autotraveler2

I am the co-author of the 2012 book, Hurst Equipped. I have a few hardbound author copies left. I'm offering the remaining copies I have, signed by me and my co-author Mark Fletcher which includes three-day USPS Priority Mail shipping, for $50. I take PayPal and accept all major credit cards through Square. If you want to order a copy, click on my name at the top of this post and send me a Facebook private message so we can exchange payment and shipping details. Check out some of the pages in the photos below which shows the Buicks featured in the book. For fun, here’s a link to Mark and my appearance with Jay Leno on Jay Leno’s Garage back in 2012. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3Xpt23n1FI&t=5s

Thanks for the mention of my book, Hurst Equipped, co-written with Mark Fletcher. Attached is a low-res scan of the car mentioned above. It is a 1975 Buick Free Spirit Edition. Here's a link to the same photo, a downloadable high-res version. If you are interested in buying an NOS copy of Hurst Equipped, I have a few author copies left (less than a box) and offer them signed by me and Mark, for $50, including USPS Priority Mail shipping. If you would like to order a copy, send me a private message here so we can exchange address and payment information. I take PayPal (preferred) or credit cards through Square Payments. Here's a link to our November 2012 appearance with Jay Leno on Jay Leno's Garage, talking about the book.

Here's something to think about. All of our print subscribers to Legendary Cougar Magazine get a digital subscription at no extra charge and the digital edition is posted the same day the digital files are sent (electronically) to the print when our IT guy posts the digital edition. Almost all of our subscribers wait until the print edition arrives in their mailbox two weeks later, to read the new issue. Such is the power of print in this digital age. Bryan, we polled the readers and there was almost zero interest in expanding the coverage of LCM to 1979. I think had we gone in that direction we would have never been able to build our readership to 500 (we started three years ago with 250). The 1967-1973 niche is manageable, the 1974-1979 Cougars are a totally different kind of cat. I'm wondering something as I write this. What would any of you think of a conference call where we can discuss, in real time, your thoughts on automotive publishing in this digital age, can a multi-marque magazine like Cars and Parts be produced today? If anyone would like to participate note your thoughts below. Richard Truesdell

Hi John, I was the editor of Chevy Enthusiast and contributed to C&P and all the other Enthusiast titles. C&P at the end was edited by Brad Bowling, an outstanding editor who is now the editor of Vintage Truck. In the end C&P features were a Mopar, a Ford, a GM and an independent (AMC, Studebaker), and one of the four (it rotated) was what was called a mod-stock, a car running a modern drivetrain but still appeared stock. And the four features were spread among the decades; a prewar car and one from the 1950s, 1960s, and into the 1970s. For my title, Chevy Enthusiast, of the four features, one was always an original car (the First Yenko), one a restored car, one a modified car (never anything too far out), and a truck. Trying to keep a balance that will satisfy the readers is the editor's job and I'm really proud of the features I commissioned and published. They were the heart and soul of the magazine. Musclecar Enthusiast was another excellent title in the Amos stable, helmed by another outstanding editor, Steve Statham. Steve kept the focus on original and restored cars for the features but a couple times a year he would run a restomod or a modern muscle car. One of those exceptions was the 2006 Challenger. I saw the car in Auburn Hills six weeks before its debut at the Detroit Auto Show in January 2006 and we had a cover story based on my advanced look at the Chrysler Tech Center in Auburn Hills. The issue came out as the Detroit Auto Show was in progress. We scooped every monthly auto title, something I'm really proud of. Magazines at the time were trying to compete on news items with the Internet, who could not release anything on the web until it was revealed at the Detroit show. Musclecar Enthusiast had already been printed and was on the way to subscribers as the car was revealed. (BTW, the Yenko cover Chevy Enthusiast and the Olds 442 cover of Musclecar Enthusiast were the last and I shot the 442 cover for Steve. That it was a rear view, driving off into the sunset was sort of an inside joke between me and Steve and we both knew that these were the last issues we would produce. Here's a link to that story for you to review.) I tell you this to try to explain that your dismissal of Chevy Enthusiast and Musclecar Enthusiast really rubbed me the wrong way. While the other Enthusiast titles may have been like you described, in the case of C&P, Musclecar Enthusiast, and Chevy Enthusiast, I would stack them up against any comparable titles put out by the bigger publishers. C&P was the equal of Hemmings Classic Car, Musclecar Enthusiast was the equal of Hemmings Muscle Machines or Muscle Car Review (to which I contribute to today), and with my more mature editorial approach, I felt that I positioned Chevy Enthusiast well against Super Chevy and Chevy High Performance, more towards original and restored cars, less modified cars, than my competitors. (I have a couple copies of the first issue of Chevy Enthusiast and would be happy to send you one so you can see what I mean. Send me a private message with your snail mail address and I'll send you one after the holidays.) The decision to kill off C&P and fold the remaining Enthusiast titles into Auto Enthusiast was a huge mistake; all the Amos editors knew it. With the exception of C&P which was a multi-marque title very carefully curated and edited by Brad Bowling, the Enthusiast titles were all focused on a single marque, model, or manufacturer. Folding all seven titles into Auto Enthusiast made no sense, editorially but it was driven by advertising (which subsidizes the cover price) and costs. Think back to 2008, before the economy crashed, on how many more titles were published then as compared to today. There has been tremendous consolidation as many titles. Think of all the titles no longer around, the list is more than 30 magazines. I have a feeling that this post will generate some responses, especially on the state of automotive publishing today. Things have changed. I've moved into self-publishing which offers a new opportunity to produce more specialized, niche magazines. I co-publish and co-edit a print/digital title called Legendary Cougar Magazine , which is a bi-monthly dedicated to one segment, 1967-1973 Mercury Cougars (not sexy older women). And I've produced a pilot issue of an all-AMC Magzine, Legendary American Motors Magazine and tested it on Amazon where it has sold more almost 800 copies since last October. Right now I am hoping to launch it as a quarterly in 2018. Time will tell as I have a lot on my plate. I believe that even in our digital age, there still is a place for print, especially for those of us who grew up with traditional magazines, and for enthusiasts who prefer print to digital. I will be curious to get feedback from my post. The thing that we've proved with Legendary Cougar Magazine (I'm working on the 16th issue right now) is that enthusiasts will pay for content not available anywhere else. A subscription to Legendary Cougar costs $60 for six issues ($24 for digital) and we have 500 subscribers split 80/20 in favor of print. Each issue has only three pages of advertising, subscription revenue, not advertising dollars, makes it possible. (If you want to take a look at the LCM digital replica, click here for the preview.) Happy Holidays to everyone. Richard Truesdell PS: John, where did you get that graphic of C&P and the six Enthusiast titles? I'd love to have a high-res version if you have it.

Thanks @mreilly44. I really appreciate it.

As one of the former contributors to the original Cars and Parts, I was shocked to see this thread still active. Maybe one of you can help me. In late 2009 or in 2010 I produced a story for the magazine on a 1960 Ford Thunderbird. The title may have been "The Last Squarebird" as it was documented to have been the last 1960 Thunderbird to roll down the assembly line. I have been looking for my PDF of the story and cant find it. If anyone reading this has Cars and Parts back issues from 2009 and the final year, 2010, can you tell me what issue it's in? I'd like to arrange to have you scan it for me. Best wishes, Richard Truesdell