Car Graphic Magazine, January 1999 CLK-GTR Issue

Car Graphic, CG to its readers, was founded in Tokyo in 1962 by Shotaro Kobayashi, who edited it for 23 years and made it Japan's leading monthly car magazine. Its January 1999 issue led with a special feature on German cars and an exclusive drive in the Mercedes-Benz CLK-GTR, which the cover calls a monster. AMG built the CLK-GTR for the FIA GT Championship, where Bernd Schneider won the 1997 drivers' title in one. The rules also called for road-going versions, and AMG built them in 1998 and 1999, after the racing car had already won its title. Fewer than thirty road cars were made, twenty of them coupés, and the cover shows one of those road cars.

The cover is a close study of the front of the car, with its upright three-pointed star, round headlamps, roof air scoop and AMG plate washed in yellow, red and blue light. Other cover lines promise new kei cars, the new Jaguar and the Rover 75, impressions of the Toyota Altezza and Nissan Sunny, and a full report on the Japanese Grand Prix, the Suzuka finale of 1 November 1998 at which Mika Häkkinen beat Michael Schumacher to the world title. This is issue 454, volume 38, published on 1 January 1999 and written in Japanese. The copy is clean and square, with bright colours.