Buy The Book
Bibliophilia Meets Automotive Lust
Have you noticed lately that even chain bookstores in suburban shopping malls have a pretty fair selection of automotive books and magazines? Walk in the front door. Bypass the checkout counter, dodge the regional author doing a book signing, skirt the children's reading circle and inhale but don't linger at the caf with its steaming lattes, crumbling biscotti and hissing cappuccino machine, and head straight for the magazine racks. Someplace, probably between the racks of soft-core porn that doubles as men's health and fitness magazines and the section devoted to computer geeks and digital photography, will be a whole group of magazines devoted to cars, trucks and motorcycles.
Magazines For Every Reason
It wasn't that long ago that the average magazine rack at the average bookstore would contain two or maybe three magazines dealing with cars. For the automotive enthusiast they were nearly as barren as an airport newsstand. But things have changed. There are now more than a half dozen serious general interest automotive magazines, a dozen more viable special interest car magazines (our beloved european car included), six or seven really good magazines from Europe and about 200 magazines devoted entirely to NASCAR. Okay, I am exaggerating a bit: There may only be five or six good magazines from Europe. If we ignore the weekly exploits of Jeff, Tony, Rusty, Kurt, Ricky, Little E, Sterling, Ward and Jimmy, we who love cars are still left with a pretty good choice of reading material.
My own preferences run to classic and sports cars, but really there is something for everyone. Hot rods, street rods, rice rockets, oval track, Formula One, old bikes, new bikes, crotch rockets, pickup trucks, SUVs, are all covered by magazines published by somebody somewhere. Large-breasted, scantily clad women seem popular on the covers in certain magazine demographics, while exotic Italian sports cars or supercharged Mustangs dominate others. It has always surprised me how many marque-specific magazines there are. Mercedes-Benz, BMW, MG, Land Rover, Triumph, Volkswagen, Ferrari and Porsche are all covered by more than one title on the better and more complete magazine racks. It is amazing how much time you can spend standing in front of a sea of brightly colored magazines, leafing through the pages of classified ads at the back of British classic car magazines. Some magazines have begun shrink wrapping their newsstand issues-an obvious attempt to get you to buy the thing before you read it-putting a real limitation on the joys of reading while standing in front of the racks.
Eventually, I will decide which one I want between three or four magazines. I have my favorites, but I am a sucker for any new title that is just starting out. I can't tell you the number of Volume 1, Issue 1 copies I have of magazines that never made it to Volume 1, Issue 2. Carefully, I replace the ones I won't be buying and just as carefully I find the stack of european car issues and move them to the front row. Hey, it can't hurt, right? Besides, I want to make sure your friends can find it easily when you tell them about that story that you read. Anyway, tucking my $5 or $6 or $7 magazine under my arm, I head off in search of the car book section.