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Just got done reading that Car & Parts will no longer be in publication after November this year. That is going to be a big blow to the automotive hobby. They have published a lot of automotive history over the years, they have been in business.

I have kept every issue of Car & Parts that I bought over the last 30 years.


John S

Actually, sooner than that:

Amos Automotive Publishing is excited to announce the creation of a new title, Auto Enthusiast. This new monthly magazine is designed to provide a one-stop location for those who are truly enthusiastic about the auto experience.

The creation of Auto Enthusiast represents a new direction, one that requires the consolidation of all existing titles (Cars & parts, Chevy Enthusiast, Corvette Enthusiast, Mopar Enthusiast, Musclecar Enthusiast, Mustang Enthusiast and Pontiac Enthusiast).

The final issues of the eliminated titles are in various phases of production. All titles will have completed their run by September 15.

Auto Enthusiast will capture some of the key elements enjoyed by readers from these publications. Some items (news, events, columns) will be directed to our upcoming internet presence to allow more immediate dissemination of material, allowing the print product to work hand-in-hand with new media. Until the time for the launch of the new media platform, we are only dealing with material for the print publication.

Always sad to see a publication go. My favorite Ford publication went belly up this last June. They went from publication to web only. That didn't fly so they pulled the plug.

Atleast C & P will be alive in another form. It doesn't sound like a magazine I would like so there goes my subscription.

Atleast I still have Hemming Classic Car magazine. That one is the best around, in my opinion.

Sad news indeed, as I have been a subscriber to Cars & Parts magazine, continuously, since 1978 - longer than any other publication.

The advent of the Internet forced a lot of changes on the world of publishing, including the old car hobby. Yet, I always like the great variety of articles on feature cars, history, and how-to in EVERY issue of Cars &Parts, balanced with a healthy and diverse classified advertising section. Also, C&P is what got me to blow-off more than one college homecoming weekend in favor of going to Fall Hershey, and where I learned of the existence of so many Packard vendors.

Alas, C&P ain't what it used to be. Each passing issue seemed thinner than th last, and the classified ads hardly seem worth looking through anymore. With each passing year, I had to question whether or not to renew. Now, I'm sorry that I bothered to renew this year.

Luckily, I also have Hemmings Classic Car to fall back on. I've been subscribing to that one since 1982 or 1983 - back when it was Special Interest Autos.

Still, I think Amos Press is throwing out the baby with the bathwater. With all due respect, the format of the new "merged" publication doesn't sound like something that I will want to subscribe, either. The new title stinks. I suspect the it will tank in short order.

Too bad they thought so little of their remaining print subscribers to not make an effort to ask what they'd like to have.

So long, old friend.

It is sad that C&P is going under. In the past few years it certainly has lost some attraction for me as it became thinner and the write ups of the featured cars lost much of the detail that it formerly had. I used to especially enjoy the detailed and well researched car maker histories in "FreeWheeling" written by Menno Duerkson and Arch Brown and the lengthy articles on the Ford Motor Company by David Lewis. Too bad but that's the way publishing has been going for several years now with lots of advertising and fewer and shorter articles not unlike television.

A little off topic, but I am trying to find some copies of cars and parts from 1975. If anyone has some to sell, please let me know.

I dropped my C & P sub years ago. It was inevitable I guess, even Hemmings will be hard pressed to stay in print form, in the long run. Everything is moving to the web, due to costs of print & distribution.

I agree a lot of the old stand by paper printed forms are going away we now have the electronic means at the loss of the printed copies. Hemmings is having less cars for sale they are using articles to take up the slack just compare a older version with the latest ones. Hemmings has expanded into Classic car and Muscle car which are great mags. We are loosing the printed to the electronic that's the price of progress the old are replaced by new. I still like a paper copy to hold in my hands and have for future reference
Try taking your electronic copy out on your porch on a sunny day and reading it .

I'm only 33 years old and I feel like a walking anachronism with each passing day. Reading the paper (in print) in the morning is a must for me. I still like to rummage through my overstuffed magazine rack on a rainy day. And, being the nerd that I am, I still like to cut articles out of magazines and newspapers to save for future reference.

While the internet can be convenient and offers some useful benefits, it's wide-open nature will never allow it to compare to a well edited print publication. Let's face it, there's more baloney on the net than in an Oscar-Meyer plant.

I know the day is coming that they'll stop publishing my newspaper and tell me to read it online. That'll be the last day that I read the paper. I also know the day is coming that more of my favorite magazines will make the jump to net-only. That'll be the last day I read those publications. I guess I'll have a lot more time for the car pretty soon.

Next thing you know they'll quit making Packards...Oh wait...

acolds -

Hemmings Classic Car is merely the successor to Special Interest Autos. SIA had been published by Hemmings for nearly 35 years, but they introduced Hemmings Muscle Machines and Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car magazines within a year or two of HCC, IIRC. Personally, I was glad to see the foreign cars stripped out of HCC, but I hope that Hemmings doesn't get carried away, like Amos Press did with too many automotive titles over the years.

IMHO, all of those spin-offs helped water down C&P. Now, they're pulling it all back to one magazine, but killing the goose that laid the golden egg. I've also heard, privately, from a few other enthusiasts outside of Packard circles who are equally disappointed and will not continue with the new publication.

WRT electronic media, I greatly enjoy the quick reference of digitized documents that PackardInfo offers for FREE, but I, too, prefer having the quality of original or literature or high-quality reprint in front of my own two eyes.

I'm proud to say that I have NEVER paid one red cent for any sort of subscription to ANY online publication - and hope I NEVER do.