I think it's cool that some of the big name magazines don't feature HAMB events or some of their cars. It makes the HAMB that much neater and earns more respect if you ask me. As Ryan said, I personally think it would be a great honor to have my car featured in one of the Jalopy Journal articles over some of the mainstream magazines. Who cares if it's "online".....it's the home of my passion.....Hot rods and customs of yesterday with all the cool cats who build them and own them. That's where I want my ride showcased!! I'll have to check out the Rod and Custom little pages. It sounds like a great idea and I hope it works.
Abomination finally said in the 50th post what I was thinking as I was reading the first 49. I have to believe that the mags have been taking notes about the volume of traffic this site has generated in the recent past. That translates into new or return readers for them if they get on the bandwagon. But conversely this site has become far tamer and more PC in so many ways over the last two years or so. I lurked for two years before I ever signed up and was scared shitless the first time I posted anything beyond my intro. It keeps going in the direction I think it is going and I might even post a picture or two of the '38 when it's done and it's definitely a street rod. Yeah, sure, in about 10 years.
I too, am really curious about the little book. But I figure I won't judge it too harshly - after all, it's the first go 'round. Like some of the "idiots" on the board, sometimes it takes a bit to find your footing, unless they're truly an idiot. But like most turds, you flush enough and they go away. But I welcome them all - even the guys that trickled in because of my S-10 frame swap thread mentioned in the S-10 wiki (hell, some of them turned out to be dyed-in-the wool hot rodders after finding this place, and learning the difference between a rat rod and a hot rod). It's that spark of raw honesty, and instant response that really, truly appeals. The way the board is laid out (without a million sub categories) just conveys the brutally honest, "what you see is what you get" nature of the place. And it IS a fun place to participate in. Where else are you going to go where you can have somebody tell you your project sucks... that has 50 years of hot rodding experience to back it up, who will then actually take the time to tell you how to fix it, and maybe even offer you up a few parts to do so? What's not to love about that? ~Jason
I have NO problem with passion about the hobby and everything else in it. Obviously I'm passionate about it, too... I checked out of a regular 9-5 gig so I could freelance write full-time. Big step for a guy with a wife who doesn't work outside the house and a kid in JR. High. But I freakin' LOVE what I do... I love hot rods, I love magazines, I love working on stuff... My passion is writing a story that I KNOW is on something so cool that people say "Well damn... I gotta keep this issue somewhere, because I'm gonna use that some day." Hell, I started my own swap meet and lost money for a few years on it because I love the hobby and the potential rusty parts have. The damn show barely breaks even now, but it's grown to something where guys in Atlanta show up to hang out with their friends, drive their car on a Saturday morning, and maybe take home something with potential that's gonna spur them on. I'd love to be the next Pamona with it, and will keep trying to work toward that, but until then, nothing makes me happier than providing something for a bunch of guys show up and have a good time with the hobby. So I get the passion, believe me. And what you do here shows you're passionate about it. What I've never liked is the infighting... "Fiberglass versus steel," "Trailered versus driven," "Gold Chainers versus Rat Rodders," and now, "Electronic versus print." The arguments, and those making them, are no different, and I quickly lose my tolerance when people start puking it out. Especially when I've been hearing for 15 years that print is going to die, and that magazines are NOW advertising whores while hey were pure as the driven snow "back then." Ignoring history, and those who do it, irritate me too. -Brad
I hope it happens! I've always thought there should be a HAMB little pages that could feature the best tech and build threads each month (minus the comments). I know we can just see it all online but it would be pretty cool. I was planning on approaching you with the idea if I ever became a millionare and could finance it myself.
Some of my truly BEST friends in my life I have found because of this place. No magazine will ever be able to do that. EVER.
Well fellas, I just received the little R&C book in the mail today and it's just a piece of art! Haven't read much yet but the art direction is top drawer. I'll be the first to thank the few advertisers that paid for this little gem so we can enjoy it. And you will. My reservations about this are hereby withdrawn. They even featured my favorite T - Clayton Paddison's evil black '26 roadster (err, featured on here first!)
