Well, the first question you might have, is who in the heck are these people?  I'm glad you asked!

I have had an interest in cars as far back as 5 years of age and it has continued throughout my teen and adult years.  Linda & I were engaged in 1969, and after we married in 1970 the car craze took over both of us.  Starting with matching Chevelle's, hers a '65 Malibu SS, and mine a '65 El Camino.  Along the way, we somehow got into street rods.  We joined a club called South Florida Street Rods, made new friends, and traveled all over the country.

Over the past 50 years together we have owned nearly 75 cars and over 20 motorcycles.  

And now how we came about doing this magazine.  Sunshine State Rodding News was the brainchild of Florida street rodder, Chuck Longley, who started publishing the magazine years & years ago, when he saw a need to keep people informed as to what was going on here in the Sunshine State.

As time went on, Chuck decided to quit publishing the magazine due to its many time constraints.  He didn't want to see the magazine go by the wayside like so many others, so he contacted me to see if I would be interested in continuing with it.

At the time I was actually the reporter for the local club doing its newsletter, but after Chuck laid all the information out, on what it took to publish the magazine, I felt I had enough time to take it on.  So we have been going at it for nearly 40 years.

While the magazine has gone through a few changes over the years, I tried to keep it pretty much as Chuck envisioned it.  An editorial section, a state-wide section, a classified section, and event coverage of rod runs, car shows, swap meets, etc.

And while I rely heavily on subscriptions, and welcome advertisers, I was never much of a "strong arm" type as far as attracting advertisers.  If someone wanted an ad I certainly welcomed that.  I only hoped that the subscribers would patronize the advertisers, be it a business, or a car club putting on an event.

Which brings me to event coverage.  I don't have a bunch of people covering events, taking photos, etc.  I along with my wife Linda, enjoy going to the events and covering them in person.  And while we can't get to them all, over the years I think at one time or another we have been to just about all of them.  Plus going out of state to cover many of the National events.

If we are at an event we will be in one of our six cars.  A 1932 Ford Phaeton, a 1946 Mercury convertible, a 1947 Mercury woodie wagon, a 1949 Ford woodie wagon, a 1958 Edsel 2-door wagon, or a 1964 Oldsmobile F-85 Cutlass coupe.  I only list them, so if you have a comment about the magazine, be it good or bad, look us up.

This leads me to the River Ranch Rod Run that we put on.  In 1985 we decided to put on our own car show, with several of our friends & family helping.  We called it the River Ranch Rod Run, and it was held in a remote area of Central Florida.  We didn't really know if anyone would come, but our first event attracted 180 participants.  The event is still going strong with our 2023 event drawing 555 participants.

So now you know how Sunshine State Rodding News came to be.  Thank you!

Rich Martin