Hudson's Blog

Nov 19, 2007 - The World of Car Magazines

I've been collecting car magazines since I was about 8. Of all of the magazines I have purchased and have been given in all those years, few have left my possession. Which means, my library currently holds somewhere north of 2,400 individual issues of some 200+ titles.

The earliest magazines I have date back to the 1950s and of course I get magazines weekly now. I even have reprinted issues of magazines that date back over 100 years. Almost all of them are in English but I have some in French, German, Italian, and Portugese. I'm sure you're getting the point that I like to read about cars.

With this many magazines, I've developed my own taste for what's good and what's bad. As with any product, when you find something good you keep going back and when you find something bad, you avoid it! Let me share some of these highlights and lowlights:

Car Previews: In the days before good spy photographers, Photoshop, and the internet, magazines had to hire artists. These people are rarities today (David Kimble comes to mind) but all of the top magazines had these artists. In the opening pages of Motor Trend or Car & Driver, you'd find sketches of upcoming vehicles. And Argus Publishing produced an annual magazine (cheap paper, all interior illustrations in black and white) that highlighted the upcoming model year's products. The 1977, 1978, 1979, and 1980 editions featured the Big4 domestic manufacturers showing the changes in their products sketched in pencil; some of these illustrations took liberties on potential designs including the AMC Pacer 4-door and Ford Granada "Ranchero" pickup. But every May or June, I'd buy the next one. The 1981 edition added imports.

Sports Car Graphic: One of the magazines (along with Car Life) that was absorbed by Motor Trend over the years. I can't vouch for the original, but Motor Trend relaunched the magazine in the late 1970s. It featured a number of rehashed articles from Motor Trend along with a few newer articles. This was one of the first perfect bound (no staples) magazines that I can recall. It had a nice simple layout and some artwork and articles that were superior to the standard fare in Motor Trend, but Sports Car Graphic only came out quarterly at best. I think they may have published eight or ten issues.

Classic Automobile Register: They launched this upscale magazine to great fanfare at the New York Auto Show about ten years ago. A very nice quality publication with some big name writers who followed William Jeanes from Car and Driver. While Automobile magazine looked to take the genre upscale, CAR attempted to take the magazine even higher. This bi-monthly magazine fell into trouble after a year or so, skipping an issue or two. Finally, Hachette Filipacci offered subscribers subscriptions to Car and Driver or Road & Track (or extensions, in cases like mine where we already subscribed to both).

AutoPhyle: Not to be confused with AutoWeek's annual AutoFile publication, this one was much more rare. I remember purchasing this magazine at Tower Books because it looked interesting: no advertising, relatively rare classic cars, interesting new cars, and perhaps they could use an asipiring writer like me. I got the magazine home and started reading, and boy was it bad. A coworker told me that it looked like a standard Macintosh layout for the publication, which was printed on very nice stock paper for being a relatively cheap ($3.50) ad-free magazine. The writing was poor compared to my novice writing at the time. The photography was average-to-good and featured some new products but seemed to cover mostly collector cars of friends of the editor or writers. Years later, I found someone selling the entire run of the magazine, which lasted eight or nine (quarterly) issues for just a few dollars. I own that collection...to keep as an example of how NOT to produce a car magazine. So sorry if you worked on this magazine...I really am.

EB: Romano Artioli relaunched the Bugatti brand in the early 1990s. He also launched a number of high-end related products as part of this lifestyle associated with the exclusive brand. In part to market these products and in part to promote the global roll out of the Bugatti car, Artioli launched the magazine EB (the initials of the brand's founder Ettore Bugatti). Such a high-end magazine couldn't be just a magazine so EB was not only perfect bound, but hard bound. It came out twice a year (two semesters a year, according to the publication) and prominently featured the Bugatti EB110 coupe and the Bugatti EB112 sedan along with furniture, jewelry, and other assorted Bugatti and EB-branded items. If you're into the short-lived Artioli-era Bugattis, this magazine is a must.

Car: When Car and Driver and Motor Trend were in the prime in the 1980s and early 1990s, I found them to be lacking. Especially after I discovered the British magazine simply entitled Car. Beautiful two-page spreads showcasing one feature of a vehicle such as the brake intake ducts of a Lamborghini Diablo illustrated this magazine made it one of the most attractive mainstream car magazines. Legendary LJK Setright wrote for the magazine until he died in 2005. Among my all-time favorite articles appeared in Car; written by famous spy photographer Hans Lehman, the article outlined his trek across the United States in search of future products (including the yet-to-be-shown first Saturn sedan) and a new car for his collection (the then new Porsche 911 Speedster). The magazine has since gone down in quality, but it still ranks among the best magazines in the genre...but far from its peak!

