[tabob]

The hard to find first issue of Thunder Am Magazine. Thunder Am became HPP.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...STRK:MESELX:IT

[bossbirdta]

seller got good $$$ for that one.....

[carbking]

Like so many magazines, the first issue is NOT the rarest. Generally, second issue through the first 5 or so are much more scarce than the first. First issues are printed in a "trial" quantity, second and subsequent issues are printed based on sales.

Jon.

[Rack776]

I belive the first 2 years of Thunder Am were sold by word of mouth or
subscription cards only, no news stand sales, you had to know someone
or a car club who knew about it to get it,
this was way before the internet when your only
contact with the "rest of the car world" was magazines.

I also think there was a reprint run sometime durring the 3rd or 4th
years but judging by the number of copies for sale or people willing
to sell them they are pretty rare.

This would be a fun discussion in the lobby, might get some feedback
from some others who know the production numbers.

I bought a BIG box of 80s HPP from Nunzi Romano at the pontiac show in Englishtown
10-15 years ago, the fact the greasy finger prints on them are Nunzi's is cool with me.

I'm lucky to have a full set from 79-present but several issues are worn out / torn.
Its a trick to find nicer ones even the 80s -90s copies are getting tough
to find with out paying a small fortune.

[2manyT/A'S]

The first 2 years (12 issues) was subscription only,as I recall. It was bi-monthly for about the first 10 years.

I think it was initially advertised in Hemmings & it sure was exciting to get that first copy in the mail.( I think I actually still have the original mailing envelopes for the first 12 issues)

That's one of this winters projects,to inventory/organize my T/A & HPP mags & confirm that it IS a complete set.

[poncho-mike]

I started subscribing to Thunder Am back when I was in college. At the time I had a 1967 Firebird 400 4-spd that I had made lots of modifications to. I parked it around 1979 due to the cost of gas, it was definitely a gas guzzler. I had swapped in a 455HO w/M22 and a 12-bolt 3.73 limited slip a few years earlier. My Firebird was inoperable for several months when I learned the hard way that D-port headers won't fit a round port engine. I needed transportation, so I bought a motorcycle (a Suzuki GT550), which became my full-time transportation for a couple of years.

When Thunder Am became HPP, I continued my subscription until just a few years before HPP shut down. HPP delivery had become very erratic in the last few years before shutting down, but missing issues were mailed out by the publisher initially. I missed one magazine and called the publisher, who told me they had no replacements. I was able to find the missing issue at a book store, so the streak continued. A few months later, another issue of HP never arrived. Unfortunately, I was really busy and didn't immediately notice it had not arrived. When I called the publisher, they said they had no replacements, but by this time I couldn't find one in the store. My subscription renewal date was only a few months away, so I didn't bother to renew.

I would think if you had a continuous subscriber for close to 35 years that usually renewed for three years at a time, you'd make an effort to keep them happy. That wasn't the case. I would love to know why they didn't keep enough magazines on hand to fulfill all of their subscribers, but I could only assume they felt it more important to get the magazines to the bookstores.