There are very few automotive media folks left who covered the industry when some of the coolest and hottest vehicles rolled off Detroit’s assembly line. Imagine being thrown the keys to a new 1964 426 Max Wedge Dodge emblazoned in the RAMCHARGERS livery and cruising the streets of New York. Or hammering on a new 1966 426 Street HEMI® at Chrysler’s Chelsea Proving ground during a long-lead event in the summer of 1965. You probably didn’t pay attention to the byline, but it was Martyn Schorr that wrote and even photographed these great articles. This renowned auto journalist was the original influence that penned so many fantastic stories and road tests on muscle cars. His awesome work appeared in many magazines back the day, including Hi-Performance CARS, Custom Rodder, SPEED and SUPERCAR, and SUPER/STOCK & FX. Interestingly, Martyn’s humbling beginnings were in a world in which cars were not the center of the universe.
“I was born March 28, 1936, in the Bronx, New York City. But, I was a voracious reader of enthusiast car magazines, starting with SPEED AGE, moving on to ROAD & TRACK, SPORTS CAR ILLUSTRATED and a bevy of hot rod and custom car magazines. My tastes were rather eclectic, ranging from classic British sports cars (Jaguar XK120) to hot rods (’32 Ford). During my early years, my fantasy was to be a magazine staff writer-photographer at one of the California-based magazines. Interestingly, there was no car in our household and neither of my parents had driver’s licenses when I was growing up,” noted Martyn. “Because I grew up in New York City where you had to be 18 to get a driver’s license, there were very few cars around my high school owned by students. I hung around with older kids who did have cars. I attended the Bernard Baruch Business School at City College (CCNY) in the evening. I had a clerical job at an insurance company at the time. I ended up enrolling in all the advertising, public relations and English courses I could, dropping out in the mid-late-1950s not long after joining a hot rod club. Once I started doing freelance stories for auto mags, I gave up going to college!” said Martyn.
Once Martyn had a clear path to what he wanted to do with his life, he went full speed with his right foot firmly planted on the accelerator.
“I ‘came of age’ as a hot rodder when I joined the Draggin Wheels in Yonkers, NY, in 1955, and proudly displayed our club plaque on my rare ’40 Mercury convertible sedan. I didn’t know it was rare at the time! Mildly customized and powered with a Flathead V-8 with twin Stromberg carbs and dual exhausts, its ‘bark’ was much worse than its ‘bite.’ However, back then it was the only one I had ever seen. I still have my club plaque, restored and displayed in my office,” smiled Martyn. Like many young hot rodders and gearheads during the infancy of the hobby, Martyn along with his friends would partake in late-night shenanigans to do some “acceleration tests” on New York’s mean streets. “Late at night, we would often head to the Cross Bronx Expressway, still under construction at the time. There, you could see everything from fuel bikes to supercharged Caddy and Chrysler HEMI V8-powered Fords running for bragging rights. It was an incredible adrenaline rush for a 19-year-old newbie hot rodder,” reminisced Martyn.
Along with playing on the streets, Martyn and his buddies started going to custom car shows to display their street rods and meet fellow enthusiasts. But it was also a turning point that started Martyn’s long career, becoming an automotive journalist with stout street creds. “Back in the day, our club raced a ’32 Ford three-window coupe and rear-engine dragster, both powered by fuel-burning, supercharged Caddy engines. We also produced a hot rod and custom car show at the Westchester County Center. Serving as the club’s Publicity Director put me in touch with magazine editors, thus igniting my passion for writing about cars,” according to Martyn.
That was the spark that lit the fuse for Martyn, and he was off creating content for as many car publications that would take his features. “I freelanced articles and photography to enthusiast magazines, primarily digest-size mags based in NYC. While delivering a story to Larry T. Shaw, editor of Custom Rodder, Car, Speed and Style and CARS at Magnum Publications’ Manhattan offices in 1960, my life changed. I discovered that Larry was going to be devoting all his time to CARS and the publisher would need an editor for the other two magazines. A few minutes later, the publisher, Irwin Stein, came into Larry’s office and he offered me the job of editor of Custom Rodder and Car, Speed and Style. It was a dream job, one giving me total responsibility for producing two magazines, alternating bimonthly. Too numb to answer, I simply nodded until I could get the words out. I thought my head was going to explode that day,” remarked Martyn.
Martyn’s first byline appeared in the January-February 1956 edition of KUSTOMS OF AMERICA, KOA Club News, which featured coverage of the first annual Draggin Wheels Autorama that was held in New York. It was a non-paying gig but soon Martyn was earning some cash on his next assignment, which was a feature in the October 1957 edition of Custom Rodder. It spanned five pages on the customization and was titled “CHALLENGE TO THE WEST, NEW YORK’S MYSTERY DRAGSTER THE DRAGGIN’ DROP TANK!” Martyn also shot the pics with a $6.00 Kodak Brownie Flash 620 and the film was processed and printed in a local drugstore!
Soon, word got out among the many car magazine editors that Martyn had the writing skills, photography proficiencies and knowledge to cover new cars, customs and hot rods. Martyn’s many talents made him a desirable hire within the profession he loved. Soon, drag racing and the birth of Detroit’s muscle phenomenon would begin to get traction and with nothing more than a notepad, pen and camera, Martyn set forth to cover all aspects of the high-performance automotive and drag racing world.
Martyn would be at ground zero to drive everything from Chrysler’s experimental Turbine car to a rowdy 426 Max Wedge Dodge Super Stocker. More on that in Part Two of Eyewitness to Mopar Muscle Car History!
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