Description
Collector's Note – Why This Issue Matters
The second edition of Car Toons, published in 1960, arrives at the absolute peak of America's hot rod cultural moment. The late 1950s and early 1960s represented a golden age for automotive enthusiasm in the United States — customized cars, drag racing, and hot rod culture had moved from underground subculture to mainstream teenage obsession, generating magazines, movies, music, and, naturally, comics. Car Toons was part of that ecosystem from its very beginning, launched in 1959 by Pete Millar and the team at Petersen Publishing as a humor-focused comic magazine that treated the car culture seriously enough to parody it with genuine affection and insider knowledge. The second edition, following directly on the heels of the debut issue's success, confirmed that there was a real audience for satirical automotive storytelling done with the visual vocabulary of the hot rod world. Collectors building out their 1960 magazine and comic archive will find this early Car Toons issue one of the more specialized and genre-defining entries from that year.
What distinguishes Car Toons from straightforward hot rod coverage magazines like Rod & Custom or Hot Rod is its commitment to humor and sequential storytelling over technical instruction. The comics inside were drawn for readers who already understood the culture — who knew what a custom capers story meant, who could appreciate the visual jokes embedded in a hot rod illustration, and who found the pretensions and mishaps of car culture funny precisely because they were participants in it. Millar's editorial approach gave the magazine a warmth and self-awareness that made it distinct. The title would go on to publish for decades, making this 1960 second edition a genuinely early artifact from a long-running and beloved series. For collectors of vintage automotive ephemera and 1960s American comics, this issue represents the genre finding its footing in only its second outing.
About the Publication
Car Toons was a comic magazine launched in 1959 by Petersen Publishing, the Los Angeles-based company that also produced Hot Rod Magazine and Motor Trend, making it part of the most influential stable of automotive publications in American history. Created by Pete Millar, the magazine used a comic format to deliver satirical humor rooted in hot rod and custom car culture, targeting the same teenage and young adult male readership that drove Petersen's other titles. Unlike straight automotive magazines, Car Toons built its identity entirely around illustrated storytelling and visual gags, with each issue presenting a collection of short comic strips and single-page features. It ran for decades, becoming a foundational title in the niche of automotive comics and a consistent presence in the magazine racks of hobby shops and newsstands throughout the 1960s and beyond.
Key Highlights Inside
- Second edition of Car Toons, published in 1960 — one of the earliest surviving issues of a title that would run for decades as the definitive automotive humor comic magazine.
- "Karta de Roma" — a comic strip feature included in the issue's lineup.
- "Klassic Kar Kaper" and "Custom Capers" — titles that reflect the magazine's core focus on car culture humor and hot rod satire.
- "Count Down!" — one of several short features in the issue, suggesting engagement with the space-age enthusiasm that ran parallel to car culture in early 1960s American pop culture.
- Additional strips include "Little People," "Big Switch," "The Partners," "Snoflake," "Super Salesman," "It Never Rains," "Prize Chump," "Good Deed for the Day," "Can't Win 'Em All," "The Rake," and "The Alaskans" — a full slate of short-form comic storytelling consistent with the magazine's anthology format.
Condition & Rarity
This issue grades at Very Good (VG), with minor edge wear noted — a strong result for a comic magazine now more than sixty years old. VG condition indicates a copy with intact covers, complete pages, and readable content throughout, where wear is limited to the edges and does not affect the interior illustrations or text. For a 1960 comic magazine of this type — printed on standard newsprint stock, produced for an audience of teenagers who actively read and handled their copies — edge wear at VG is entirely expected and does not diminish the issue's integrity as a collectible. A protective plastic sleeve has been applied, appropriate for preservation at this age. Early Car Toons issues, particularly the first and second editions from 1959 and 1960, are meaningfully scarcer than the title's later run, as the initial print quantities were modest and survival rates for well-read comic magazines from this era are lower than for larger-format newsstand publications of the same period.
Looking for More Issues Like This?
Early Car Toons issues are a genuine find for collectors working at the intersection of vintage comics, automotive culture, and 1960s American pop ephemera — they turn up far less frequently than the title's later issues. The 1960 magazine collection at OriginalMagazines.com is a good place to explore what else is available from this pivotal year across a range of titles that document the era's enthusiasms and obsessions.