Long before I was old enough to drive, I developed an addiction for car magazines. That's where all my spare nickels and dimes went as a kid. I would read them over and over and then carefully store them for future reference and/or posterity. Yes, just like I have the first car I bought, I still have the first copy of "Road & Track" I purchased over forty years ago.
Besides R&T, "Motor Trend" and "Car and Driver" (really its predecessors) were my childhood favorite monthlies. They really shaped my taste for the cars I have collected as an adult. "Motor Trend' was the most well rounded, featuring all aspects of the car culture including new car tests, imports, rods and customs as well as Bob Gottlieb's pioneering column on classic cars. My favorite part of "Road & Track" was the classified section featuring exotic machines from around the world. This was the fantasy land of car collectors before eBay and Barrett-Jackson.
Things do change and, today, I have little interest in the current offerings of the above magazines. My current must-reads are "Sports Car Market", "Autoweek" and "Hemmings Motor News". The Hemmings spinoffs such as "Hemmings Classic Car" and "Hemmings Sports and Exotic" are commendable also. Of course, I've only touched the tip of the iceberg and haven't even addressed some of the great car club publications out there, but that will be another topic. Now, what are your favorite car magazines?
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I've always like Automobile Magazine for it's slick look. Back when David E. Davis was publisher, it a was truly a great magazine. Don't know about now, but when it started, it was great. I've also liked Autoweek, Automobile Quarterly and Hemmings.