I came across an interesting magazine at Lightbox Expo last fall, the Art Directors Guild magazine, Perspective. This issue had a VERY in depth look at the Fast and Furious movies sets

 

Check out a digital recent issue at https://adg.org/perspective/

I just learned of a quarterly magazine that looks to be FUL of the stuff I like to read through, thank you Larry W !!

Charlie Yapp wrote a pair of articles in 1990 touching on the speedster segment of the hobby for Restorer, the Model A Ford Club of America’s magazine, and brought back a flood of memories for those racers and sparked a barrage of responses.

“The Model A Ford Club of America and the Model A Restorers Club, they’re purists, they do not like hot rodders,” Charlie said. “But they had already seen the speed stuff creeping into their world, so they wanted me to take charge of this.”

Charlie wrote to about 32 of those responders with a homemade newsletter, and a month later, 200 fellas wanted to receive the newsletter, 400 the following month, and 800 by the end of the first year.

 Charlie, who ran a photography studio at the time, saw something going and founded the Secrets of Speed Society to publish what became Secrets Magazine, which has continued on since 1991.

After learning about this, I looked on Ebay, and found a collection for sale for about 180, 1999-2018 editions. I snapped it up, and will be letting you all know about the wonderful stuff I find in them

It's about speedster people & the neat things they do. 

The Secrets Of Speed Society's (S.O.S.S.) goal is to save the history of "Ford Speed and Sport" as it was in the old days and today. 

Primarily Ford Model "A", "B" & "T" (1909 through 1934) based driving, cross country touring, hill climbs and racing of all types.

Published quarterly, with 52 glossy color pages packed with facts, figures, drawings and photographs.

With research articles, stories of our membership, past advertising, new products and events about Speedsters, hill climbs, open wheeled racers, cross country touring and performance for Model T and A and B Fords.

https://www.hemmings.com/stories/keeping-secrets/

The German magazine 'Autobild' drives various cars for 100,000 kilometers and then disassembles them down to the last screw to find signs of wear and weak points. This is brilliant. Why don't Ford, GM, Dodge, Toyota, BMW, Nissan, etc etc do this?

https://x.com/engineers_feed/status/1995540410706657506

Will Eisner, illustration and comic book legend (the most prestigious award in comics is named for him!) was a Corporal in WW2, and one of the things he was doing, was the ' Army Motors' magazine

You might recognize Connie from the PS Magazine that Eisner did for the Army through the Korean and Vietnam wars https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2018/04/will-eisner-originator-of-graphic-novel.html

You can enjoy this whole issue of Army Motors on https://radionerds.com/images/f/f5/Army_Motors_V5_N4_July_1944.pdf where there are 52 issues of AM! 

Lots of issues of PS also https://psmag.radionerds.com/index.php/191

their website has a lot of other cool stuff, including 

I didn't know Heavy Metal magazine was an illustration magazine.. but saw a lot of them at Comic Con this year... this is one sweet cover

in the swap meet at the LA Roadsters show today, at the Pomona Fairplex, I came across 3 full sets of Hot Rod magazine... this booth had one on hand, plus some other cool stuff! The (ASKING) going rate for a complete set is 1k. No one I talked to had a buyer yet

these binders are just a display sample to grab the passerby's attention. The rest were in the trailer 

Hot Rod magazines entire run of print magazines are online in a flip format

  https://www.hotrod.com/magazines/hot-rod/3169

Jim assembled a nearly complete collection of Hot Rod magazines, from the 1st, to 2014. A couple months ago, he put it up for sale, but of course, didn't say how much he was asking. No one ever does.

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=9518539754858051&set=pcb.1016298887200864

I collected nearly all the regulars from mid 1949 and didn't stop holding onto them until about 2019 or so. The quality drastically fell off around 2015 or so. From 2004 to 2014 it was really fun. 

In 1965 the CA Division of Highways allocated $100K and built Mrs. Orcutt a 4 mile driveway to the nearest road, arrow straight... Car And Driver found it. Used it for trying to achieve 200 mph.

Just like that, Mrs. Orcutt’s driveway was catapulted into the automotive history books in June of 1984 through actions you definitely couldn’t get away with today.

https://www.theautopian.com/americas-200-mph-driveway-is-currently-rotting-in-the-desert/

great old cover of Drag Times, and Drag Racer 1959

https://competitionplus.com/drag-rags-1959-part-2-how-the-smokers-beat-the-fuel-ban/

https://competitionplus.com/drag-rags-1959-part-2-how-the-smokers-beat-the-fuel-ban/

SEMA has announced its industry-leading SEMA Magazine is now available to everyone for free in a digital format ( I have not seen a single issue of this while at SEMA this past week)

https://sema.secure.darwin.cx/L4NLVGSS

https://www.sema.org/news-media/enews/2024/45/announced-2024-show-sema-magazine-now-available-everyone-free-digital/-24ss

Whatever happened to Automobile Quarterly? And why is everyone trying to replicate it, when it failed in 2012? If that, which was highly regarded, failed, then why are all the rest of the magazine companies going to 1/4erly publications?

