Yes Joey, I vividly remember my first subscription and it was for Hot Rod magazine after picking up my very first issue at the corner drug store, the year was 1962, incidentally Dean Lowes roadster pickup was on the cover and seeing that photo the die was cast. Shortly after that my mom got me a subscription to Hot Rod Magazine I was hooked a 12 years old. HRP
1959 HOTROD magazine. Started subscription after attending my first drag race at 12 years old. Race was held at the old Sacramento State Fairgrounds (1/8th mile). Fist time I ever saw a rail.
In 1981 i was eleven years old. My dad was a car guy, but, we never had any car related stuff in the house, Mom probably wanted us to grow up to be doctors or something. Anyway, my uncle had just retired from the navy, came to visit & stay with us for awhile, he took my brother & i to the 7eleven, bought me an orange soda, & a popular hot rodding magazine. I got my first magazine subscription in early '82. Now, i have probably 1000s of mags, & car books.
1st mag was a 1964 R&C my parents gave me when I was I was seven. 1st sub was Hot Rod beginning with Jan ‘68 issue.
I'm sure it was Hot Rod, but I could be mistaken (that happens sometimes) don't remember what year that was though, and I just recently dropped all subscriptions that I had, because I haven't been reading them as much since they have changed over the years. I guess it was habit that kept me from dropping them years ago since they have changed to no longer contain content that I related to!
I can still remember my first car magazine ever purchased was Hot Rod Magazine October 1984. Mom had friends that drag raced a 67 and 69 Camaro at the Englishtown Summer Nationals and I was hooked Went on a road trip/vacation and instead of the usual comic book purchase I was drawn to the front cover with the pro Street Blown 69 Camaro. I read it cover to cover then back again a few times learning the lingo and discovering the wonderful world of Hot Rodding! Shortly there after I had mom write me a check for a subscription which I kept active up into the mid 90's. Though I no longer have any of the subsequent issues I still have that very first issue I purchased from the magazine rack and will never get rid of it.
I have the July 73 Hot Rod mag which was the first one I got (dad bought it for me, we were on a long road trip, wanted to keep me occupied). Then he got me a subscription a few years later, April 76 was the first one with my name on the mailing label. Looking back through it, it wasn't a very good issue....but things got better as the van/mpg doldrums passed, and folks got back into going fast.
Hot Rod magazine, December 1974. Specifically, Gray Baskerville's coverage of Barry Lobeck's flathead-powered '40 Ford coupe. I was 13 years old and didn't understand Yer 'Ol Dad's slang, but I knew it was cool and someday, I'd have a hot rod too.
Mostly bought the magazines from the store because I hated how they got mutilated in the mail except for when there was a great discount offer. Now as I look at the prices on the covers and figure out for inflation - no wonder I didn't have money to spend on my car!
My first subscription was Rod & Custom, right after they switched to the 'big' pages in '62 (?). Primary attraction was their model car coverage, but I loved the car features too. Particularly the 'Rod Test' features, that's something I wish Rodder's Journal would pick up on. Stayed with them until they ceased publication the first time, then my subscription was converted to Hot Rod. By the mid '90s I was done with all of them as they had pretty much all devolved into shills for their advertisers IMO. The billet/pastel colors/painted chrome/graphics did nothing for me either. Car Craft should have been called Camaros R US, Hot Rod wasn't much better but did throw a bone to the non-Chevy guys once in a while. The re-born R & C tried to hang in there with 'old style' tech but it was pretty spotty, and the 'Custom' part of their name was all but gone. I understand that they were just reacting to market forces, but there was little to hold my attention. I'd pick up an odd issue once in a while, but there just wasn't enough content month to month to justify a subscription.
Same here although every time my coveted R&C would stop publication, I'd receive a different publication. The first time I received something I was satisfied with [maybe Truckin' or Custom Trucks] but this last time I was sent Motor Trend. Jeeze! I thought I'd have to be hospitalized from the boredom that oozed out of that magazine. Signed: Still disappointed
Crazy a kid on the soccer bleachers introduces a deeper fascination with car mags and now you write for one. Neat story. My first mag was popular hot rodding maybe 98? I can still picture the cover. First subscription was street rodder soon after because it actually had a traditional hot rod snuck in there occasionally
I believe Car Craft was my first, but that was in the late 80's when it was mostly about muscle cars, but I was cool with that at the time. About the same time I started Hot Rod, Popular Hot Rodding and Super Chevy subscriptions.
Cars and Parts late 60’s. I was 9. Dad’s Christmas gift. He also figured out that a JC Whitney catalog kept me occupied for hours. My Dad has never been a car guy but he realized my interest and encouraged it.
Tex Smith's Hot Rod Mechanix for me, 1988. I'd have been 17. A family friend had me completely hooked by then, after gifting me a substantial collection of R&C, Street Rodder, and Rod Action. And here I am now.
Hot Rod, 1957. I wore it out reading, and re reading it. I had no clue that 5 years later I would be on the cover of the magazine.
I honestly don't remember either, but do think it was when I was in my twenties, sometime in the '80s. Before that I would pick them up at the grocery store if one caught my eye. First subscriptions were probably Rodder's Digest then Auto Buff then Hot Rod Mechanix because they weren't on the shelf
My first had to have been HRM. Then I've subb'ed to Super Chevy's, Street Rodder, Car Craft, etc...now...just the Internet.
Hot Rod......back when it was 50 cent on the newsstand. I was probably 12-13 years old. (1960/61) No color pictures just green! .......yuk! Collected 'em all thru the 60s and 70's(when the factory stuff was king) Branched out to Pop Hot Rodding later because I'm a FoMoCo fan and all Hot Rod knew was 'Shevil-layz'!....yuk! 6sally6
Car Craft , high school, mid 1980's.It was all pro street and muscle cars, but that was my thing at the time.
My first one was Popular Hot Rodding. I was 10 years old. This would have been 1984. In fact, I used to take my copies to elementary school to read in my free time. A couple of the sports kids (jocks?) ganged up on me and beat me up pretty good for reading car magazines. Piss on them, it still didn’t put out the flame. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
My first was 'HOT ROD'. Older guy, Al Marseline, 24, introed me...one rainy day, driving his '32 Hiboy past Grandma's on Lincoln St., 5" windshield wiper whacking rain like mad. 1952, I was 10. That car...No fenders, black...low chopped top, big-and little tires. Suped-up flathead, hi-stacker Eddie Meyer intake, I'd learn. HOT ROD! (They've got a magazine???) In '52, that was 'Real George'! Paper drive netted me EVERY issue from 1948. Old guy around the corner. Filled me in on the 'early stuff'. Old guy was probably...25! Hot Rod was on the news stand, at Bill's. I bought every issue, every month. NEXT were 'Honk'! Then, 'R&C'. Catholic school...Yeah, I hid the 'little pages'. Got a GREAT education. Was building my first car in the eighth grade. (chopped '36 Three window.) I chopped it.