Auto Katalog: Published every fall by Auto Motor und Sport, this annual magazine illustrates almost every vehicle built around the world. There are a handful of manufacturers not listed and a number of "manufacturers" who are no more than kitcar builders, but this German-language publication shows vehicles from China, India, and Iran as well as all of the major manufacturing countries. In the days before the websites such as Global Auto Index, this was the only way to identify obscure vehicles. Finding the magazine is the toughest part.

Automobile Quarterly: As an automotive historian, my dream has been to write for Automobile Quarterly. Very few car magazines will publish articles ranging from 5,000 to 8,000 words long, but that's typical for AQ. The landscape format of this hardbound magazine also makes AQ rare in the publishing world, but it allows for better framing of pictures of cars. With over 45 years of history, the magazine has covered a wealth of topics with some of the world's greatest writers listed among its contributors. You can find back issues of AQ at many flea markets, usually in really good condition...and I recommend that you pick up a few copies when you see them. That is if you like to read the true stories of automotive history.

Collectible Automobile: Published six times a year, Collectible Automobile is among the best of the newsstand car magazines. The only advertising in this magazine is for publications, typically automotive, from Publications International, the publishing house in charge of CA. One of the reasons why I like this magazine is that my work has appeared in its pages a few times, but even before they accepted my first article I admired this magazine. The bright glossy pages show off the excellent photography, either new or from their vast archives, and illustrate the stories brilliantly. Their articles have been nominated for and won numerous awards (including an award for one of my articles). While the oversized format of the magazine doesn't work well for storage in typical magazine holders, you'll want it on your coffee table anyway. This is good reading.

6:00 am | Categories: car magazines, car, car and driver, road and track, automobile quarterly, motor trend, eb, bugatti, autophyle, car previews, collectible automobile, classic automobile register, sports car graphic, motor trend Comments (0) | Permalink | Alert Administrator

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Sep 3, 2007 - The Ultimate Car Dream!

Surfing through CarSpace the other day, I ran across this guy who is discussing his dream of starting a car company. He video blog addresses the people who have pointed him in different directions to design is production car. I admire his dedication to his dream and I wish him all the luck in the world. Because he'll need it.

I've been a car person since I could express my fanaticism around age two. I started designing cars around age six. And I started designing my first car company when I was 10 or 12. Yes, I share the ultimate dream of many car fans. And I still have it today.

But I have become realistic about my dream.

Since I first developed the germ of an idea to build a car company, my car company has changed many times. Sometimes it changed because of sudden pangs of Henry Fordism where I wanted to build the car for the masses. Sometimes it changed because I wanted to build a better sports car than anyone else and put my name up there alongside Enzo and Ferruccio and the Brothers Maserati.

(By the way, "Hudson" is just a pseudonym. I know there was a car with that name.)

A few years ago, I was about to be in-between jobs. My employer was eliminating my office and I was going to need a new means of support. Having spent some time in the publishing field, I thought I'd start my own car magazine. I found the niche I wanted to cover and I was sure that I had access to some great writers. I was missing many parts of this puzzle and quite a bit of the knowledge that I knew I'd need, so I asked for help. After a few calls, I had David E. Davis on the phone.

Mr. Davis launched Automobile magazine back in 1986. It will probably be the last successful mainstream car magazine launched in print form. He seemed like the best person to ask about this publishing attempt. And, besides, he was about to be "in between jobs" as well and maybe he'd be interested.

Our discussion started with my idea. I wanted to launch an upscale car magazine; a sort of coffee table magazine like Architectural Digest or Cigar Afficianado for car fans. Something that would make Automobile look plebian, no offense to Mr. Davis' magazine.

Mr. Davis continued by telling me just how much his magazine cost to launch. In 1986, Automobile cost $11 million to start. ELEVEN MILLION DOLLARS?!?! I figured I'd rather start a car company with that money.

And so it went. I planned out a car company that I could launch for far less than that $11 million price tag. I mentally designed a car. Ran spreadsheets to show the cost and projected sales of the company. In a perfect world, the company would be profitable in six years and would be debt free in ten.

Alas, life got in the way and I moved the "company" to the back burner again. And it's not the only one back there. I have two or three other, ranging to $1 billion, companies sitting on that back burner. I'm counting on a Powerball win to move them to the front burners.

But I was born in the wrong era. Had I been born 100 years earlier, I could have started a car company. Today, however, it's nearly impossible.

A century ago, it was the wild west. There were no rules and anyone with the ability to tinker could put together a car or truck and get it into production. In the US alone, there were three or four thousand vehicle manufacturers prior to World War II. And nearly every concept was put into those vehicles.

