Do you see anything wrong with this picture? How many magazines dedicated to import cars can you see on the shelf? I spot two: DSPORT and Import Tuner. While this selection may not be representative of all of the magazines available, I've noticed that over the last 10 years, the amount of magazines dedicated to import cars has been reduced significantly. Even though Super Street, Import Tuner, DSPORT and Modified are still around, I miss two in particular…
Sport Compact Car and Turbo & High Tech Performance were magazines that I always had the latest issues of back in high school (early 2000's). These two magazines were the best of the best when it came to automotive magazines. The editors produced some of the most useful how-to articles and in-depth content available at the time. In addition to having some of the best writing, they also had amazing photography. Of all of the magazines that I read, these were the only two that I can remember being able to pick up and read cover to cover.
Sport Compact Car
Every media outlet needs to find a way to differentiate themselves from everyone else. Sport Compact Car had something that not many other car magazines at the time could provide: strong technical knowledge. The editors were some of the most knowledgeable in the industry and every issue was packed with highly technical content. They were passionate about cars and this passion could be seen with their various project cars they built over the years.
Another thing that separated SCC from other magazines was that they featured cars that were attainable to the average enthusiast. It was fun to read about a built Honda S2000 because I knew that in future I could potentially have one (and I do now).
They also did something that no other media outlet had done before – they produced the Ultimate Street Car Challenge. For those of you that haven’t heard of it, it was an annual motorsports competition where the editors of SCC picked 10 of the best cars from around the country to compete in multiple performance categories. What separated this from other “racing” competitions was that as a reader you could relate to the cars in the competition. Oftentimes they were modified versions of cars that had a base price of $20,000-$30,000.
As the competitors were chosen, SCC would write a short feature on each car. This allowed you to get to know each of the competitors before they battled it out on the track. To this day, when I find old issues of SCC, I still enjoy reading about the USCC.
Turbo & High Tech Performance
As with most Honda guys in the early 2000’s, I longed for the day that I could turbocharge my LS Integra. It never happened, but a big contributor to the dream was this magazine. Turbo & High Tech Performance featured step by step articles about turbocharged cars and featured some of the craziest boosted cars in the country.
Like SCC, the quality of the technical articles in the pages of Turbo rivaled some books. Before the Internet was accessible to everyone, the build and project articles taught fundamentals that could be applied to any car. It didn’t matter if you drove a Honda Civic or a Mazda Miata, you could still learn something from the magazine. Although I never had a subscription to Turbo, I bought issues in the newsstands frequently.
In the last few years of their run, many subscribers saw a good portion of their content reduced and replaced with advertisements. This effectively killed the magazine slowly as people stopped renewing their subscriptions. This was an unfortunate end to a magazine that was one of the better ones back in the day.
Their Demise
Sport Compact Car was in existence for 20 years and Turbo & High Tech Performance was printed for 23 years before Source Interlink pulled the plug on them both. Many people speculate that the rise of the internet took its toll on these publications. As with anything, as technology shifts and methods of consuming content change, there are some casualties.
This theory makes sense. Today it’s easier for an enthusiast to find information online than it was 10 years ago. It’s also cheaper. Instead of forking over $5-$10 for the latest issue of a magazine that might contain an article that pertains to their particular car, they can do a quick Google search and find the exact answer they are looking for in a matter of minutes.
Despite the internet being more prevalent nowadays, I think the end of Sport Compact Car was premature. The magazines that we are left with don’t compare. What made Sport Compact Car and Turbo special was the quality technical content they produced. Even though I’m sure new import car magazines sell well, it’s only a matter of time before older readers grow tired of seeing import models on every other page. In my opinion, without the differentiating factor of high quality technical content, electronic media will continue to steal market share from print media.
While we may never know the real reason why SCC and Turbo were scrapped in favor of other magazines, there are online alternatives. A member on ImportMeet.com recommended MotoIQ.com about a year ago. Two of the main editors of SCC (Mike Kojima and Dave Coleman) started the website and it’s similar in style to SCC. If you miss technical writing as much as I do you should definitely check out MotoIQ.com.
Do you miss either of these magazines? Do you miss high quality technical content in magazines? Leave us a comment below and let us know what you think.
[Sources: Autoblog, Turbo & High Tech Performance]
11 Comments
Project Car magazine also has a lot of technical info available for sport compact cars, and is a great resource, albeit is not nearly as fun to read cover to cover as say, Honda Tuning in my opinion =)
I love DSport. Those guys put out great information, actually DO the tech. Granted although their feature cars are usually something I will probably never dream to afford, they have their own projects and actually do test & tunes for products made for everyday cars. Plus calenders of scantily clad women? DSport has been my go to choice for the past few years to be honest.
I’ve never really looked into DSport that much. Even though I shouldn’t I tend to judge magazines by their cover. I’ll be sure to pick up an issue the next time I’m at the store.
turbo was a really great magazine…i wish it was still around.
This epidemic is wide spread, since my background is mostly in domestic, I cant really comment on the import stuff.
I quit my subscription to Car Craft many years ago when one of the editors left. They had really detailed budget engine builds complete with part numbers and costs. It was a pleasure to read and was centered around what the normal guy at home could do with a modest budget and basic hand tools.
While I still have a subscription to Muscle Mustangs and Fast Fords, I feel that they have been more centered around the guy that buys parts and takes it to a shop and pays someone to put them on. They use to have crazy builds that would blow your mind!! I remember one when they put a twin turbo kit on a 03/04 Cobra and for kicks they left the factory supercharger in place. They wanted to see how far they could push the factory long block and had to stop at something like like 1,100whp. The bushings on the independent rear suspension where flexing so much on the dyno it was rubbing the tire on the front of the wheel well.
Regardless the internet age is killing magazines, it cost money to print and mail all those copy’s, and like Matt said, you can find so much by just doing a quick Google search.
Great comment. I miss those style of builds the most. While you can find them on Google, they take more effort to find the epic build threads.
BTW, I want to borrow that issue where they twin turbocharged the Cobra. That sounds nuts!
SCC used to be my favorite mag too, so much tech in there. I dont know if I ever really would have gotten as hands on as I do building cars if it wasnt for the amount of knowledge ive absorbed from that magazine and the help of friends of course. I also actually felt like I was getting my moneys worth out of them just for the plain fact that every issue was the size of a book.
now days i honestly just read up online, but when i want a good physical copy. Dsport and Project Car are great. probs getting subscriptions to them in Feb.
SCC was my favorite magazine of all time. It guided me through two different motor setups on my 240sx and taught me things that no other magazine would even think to include. I tried Dsport for awhile, but too many hondas for my taste and not enough technical info.
SCC was by far my favorite magazing, I miss it dearly, a close second for me is grassroots motorsports, while the primary focus is racing the technical information there is excellent and the articles usually talk about things that are in a realistic budget. Plus they send you 2 free months if you sign up on the website.
SCC shot themselves in the foot when they made the choice to bash on their advertisers. They did it in the name of performance, showing how actual performance mods made the car faster than cosmetic mods, but at the end of the day, they lost advertisers.