OVERVIEW: Custom Rodder was an East coast, trade-sized magazine published by Irwin Stein and his Magnum Publications
organization. The first use of the title was in May, 1957. It was a 68 page magazine and had good rod
& custom content. Published monthly in the beginning, the publishers switched to every other month starting in March, 1963 at the
same time they went to a larger format. The magazine was re-titled to Rodder & Super Stock in March, 1965.
Other publications also used this same title. The second iteration was published
from 1979 to 1983 as a muscle and performance car magazine. And then in the Fall, 1991
Custom Rodder The Trendsetter was a custom car magazine started by Tom McMullen with editor Jerry Weesner.
OWNERSHIP:
Irwin Stein owned Magnum Publications and was well known as a New York publisher and owner of Lancer Books. Larry T. Shaw, the editor, had
been a science fiction writer.
The table of contents, if available, can be seen by clicking on the icon.
PUBLICATION DATA: Custom Rodder had three years of publisher provided print volume
data from 1961 through 1965. Annual print production started at 203,500 and grew to 305,100 in 1963. But the publisher submitted exagerated data
for 1964 and 1965 of 1,543,500 issues. These were likely "juiced" so the magazine appeared bigger than the closest competitor,
Hot Rod.
CONTENT COMPLETENESS:
A total of 80 issues were printed from May, 1957 through January, 1965. All cover images are complete, and we are still collecting tables of contents pages.