Car and Driver

Car and Driver (CD or C/D) is an American automotive enthusiast magazine. Its total circulation is 1.23 million.[2] It is owned by Hearst Magazines, who purchased prior owner Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S. in 2011. It was founded as Sports Cars Illustrated. [3] Originally headquartered in New York City, the magazine has been based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, for many years.

Car and Driver
Car and Driver, September 2009
CategoriesAutomobile
FrequencyMonthly
PublisherHearst Communications
Total circulation
(2016)
1,204,692[1]
First issueJuly 1955 (1955-07) (as Sports Cars Illustrated)
CountryUnited States, Switzerland, Italy, United Kingdom, France, Spain
Based inAnn Arbor, Michigan
LanguageEnglish (USA, Middle East), Chinese (China), Portuguese (Brazil), Greek (Greece) and Spanish (Spain)
WebsiteCarandDriver.com
ISSN0008-6002

History

IssuesOwner
Ownership
Jul 1955 – Feb 1956Motor Publications
Mar 1956 – Apr 1985Ziff Davis
May 1985 – Dec 1987CBS Magazines
Jan 1988 – Apr 1988Diamandis Communications
Apr 1988 – May 2011Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S.
May 2011 – PresentHearst Communications

Car and Driver was founded as Sports Cars Illustrated in 1955.[4] In its early years, the magazine focused primarily on small, imported sports cars. In 1961, editor Karl Ludvigsen renamed the magazine Car and Driver to show a more general automotive focus.

Car and Driver once featured Bruce McCall, Jean Shepherd, Dick Smothers and Brock Yates as columnists, and P. J. O'Rourke as a frequent contributor. Former editors include William Jeanes and David E. Davis, Jr., the latter of whom led some employees to defect in 1985 to create Automobile.

Rather than electing a Car of the Year, Car and Driver publishes its top ten picks each year in its Car and Driver 10Best.

Car and Driver is home to the John Lingenfelter Memorial Trophy. This award is given annually at their Supercar Challenge.

Currently, Car and Driver is also published in Germany, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and Spain. The Spanish version just makes use of the Car and Driver name; no editorial direction is shared. China had an edition called 名车志 Car and Driver. The Middle Eastern edition is issued by ITP Publishing based in Dubai.

Editorial direction

IssuesEditor
Editors
Jul 1955 – Nov 1955George Parks
Dec 1955 – Feb 1956Arthur Kramer
Mar 1956 – Dec 1956Ken Purdy
Jan 1957 – Nov 1959John Christy
Dec 1959 – Jan 1962Karl Ludvigsen
Feb 1962 – Feb 1963William Pain
Mar 1963 – Jan 1966David E. Davis, Jr.
Feb 1966 – Oct 1966Brock Yates
Nov 1966 – Jan 1968Steve Smith
Feb 1968 – Dec 1969Leon Mandel
Jan 1970 – Mar 1971Gordon Jennings
Apr 1971 – Nov 1974Bob Brown
Dec 1974 – Sep 1976Stephan Wilkinson
Oct 1976 – Oct 1985David E. Davis, Jr.
Nov 1985 – Feb 1988Don Sherman
Mar 1988 – May 1993William Jeanes
Jun 1993 – Dec 2008Csaba Csere
Mar 2009 – April 2019Eddie Alterman
April 2019 –Sharon Silke Carty

The magazine is notable for its irreverent tone and habit of "telling it like it is," especially with regard to underperforming automobiles ("Saturn folks like to point out that the L200 has little in common with the Opel Vectra from which it borrows some platform architecture, and we have to wonder why. Could the Opel be worse?"—Feb 2003). The magazine also frequently delves into controversial issues, especially in regard to politics. The editorial slant of the magazine is decidedly pro-automobile. However, the intrusion of politics into editorial columns rarely intrudes into reviews of cars themselves or feature articles. For example, the columnists have been highly critical of SUVs on the basis that minivans or car-based utes are almost always better, more drivable choices.

The magazine was one of the first to be unabashedly critical of the American automakers. However, it has been quick to praise noteworthy efforts like the Ford Focus and Chevrolet Corvette.

The magazine has been at the center of a few controversies based on this editorial direction, including the following:

  • Their instrumented testing is extremely rigorous compared with other automotive magazines. It has twice revealed false power claims by manufacturers: Both the 1999 SVT Mustang Cobra and 2001 Mazda Miata tests showed these vehicles not producing performance equivalents to their claimed power output. In both cases, the manufacturers' claims were proved wrong, forcing buybacks and apologies.

Sometimes the magazine might go a little out of the boundaries and (in the Sept. 1990 issue of C/D on page 83) had the nerves of steel to operate an GM-EMD SD60 and saw how a locomotive was made and test one out before it was delivered to the Kansas City Southern Railway.

Car and Driver and Road & Track are sister publications at Hearst and have for many years shared the same advertising, sales, marketing, and circulation departments. However, their editorial operations are distinct and they have separate publishers. Car and Driver started to include lateral acceleration figures in their road tests decades later than Road & Track.

Website

Car and Driver operates a website that features articles (both original and from print), a blog, an automotive buyer's guide (with AccuPayment, a price-calculating tool), and a social networking site called Backfires.

Car and Driver Television

Car and Driver Television was the television counterpart that formerly aired on SpikeTV's Powerblock weekend lineup from 1999 to 2005. It was produced by RTM Productions and usually hosted by Larry Webster, one of the magazine's editors, with Csaba Csere adding occasional commentary and news.

Car and Driver computer game

In 1993, Car and Driver licensed its name for a PC game to Electronic Arts entitled Car and Driver: The Ten Best. The game was in 3D, and the courses included racing circuits, an oval track, automobile route racing with traffic, a dragstrip, and an autocross circuit.

The ten vehicles included the Porsche 959, Ferrari F40, Lotus Esprit, Eagle Talon, and the Ferrari 512.

The "Cannonball Run"

In the 1970s, to celebrate the Interstate Highway System and to protest speed limits, reporter Brock Yates and editor Steve Smith conceived the idea of an unsanctioned, informal race across the country, replicating the 53.5-hour transcontinental drive made by car and bike pilot Erwin George "Cannonball" Baker in 1933. The New York to Los Angeles Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash, later shortened to the "Cannonball Run", was staged in 1971, 1972, 1975 and 1979, with the race entries including both amateur drivers and professional racers, such as Dan Gurney (who with Brock Yates "won" the 1971 event driving a Ferrari 365 GTB/4, making the 2,860-mile journey in under 36 hours). The stunt served as the inspiration for several Hollywood movies, such as "The Gumball Rally", The Cannonball Run, Cannonball Run II, Cannonball Run III, Gone in 60 Seconds and The Fast and the Furious franchise.

See also

References

  1. "AAM: Total Circ for Consumer Magazines - 2/10/2017". Alliance for Audited Media. February 10, 2017. Archived from the original on January 23, 2017. Retrieved February 10, 2017.
  2. Circulation Trends Handbook Archived July 14, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  3. Weber, Bruce. "Gerald Roush, 68, Fount of Ferrari Knowledge - Obituary (Obit) - NYTimes.com". www.nytimes.com. Retrieved 2020-02-21.
  4. "Top 100 U.S. Magazines by Circulation" (PDF). PSA Research Center. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 15, 2016. Retrieved February 6, 2016.
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