Words: Avery Finnivan        Photos: 99wspeedshop.com

Most people are, in one way or another, fascinated by history. We visit museums, read dusty accounts of times past, and watch documentaries or lectures to learn more about the people, objects and events which have come before.

For those of us in the car enthusiast community, it's not always easy to get in touch with icons of the past, because much as we might wish otherwise, most cars don't live forever. Many of the legendary vehicles of long ago have been lost or taken apart. We still have a chance to see some of those vehicles immortalized on the covers of magazines, but many of us don't have the time or money to collect or travel to see those magazines in person.

Luckily, thanks to the fantastic website 99wspeedshop.com, we can now access them without leaving the comfort of home! This excellent resource holds an extensive collection of covers from hot rod, street rod and custom car magazines published between 1945 and 1975, all preserved in digital form on an easy-to-navigate site.

One of the many covers visible on the site - this one is pretty appropriate for the season!

In addition to the covers themselves, the site has a bounty of information on the magazines, including a neat timeline charting when and where each was published. Whether you're interested in vintage car culture, the history of media or just well-documented history in general, it's definitely worth a look. People have been customizing cars pretty much from the invention of the automobile, and this collection provides a fascinating glimpse into some of the amazing work they produced.