Kit Car magazine out of business?

[767Jockey]

I don't follow things like this very closely, so it probably is common knowledge and I missed it. However on the thread about Enzo from Finishline, someone wrote a post and signed it "Editor - the now defunct Kit Car magazine." Am I the only one that didn't hear about this?

[Clois Harlan]

No, I found out a few weeks ago. I was supposed to write a series of articles on the B&B Daytona Coupe and as I was submitting them I heard that Bryan was no longer with Kit Car and that Eric Geisert was writting the final edition that will be distributed as March 2009 issue. The last issue will feature some of the cars from Run N Gun and one of our manufacturers signature cars on the cover. Now we only have Kit Car Builder to represent our hobby.

Clois

[Maurice Johnson]

This news p-sses me right off. On 11/11 they processed my international customer, 18 month subscription and took $61.94 off my credit card. I guess I can write that off!!!
Your own fleas bite the hardest.
Clois, when did you know your deal was off?

[AutoSmith]

To clarify, I had submitted two-thirds of the March issue of KIT CAR the day I was laid off. Unfortunately, 100+ other Source Interlink Media employees were also laid off the same day, and three other automotive enthusiast magazines also ceased production. Eric Geisert finished up the the production of the March '09 KIT CAR.

These are indeed challenging economic times. Let's all hope the global economy improves soon.

[SSSammy]

NOOOOOOO!!! Brian covered us so thoroughly, attended our events, everybody in the hobby knows him .. it is *our* mag .. and me paid up through Jul 2010

RIP KCM

Sam

[Clois Harlan]

I found out indirectly about two weeks ago from Fran Hall who had been told by Eric because he was preparing the last issue.

Bryan did an excellent job on the previous Run n Guns and he was always receptive to new idea's for our hobby. I hope he lands somewhere where he can put his automotive eye to good use. Bryan if you read this I want to thank you for all you have done for us in the Cobra business and all the other people that would anxiously await the next issue of Kit Car. Best wishes with your future endeavors and I hope they come along sooner than later.

Clois Harlan

[LREYBURN]

Craaaaap! Brian was our man. What a bummer. I also had a paid up two year subscription. Who is going to be the RnG media outlet for 2009? Hey! Let's get SPEED CHANNEL. Our activities are only missing one element...Thursday Night R'NG Bash: scantly clad Run'NGun Chicks, rock music, soap suds, and Jay, Clois, Dean & Hersch acting as MC's!

[Dwight]

I'm paid thru Sept 09

Dwight

[Dirty Harry]

I just renewed for 2 more years. What a bummer. I enjoyed the mag and even showed up in it once. Guess our money's gone, huh?

[63mercury]

What a bummer, I'm paid thru Sept 2010, looks like someones getting money for nothing........................

[WildBill3]

Wow a great mag. for the hobby and Brian was a realy great guy I pray he ends up were thers plenty of work for such a Quality guy 2 thumbs up for him,sad to see...

[jshel1]

Originally Posted by LREYBURN

Craaaaap! Brian was our man. What a bummer. I also had a paid up two year subscription. Who is going to be the RnG media outlet for 2009? Hey! Let's get SPEED CHANNEL. Our activities are only missing one element...Thursday Night R'NG Bash: scantly clad Run'NGun Chicks, rock music, soap suds, and Jay, Clois, Dean & Hersch acting as MC's!

... and Rich Christensen gets a swirley.

[jwd]

They sent me a notice to renew last month and I decided not to. Guess that was a smart move on my part.

[Roscoe]

So can I now sell my back issues on Ebay?? Or should I wait??

[treblig]

Does this mean that my four boxes of Kit Car mag. are priceless!! Ebay?

[N2VENOM]

What can I say? Brian is a friend, stud journalist and all around great guy. What a drag. This is a huge loss for our hobby. I only hope we finally hit bottom. How many more hits can the industry take? I am thinking of starting an e-magazine for cobra enthusiast. No subscription fees. No politics. Just old fashioned stories and articles by cobra lovers for cobra lovers. All we need is a few volunteers. I can handle the site. Any thoughts?

Brian, hang in there. We are all thinking of you. Peace, Darren

[john chesnut]

I'm sorry to see Kit Car go away. I have been building my cars for about 7 years. During that time they have been very good to me and ran several stories about my Dragons. Thank you very much! Good luck to you Bryan.
However, it seems that our hobby is shrinking. I believe that 7 years ago there were about 100,000 copies of each issue spoken for. I hear that it is down to about 25,000 per issue. If we want our passion and hobby to continue we need to attract new and dare I say, younger enthusiasts. The decline started during great economic times so we can't blame it on the current economy. I wouldnt be suprised if the Carlise Kit Car show goes away too. It appears to me that attendance is down every year.
We need to make Run n Gun THE event for Kit Cars!!!!!
Thank fully we still have one publication that covers our niche of cars. Kit Car Builder magazine is a dedicated publication run by long time specialty car supporters Jim Youngs and Steve Temple. This is not just a business for them but it's a passion. Both of them have been involved with our hobby for a long time. We need to rally around Jim and Steve and support them by buying subscriptions if we want a national voice. Let them know what you would like to see in their mag and lets see if they would be willing to cover Run n Gun. I like the idea of contacting Speed Channel too.
John

[decooney]

As I expressed with Brian on a few different occassions over the years they covered WSCB, he and his crew did a great job on the front end articles, then those poor guys had to deal with a TERRIBLE distribution on the back end side of their business. Seems to me they never had a chance no matter how good of a job they did on the articles.

I can't begin to tell you how many people contacted me looking to find a copy of the issues with the Bash in it in 06,07,08, looking at varous books stores and news stands where it would supposedly be. Nope. It would either never show up or they'd put so few copies out what they had would be gone. Over three different years, first hand I must have went to 10 different places in our area looking for copies at the places they were suppose to be at to hardly find any copies or none in many cases.

Then, when I called their backorder business division and ORDERED 90 copies (yes 90) back-issues they charged me and never sent the damn things so I had to dispute it and finally got the charge reversed by my bank. Finally, still needing a few copies after contacting Brian he did me a favor and had to go get some out of his own private stash to send me a few one year. It was clear Brian and crew were doing their job, but things were falling apart somewhere down the line. They can't blame the people that wrote the articles, that's for sure.

The bottom line is you can't sell what you don't make available and accessible for people to buy.

[snakebitekit]

If you paid for your subscriptions with your cedit card call them, chances are you will receive a refund, it worked with the airline reservations to Hawaii when the airline went BK.

snakebitekit

[tool time George]

Ok I feel like a total idiot now.I haven't bought a kit car mag since 2006. My ex wife through out my entire collection (huge) I'd been collecting since 1977.
i'm very sorry to hear Kitcar is ending.
Can someone tell me what happened to all the others that were published.
KitCar illustrated?
Peterson's KitCar?
primedia KitCar?
And now all there is is Kit Car Builder? Man i need to be brought up to speed.
Kit