Kickstarter

AUTOCULT magazine origins

We're gearheads. We're artists. We're entrepreneurs. We're journalists, fans, consumers, creators, curators, marketing experts and most importantly, we live the life this magazine is dedicated to.

The Occidental Lodge Of Underground Motoring

As the coffee table-style quarterly newsstand magazine dedicated to underground automotive culture, AUTOCULT is focused on the artists, builders, personalities and machines that have and continue to shape the world we live in. While, at the end of the day, it's all about cars and machines and the people influenced by them, this magazine is made for those who appreciate a good story, good graphic design, great photography, art, music and style. One of our goals is to make sure a copy of this magazine makes it to the creative department coffee tables and design agency lobbies and photo studios all over the world, as well as the home garages. And speaking of the world, our plan is to uncover the hidden pockets of underground motoring in every corner of it: the dekotora trucks of Japan, the custom choppers in Indonesia, the tuk-tuk races across India, the surf culture of Mexico, the street art scene developing in Moscow...there's so much great work to do and no other title is doing it. Hence, our tagline; O.L.U.M. – the Occidental Lodge Of Underground Motoring...it denotes our San Francisco roots and the dedication to our mission.

The development of AUTOCULT #2...and your place on the board

As a supporter of what we're doing with the magazine, you'll not only be rewarded with all the stuff listed off to the right there, but you'll automatically become a member of our special advisory board and be tapped for the development of not only story ideas, but maybe a character you think would make for a good feature or someone in your town you think deserves some recognition for their work and contributions to our culture. You'll be a valued member of the board and we look forward to a productive relationship – you're now part of a hard-working magazine!

Our goal

If you help us to reach our goal, we'll use the funds to do a few things:
• Finish the features we've already started, including travel, film costs, production expenses and feeding the animals. We always forget to feed the animals during a photoshoot.

• Pre-press! Once we get our files prepared for the printing press, the process of turning digital data into the physical metal plates that ink runs across on the press is called CTP (or "computer-to-plate"). A good pre-press tech is worth his/her weight in gold. GOLD, people. As in, "not cheap."

• Once the switch is flipped on the press, the paper and the ink and the bindery and the palleting and any handwork that needs to be done before the trucks show up to deliver all those fresh copies of the magazine to the stores will be paid for.

• Pay the shipper. Magazines printed right here, stateside, are still shipped from the press through centralized warehouses and then to the individual newsstands by truck. It's one of our larger expenses, since shipping costs are based on weight. And paper is heavy. 

• The tablet edition. We'll be launching the digital tablet edition of AUTOCULT with this issue. Exclusive images, video footage, behind-the-scenes stuff and a few extras that'll make it something really special. 

The staff

Dan Stoner launched AUTOCULT with its premiere issue, kicking off his second automotive cultural brand after founding GARAGE magazine in 2001. He lives in San Francisco, where his other full-time job is managing the six old car projects stuffed into one very small, rented garage that drive him to the living end. 

Morris Pittle has the greatest name in publishing. He's also heading up the marketing efforts of AUTOCULT, after founding and leading a full-service advertising agency for a decade. Mo can use phrases like "non-endemic tastemakers" without even snickering. And that's extremely awesome.

Tom Hartle served as President of SPIN Magazine, co-founded 7x7 magazine, relaunched Hearst magazine and purchased California Home + Design magazine before leaving all that to launch BANDWDTH – a multimedia app publisher focused on the arts and sciences in 2010. Tom knows a few things about magazines and how apps work. Which we dig about him.