Honoring Rod & Custom

In the spring of 1967, my dad was an 8 year old roaming around the metro Detroit area. A few weeks before summer vacation, he found a magazine that piqued his interest. The cover featured a flamed 1957 Nomad basking on a beach in Southern California. He excitedly scraped together the $0.50 asking price and pedaled home with the magazine in tote.

After reading the issue cover to cover, he decided that he wanted more. Dodging the watchful eye of my grandmother, he procured an envelope and stuffed it with some of his savings. With some neat penmanship and a stamp, his change-filled offering earned him a subscription to one of the finest magazines around — Rod & Custom.

As I’m sure you’ve already heard, Rod & Custom has been discontinued. Pretty soon the lights will be turned off and the presses will be stopped.

To my inner hot rodder: this hurts. To my inner journalist: this hurts even worse.

Print media is a difficult business to understand. Like any other industry, there are highs, lows and plateaus. Rather than donning some black and lowering my flag to half-staff, I’m gearing this post in a more positive direction.

When I close my eyes and think of Rod & Custom, an image of the August 1967 issue instantly surfaces. It has all the elements — a pair of brightly-painted street gassers, exciting headlines and even a kid pulling a massive wheelstand in a miniature fuel dragster powered by a drill motor. How could any red-blooded hot rodder not pick this one off the rack?

During the mid-‘60s, Rod & Custom did an excellent job engaging readers. Decades before social media, they asked questions and scoured the country for gripping — yet relevant — content. Rods, customs, tech, editorials and show coverage — they had all the bases covered.

Though the same can’t be said for a number of other magazines, R & C stayed pretty faithful to these staples long after others veered off course. And for that, they should be commended.

I’ve been reading R & C for about a decade, and I know for a fact many of you have been on board for a great deal longer. So I’ll ask you this — what is your favorite issue of R & C? What elements bring it to the top of the stack?

-Joey Ukrop

Note: I’ve got my August ’67 issue open right now…and it’s pretty hard to beat. With any luck, you’ll be seeing more of these two Willys in the near future.