Radial engines, sleeve-valve designs, electric power, steam power, and various other engine designs hit the market. Three-wheelers, four-wheelers, six-wheelers, and even eight-wheelers were put into the field. Today, the car industry consists of simply internal combustion engines (diesel or gas) placed in the front (for the most part) of the car and driving (typically) two wheels. Nothing radical there.

Sure, there are oddities like McLaren's highly exotic F1 which sat three with the driver in the middle. Mazda has their rotary (unlike radial) engine in the RX8. And a limited number of hybrid powertrains which use the tried-and-true gasoline engine as their primary motive force.

But all of this homogenization is a necessary after effect of the world of vehicle regulations. In 1900, there were very few laws stating what could or could not be put into a car. Today, the car is rigidly defined and must conform to regluations that differ from country to country and even from state to state. Many of these regulations are improvements that I could not imagine a car not having. They also prevent the "small guy" from entering the industry.

In the past 40 years, regulations have required seatbelts and air bags and crumple zones to protect us. Lighting and steering and braking improvements have made it much easier to drive safely. Emissions controls have literally removed 99% of the pollution from exhaust gases. And Europe is even working on protecting pedestrians from impacts. All of this comes at a cost.

Two generations ago, car manufacturers radically changed their products each year. You could tell a 1955 Chevrolet from a 1956 Chevrolet from a 1957 or 1958 model because each one was quite distinct. Today, manufacturers need four to five years to get their money out of their investment. You can still tell differences in many cars by the detail changes, but, for the most part, the first year of a model is very similar to the fifth year of that model.

And if multi-billion-dollar, multi-national corporations can't afford to change a million-unit vehicle more often than every five years, what makes you think that a start-up company could even afford to build ONE model? This is why it is generally believed that the automotive world will soon consolidate to six car companies.

As he was preparing to leave Chrysler, Bob Lutz was talking over dinner to a bunch of journalists. He said that technology is improving to the point that automotive start-ups could work. I was quite skeptical but a year later, he outlined his "virtual" car company when he announced his plan to revive the Cunningham. I read all of the articles and I believe he's right and it is possible, even if Lutz abandoned the idea and went back to the big corporate automakers.

All of these positive ideas followed by negative results has made me a skeptic. It has been my job to follow the goings-on in the industry so when someone would announce that they planned to launch a new automaker, I'd look into them.

I've been given business plans for amateur attempts to lauch new car companies over the years. Some are basic, some are laughable. Oddly enough, the laughable ones are from the more experienced of these entrepreneurs. And then there are the companies that actually build a concept or prototype.

There have been obvious flops along the way. The American Vector company was doomed when it took 15 years to get their first car produced, but the surprising part was that it took another decade for the company to fully collapse. A revival of the Packard nameplate seemed to be quite ambitious and ended with a failed auction of all the company's assets on Ebay. Romano Artioli's attempt to revive Bugatti was even more ambitious but also collapsed under the weight of all that hype. But the best ones are the ones who aim to change the world.

The most memorable of this type was called Build-to-Order. Talk about hype, this company was going to do everything different. From building cars within days of an order to eliminating traditional dealerships, BTO was going to be the wave of the future.

As a car nut and a fan of the underdog, I want these guys to win. But when you look into them, any reasonable mind will say that it's just not going to happen. BTO was this way...and has become a minor footnote in history. And I've got a list of dozens more in just the past 30 years. This doesn't count the hundreds or thousands of companies that American Cars Since 1775 called "cars that never turned a wheel" over the last 120 years or more.

It's a great dream to have. I hope that some of them make it to the prototype stage. And that one of them actually makes it into production. This industry will always have conglomerates like Hyundai who decide to go into the automotive business, but I'm always rooting for another Lotus or Porsche who turns their automotive expertise into a road-going product that car fans can desire...and perhaps even drive.

One day, maybe, I'll sit down with a multi-multi millionaire who likes cars and we'll discuss some of my concepts. And then, just maybe, my dream can come true. And maybe one of these blogs will win a Pulitzer Prize. Perhaps I'll find a cure for cancer. And then onto world hunger and world peace and intergalactic...

3:40 pm | Categories: dreams, manufacturing, vector, packard, bugatti, porsche, lotus, bob lutz, chevrolet, mclaren, mazda, david e. davis Comments (2) | Permalink | Alert Administrator

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Aug 26, 2007 - Oddballs and Orphans

Walk down the rows of cars at any large car show and you’ll see the same cars. Not usually the actual same cars, but typically the standard models and model years show up at every car show.

