Max Power 

I could've listened to twice as much of this. I think a History of Max Power doc does indeed need to be made...

disappointed at the lack of Richard going "tick tick tick tick tick tick" during the intro thing

Loved this - we need more on Max Power and the whole modifying era. I feel Jonny was just getting going - I bet there are some stories to be told!

Another era of car modifying that has been lost to the distant memory is Rally looking cars. normally a common sight in the 70/80's. where Dave who had a escort/mini/cortina/whatever would kit it out like it was in the Lombard RAC rally, wide mud flaps, roll cage 4 Cibies no rear seats and covered in rally stickers. But twice in a matter of weeks now I have seen a Peugeot 106 the the older stuff are far to valuable all kitted out like it was the 80's with "Dave" behind the wheel but he was about 60 with a rally jacket on, obviously trying to re live those golden years of the Lonbard RAC. That brought a smile to my face.

I've got some 50-60 issues Max Power in a box in the shed somewhere, along with probably just as many copies of Redline. Those mags were very formative for a bunch of us growing up here, and very much influenced what cars we all got in our early driving days. My mate would never have had an R5 Turbo if it weren't for you lot, and I probably never would have owned a 106 Rallye. Granted I never got around to decking it out with a full Ecosse bodykit, but I fondly remember desperately wanting to! Thanks for all the memories, and that documentary still needs to happen!

Part 2 of this please. So interesting.

Best one yet, 2 hours too short though...

I'd love to hear some more Max Power stories on the podcast

While I know it had no chance of working in today’s market, I still think it’s a terrible shame that Max had to die. I started buying it when I was about 13, it shaped what I did with cars at the start of my driving ‘career’ and it got me interested enough to end up working in the tuning industry when I started working. There’s so many things I remember from the mags, I can’t imagine what it must have been like actually being involved in it. It was the right mag at the right time and the world changed around it, I miss it to this day!

At roughly the same time there was The Frenzy, organised by the lunatics at Performance Bikes mag. Think the first one was at Cadwell Park. Complete and utter carnage. The stuff of legends.

Max power era was the best days of my life still got my window sticker

What an era that was! Ripspeed, Lambo doors, Peco exhausts, Fosgate Subs, Kicker speakers................gutted i chucked my Max Power, Fast Car and Redline dvd's. Managed to get hold of Max Power:- Cruise CD.

Was it Max Power who would interview a young girl on the back page and ask her pink or brown? Pure class

Wayyyyy !, Max Power. My car was featured on the front cover many many years ago. Saab 900 Turbo 16v 3 door in Monaco Yellow and 270bhp approx.

These stories need to be told!

Loved this episode! I think I’d like more story type episodes like this, behind the scenes type stuff. Top Gear, Fifth Gear, Evo mag etc etc

I very much grew up aware of the Max Power generation. I always thought the mid-Nineties was a more interesting time with that scene. My Dad took me to a live show at Earls Court in about 1996 as he dabbled with car audio / light modifications to his cars. A family friend was competing there with a van full of subs so I think it was a more car audio-oriented event, but am pretty sure it had something to do with Max Power magazine as Adam Rayner did a feature on it in a 1996 issue, with my Dad's mate holding up a trophy for winning whichever class of the competition he entered. I have lots of fond memories of being taken to Elite in Dagenham in the mid-Nineties, drooling over all the Alpine head units, Remus exhausts, Antera Wheels and Momo steering wheels etc. I remember buying the magazines in my teens at school and witnessing the whole thing getting more and more ridiculous, predictably post- F&F film being released. It became much less 'serious' than the mid-Nineties scene which seemed like simpler times, but I suppose it was always destined to go in that direction. I was always into tasteful modification and serious car audio for sound quality, so when we went to a few of the cruises back in the mid-late Noughties it'd already gone too far for me. It's strange to think back to those times given every single friend of mine, myself included, had modified their car in some way. Nowadays that seems much less mainstream than it did then, but I suppose that's only how everything works.

Patiently waiting for the next installment

Excellent topic.

Ended up here after Jonny Smith liked a couple of obscure car posts on my Instagram 😄 I bought max power every month from about 1996 - early 2000’s. The first one I bought was the one with the twin engined Mk2 golf Rallye with the 17” tsw venoms on the cover. I’m not sure why I liked buying it. Despite living in Blackpool where there were lots of cruises , I never once went to one. I had numerous modified vw’s that were quite well known but never did anything other than simple ‘Euro look’. I guess it was just a fun read 😀 also used to buy ‘revs’ and a couple of others. Sold all the max powers a few years ago on eBay.

