The Ultimate Colector-Car Journal Focusing on Automotive History, Design, Style, Restoration, Literature, and Fascinating Human-Interest stories
Alfa Romeo and AMC. Buick and Bugatti. Chrysler and Citroen. Delahaye and Dodge. Edsel and Elva. Fiat and Ford…… Variety is the spice of life no doubt because diversity makes our time on earth so entertaining and interesting. Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Crankshaft magazine.
Our primary focus is not only collector cars but creating automotive magazines that are worth reading. Be it a convertible or a business coupe, four-door sedan or station wagon, Full Classics or a six-cylinder-powered compact, a coachbuilt classic or mass-produced sports cars, muscle cars and even historic competition cars, expect to read about them in Crankshaft.
We don’t care less if a car is worth 35-million or $3,500, if we like it and find it interesting, we’ll write about it. Elitism and snobbery are words not in our vocabulary. We appreciate and admire all cars regardless of their value. We can look at a Cosworth Vega and a Bugeye Sprite with the same admiration bestowed on a Cord 810 or a Figoni et Falaschi-bodied Talbot-Lago T150C SS. It’s all about the car: its design, its style, its engineering. Not how much it’s worth, or its place in the collector-car hierarchy.
Crankshaft publishes thoughtful, authoritative and entertaining content that hardcore car enthusiasts relish reading. No fluff or boring content added just to fill pages, and no unethical quid pro quo articles to appease advertisers. Not happening folks. We’re only interested in providing the collector-car community with insightful and engaging stories about impressive automobiles that appeal to our senses; the kind that will leave you wanting more. Since I entered the automotive publishing business in 1987, I have always put the interests of the readers first and foremost and will continue that practice.
It has been an incredibly long road to get to this point; a journey that started some 50 years ago as a young teenager reading Car Craft and Super Stock. Then came AutoWeek, Road & Track, Thoroughbred & Classic Cars, Automobile Quarterly and Supercar Classics having spent hours immersed in their pages while sitting in our spacious 20 x 20-foot backyard in Brooklyn.
Starting in 1998, I then spent the next 22 years working at Hemmings Motor News. Now I’ve come full circle and am publishing the magazine I’ve always dreamed of – Crankshaft is that magazine.
So why the name Crankshaft? Well, why not? We didn’t want to drive down that same old highway with roads named Antique, Classic and Vintage. Those are excellent words that best describe the types of cars we love most, but we wanted to be different. We didn’t want to be confused with any other magazine of a similar name. Besides, every car has a crankshaft, so that’s the mechanical link that ties them all together.
Of course, the real success behind every magazine are the writers who create its content. And for that I’m proud to have on board former Hemmings editor Jim Donnelly, plus Walt Gosden, Ray Bohacz, Milton Stern, David Temple, Tom Cox, and several other knowledgable historians.
The first issue of Crankshaft was published in February 2021, and since then we’ve published eight issues total. Issue #8 that’s shown below, has just been published, but it will be the last issue of the original 144-page format. Starting with the next issue, number 9, Crankshaft will expand to 224 pages in length, with the goal of being published twice a year.
Crankshaft is going to be transformed into a softcover book without any advertising. This new format will take Crankshaft out of the realm of being just another car magazine and into that of a limited production, high-quality book. Each issue will be jam packed with 18 to 20 major historic articles plus many other features you won’t find in any other publication. Most importantly, Crankshaft will be published in very limited numbers, so it will be best to reserve your copy of Issue #9 as soon as possible.
I hope you enjoy reading Crankshaft as much as we enjoy creating it; it’s a labor of love on our part, yet it’s the type of publication that the old car hobby sorely needs. Our ultimate goal is for Crankshaft to become the car magazine that is a must-read for anyone and everyone who adores and appreciates fascinating automobiles of distinction.
To subscribe to Crankshaft, or if you just want to order a single copy to see what’s it like, please go to: http://www.crankshaftmagazine.com. Thank you!
