[Hinckley]

By nature I am a curious individual so lots of questions are asked. First, who reads Cars & Parts magazine? Second, what are your overall thoughts?

[poci1957]

Hinckley, perfect timing, I was just about to bring up Cars & Parts recently.

I read Cars & Parts for 20 years and in the 1980s & 1990s considered it probably the best overall source for a combination of news/features/classifieds/etc. But in the early 2000s it was sold to another owner, the layout changed, some of my favorite writers left, and the magazine shrank. I stopped subscribing in about 2006. Now I have difficulty finding a copy on the newsstand, and last week when I did find a copy I could not find out how much a subscription cost. Pretty bad marketing.

I have been happier with Hemmings Classic Car. Will be anxious to see others opinions, Todd C

[F&J]

I used to subscribe from early 70s to the 80s. I had way too many car mags coming to the house and stopped most of them then.

I did like the personal stories about collectors and restorers...like the series on Pop Rice, one of the first people restoring cars for a living.

I do recall I was sort of dismayed by the resto project section where a car was chosen, then found and finally the resto was covered.

The car in question was "Miss Vicky", a 56 Ford. They scoured the middle US looking for the "right" candidate and chose a rustbucket car that looked good from 40 feet. Prior to that, they located a rustfree 56 shell that looked mint; even the bare floors still had shining paint. I do understand that they hoped to show more types of repairs including rust, but I could never understand their choosing that junker. Afterall, many people make the same mistake in choosing a project. I recall thinking they should have bought both cars to make one good one.

The resto series was a turn off for me because it seemed to be aimed at the checkbook restorer. Just my opinion.

[Bhigdog]

Originally Posted by F&J

but I could never understand their choosing that junker. .

Maybe it was because the "good" car would have no trouble finding a good home. My wife helps at the local animal shelter and some folks choose the saddest looking dog because it needs help the most. An admirable motive............Bob

[West Peterson]

Originally Posted by poci1957

...in the early 2000s it was sold to another owner, the layout changed, some of my favorite writers left, and the magazine shrank.

It is still owned by Amos as far as I know. Rumor has it that they will soon not be printing at all. The magazine will only be available online, for free.

[Steve_Mack_CT]

They lost me when the focus went pretty much all on post war stuff some time ago. Nothing like the days of the late, great Menno Duerkson (sp?) - a great automotive author....

[Hinckley]

My reason for asking about Cars & Parts is personal on a number of levels.
For years I have watched the old car hobby evolve with some magazines leading the change and others bringing up the rear. A great example of the former would be the Driveable Dream section in Hemmings Classic Car that was at the forefront of the movement to keep cars original and driven rather than restored and trailered.
For me these features hit close to home as I have never restored a car. I have, however, had a small herd of all original, rough around the edges, daily drivers.
About twenty years ago I began writing a weekly column for the local paper, Rust & Smoke, on automotive history for $15.00 per week. Since that time I have been fortunate enough to pen occasional features for Special Interest Autos, Hemmings Classic Car, and Old cars Weekly as a way of sharing my fascination with automotive history and supplementing the income from the day job.
The lions share of my published material deals with the American auto industry before World War II. This led to an opportunity to write for Cars & Parts.
A couple of years ago there was a shake up with Amos Publishing and Cars & Parts. Brad Bowling, formerly of Old Cars Weekly, assumed the helm from Bob Stevens. I should note Bob still writes regular features, the photography is still excellent, and the writers are still knowledgable.
I was asked to write a monthly column. After some discussion I agreed and the result is The Indpendent Thinker, a monthly column that profiles the overlooked and obscure people behind the success of the American auto industry.
In the past few months I have written about Ralph Teetor, Edsel Ford, Benjamin Briscoe, Ned Jordan, the Graham Brothers and a host of similar automotive celebrities. Then I started writing the book reviews.
A few weeks ago it dawned on me that I really didn't know what people thought about Cars & Parts. I know what I like in an automotive magazine but with the exception of letters sent to the editor wasn't sure what others in the hobby were thinking.
At every turn it is obvious our hobby is in a dramatic state of flux. The first generation mini van now qualifies as an antique. Young automotive enthusiasts are "restoring" cars built in the 1980s.
Even the automobile museum is changing. I recently covered the Automobile Driving Museum in El Segundo, California.
In addition to the static displays, on Sundays automobiles in the collection, on a rotating schedule, are placed out front. Visitors register our front and then are taken for a 15 minute ride in everything from a Twin Six Packard to a Pacer, from a Model T to an Airflow.
As an interesting side note this museum has garned attention from the younger set. One of the volunteers is a young man of 15 that was hooked after one visit.
Even though I see the changes and am fascinated by many of them some instill a wide array of mixed feelings. A perfect example would be a Cars & Parts feature where vintage cars are mated with modern components creating a hybrid of sorts, vehicles like a stock 1955 Ford with dual brake cylinder or disc brake conversion.
So, thanks for the comments. Thanks, for massaging my curioisty. Thanks for reading my long winded response.

[1937hd45]

Like most people that have been in the hobby for 45+ years I too was once a Cars & Parts subscriber. It was a Hemmings with stories, but like Hemmings it got filled with Post WWII stuff and I dropped it sometine in the mid 1980's. Tough times ahead for any printed matter, good luck with your writing.

Originally Posted by Hinckley

By nature I am a curious individual so lots of questions are asked. First, who reads Cars & Parts magazine? Second, what are your overall thoughts?

[john2dameron]

I subscribed to C&P for many years and have about 25 years of them squirrelled away. My main interest in automobiles is hisory. C&P was short on this and when Menno passed on it left a huge hole in their historical content. I wasn't interested in the restoration articles and advertising. I finally decided that paying $30.00 a year for advertising was a waste. One more thing finally broke me from C&P. I was reading the magazine to learn American automobile history and they devoted the entire editorial content of one issue to Volkswagen. If it would have been Subaru I would not have been more disgusted. I also don't subscribe to Hemming's Motor News. Same reasons. However I do enjoy Hemming's Classic Car although they and I differ on what a classic car is. One thing I enjoy in HCC is the youth article every month. It's comforting to know that many young people still enjoy old cars. Another good thing about HCC is it's 2/3rds the price of C&P. I also enjoy Automobile Quarterly and have a complete set of it. No way will I let that one go. I also probably buy 15-20 automotive history books a year so I really don't have time to read a magazine devoted to classified advertisements and how-to articles. Am I not the typical hobbyist? Yes, but that is the way it is.

[Dave@Moon]

I subscribed to Cars & Parts for almost 30 years, from college (where I was the only person there who read it) until about 2 years ago. I'd read it cover-to-cover (even the want ads), but my main interest was the history series articles. Towards the end there didn't seem to be as much of the history material, and increasing amounts of the "how-to" and "gee ain't this car neat" type features. Also towards the end the ad section declined making that less fun.

I used to keep the April issue in my Buick for car show and swap meet reference. They used to set the national schedule for the hobby with that issue, with subsequent issues updating it. Events I worked on had to be in that issue for people to know about us. I really miss getting that issue.

At one point my subscription expired without any final issue notice or billing for renewal. It was a couple of months before I even noticed. However I've kept every issue.

Hemmings' Classic Car and Sports and Exotic Car magazines have replaced C&P for me.