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Who Are We?
Jim, 06 August 2007 Kit Car Builder magazine was started in 2002 to fill a need in the kit and specialty car business left vacant when a large publishing company effectively killed a venerable kit car magazine title, leaving only one magazine to report on this exciting hobby. Since that humble beginning Kit Car Builder has grown to become the leading kit and specialty car magazine and has done so by offering quality across the board -- from the paper we use to the photography and knowledgeable, experienced writing we publish in every issue. Every issue of Kit Car Builder magazine is chocked full of feature cars, event coverage, how-to stories, tech features, engine tech, news, calendar of events and so much more.
Kit Car Builder magazine was started by kit car industry veteran and gearhead, Jim Youngs. Jim had served a five-year stint as Editor of Petersen's Kit Car magazine and had freelanced for that publication for five years prior to taking its helm. He has personally built numerous specialty cars including a Cobra replica, '32 Ford Hiboy roadster, Porsche Speedster replica, Porsche 718 RSK Spyder replica, Rodster Sedan Delivery rebody, Jovi SL600 Mercedes replica and several others and has assisted on numerous other builds. Youngs has spent his whole journalism career spanning over 30 years, in the special interest magazine business covering all sorts of motorsports including cars, trucks, personal watercraft, boats, ATVs, and motorcycles. He has written and phographed for many leading magazines including, Hot Rod, Popular Mechanics, Newsweek, Boating, Consumer's Digest, and many more.
Jim's wife, Carolyn Youngs, affectionately known around here as QueenBee, will tell you that she was dragged kicking and screaming into Kit Car Builder management, mostly to protect the investment. Carolyn serves as KCB's Publisher and handles all the day-to-day business activities of a busy publishing company in addition to writing a popular column in every issue of the magazine. Carolyn's background is in business having served most of her first career as an executive for a large international energy company. She is also involved in a third career as a real estate broker with what little time is left over.
A major key to our success was hooking up with old buddy, Steve Temple, who serves as Kit Car Builder's Marketing Director. Steve is also a veteran of Petersen's Kit Car magazine editorship, having served there for over five years prior to Youngs taking his job in 1996. After KC, Steve sorta left the kit car world to take a sales and marketing position with 'ol Carroll Shelby himself, at Shelby American in Las Vegas. He's also fond of saying that the kit car business is kinda like the Hotel California, where "you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave." Steve wears a lot of hats around here as he additionally contributes great photos and stories to our editorial package and consults on the design and content of the magazine.
We are additionally blessed with a cadre of regular freelance writers and photographers who not only report on all the cool stuff that happens in this business, but give Kit Car Builder a unique, balanced and experienced voice instead of just one novice guy's view of what's happening. All of the guys who contribute to Kit Car Builder are car-builders and have been covering this hobby for a long, long time.
Dan Burrill, stationed in Portland, Oregon not only covers events and feature cars in the Pacific Northwest, but is continually working on project cars and How-To stories for us. He has built numerous kit cars and is continually dragging home new projects from swap meets, auctions or ebay.
Joe Greeves holds down editorial duties in the Southeast, from his St. Augustine, FL home base. Joe has built a very special Super Stepside pickup truck based on a Caprice sedan, a vehicle that has been featured in more than just Kit Car Builder magazine and has even been on tour with the World of Wheels shows. Joe has been covering the specialty car scene for more than 30 years and has been published in numerous magazines.
The guru of kit cars, Harold Pace, also writes regularly for Kit Car Builder and has authored two resource books that we publish as well as a couple of other specialty car books. Harold is currently working on a Devin SS kit from the '60s that was never built and a T-bucket street rod that will surely see some track time.
Iain Ayre is our resident foreign correspondent, a British ex-pat now living in Vancouver. Iain has covered the UK kit car scene for many, many years and brings a decidedly different view and writing style to the cars and projects he covers for us. Iain is also a book author who has written several tomes for Haynes, including "The Kit Car Manual." He is a car builder as well having built numerous vehicles and he's currently developing a unique Cobra replica for the U.S. market based on a Crown Victoria police interceptor platform.
We rely on Max Zimmer to give us an entertaining look at cars, or anything else he wants to write about. Max built a potent Vintage Speedsters flared-fender bathtub 356 and he's not afraid to use it. A consummate car guy and active member of the New Jersey Replicar Club, Max's view of the world is often distorted, but always enlightening.
We're also fortunate to have Dr. Kit Car onboard who answers tough technical questions, both online and in the magazine. To protect his identity so he doesn't get mobbed at car shows, we use this mugshot we thought represented what he should look like instead of professional wrench, Phil Coconis' (who writes the columns) real photo.
We're also fortunate to have kit car manufacturers John Steele of JPS Motorsports, and Henry Caroselli of Rodster Street Rods, contribute regularly to the pages of KCB. Our philosophy of providing good, hands-on kit car information is certainly helped greatly by these guys who spend lots of time in the trenches with wrenches. |
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