Classic American is 200 issues old and to celebrating its bi-centennial issue. We tracked down the publishers and editors (all four of them!) who have been involved with the title since its inception for their thoughts on 200 issues of everyone’s favourite American car magazine …
Tony Beadle (1988 – 1993)
Two hundred issues of Classic American? Absolutely incredible! Things have certainly changed enormously since that first edition – no internet or eBay in those days; mobile phones were rare, very expensive and clunky; we weren’t all starring on CCTV and Arnold Schwarzenegger was still making blockbuster movies. In 1988 the magazine tapped into a huge enthusiasm for Americana of the Fifties which was epitomised by the chrome and fins of glamorous US automobiles but included diners, clothes, juke boxes, music and just about everything else.
Nowadays the emphasis seems to have switched more to the muscle era of the Sixties and Seventies and, thanks to the current rate of exchange, brand-new American vehicles are now appearing on these shores in ever greater quantities. Whilst cars like the Corvette have always had an enduring appeal, the modern versions of the Ford Mustang have definitely captured the spirit of the original model and I for one would love to have one parked on my driveway. Spare parts are also extremely cheap compared to many other classic cars (again due to the low level of the dollar) and readily obtainable.
Unfortunately, owning and driving a vehicle powered by a V8 engine is now regarded in some quarters as being responsible for destroying the planet, anti-social and so on. The fact that the entire classic vehicle population in this country adds up to less than one percent of the total and, as most are only used for leisure purposes, this therefore means they have a negligible effect on emissions is ignored by so-called environmentalists. It is likely to get tougher to continue enjoying the freedom of using our old cars and trucks, which is why supporting the work of organisations such as the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs in fighting government and EU legislation is so vital.
Steven Myatt ( 1992 - 1999)
My part in the Classic American story starts, I guess, back in the very early Sixties. As a car-mad schoolboy I was rarely without a copy of The Observer’s Book of Automobiles in the pocket of my grey flannel shorts. I’ve still got one of them now, the 1961 edition, and there are all my favourites; not the Austin A55, the Hillman Minx or even the Jaguar MkIX Saloon – but the Studebaker Golden Hawk, the Pontiac Bonneville Vista Hardtop and the Chrysler 300C. I never got to see these glorious cars; not in the quiet and leafy Cheshire lane I was brought up in, but at least I knew that they were out there somewhere.
I didn’t drive a car until I was nearly 22. By then I was into custom bikes and cars were, de facto, the enemy – until, that is, I saw a white Chevrolet Corvair for sale in a field near Macclesfield. I wanted it and I bought it. Paid £150, as I recall. I had no desire to own a car … but I desperately wanted to own that car. So it was that within months I moved completely from two wheels to four.
Fast forward to the Eighties and my company, Myatt McFarlane plc, had either launched, or bought and re-launched a dozen specialist motorcycle magazines (the love of bikes never actually went away!) – and I saw the first copy of Classic American.
It had been launched by a company called AGB and I was furious with myself for not thinking of it. What a great idea. It was about classic American style in general, but I knew it could be transformed into a real car magazine. Within months AGB had sold their car magazines to EMAP and the time was right; Classic American was far too small to be of real interest to a huge company like EMAP, and with a lot of subterfuge (because EMAP were the other big publishers of bike magazines and thus no friends of ours) we bought the title.
Terrific! I knew exactly what ought to be done with it – and we did it. The mag went from quarterly to bi-monthly and then to monthly, and – allow me a moment of immodesty – we turned it into the magazine it is today. We owned if for ten years, then its present owners came along and made us an offer we really couldn’t refuse. I loved Classic American then, and still read it and love it now. So many great memories; heavens, I even recall interviewing a young, fresh-faced guy called Ben Klemenzson for his first proper journalism job!
I smashed up that Corvair unfortunately, but went out and bought another one – a convertible, again for £150. These days I still drive a Chevrolet and the model name still starts C-O-R but it’s a wee bit faster and a lot better round the bends of Cheshire A-roads!
Paul Guinness (1995 – 1999)
It all seems such a long time ago now. In fact, it was just in time for Issue 50, cover-dated June 1995, that I took over as editor of Classic American. And with that being our Golden Anniversary issue, it seemed perfectly sensible to have a Studebaker Golden Hawk as the main cover car.
Back in those days, Classic American was owned by a tiny publishing house based in rural Cheshire, its main siblings being various motorbike magazines and a couple of other car titles. Most things were done on a tight budget, and yet – despite the sometimes chaotic approach at times – it all ran reasonably smoothly. Well, usually.
A high point of my first few months as editor was when Ben Klemenzson joined me as assistant editor, providing a huge amount of support, not only on a logistical day-to-day basis, but also in terms of his encyclopedic knowledge of American cars. And I like to think that, despite the various challenges that we faced during our time working together, and despite the tight budgets we were provided with, we managed to put together an ever-improving product.
We had plenty of laughs, too. Working with Ben was a delight, and his enthusiasm for both the product and the American cars was always a pleasure to experience. And, it seemed, nothing could stop us. Not even when the company we worked for experienced financial difficulties and was forced to be rescued and re-launched, Classic American quietly continued to make progress.
I was lucky enough to enjoy four fantastic years as editor, only leaving in 1999 to pursue other projects. And while I’ve since found myself editing magazines covering such varied scenes as 4x4s, commercial vehicles, Volkswagens and general classics, it’s my days at Classic American that I look back upon with genuine fondness.
Ben Klemenzson (1996 – Present)
It’s hard to believe that Classic American has been going for 200 issues, and has been around in three very different decades: The Eighties, the Nineties and now the Noughties… Those of you, who like me, picked up that very first copy of Classic American can probably remember that tremendous buzz of excitement – ‘it’s here! It’s finally arrived! A magazine just for me all about the stuff I’m really into and love…’ At the time I was a student and my housemates used to pull my leg and say: ‘you should get a job on that magazine…’ as I would spend hours lying on the sofa poring over Classic American… who would have known how prophetic those words were!
Over the year’s Class Am (as we fondly know it,) has changed and evolved; as Tony Beadle, the magazine’s first editor mentions above, it did start off as more of a lifestyle publication. In the mid- to late-Eighties we couldn’t get enough Ben E King records/Levi Jeans/Zippo lighters and of course then there were the cars. Looking back at some of the old issues of Classic American you can see many of the cars are still holding their value; although whilst muscle car prices have rocketed, Fifties car prices have either remained static or stagnated.
Classic American has grown over the years, in every way – in pagination, circulation and frequency. We have readers from all over the world and we’ve even got a website, although for many of us it’s the magazine that’s the main event. And if, like me, you now have a bookcase groaning with almost 17 binders worth of Classic American then you’ll be looking forward to the next 200 issues as much as you did back on that summer day in 1998 when you picked up your very first copy!
