OVERVIEW:
VW Trends was started by McMullen Publishing and Tom McMullen as the founder and publisher. Mr. McMullen published
many titles including Street Rodder, Popular Cars, and
Mustang Illustrated.
The title had an erratic beginning. It was first published as semi-annual issues in 1976 and 1977. After a two year hiatus, it came back in 1980 for 10 issues as VW Trends & Porsche Performance. The editorial director was Dick DeLoach, and Judy Cairns was the editor.
The title took another two year break, then it begin regular monthly publication in March, 1984 with volume 3 number 3. The editorial staff included Bob Clark, Larry Ramos and Michael Baranowski. All were VW diehards, and their intent was to cover street performance, vintage restorations and off-road activities. McMullen reportedly made an initial investment of $500,000 to go head-to-head with the primary competitor at the time, Dune Buggies & Hot VWs.
Besides the bikini clad women featured on almost every magazine cover, the content included feature cars, event coverage, technical how-to's, and some racing events. It also covered classic VWs plus Golfs, Rabbits, Sciroccos and kit cars.
OWNERSHIP:
Mr. Yee died in 1994, and Mr. McMullen died in a tragic accident in 1995. Primedia then acquired McMullen & Yee Publishing and created the McMullen-Argus
Publishing division.
The table of contents, if available, can be seen by clicking on the 
icon.
PUBLICATION DATA:
The publisher provided circulation data to The Standard Periodical Directory from 1988 to 2005.
In the timeframe, annual print production started at over 200,000, then slowly dropped to around 106,000 by the end of production.
CONTENT COMPLETENESS:
A total of 267 issues was printed from 1976 through March, 2005. All cover images are complete through the end of production.
INTERNET:
An internet presence was created and links added to the front covers starting in October, 1999. The site is now defunct: www.vwtrendsweb.com.