Go to a hot rod show and you’ll see Model T Fords and 1930s-era Fords, Chevrolets, Dodges, and Willys coupes. Go to the usual old car show and the usual old cars show up including ’55-57 Chevrolets and ’65-66 Mustangs and early Camaros and Corvettes of all vintages. And even “late-model” cruise nights have the same groups of Fox-bodied Mustangs and third-and fourth-generation Camaros and Firebirds as well as the occasional hopped-up Honda Civic or Acura Integra or Mazda RX7.

It’s oh-so-predictable.

When I go to a car show, I always look for the oddballs. I’ll notice the crowds gathered around better-than-new classic Chevrolets or Fords where the discussion is about “a buddy of mine had one” or “my dad drove one of these.” Reminiscing like that is great and I’m glad they enjoy that.

It doesn’t help that I had a car before any of my buddies did when I was younger. It also doesn’t help that none of my buddies (or my father for that matter) were “car people.” And when my buddies did get their first cars, they were 1967 Ford F-Series pickups or 1978 Chevrolet Monzas or 1979 Chrysler Cordobas…nothing to write home about. Even my first car was not noteworthy.

Over the years, my taste in cars has become more honed. I still like almost anything on four wheels…and sometimes that criterion is not locked in. But to arouse my attention, you need to dangle something different and odd in front of my face.

A few weeks ago, I was walking to my car after a day of car judging when I noticed two guys ogling a car. It was a very nice late model Aston Martin but they were overlooking the Sunbeam Imp sitting right next to it. I asked the guys standing there, “sure it’s a $150,000 Aston Martin, but does it hold a candle to a classic Sunbeam?” They laughed.

Sure, the Aston Martin is very rare, but when was the last time you even saw a picture of a Sunbeam car?

If you go through my photographs, you'll see some oddballs and orphans. The stranger the better is my opinion. And a really good car show, in my view, is one where there are models and brands of cars that I have never seen in person.

Most concours events will have beautiful and rare cars of the Classic era. Duesenbergs and Bugattis and Hispano-Suizas and the like. The engineering on these vehicles can only be rivaled by the spectacular coachwork build atop their large frames. They definitely catch the attention of all attendees, and I am among the people impressed by the craftsmanship that went into them.

But I'm looking for real oddballs.

Ever see an El Morocco? There were 27 built in 1956 and 10 built in 1957. I had read about these in books, but it was a concours event that I attended a number of years ago where I first saw one in person. To most people, it just looks like a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air, but Chevrolet fanatics will note that the grille has less trim and the tail fins are from a Cadillac. And it's not badged as a Chevrolet...it is an El Morocco.

A friend of mine and I had a discussion about rare vehicles we've seen. He stated that he had worked on or seen at shows a high percentage of the total production of MGA fixed head coupes. His percentage was around 1% of the 1,000 built, which is impressive. My reply was that I had personally seen six of the about 40 Vectors ever built.

That's the kind of thing a fan of oddballs looks for...rarity. During a tour of a restoration shop, I spotted an old chassis. The large car had a milled block straight-eight engine and obviously dated to the 1920s or early 1930s. Since it had no body, I guessed that it was a sports car of the era.

My tour guide filled me in on this rarity. He said it was a Pedroso. I pride myself on knowing many different (and rare) brand names, but this one had me stumped. He continued that Pedrosos were built to race (at LeMans, if memory serves corrrectly). And there were TWO built. One of the two sank with a ship crossing the Atlantic and this was the sole survivor. A few years later, I was part of a tour of the storage room at the Petersen Museum when our tour guide unveiled a car that had everyone (mostly seasoned historians) mystified. The tour guide told us that this was a Pedroso, and it turned out that it was the same car I had seen years before but now with its body attached.

As recently as today, my friend and I were surfing ebay in the "others" category for these types of oddities. He sent me a listing for a Muntz Jet and then wondered how rare it was. According to my research, the numbers are disputed by it seems that fewer than 200 were built and fewer than 50 have been located. And all of this just makes he and I want the car more.

I've snapped pictures of AMC Spirits  and Kaiser Darrins found at car shows, primarily because they stand out as orphans, which makes them stand out among the Ford Thunderbirds and Chevrolet Corvettes that seem to populate most car shows. But when I find a Checker Superba or Zimmer Golden Spirit or a Walter truck, I have found a memorable car show.

Come to a car show with me...let's find some of these treasures!

8:58 pm | Categories: car shows, oddballs, orphans, aston martin, duesenberg, bugatti, hispano-suiza, el morocco, vector, pedroso, checker, zimmer, walter, amc, kaiser Comments (4) | Permalink | Alert Administrator

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