OVERVIEW:
Muscle Car Review (MCR) was a re-titling of Popular & Performance Car Review.
It was published by Dobbs Publishing in Lakeland, Florida. Donald Farr was the first editor, but in February 1986 Paul Zazarine took the helm when
Mr. Farr moved to Super Ford. Paul had been writing GTO articles for Dobbs, so he was the perfect
candidate to assume the editor role. His timing matched the growing interest in muscle car restoration, and he led with many how-to tips and a
July, 1989 series called, "How to Restore Your Muscle Car". Zazarine also noted the growing popularity of the 5.0 Mustang,
and Muscle Car Review offered many bolt-on tips.
In 1989, Tom Shaw became the editor. After he was established, car values were declining along with advertising dollars. Management decided to move away from the restoration focus and include more modified cars. Mr. Shaw left his role in September 1991 because he felt it was the wrong direction. But the change didn't pan out, and Mr. Shaw returned to the editor role in May 1994. He re-focused on restoration and original cars. This was a growth period for Dobbs, and Muscle Car Review was the company's largest circulated title.
In June, 1995, CSK Publishing's Muscle Cars magazine was folded into MCR. The exact nature of the arrangement isn't clear, but Muscle Cars subscribers received MCR magazine to fulfill their original subscriptions. Subscribers to both had their subscriptions extended until both were fulfilled. With MCR the only remaining muscle car magazine at that point, this gesture was good for readers, the hobby and the Dobbs brand.
The table of contents, if available, can be seen by clicking on the 
icon.
Note: The magazine did not use typical volume and series numbering from 1986 through May 1989. Then the use of this numbering scheme was erratic until June, 1990.
OWNERSHIP:
Dobbs Publishing sold the company to Petersen Publishing in April 1998. In December of the same year, the title was sold, along with numerous other titles,
to EMAP-Plc to become EMAP-Petersen. In 2001, the title was sold again by EMAP-Petersen to Primedia. The title ended the following year.
In 2003, Primedia resurrected Muscle Car Review as a quarterly publication and became a monthly publication in 2007. It continued until 2019 when it went to a digital only format.
PUBLICATION DATA:
The publisher provided net paid circulation data to The Standard Periodical Directory in 1988 through 2002. Annual print production
was reported between 120,000 and 124,000.
CONTENT COMPLETENESS:
A total of 129 issues were printed from December, 1986 to January, 2002. All images and table of content pages are complete.
Numbering error
Numbering corrected
