OVERVIEW:
Kit Car Illustrated was a re-titlng of Kit Car Quarterly. The
publisher was Tom McMullen, and his company had a large portfolio of magazines including Street Rodder,
Popular Cars, Mustang Illustrated, and VW Trends.
The emergence of kit cars or component cars had been around since shortly after the automobile came into existence. There was a first wave of fiberglass-bodied designs that were sold to independent builders in the 1950s and 1960s. However, a new wave of component manufacturers emerged with better technology in the 1970s and 1980s. The marketplace not only included VW-powered cars but vehicles like the AC Cobra, Lotus 7, vintage Porsches and others became very popular.
This title and its predecessor were started on the heels of Petersen Publishings' Kit Car offering, and it offered similar content including new products, how-to articles, and feature articles showcasing owner-built cars. It remained a bi-monthly publication through its life, and the month of publication alternated with Petersen's Kit Car bi-monthly schedule to apparently avoid confusion on the newstand.
Mr. McMullen died in a tragic accident in February, 1995. A few months later, Kit Car Illustrated, along with numerous other titles, was sold to Primedia for $55 million. It became part of the McMullen-Argus publishing division.
Publication continued until 2001 when the title ceased.
PUBLICATION DATA:
The publisher provided circulation data to both Gale Research and The Standard Periodical Directory from 1988 through
2003. Annual print volume started at approximately 170,000, but by 2000 had dropped to 70,000.
CONTENT COMPLETENESS:
A total of 100 issues was printed from June, 1985 through December, 2001. All cover images are complete. The table of contents,
if available, can be seen by clicking on the 
icon.
INTERNET:
An internet presence was created and links added to the front covers starting in December, 1999. The site is now
defunct: www.kitcarillustrated.com.
New title
Numbering error
Numbering corrected
