We like to think today’s magazines are the best we’ve ever published, but that’s probably not true.
Just as we work hard to match the needs of 1994, our predecessors of 50 or 60 years ago struggled to fulfil your requirements in those times.
Hopefully this is what has earned us the loyalty of tire dealers and the tire and automotive service industry over the years — loyalty for which we are deeply grateful.
Our magazines have traced the history of the tire industry almost from its very beginning, chronicling the good times and the bad.
So turn the page and recall with us the events we have shared with readers since 1919.
Our memories are your memories, too. That’s the way we want it. That’s the way it should be...
Our name’s changed, but goal’s the same
Seventy-five years!
That’s a long time to be covering tires and tire dealers.
We didn’t begin as Modem Tire Dealer. We bowed in as Tires & Accessories magazine in August 1919, a publication produced by Edward Lyman Bill Inc. in New York City.
The publisher felt the market needed “a publication rendering specialized, practical service to manufacturers, jobbers and dealers alike.”
The editors said, “The support this new publication will receive depends entirely upon the degree of service it shall render to its readers, and the realization of this fact will be a constant incentive to its publishers to make of it the very best publication that brains, experience, and a sincere desire to serve can produce.”
That support has nurtured us through many changes — in format as well as name — for 75 years.
Only two months after its birth, our name was changed to TIRES — The Trade Paper of the Tire Industry.
This change was recommended by readers who felt, “TIRES was a more fitting title for a paper of this character, not only because of its brevity, but because it was suggestive of all branches of the industry.”
During World War II — in 1942 — the magazine became TIRES—Service Station.
The name was changed with no fanfare. The publication was preoccupied with covering industry participation in war efforts such as rationing, scrap drives and conversion of tire plants for war production of anti-aircraft gun assemblies, ammunition and other items.
In January 1953 our publication became TIRES —TBA Merchandising.
The market was changing. More dealers were offering batteries and accessories as well as tires.
“This change in tide… reflects our recognizing in a physical way the TBA trend that has marked the automotive replacement market in recent years,” the then-editor noted.
He pledged coverage of the three branches “in keeping with its importance as a sales factor to the service station operator, tire dealer and recapper, car dealer and automotive and petroleum jobbers.”
Our last name change was 35 years ago — in June 1959.
Since then we have been Modem Tire Dealer, the premiere trade publication for tire dealers.
As a reader observed in that premier issue, “I would guess that you made the change because the tire dealer has become a modern businessman who uses modern management methods.”
He was correct.
During 75 years the changes in the tire industry have been incredible.
MTD and its predecessors have reflected those changes.
But our goals haven’t changed since the very first issue “...to make it the very best publication that brains, experience, and a sincere desire to serve can produce.”
Your loyalty and support for 75 years keep us pursuing that very worthwhile goal.