This thread is an example of the greatness of the H.A.M.B.. It gives us all the ability to discuss openly the happenings in the car culture where that is not always the case in the mainstream mags. I wish all of the publishing companies good luck, and hope they are successful, but I hope that TJJ and the H.A.M.B. has helped to redirect the focus in mags to the cars and less on the money, even if its in the smallest way.
You hit the nail square on the head my friend. I've spent 6 years of my life working in the Petersen/Emap/Primedia/Source media coal mine and in my experience is this is how it works in a nutshell. The problem with a publicly-traded media company like Source is the powers that be care more about pleasing stock holders than readers. And that means ad revenue is the priority, sadly, over content. That said, I did have the pleasure of working with and meeting a lot of passionate, creative, talented people of high-integrity there as well. Unfortunately all of them weren't in any real position of power. Let's hope Rob and Aaron mangae to swim upstream and make a go of this new "little" book. It seems to have great potential and I can't wait to get my hands on a copy. Kudos to you Ryan for giving us all a heads up about it. And I think JimA is right, publishing does have a future. As great a thing as the HAMB is, it can't do some things that a magazine can do, and vice-versa. There will always be a place for both to flourish, to make "a bigger glass" as Ryan mentioned. As JimA said, there are ways. I just wonder what that future holds for the "big" titles from the Source empire unless there is radical change there....
How about this for timing. Last night I went with the little woman grocery shopping. I've been doing it ever since her back surgery and the doctors orders about "no lifting". Walked right by the magazine rack, like usual and something catches my eye. I couldn't believe it.............a "little pages" size magazine...................NO WAY!!! looked and the wife was struggling with a gallon of milk and started to walk away but grabbed the little magazine as I left. When we got home i just tossed it on the pile of unread mags and thought "I'll check it later". After this discussion I'm going to spend some time with it............HOPING......FINGERS CROSSED............ Frank
I don`t need any magazine about lifestyle. I kinda gave up on all magazines and came here. Seems to be some gents of my vintage on here as well as some young turks. Keep up the good work.
I guess I'm completely fucked up. I like the new little pages - a lot. I subscribe to Kustoms Illustrated, Street Rodder, Rod & Custom, Rodder's Journal, Goodguys Gazette, Hot Rod, Popular Hot Rodding, and Car Craft. I don't sub to TRK - yet - but I buy 'em regularly on the newsstand and have pretty much fleshed out a full set on Ebay. I also read HRD religiously. And guess what? I enjoy all of 'em. I even read CKD and OSR when they don't look too much like 'took pics of some models in a junkyard' issue. And as a tech writer (mostly racing mags), I can tell you that there is a difference between 'selling editorial' and featuring products that your reader's base is likely to want to see. I wonder - and some of the editors could answer this - how many people are querying junkyard adaptation articles anymore? "Put a T-Bird IRS under your Galaxie" could be a good article (which begs the question of why I don't do it myself, since I have a Mercury I'm working on, but that's another story). Part of the problem may not be the magazine staffs. Personally, the only reason I see why people should have to choose one or the other is budget or personal preference; why it has to be some sort of 'war' is beyond me.
Man, you know if the framework was in place, all Ryan would have to do is throw open the floodgates and enough people would crawl out of the woodwork for a HAMB Little Pages for the damn thing to write itself. I wager he knows it, too. ~Jason
One more thing, as someone else noted - if your really want to see shilling, get on Ebay and pick up some of the old magazines. It's so in-your-face that they didn't even bother to disguise it...
I wonder how much money they are going to make selling the "little book" based solely on this thread FWIW, I buy Hot Rod Deluxe and Traditional Rod & Kustom every time a new one hits the news stand, and always steal a copy of R&C from work when it comes in. I really dig magazines and hope they stick around for a while.....hopefully the little pages turns out to be a worthwhile effort and not something that will fizzle out after a few issues.
