My First Truck Magazine

September 1999; Volume 25, Number 9

It doesn't seem like it was all that long ago when I was hardcore interested in everything trucks, more specifically mini-trucks.  It overtook my love of baseball as the taste of turning 16 and being able to drive filled my every thought.

I'm not sure what planted the seed, but at some point during the summer of 1999, I decided I wanted a truck magazine.  Easy enough.  My Grandmomma took me to the Humboldt Walmart one afternoon and I took to the magazine rack.  

I studied every automotive book the retailer offered.  It seemed like there were so many to choose from, so I had to be sure to make the right choice.  Lowrider and Mini-Truckin' were immediately snubbed since I knew my Mom wouldn't approve of the 'half-naked' hot chick on the cover.  There were several mags for classic trucks and a boat load for Mustangs, Camaros, sportscars, etc., but I knew I wanted a truck and not an old one.  Then I came across this issue of Truckin'.  It was awesome, it had a large selection of truck editorials, several how-to sections, and loads of ads (which were important to me back then, since I needed to learn prices).  And the best part of all?  It was the same price as the rest of the magazines, yet it was thick!! (300 pages to be exact).

That settled it.  The September 1999 issue of Truckin' would be my first truck magazine.  I started reading on the ride home, I read it when we got to the house, and I re-read it everyday.  I probably had the magazine memorized and it had me hooked on trucks.

I bought every issue of Truckin' from that point forward, and eventually subscribed to it.  My affection for trucks lead to a vast collection of truck magazines.  When I moved away from home in '06, I had years of literature.  I eventually got all of them moved to Knoxville over several trips.

But by 2008, the truck bug had faded.  Any spare money I had rarely went to my ride and the magazines weren't being read any longer.  Eventually my subscriptions ran out and I never picked up another truck magazine from the store.  I hated moving all those magazines from one apartment to another, lease-after-lease, so I started recycling them. 

Since Truckin' was the heaviest, they were the first to go.  I trashed them all except for the one I have pictured above, since it was my first.  Then I got rid of the rest of them, all but my Street Trucks magazines (I actually had the first issue all the way up to like 5 years deep) which had become my new favorite. The Street Truck mags had made their way to my work so the rest of the guys could look them over (and I could get them out of the house).  

A few months ago, I opened up a cabinet at work where I had stuck all those Street Trucks and decided it was time for them to go, so in the recycle bin they went.  They were all gone but one, my first Truckin'.  Well today, the time has come.  I've  been cleaning out my home desk and trying to continue my trek to organization and I came across it.  I gently flipped through the pages, reliving all the memories from staring at all those articles for hours, before tossing it into the recycle box.

Then I grabbed it back out so I could scan it and add it to my blog.  I'm sure eventually I'll be perusing my old posts and come across that picture and it will bring back the same memories as it would if it was just sitting on a shelf collecting dust for the same amount of time.  Now it's one less thing to move. 

In the recycle box she goes, this time for good.