CONTENT COMPLETENESS:
A total of 166 issues was printed from from 1980 to March, 2009. All images are complete.
INTERNET:
An internet presence was created and links added to the front covers starting in March 2001. The site is now defunct: www.kitcarmag.com.
