Motor Sport Illustrated was published by Motor Sport Illustrated Publications with a publishing address at 429 Larchmont Blvd, Los Angeles CA. The publisher was William Quinn and the editor was Ocee Rich. Earlier in his career, Quinn published Motor Life and Hop Up titles. The new magazine focused on road tests of sports and performance cars, and also covered motor racing events.
The first issue of Motor Sport Illustrated was published in October, 1963. In April 1964, after the first five issues, it was renamed Auto and Motor Sport Illustrated. The staff remained largely the same, but the publishing address changed to 1822-1/2 East 1st St, Los Angeles. After just 12 issues, the last edition was published in November of 1964.