I miss the max power era..

Sov watch, Elizabeth Juke from Argos 😂

ICE!!!! I was that writer..four years as In Car Electronics editor... I saw some awful ruined cars!

The Max Power era - when young men spent 40 grand tarting up a Saxo instead of getting a 40 grand car.

Remember in Bristol in around 2002 when we used to go out, a corsa was parked up with a full shopping list of all the products fitted to the car and one feature was lambo doors. On a 1.2 corsa.

"Sov watch" lol... I used to go to the speed trials every year (when I lived in Weston) and got addicted to the smell of Castrol R ... (Phil) :)

Southend was always the place to go. Not that I ever went, was too busy down the pub with me mates.

Please please please release an audio only version of these as a podcast. They're perfect for the commute!

Loved max power 😂 t Those were the days

Sov watch! Made me do a snot laugh while drinking my coffee! 🤦🏼‍♂️

I grew up near Weston and this was a funny era , saw the top gear episode where the fiesta clanked the Montego , a mate also spanked his 3 series into the curb on same episode. I suspect I didn't go as was probably fixing my polo at the time .

Thought you worked for Max Power, I remember and the MP Boyes are in town tonight

First issue I brought December 94 I believe it had red fiesta mk 3 with wide arch kit on front cover. 😂

More Max Power talk!

Aah.... Those were the days... Fast Car and Max Power.

I discovered Max Power when I was about 11. My older brother started buying it at the time. I have to admit I enjoyed the scantily clad women in the adverts than the cars lol

Where are all the 3 spoke alloys that every modded car had in the 90s?

Ah, Max Power! I never really got it because I was always into VWs and the UK cal look scene at that time. Mind you - there were some stinkers of VWs around then as well. There still are, if I'm honest...

Max Power era is a massive segment in time. Have every copy from number 1 in the loft still. It got a reputation as a lads mag at the end, but the early ones were very good and literally started a genre. After “Cars & Car Conversions” it was a breath of fresh air but sadly a victim of its own success. A yellow Carlton on three spokes aka project thunder will always be inexcusable though 😂

I loved the Max Power era, is it too soon to bring back Antera 3 spokes as retro?

Chod LOL not heard that in ages

Sov watch, I used to call them pound coin rings

Remember Max Power had a PS1 game, Max Power racing? It was far better than it had any right to be to be fair...

There was me thinking the lads have taken up football punditry.

I used to subscribe to Max Power mag

What was that blonde bird called in many Max Power mags? Olivia maybe?

I was around for this era, or at least the end of it anyways. Every Saturday and Sunday night would involve driving around in my car generally acting like a twat. Boy racers were everywhere you could see in the 90’s but it started to fade in the 00’s. Chaps in their late teens are now more interested in social media/gym/self grooming than obtaining a car.

Weston wheels oh those were the days.....

Oh wow max power... I have a box full of back issues at my parents place somewhere... hopefully they weren’t recycled 😭

I expected this to be about a touring car driver

Pink or brown?

I brought Max Power back in the day but I was more of a Redline man myself

I once gave the wife of the editor of max power a lift home from a party. In my focus ST170. Issue one they gave away a escort Cosworth, who remembers that awful fluorescent yellow lotus Carlton wannabe they did and gave away? Truly awful. I loved max power, but lost interest when it went all Japanese and was just a succession of middle aged dentists in their 70 grands worth of skyline GT-R.

But, would you rim for rims?

Oh god, Max Power magazine, I used to buy it religiously from 94 to about 98. Every Escort RS Turbo had to be white with zebra stripes (bonus points if it had 5 spoke TSW Stealth alloys) and every Vauxhaul Calibra had to have the DTM look...…...Oh, and there were bewbs!

Clown Pendants - the holy grails of Sov Watch

You can sleep in your car but you can't race your house!

Why are you selling a lot of cars Jonny?

Back in the 90’s I was buying selling ford xr2’s ,xr3’s, then rs turbos and finally cosworths when the fund’s accrued , I had a saying that was never ever buy a car that had a max power sticker on it as many many did and generally they were wank at best or full on shit house muck .... true story

I thought this was going to be an 8 min video about Homer Simpson

Sov watch 🤣