When Did Street Machine Magazine Die:(

[joloke08]

Forgive me if this has already been covered but when did Street Machine Magazine publish its last ever issue?

I believe Australia still have their own version but I'm talking about the UK one

I was asking my Mum to buy me that Mag right from the first Issue back in 79 when i was just 7

And i bought it up until the early 90,s when it started to loose its appeal as a Quality Mag

A little while ago i read on here of its demise but i wondered what date the very last issue was?

i know it was still around a few years ago cuz i spied it in Borders (before they went belly up )
and it was just about hanging on in there,i picked up a copy was gunna buy it until i saw how thin it was i wondered where the rest was?

Anyway RIP Street Machine and thanks for being there through my childhood and all those Fabulous Feature Cars too ;D

[e21meister]

It didn't strictly die; it did a 'Hot car'-style transformation (that magazine changed into Performance Car), and morphed into American Car World over the period of about a year until they announced the name change. I think the last issue was about May 2003. To be Honest, it had been dying on it's a feet for a few years before that, ironically as Custom car was back in the ascendancy.
Gone, but definitely not forgotten.

[joloke08]

i thought it was after 2003 because the issue i picked up in Borders was at least 2007 possibly 2008?

Either way it was going pants

I recognise both your banner and Avatar from Early issues trying to remember what they were wasnt it down at the club or scene or something?

Great Ray Mumford artwork

[e21meister]

Aug 16, 2010 19:34:13 GMT joloke08 said:

I thought it was after 2003 because the issue I picked up in Borders was at least 2007 possibly 2008?

Either way it was going pants

I recognise both your banner and Avatar from Early issues trying to remember what they were wasnt it down at the club or scene or something?

Great Ray Mumford artwork

[akku]

It had issues with the name. Another company wanted the name back. So they had 6 months notice or something so they resurrected the old "American Car World" name and went with a morph over, apparently issues with a yank car on the cover sold twice as many as ones without so the sales led them to be a US car in UK pub.

[e21meister]

So why doesn't this 'other' company relaunch it, sort of a cross between R*tro Cars (which ironically seems to be chasing the classic car readership of late, so maybe not) and Custom Car, surely the market is big enough to accommodate another niche mag. Back in it's heyday, SM had a circulation of 128,000 issues A MONTH (on a par with CAR magazine at the time I believe). As a comparison the top car mag now as far as units shifted a month is Top Gear, which sells about 180,000 issues a month, but that of course has a TV programme to sell it, so to speak. RC sells about 40,000 issues a month, but it's sales are apparantly falling.
I take it the company with the rights to the name is the one who bought out the original publishers - Business Publications (possibly EMAP now?)

[joloke08]

So it was down at the Club my memory aint that bad ;D
I still saw Street Machine in at least 2007 so if it dissapered in 2003 somebody must of resurected it for a while?

I think the publishers are still going so i might just contact them for the definative answer

Those old early issues were the best though 79-83 in 84 it had a revamp i remember they used to give away stickers on the cover of the early ones in the first style typeface that were all glitery ;D

[Andy Camaro]

i don't know if it was in SM or CC but a guy i used to work with had a feature car of a red corvair that was sectioned chopped and channeled.

sorry for the hijack but any one got the article at all? cant remember what year it was though it did have a black roof may have been vinal?

[joloke08]

By the way which magazine did link house publish? Was it Custom Car or Street Machine? Just a publishers name in my head from way back when but cant remember which mag they published?

[akku]

Link House did CC for a while.

EMAP own the Street Machine name and are not interested in publishing a niche car mag of that title and are not interested in anyone else doing so. Thats how come they took the name back off the company who was doing Street Machine, they had a licence to use the name but EMAP made it clear they weren't going to renew it.

Or maybe only at some insane price.

There are folks on here who know more of this than I.

I understand the move from Street Machine to ACW was done with heavy heart and only after all possible avenues had been explored with the title owner.

[Stiff]

I used to buy Street Machine for years but when it changed to ACW it kinda lost it. I bought it for a while longer bit it didn't have that 'can't wait for the next issue' buzz about it. Shame. It was a quality mag of it's day. Not qiute the same calibre of CC, but good non the less.

[BiAS]

Aug 16, 2010 20:13:31 GMT @e21meister said:

Back in it's heyday, SM had a circulation of 128,000 issues A MONTH (on a par with CAR magazine at the time I believe)

I may be entirely wrong but isn't the motoring magazine sector shrinking now, mainly due to the popularity of the wibbly wobbly web?

That's where the direct competition must be surely? I know I don't buy anywhere near as many car mags as I used to, and that's almost entirely down to places like this and the constant stream of oofs and back stories it supplies.

[skinley]

Aug 16, 2010 18:47:15 GMT joloke08 said:

I was asking my Mum to buy me that Mag right from the first Issue back in 79 when I was just 7

Same here.

Aug 16, 2010 18:47:15 GMT joloke08 said:

And I bought it up until the early 90,s when it started to loose its appeal as a Quality Mag

Same here.

Aug 16, 2010 18:47:15 GMT joloke08 said:

A little while ago I read on here of its demise but I wondered what date the very last issue was?

Same here.

[e21meister]

Aug 16, 2010 21:32:04 GMT Stiff said:

Not qiute the same calibre of CC, but good non the less.

'Kin 'Ell, you would say that, Mr Grumlin lover. The strange thing is, you still get references to SM in CC now (or should that be Slot Machine, Fruit Machine or one of the many twists they gave the name), almost like a mark of respect for a fallen adversary.

[sheffieldcortinacentre]

i've every issue of street machine allways prefered it over custard cart.

must be early 00's

[bigkris]

Yay an excuse to brag about my dads pop being featured and featuring him and the car on the cover too (well done dad!)



I miss SM has good memories for me too

[stealthstylz]

When it turned into American Car World it wasn't as good, but from about 1996 up till then it was my favourite mag loads of variety featured.

Matt

[keithyboy]

I read SM avidly from about 1982 until about the mid-90s when it seemed to go off the boil. I picked it up again for a while in about 2000 but then it started to morph into ACW and I lost interest a bit.

I used to read CC too but it always seemed a bit smug and self-satisfied when Keith Seume was editor.

[kapri]

A car that I'd built for someone ( A candy red Daimler V8 powered Hunter )was meant to be featured in the first issue , the owner got himself into a post of bother so wasn't around whe the photoshoot needed to be done.

ACW has now in turn beem sold on by CPH Publishing ( which is owned by Clive Househam that used to be editor of Street machine ) , that how come CPH rented it from EMAP.

[retroturbo]

Yes, EMAP/Bauer (not sure that’s the correct spelling of the new owner) wanted the name back so that was the end of Street Machine. Same with Classic Car Weekly I think as Kelsey had that on licence on too, if I remember rightly.

Being honest though, Street Machine had gone down the pan a bit and having grown up with the magazine it was quite a sad state of affairs. Think ‘Restoring Classic Cars’ then got my couple of quid when I gave up on it along with Your Classic and Popular Classics. Then EMAP came out with Max Power and Revs… Don’t knock ‘em, because when Max Power was released it was absolutely bang on the money and a masterpiece at reading the market…

As someone said, mag sales have declined massively and if RC is selling anywhere near 20k, let alone 40k as mentioned elsewhere, then I’d be very surprised. I’d be happy to be proved otherwise though!