Scratch My Back…

I don’t know how long ago it was… Maybe five years ago? I got a call from an east coast guy headed to the west coast with a dream. He was going to start a magazine, but not just any old car rag – Dan Stoner wanted to create a lifestyle book. A broader look of the world from the eyes of the car guy. Cars (obviously), music, art, style, etc…

He had David Perry on board as the photographer, but I was still skeptical. I didn’t see myself as a scene guy and I wasn’t really sure if the world needed another rockabilly guide book. I continued to chat with Stoner over the phone here and there and after awhile it became clear that his vision was much more sophisticated than what I originally assumed. Garage Magazine wasn’t going to be a scenester year book. It was going to be more like a Maxim Magazine targeted towards the younger hot rod gentleman.

Stoner sold me and I began work on the magazine’s logo. At the time, I was working on a group project for Emigre drawing old english fonts and shapes. One of our cast offs (actually designed by a guy in Minnesota) was a gorgeously scripted old english letter set that looked eerily similar to Schneider Cam’s lettering. A tweak here and there and the logo was set.

Meanwhile, Stoner had begun working on the real project. I got my first glimpse of a finished magazine at the first annual Lonestar Round Up in Austin. It wasn’t perfect. Hell, I don’t even know if I would classify it as good. BUT, it was done and polished to a higher degree than any other independent ‘zine out there. The potential was loud.

As the years went by, the magazine changed. Perry stopped being a regular contributor, staff changed here and there, focus changed a tad, etc… Stoner kept his head down. To say the guy sacrificed for his passion would be putting it lightly. He gave up just about everything to keep his vision alive and that dedication started to pay off slowly as the magazine improved issue by issue.

Around a year ago I picked up an issue of Garage and flipped through it casually. It was hard not to smile. I don’t really know if Stoner had realized by that time, but he had finally put out the magazine he talked about during the early days. Brilliant writing, great photography, well balanced content – It was all there. Proof that hard work pays off.

And Pay off it did… Jesse James bought the magazine from Stoner a few months back and retained Stoner as the head honcho of the publication. The current issue is most likely the first that has been produced with a full-on budget to impress. This is going to be really fun to watch fellas…

Check out Garage Magazine here.