Truckin’ 93

Hey Steve, guess what I found for you in Gatlinburg?

I am all excited to see the annual gathering of my friends who make it to the annual F-100 Western Nationals, produced by Pickups Limited, Orange County. I was greeting vendors when I spotted Diane from Mid-Fifty F-100 Parts. She gave me a big hug and said, “I have something for you.” She produced this copy of Truckin’ Magazine from 1993. “Steve, take a look at your Editorial photo and see what you looked like in 1993,” she exclaimed. I was speechless as I viewed the cover, and turned to the Editorial page. Wow. Time flies.

I then began to flip pages and told Diane there was a ton of unique features to this particular issue, and I remember it well. I then pointed out that my son Cory is on this cover. We had come up with the idea of someone removing a car cover to reveal the first customized 1994 Chevy S-10. We got it as a project just days before the photo shoot, dropped the suspension, added billet wheels and some quick graphics. Being first to show off the new body style of the ’94 Chevy S-10 was a sure way to enhanced magazine newsstand sales and we wanted to beat Sport Truck to the punch. Tiffany Richardson is the eye candy.

This issue was packed with features and tech articles which made it a fat 268 pages. The staff ensured you got your money’s worth even with the $3.50 cover price.

I was proud of the monthly innovations we came up with, such as a Trosley piece of art- work as the lead for a Bobco suspension article. What once was weak turned into one of the strongest and well read articles within the pages of this issue.

To this day I have magazine readers ask me how I was able to produce a magazine of the caliber month after month. My answer is to surround yourself with talent. I was lucky enough to have Brian McCormick, Courtney Halowell, Mike Shartsis, Bill Blankenship, Bill Turner and others on staff. These loyal, dyed-in- the-wool creative minds discovered, photographed and documented cutting-edge material better than anyone before them had achieved. Will Willis even penned a special classic Ford column in this very issue!

Seventeen features were packed within this magazine including an interview with Stadium Driver, Danny Thompson, Steve Millen’s very own custom Suburban, first look at a rear Limo Window for pickups, and eight more tech articles. Not done yet. We also packed in coverage of five nation-wide events including the 7 th Annual California Truck Jamboree, Carlisle All-Truck Nationals, Texas Heat Wave, Battle of Bull Run and coverage of the Southern Mini-Truck Nationals.

Each of these issues of Truckin’ are like thumbing my high school yearbooks. Sure was fun to take a nostalgic peak into the past years of my publishing career, all those fun years and cultivating friendships that will last forever.Thanks Diane for this glimpse into a great time in my life.