OVERVIEW:
Mustang Monthly was published by the independent publisher Larry Dobbs and his Dobbs Publishing company in Lakeland, Florida. Dobbs started Mustang Exchange Letter in February, 1978 using a tabloid-on-newsprint style. Although Hemmings Motor News had a similar buy-sell-trade magazine with broad coverage, Dobbs created a Mustang-only version for '65 to '73 Mustangs with free classified for subscribers. His first mailing was to 92 subscribers who answered ads in Hemmings.

He quickly became aware of John Paradise's Super Ford Parts Exchange and immediately changed the name to Mustang Monthly to avoid confusion. After 20 issues, Dobbs went to a regular, full-sized magazine format with color printing and feature articles. The magazine tooks its next leap forward with an expensive ad placed in the December, 1980 Hot Rod magazine. This ad brought over 5,000 new subscribers and really established the title.

The magazine ultimately grew to be the first successful automotive niche magazine. This was achieved through how-to articles in the magazine and successful procedural restoration books such as How To Restore Your Mustang. It found its way onto newstands by 1984 and continued to grow. This growth allowed Dobbs to add other niche automotive titles including Classic Sixties (1983), Popular & Performance Car Review (1984), Super Ford (1987), and Corvette Fever (1989).

The magazine was focused exclusively on '65 to '73 Mustangs, but in the 1980s the 5.0 Mustang (Fox body) was very popular. In October, 1993, Dobbs added a 28 page section on the newer SN95 Mustang, and this was managed by tech editor Mark Houlahan.

Dobbs sold a large portfolio of titles including Mustang Monthly to Petersen Publishing in 1998. The same year, Petersen became EMAP-Petersen.

The editors and staff rode a wave of changes as the title continue to move through various new owners. In 2001, EMAP sold the former Petersen titles to Primedia for $515 million. And then in 2007, Primedia sold its Enthusiast Media division to Source Interlink Media for $1.2 billion. Source Interlink evolved to The Enthusiast Network (2014) and then become the Motor Trend Group in 2018. Mustang Monthly ended in print form in 2020.

The table of contents, if available, can be seen by clicking on the icon.

PUBLICATION DATA:
The publisher provided net paid circulation data to The Standard Periodical Directory from 1988 through 2005 (the last year for which we have publishing data on this website). In this timeframe, annual print production started at around 200,000, dropped to 150,000, then declined again to 116,000.

CONTENT COMPLETENESS:
A total of 502 issues was published from February, 1978 through January, 2020. All images are complete through the end of print.

INTERNET:
An internet presence was created and URL links referenced on the front covers starting in 2001. The site was: www.mustangmonthly.com but now redirects to www.motortrend.com.