Street Rodder originally hired me as photographer, not because of my depth of hot rodding knowledge (I couldn't tell a Model A from a Deuce at the time). But, over the years, I learned about the industry and helped both it and the magazine grow-two things I want to do with the replicar industry, too. I also built an original steel Model A roadster through the magazine so I could learn what it took to put one together. It was called the California Spyder, and it set a record at the Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale when I sold it in 2001. I've also hung out with some Pantera and Ferrari folks, and have a strong interest in learning more about exotics such as Oscas, Siatas, Cisitalias, Fiats, Bugattis and their heritage. For the past 6 years I've attended the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, checking out the early '50s Italian coachbuilt cars (my favorite era) as well as the historic races at Laguna Seca. My favorite car, bar none? A '50 Abarth 205 Vignale Berlinetta (there were only three made, but you can find a picture of it on the Web). Lest you think its only high-brow exotica for me, I'll also confess to attending the dry lakes meets and Bonneville Time Trials whenever I can, as there's nothing like the sound of a flathead-powered streamliner going through the traps at nearly 200-mph to give you goosebumps!
Currently I own 10 vehicles (a '65 Barracuda, a '32 Ford roadster, a '32 Ford three-window, a '29 Ford pickup, a '69 Dodge truck, an all aluminum '47 UPS delivery van, a '59 Karmann Ghia, a Kyote dune buggy, a '63 Galaxie, and my daily driver; an '04 Scion xB) and I'm working on building a 3,200 square foot garage to house them. (In the future we'll discuss my 10-car theory that every car enthusiast should know). At 42 years of age, I still want to build my own vehicle from scratch, and having already built my own English wheel and obtained shears, breaks, welders, and tube bending machines, I hope to do just that someday.
I've already begun to meet people in the replicar industry, both manufacturers and car owners, and my learning curve will be strictly vertical for awhile. But, after 15 years of producing material for automotive publications, I hope I'll be able to give KIT CAR's readers what they want. (You'll have to let me know on that one). If you're having a hard time finding KIT CAR on the newsstand, then call (800) 800-5227 to subscribe and make it easy on yourself. And if you also happen to notice a different magazine cover than the one you thought you just saw, it might be because we're producing two different covers for each issue: one cover that goes to the subscribers, and another for the newsstand issues (the easiest way to know which is which is the subscriber issue will always have a big white box on it in the lower right-hand corner for the mailing label). If you want to get the other version of KIT CAR for your collection after it has been published, then call our back issues department at (866) 601-5199.
I'm not going to make any bold predictions about the future of KIT CAR, but my vision of what I think KIT CAR should be is literally in your hands. Let me know if you do or don't like the new look, and check the next few issues to evaluate the magazine's direction. As the editor, I'd like to hear from anybody that has an opinion that isn't afraid of sharing it, from advertisers to manufacturers, from the guy with three cars going together in his garage to the one who would like to have just one someday. After all, you can't progress without learning from your past. You can contact me by e-mail at eric.geisert@primedia.com (and be sure to put something about KIT CAR in the subject line-otherwise I'll think it's another spam advertisement for Xanax or Valium!).
And, by the way, if you were wondering what the column title "In The Lupe" means, a lupe (pronounced loop) is a German word for magnifying glass-it's the tool we use to check the sharpness of photographs.Eric Geisert