If there were articles in the old HRM, you should be able to get reprints from the Petersen Publishing archives, which I believe go all the way back to when the magazine was first published. Petersen sold the whole publishing group to an outfit named Primedia, who is now publishing Hot Rod and all the other former Petersen magazines, but their offices are still in the same location in Los Angeles as far as I know, so try contacting them and see if they can help with your story. It sounds like an interesting project.
