Custom Rodder Year 1981 Magazine Back Issues

Custom Rodder was an East coast, trade-sized magazine published by Irwin Stein and his Magnum Publications organization. The first use of the title was in May, 1957. It was a 68 page magazine and had good rod & custom content. Published monthly in the beginning, the publishers switched to every other month starting in March, 1963 at the same time they went to a larger format. The magazine was re-titled to Rodder & Super Stock in March, 1965. Other publications also used this same title. The second generation was published from 1979 to 1983 as a muscle and performance car magazine. And then in the Fall, 1991 Custom Rodder The Trendsetter was a hot rod magazine started by Tom McMullen with editor Jerry Weesner. Popular Cars magazine was published monthly by McMullen Publishing. It was a re-titling of Custom Rodder (Second Generation). The content focused on modern (post-1948) factory cars and street performance. It included hot-to's and the latest technology tips. It was folded into Super Street Machines in 1989. PUBLICATION DATA: Custom Rodder had three years of publisher provided print volume data from 1961 through 1965. Annual print production started at 203,500 and grew to 305,100 in 1963. But the publisher submitted exagerated data for 1964 and 1965 of 1,543,500 issues. These were likely "juiced" so the magazine appeared bigger than the closest competitor, Hot Rod. Rodder and Super Stock was a re-titling of Custom Rodder magazine. It was an East coast, bi-monthly, full-format magazine published by Irwin Stein and Magnum Publications organization. Irwin Stein was well known as a New York publisher and owner of Lancer Books. The editorial director was Martyn L. Schorr. The first issue was in March, 1965, and the last known publishing date was January, 1974. Content was mostly focused on drag racing. Note that the volume and series numbering continued from Custom Rodder at volume 14 and continued through volume 19. Then for some unknown reason, the numbering was re-started at volume 6 in March, 1971. This appears to have been due to a change in ownership. In March, 1974 the name changed again when it was re-titled as Chevy Action. Chevy Action was a re-titling of Rodder and Super Stock magazine. Content was focused on Chevrolet street and drag cars. Numbering continued from Rodder and Super Stock. OWNERSHIP: The title name was changed to Chevy Action with the March, 1974 issue. After the May, 1974 issue, ownership shifted from Magnum-Royal Publications to Popular Publications Inc. The new publisher was Harry Egner, but the editorial director remained Martyn Schorr.