For all us magazine guys… which is probably everyone on here.

[440 PHIXX]

Tony DeFeo and Geoff Stunkard reminisce about the glory years of magazine print media for the car culture. I enjoyed it, but don’t really miss it. Lots of money spent for only a few things that interested me. And having to store the damn things! I’ll take the internet on my phone.

 

[cr8crshr]

I used to subscribe to a number of them but after they all pretty much went by the wayside, I no longer do. I never saved any of them as just more junk to haul around say in a move. I usually donated them to the Library or left them in say a doctor's office, or car repair facilities...cr8crsjr/Bill

 

[#41]

Having been stiffed on subscriptions multiple times now, I guess I'm part of of the problem - because I am out. The phone and computer are just not the same, but I guess this is "progress".

 

[XS22J8R]

I have over 30 years worth of car magazines here and have from time to time looked through them for something but it’s been awhile. I had 30 years worth of aviation related magazines here too, and a few years ago I realized I’d never look at them again , so why save them? Problem is I’d want to look at each magazine before tossing it into recycling and it took me 30-40 minutes per mag to review each before disposing of it! It’s really a daunting task ridding myself of magazines!
I was getting Mopar Action before it shut down. I dropped MCG last year after 30 years, I don’t need anymore T shirts and Robs writing style is hard to take.
I do still get Hemmings Muscle and Classic Car.

 

[Budnicks]

I 'had' a crapload of mags saved from like 1966
my step father got them then I read them
then as I was older I got my own
I had a couple stacks like almost 6' tall in my closet,
you name it I had them, mostly drag racing related
a crapload of SuperStock/Drag Illustrated, those were the oldest
a crapload of HotRod the occasional MoPar or Hemi articles
a crapload of Car Craft (CamaroCraft )
a crapload of Super Chevy Sunday since the early 90s,
when I was racing in that series, I got them free/sub. with entry
a crapload of Drag Racing (Super Stock later versions)
a crapload of Popular Hot Rodding
a crapload of MoPar Action
a shitload of MoPar Muscle mag too, was on their forum for a long time too
until it died when they were bought out (was not a big fan of Randy)
a crapload of Stock Car
a crapload of Collector Car Roundup too
a crapload of Sports Car
& various different ones or specialty issues, I didn't have a subscription for
some may have had some value, I didn't want to deal with it
& I needed room
& knew a teen kid down the road that was very interested in cars
I gave him the whole stacks, hundreds of mags
(I told him if he sells it or for collection for any real funds, he owes me 1/2, his dad agreed)
a few I should have saved
none were in really good condition, but now I have room in my closet...

well sort of

now it's filled with diecast models boxes instead

 

[JackR]

I still get one. Hemming Muscle Car. None of the others have any worth.

 

[440 PHIXX]

Stunkard was great in that interview… what a story teller! He was the editor of Mopar Muscle and Mopar Action, and explains the demise of MA here.

 

[roadrunnerh]

Now that Mopar Action is gonzo, I'm out. I used to subscribe to: Mopar Collectors Guide, High Performance Mopar, Mopar Muscle, Performance for The Chrysler Car Enthusiast, Mopar Action, Mopar Performance News, Chrysler Power, and Muscle Car Review.

 

[ckessel]

I still have MCG. TEN/Motortrend has been an ongoing disappointment for many years. The latest version of HotRod blows. Mostly reprints of prior articles from their killed off publications which is a lot of what they've been doing even before going quarterly. They put many good writers out to pasture which killed many great articles. Many have been replaced by no talent/auto background/auto enthusiast hacks who drink the company KoolAid and copy someone else's homework. I don't like paying for stuff I've already read so if the next one out blows too, I'll cancel them. My only other magazine is Modern Rodding which is staffed by people who worked for Street Rodder, another killed off TEN/Motortrend mag.

 

[Dave6T4]

I really miss the car magazines. I used to buy them all. I had subscriptions to some. I had stacks of magazines and had trouble finding specific articles. As a winter project, one year, I took them all apart, and sorted them all down to year-specific piles of articles, and reassembled them into 3-ring binders. So, I have separate binders on 1962 Dodge, 1963 Dodge, 1964 Plymouth, 1966-1967 Charger, etc. I use these as reference building models, etc.
The distributors bringing car magazines into Canada virtually went tits-up a while back, so there is not much available on news shelves anymore. Just Wal-Mart and Chapters. We can still find Hemmings Motor News, but not Hemmings Muscle Car. There is a nice Canadian publication called Muscle Cars, Bone Stock & Modified, from British Columbia by subscription. This is a quarterly publication, with a website.

 

[Kern Dog]

Stunkard was great in that interview… what a story teller! He was the editor of Mopar Muscle and Mopar Action, and explains the demise of MA here.

He was never the head editor of Mopar Action. Cliff Gromer was for most, if not the entire run of the magazine. I don’t recall Stunkard ever being the head editor of any magazine.
I’m not criticizing the man, just clarifying.
There are cases where the overlords will throw the baby out with the bath water. The network cancelled Last Man Standing despite great ratings for reasons better discussed in the political forum. Sometimes the business decisions are not made with common sense or financial gain.

 

[440 PHIXX]

Tony DeFeo and Geoff Stunkard reminisce about the glory years of magazine print media for the car culture. I enjoyed it, but don’t really miss it. Lots of money spent for only a few things that interested me. And having to store the damn things! I’ll take the internet on my phone.

He was never the head editor of Mopar Action. Cliff Gromer was for most, if not the entire run of the magazine. I don’t recall Stunkard ever being the head editor of any magazine.
I’m not criticizing the man, just clarifying.
There are cases where the overlords will throw the baby out with the bath water. The network cancelled Last Man Standing despite great ratings for reasons better discussed in the political forum. Sometimes the business decisions are not made with common sense or financial gain.

Managing editor. Not the senior editor. Like I said, I didn’t realize what a great live storyteller the guy is. Lots of scribes aren’t very interesting to listen to.

 

[WileERobby]

If I only read MCG for the Reading between the Lines, and Enviro-masochism articles, it would be worth it. Rob Wolf is the only mag editor who's got the balls to tell it like it is.

 

[moparedtn]

I've always treated magazines as consumables - I'm always happy when a new issue arrives in the mailbox
and it gets perused in "the reading room". I've never really used the printed versions of them as reference
material - I have no idea how to index them for such use, after all.
Some of them do have decent online presence, though - so search engines will sometimes pull up old articles
when I'm after something in particular, so there's that I suppose.

What I think this represents, to me anyways, is yet more evidence of what I consider to have been the "golden
age" of the hobby (as opposed to the hardcore business it has become) coming to an end.
I don't know about anyone else, but I've arrived at such an age now (unexpectedly, I admit) that I'm just about
fed up with daily reminders of "my time" fading into obscurity....
especially since all I see in its' place is shallow, vapid, insta-served ADD fodder.
Sad, really.

 

[Runcharger]

I've saved them all from mid 60's to about 10-15 years ago. I can go back and find stuff from decades ago because I read them all from cover to cover. They'll probably end up in the recyling bins when I hit the dirt I imagine. What they were saying about computer stuff getting lost is going to happen in the future, we've seen that already.
I remember buying a Hot Rod or Car Craft mag if they just had one lowly article with something about a Mopar in it. So when the Mopar mags ballooned out in the 80's I bought every single one, even if just to support them all.