Australian, New Zealand, South Africa, East Africa, West Africa and Rhodesia Practical Motorist Magazines. When in 1954 Practical Motorist Magazine printing was restarted in the U.K. the same issues were sent to Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, East Africa, West Africa and Rhodesia but marked with a sticker or overstamped to show the appropriate price and in some cases the on sale date which is a month after the English date presumably due to delivery timescales, they started at one shilling, this price increased as the years went by. See below a selection of the various price stickers and stamps as the price went up.
It became clear that the magazines did not fully cater for the Australian market as they were manufacturing their own cars such as Holden as well as importing cars from the U.K. so in October 1956 they started printing their own version which covered a more suitable range of vehicles as well as U.K. models, however this did not last long and in May 1959 an editorial announcement was printed stating that it would be the last Australian edition and the next issue would be back to the English version, like before it would have the sticker showing the Australian and New Zealand price, I am not showing any of the English versions here as they can be viewed elsewhere on this site.
I would like to thank Edwin Clarke from New Zealand for his invaluable help in compiling the list below and for taking the time to send me information and cover copies from his extensive collection, below are his notes explaining the different methods used to price the magazines followed by all of the Australian covers.
Notes on Practical Motorist Covers on magazines sent from the U.K. to the Southern Hemisphere. 1. PM Covers continue unchanged to July 1962; priced at 2/-. 2. August 1962 change of cover; still priced at 2/-. Square stickers give price for Australia and New Zealand. 3. January 1963 the 2/- is in a round, printed circle. 4. February 1964 goes back to the square sticker, price is still 2/-. 5. March 1964 returns to round, printed price 2/-. 6. November 1964 uses round, printed price, but with change to 2/6 in Australia, remains 2/- in New Zealand. 7. August 1965 the tag gets a yellow background. 8. October 1965 Australia changes to decimal currency for pricing. 9. May 1966 new cover design, decimal currency for Australia (25c), NZ remains at 2/-. 10. July 1966 prices printed as before. 11. August 1966 prices printed in top right. Australia, NZ, West Africa, South Africa, E Africa and Rhodesia covered. 12. November 1966 different order of countries and pricing. 13. April 1967 NZ is changed to decimal currency. 14. April 1968 new cover design. Price rises. One comment from Edwin is that the tags for Australia and NZ etc. in later magazines are overprinted on the cover in various places. Previously they were in a small circle or square at the top right, then they migrated to different places. It seems the graphic designers of the covers have not allowed for the overprinting as various blurbs get put into the top right or in bands across the cover.
Below - the first 3 covers - October, November and December 1956
Below - all 12 covers for 1957
Below - all 12 covers for 1958
Below - January to May, the last 5 covers 1959 , the editorial notice announcing the ending of the Australian version where the Modern Motor is recommended and a cover picture for reference.