First off I'd like to thank Ryan for doing this review on the Little Pages and also thank him for the kind words. Thanks Nads for getting my name spelling corrected! It's pretty ironic that this is my first post ever and the direction this thread has taken is one of the reasons I have never signed on and always lurked here. Before everybody passes judgment, have a look at this bithcin' printed piece. It's not a copy of other current titles, it's the result of a ton of hard work by a small crew that have been around this scene for a real long time. Everyone is aiming their comments at Janets and big corporations but the only people that are listening are all the people that work super hard to put out the best possible car mags they can. Also everyone should take into consideration how much it costs to staff a magazine and also how much it costs to actually print it. It's pretty enormous. I'm sure Zombie can attest to that! So by supporting R&C and other titles in this building you are keeping a bunch of hot rodders employed and keeping a few American jobs from being outsourced. Even in the old days there were ads in magazines. One of the things I like the most about old mags is the old ads! I've been on both sides of the Ad argument so I here you as "a reader." And I'm not saying that the ads of the old days are just like the ads of today. Most of the people that have made off topic comments and online vs printed hot rod rants probably haven't looked at R&C in the past few years. I can say for sure that since I've been around here I've helped try to put as much cool stuff in as possible. There are Really Good tech articles if you look through the pages. You should be surprised that all our R&C staff are hot rodders including the Art Director. I think this is pretty rare. Rob and Kev have tons of expirience and we are working with a lot of excellent photographers like Tim Sutton, who is also a hot rodder. So anyway try to keep this thread on topic, we'd love to hear what you think of The Little Pages. Thanks, Aaron
Oh, it'll totally flourish. In the early days of Hot Rod, the stories were pulled straight from the dry lakes and the like. In the future, they'll be pulled from the HAMB. It's symbiotic, and SSDD. The only thing that's changed is where we all hang out these days, and that we're larger and tighter-knit than Veda's correspondence kept everybody during WWII. And unlike the 50s, when folks were pissed about an article and only small, isolated pockets of people would complain, now the entire world will bitch at the guy that actually wrote the article via his direct email! ~Jason
Well damn it, post some more! Let us know you're out there! I actually HAVE seen the difference at R&C, and am grateful and super excited to actually be able to thank you directly for all the good work you and the guys have been doing over there! Pass the word on, man! ~Jason
Alright, Aaron! It's all good... these guys just like to talk for talking sake. Nobody's been dissuaded from buying a copy, perhaps the opposite. At least as far as I can tell. Loyal fans of R&C (and I'm sure they are all on the HAMB) can certainly be counted on to buy a copy. Plus we all know Little Pages is something special, otherwise why would R&C have bothered. It certainly not a "get rich" kind of thing, like the newspaper biz (ha-ha). Do I hear future collectible??? R&C magazine and hot rodding go hand-in-hand, just like it always has. And will be, hopefully for a long time. Now if I can only find a copy already!
Yea picked mine up last nite. I was interested inthe "Little Pages" format. Has some good stuff, no tech at all. Nothing beats the HAMB! P.S. I got a notebook for the throne, so I see the HAMB there too!
Hey AJ, I think you are really going to dig your feature...6 pages. Tim did an outstanding shoot of your survivor. And as you know you wrote it. -Aaron
No doubt --with bated breath. I'm feeling the love man, thanks. Tim Sutton doesn't know it, he officially one of the coolest guys. (I'm not gay.)
I picked one off the shelf last night at the Fred Meyers in Richland, Wa when I made a quick stop to check their magazine rack. It's good folks and well worth the 5.95. Two Hamber vehicles in it and maybe more. Along with AJ, our own Mr Model T got some well deserved coverage on his T roadster an I learned a couple of things about the car that I didnt know. Eight adds in the whole freaking magazine that is 66 pages long and all are from vendors that we use and one even seems to have an interesting new (to me) item that might just go on a few build lists. AJ that is a nice writeup you did for the article on your car. Just a teaser And just like the little page books years ago the middle page fell out of it when I opened it because the staples weren't in it good just like the magazines in the old days.
The Jalopy Journal