 On Ebay, the going rate is about 2 dollars apiece, but the shipping is expensive. About half the cost of purchasing a bulk amount of books on Ebay is shipping.

If you ever wanted to read them, you're not alone, obviously a LOT of people loved Automobile Quarterly, collected them, and now? Find they have a shelf full that they will never look at again. Like most magazines, it's one and done.

I guess that's why so many people go to libraries, instead of buying books. Rarely does anyone re read a biography for example. And re read a magazine? Not likely. 

I can tell you that I've got boxes of magazines, and likely won't ever have time to look through them again, but, I have the goal of reading through the 1949-69 Hot Rods, the entire collection of Muscle Car Review (thank you Mike B!), Rodder's Journal, Hagertys, Maxim, Razor (really good but unheard of), and FHM. 

For the past 5 years or so, I've only kept Rodder's Journal, and Hagertys. I gave up on some, and some gave up on publishing. Automobile, Car Craft, Motor Trend Classic -  they all quit. Road and Track, Car and Driver? Rarely have anything interesting, it's always about Porsches, Ferrari, etc test driving new cars... who's buying a new car every month? Seems overkill when people only buy a new car every 4 to 6 years. 

So, does it make sense to buy a collection of Automobile Quarterly? I guess only if you then donate them to a museum library? It's not like you'll ever read them twice, I suppose if you can get them cheap enough, that you can sell them on Ebay for the same price? 

The first cover of Four Wheeler Magazine had this photo, and it's so good, and has such and interesting story, they used it again on their 60th anniversary issue and dove into the story

Aileen Maxwell was the photographer, and the location is Black Bear Pass overlooking Telluride Colorado. 

That trail has been around for off roaders for more than 6 decades, but the local sheriff is fed up with the tourists, so he's shutting that down https://www.motortrend.com/news/1508-sheriff-calls-for-closure-of-black-bear-pass-after-latest-accident/

I think I needed to include that info, but that isn't what this post is about... it's about how a passenger along for the ride took a great photo, and a magazine recognized how cool it was, and began it's long run showcasing how incredible the off roading experience is. 

She purchased this 63 Jeep in 1964, this is her with it in 2010, at age 95, after it was restored

Aileen and her husband were instrumental in starting a Four Corners Jeep Club and photographing the scenic Four Corners area. Aileen was secretary and later president of the club.

 
In 1962, the Four Wheeler Magazine was just being published and Aileen’s picture of the Four Corners Jeep Club driving down Black Bear Pass was chosen as their first cover. 

She eventually had 11 cover pictures and 4 travel stories featured in the Four Wheeler Magazine.

The last time she "jeeped" over Elephant Hill, she was 98 years old. She lived to be 106

https://www.thecortezchronicles.com/post/aileen-maxwell-to-celebrate-106th-birthday-october-22nd

A much more lengthy version of this story, and a lot more info on Aileen's photography and their use in the Four Wheeler Magazine are in the Feb 2022 issue 

Ford fans can now access Ford Times from 1964-1981 via the Heritage Vault.

 

https://fordauthority.com/2024/04/ford-times-magazines-become-public-via-ford-heritage-vault/

Lowrider magazine died in 2019. But now, Dr. Denise Sandoval, a university professor of Chicana/o studies, has partnered with MotorTrend magazines to make an online digital issue of Lowrider magazine by women, for women, for the obvious publicity, and to champion a cause.

Dr. Sandoval shared how it was a true passion project working on this all-women issue of Lowrider magazine. 

With lowriding popularity at an all-time high, combined with the rise of car clubs exclusively for women members and car clubs led by women, 2024 felt like the perfect moment to spotlight the women who haven’t always received recognition but who have impacted lowrider culture.

This limited-edition revival highlights the women behind the wheel who have fought for their place as drivers, builders, mechanics, painters and welders in a car community few women ever are interested in.

To access the digital version of the issue: https://www.motortrend.com/plus/magazines/lowrider-special-edition-2024/issue/652907

https://northcountrynow.com/premium/brandpoint/stories/a-behind-the-scenes-look-at-the-remaking-of-lowrider-magazine,230375

https://www.motortrend.com/lowrider/

the most obvious thing they forgot, was to remove the mustache from the Lowrider Magazine logo,