Cheers to 50 Years

Back in 1971, Chet Krause, of Iola, Wis., wished to diversify his publishing company after a downturn in the coin-collecting hobby jeopardized his coin magazine business and the livelihood of himself and his employees. Since he enjoyed old cars (he collected Model T Fords), Chet decided Krause Publications needed a car magazine. With that, he founded, the first successful newspaper dedicated to the car-collecting hobby. After hiring Dave Brownell as editor, he set to work creating the publication. A pilot issue with humorous “faux” classified ads was created to get attention, then an official first issue (complete with legitimate ads) was published for October 1971. To give his new publication traction, Krause handed issues out to people walking between fields at the AACA Fall Hershey meet in Hershey, Pa. He also bought and incorporated its mailing list into that of .