50 Years of Rod & Custom is a new 228-page hardbound full-color book from the publisher of The Rodder's Journal with text by automotive illustrator and hot rodding historian Thom Taylor. The collaboration between The Rodder's Journal, Rod & Custom's current publisher and Taylor results in a must-have collectable book tracing the lineage of Rod & Custom magazine which was first published in May 1953.
Featuring exclusive never-before-seen photography and outtakes from the original R&C photo archives, 50 Years focuses on the automobiles and people that made up the magazine's 50-year existence and carved the hot rodding niche into the fabric of American popular culture.
Thom Taylor as well as staff at The Rodder's Journal literally spent years researching the information contained in 50 Years of Rod & Custom. Pound for pound, it's the original PPC archival photography and highly detailed text and captions that set 50 Years apart from other historical hot rodding books. The result is meticulously prepared material enhancing the book's accuracy and appeal to devoted hot rod historians.
Over its half-century, Rod & Custom saw five different owners and veered off into a number of crazy editorial directions. It has been published as a monthly, a bimonthly, an annual, and twice as a quarterly; in small digest format for its first few years and then into standard magazine dimensions. Though its main emphasis has always been on hot rods and custom cars, it has trekked down many editorially diverse paths to include dune buggies, go-karts, mini-bikes, slot cars, plastic model cars, and more. And yet, as meandering as its road trip has been Rod & Custom continues to maintain a hardcore following of street-driven hot rod and custom car enthusiasts.
50 Years of Rod & Custom is available through The Rodder's Journal and its dealers. The book sells for $39.95 and is shipped to order. Call them at (650) 246-8920 or toll free within the U.S. at (800) 750-9550. Or visit them online www.roddersjournal.com to order your copy of 50 Years of Rod & Custom today!