Automotive journalist Paul Zazarine dies

The morning of January 3, 2011 marked the passing of noted muscle car fan and writer Paul Zazarine. If you're into muscle cars as we know them today, chances are you've read one of Paul's articles. Certainly to someone like me, who was born after the era, Paul was an instrumental force in my automotive education, especially as I had become a Pontiac fan early-on.

But it was more than Pontiacs that Paul wrote about. He was the editor for Musclecar Review when performance cars of the 1960s experienced their Second Coming. He was instrumental in the "50 Fastest" list that has people talking still to this day. Waxing poetic about the cars in his high school, he once told the story of how someone bought a Hemi Road Runner, automatically moving up in the pecking order; a few years later, a baby seat could be found in that car. Paul himself went from a '63 Olds ragtop to a '66 Charger to a '66 GTO, which developed his interest in Pontiacs. His GTO Recognition Guide was THE book that was able to sort out the myths from the truths. His GTO Restoration Guide, co-written by fellow GTO enthusiast Chuck Roberts, laid the groundwork for other resto guides to follow. He continued to edit, more recently for Corvette Fever, but his writing continued to appear in a variety of publications about a variety of cars. He also was interview fodder for a lot of the muscle car shows that appeared on The Speed Channel, so if the name still doesn't seem familiar, perhaps his image will.

I've been though a host of different automotive forums and have found that there are many hobbyists who have love for Paul's creative output. This is the least I can do to join that group - RIP, Paul.

There will be a memorial on January 16, 2011 at 6 PM to celebrate Paul's life:

Carl Black Buick-GMC

11500 East Colonial Drive

Orlando, FL 32817

Thanks for reading my blog! You can find more of my articles in the index. And if you have an article idea, please let me know at diegorosenberg@me.com.