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The SHELBY AMERICAN
Fall 2015 351
JOHN KIEWICZ
January 6, 2015
SAAC member John Kiewicz of
Los Angeles, California was killed in a
motorcycle accident in Malibu, Califor-
nia. His death was a shock to everyone
who knew him and to a person he was
described as “a real car guy.” If you
talked to “Kiwi” you would never know
he was a test driver for Hennessey and
held more than a dozen world records
including a Guinness Book of World
Records for 0-300 mph in one a Hen-
nessey street car unless you read it
somewhere or someone else told you.
You wouldn’t hear it from him. He was
that kind of a guy.
Kiwi had a deep appreciation and
knowledge of cars of all kinds but he es-
pecially liked Shelbys and Cobras. He
was tremendously clever and had a
wicked sense of humor. He served as
senior editor at
Motor Trend
for ten
years and had expensive experience in
automotive public relations, corporate
communications and advertising. He
was also ad Adjunct Professor in pho-
tography at the Brooks Institute.
In 2006
Motor Trend Classics
mag-
azine did an extensive article on the
movie “Gumball Rally” which Kiwi par-
ticipated in.We contacted him after see-
ing it to ask permission to use parts of
it in
The Shelby American
and he could
not have been more helpful. The back
and forth with him was most enjoyable.
Everyone who came into contact with
him will certainly regret the loss. John
was 44.
ERNEST ROBERT HEMMINGS
February 25, 2015
There isn’t a car enthusiast worthy
of the name who hasn’t heard of
Hem-
mings Motor News
. But almost no one
knows the origins of the publication. It
was started by Ernie Hemmings in
Quincy, Illinois. He was born in 1926
and passed away in a Quincy nursing
home in February from hypertension
and congestive heart failure. He had
been in failing health and died in his
sleep. He was 89.
In 1945 Hemmings took over his
father’s parts business in Quincy, sup-
plying Model T and A Ford parts before
these cars were considered “col-
lectibles.” When he returned from
Korea in 1952, interest in collecting
and restoring older cars was increas-
ing. Hemmings transformed a mimeo-
graphed mail order catalog into a
monthly newsletter that initially ac-
cepted free classified ads. It struck a
cord and the subscription list gradually
grew from 200 to more than 40,000.
Issues also grew to more than 500
pages with a color cover and more than 80
pages of editorial content. It was printed
on newsprint so thin you could practically
see through it and the type was so small it
gave many oldtimers headaches. The mag-
azine eventually billed itself, accurately, as
“
the world’s largest antique, classic, vin-
tage, muscle, street rod and special in-
terest auto marketplace
.” Putting each
issue together consumed so much of his
time and energy that Hemmings was
never able to have a project car of his
own. His son Trent recalled that over
the years he had an assortment of vans
and pickup trucks and all types of
American sedans. Most were common
and unadorned. His biggest extrava-
gance was when he purchased a car
with heated seats.
In 1969, classic car enthusiast
Terry Erich purchased the magazine
and moved it to his hometown of Ben-
nington, Vermont. At that time Hem-
mings had 40,000 subscribers. Today’s
circulation is over 200,000. The maga-
zine has 100 employees. Erich passed
away in 2002 and the publication was
purchased by American City Business
Journals. An online version includes
19,000 classified ads, mostly from deal-
ers. The printed version is still popular.
Ernie Hemmings was 89.