Does not apply. I do enjoy Hot Rod Deluxe though...especially when my brother submits a feature or article but he told me after the Barney Navarro feature, he's done with writing.
I've got Hot Rod magazines back into 1956, thought I would just keep subscribing but.....a month or so ago I got an email offering a chance to do a survey, their web site required a pass word? I sent a couple of notes trying to figure out what I could do because I wanted to participate in the survey. Never got any answer. When this subscription runs out that will be it. I guess (as a previous post stated) that I am NOT their target market, most of their articles have no relationship to my interests (or technological abilities
I too miss the magazines from the late 50s and early 60s, but then I remember the 70s as gassers seemed to drop in coverage and were replaced with dune buggies and VANS. I can't get behind the idea that 450 to 600 hp factory hot rods are more boring or objectionable than that. I found the August issue to have some good tech articles.
I have one whole wall of my shop office devoted to mags I have kept since 1957. I use some for reference in building my projects. I can just grab some for good reading. The new ones just show stuff I would never consider building or even owning. They left me several years back, but I still have my archives. Now I just need to get them organized.
I let my $14 two year subscription lapse earlier this year. I used to enjoy reading it cover to cover twenty years ago, but now it won't hold my attention for more than about 10 minutes. One good thing though, is they keep sending me emails that have a link to all their 'how to' articles, and that seems to be a compilation across all the magazines they publish. Some are no more than 'infomercials' but some are actually useful. The other thing that pissed me off with HR magazine is the size of the print. My vision is 20/20 with glasses, but damn that magazine's articles were tough to read
This is interesting. I'm starting to really scale down my magazine subscriptions. Right now, I only subscribe to Hop Up and TRJ. I'm actually thinking of stopping those when my subscription expires.
I got the 3 year/$20 deal and my wife insisted I take it at that price. Five minutes after it arrives I'm using it as a door stop, and not a very good one at that. I really find more interesting discussions on the HAMB whether they are technical or aesthetics. I guess I'm also not in the "target audience" either.
Been reading "Hot Rod" since '65. Yes, it and the cars have changed but it's still the original and I look forward to it each month. Is it perfect? What is?
It seems I am hopeless at getting my family to quit renewing subscriptions to HotRod magazine. Every time some holiday comes around where one or more wants to buy me a present it's a renewal to HR! I've tried to be kind and not just flat out tell them I don't like it, but I guess I'm being too kind, so it keeps coming. The last issue was one of the worst yet with a Shoe Box Ford in fake patina, a '55 Chev gasser in fake patina, and a rat rod LS powered late 60's Charger. I disliked all of those articles and spent maybe 10 minutes browing the whole magazine before tossing it in the pile.
yep, ain't what it used to be - even David Freiburger has stopped contributing - but, can still glean out some good articles - like from July 2022 issue
All I can say is that guys spend a lot of time on the Hamb (me included) looking for help with some kind of problem or trying to assist someone else who has a problem. Often good information comes forth....sometimes some incorrect stuff as well. The one thing I would say about all the current magazines is that I'll probably continue subscribing as long as I'm able. I pick out the good tech articles that come along and save them on my computer for a quick reference. Can't tell you how many times I have quickly found the answer or some specific information that wasn't available anywhere else. If I get one useful thing out of a years subscription, then its more than paid for itself in my opinion. Look at the article below and tell me that you didn't learn anything from it............ You don't find information like that all in one place in an easy to read format. Yep, myself I take the good with the bad and am thankful they are still printing.......
As an owner of an advertising and marketing agency in the automotive high performance industry, I did a lot of business with HOT ROD along with the other magazines. And, yes, we bargained with the ad people to get editorial coverage for our clients. I can honestly say that the magazine editors I worked with never wrote an editorial for my clients that wasn't fact filled. Over the years, I saw plenty of reader surveys listing magazine ads as the third or fourth reason for reading the publications. As I posted earlier in this thread, a B&W page in HOT ROD costs well over $50,000 an issue and circulation is on the rise.
Hello, Having been a subscriber since the pre teen hot rod days, I liked everything, except for the long technical stories. I lost it after the first three paragraphs. Some articles were interesting and others got too technical after the first couple of paragraphs. We wanted more photographs with descriptions, but it was not as presented. The last full tech article I remember reading to the end was this one back in March 1957. It had a funny name, “Jet stream” supercharger. No, I could not finish the whole article in one sitting. I remember it took me several days of stopping, going to another photo feature car, coming back to read a little more, etc. The article peaked my interest due to the fact that it was one of the only factory supercharged cars available to the general public. I wanted one for my first car. The photos were always sharp and some of the best in the magazines. In looking at old photographs and other stories about the publishing business, they spared no cost barriers in getting the best photographers and equipment. Now the results speak for themselves in photography. The articles were in question as the newer magazines came out. If something was not built the way it was back then, people questioned the how to comparing it to the new article and supposedly, facts. The more recent magazine articles in some magazines have put in where the author got his information. Whether by visiting, recording and writing down information. It always helps anyone to see where the information comes from for any article. The old days, some great mechanic and writer got together and wrote articles/with photos on how to... So, we all knew who wrote it and what was pointed to as fact. These days of copying things from the internet as fact and styles of writing, all point to some questioning. The why, where and how on some aspects of the build, seem odd or not the way they used to do things. Whether good or bad, it was a new way to dispense information. As we all learned in our High School English Class on how to organize research and notes for our "Term Papers." It got tedious, but functional as to our facts on a topic or story. Footnotes and a Bibliography were always a part of any research story or term paper. In college, they were not always read by the professor, but teaching aides. But, they still required the where and why of the facts written. The Hot Rod Magazine format is newish and tries to get out the information that anyone can call and research on their own. So, the story is based on interviews and good communication. It is not a copy and paste as we see more information on the internet. Jnaki The subscriptions have ended for us and it is one magazine that was always pulled out of the racks at our favorite bookstores before the pandemic put a stop to those crowded visits. Hot Rod Magazine is/was a classic and if the articles/photos are not your bag of tea, then don’t subscribe or look at it in a magazine rack. It is a doomed future in the publication business. It takes two to three months of advanced planning and functioning of a ton of people on the staff that do not get much credit, other than a name on a long list. It is not as long as those zillion folks in the movie/TV industry that get a teeny name at the end of a super long roll of credits for the production end… Then, there are/were those funky photographers with interests in hot rods and custom cars that wanted to be included in the presentations of their works. That is another story for another time…
I just like motor vehicles-many types. There's always something in HotRod worth keeping it in the bathroom reading basket. Of course, ads and "sponsored articles" are why it's a cheap read. And, the damn thing's still in print! Worth the subscription price just to support that. Who knows, it might lead to another print mag someday.
Meh... the last HRM I bought was basically a sales catalog with a few car pictures in it. Kinda like a J.C.Whitney catalog for rich people. No foolin'. Don't believe me? Tear out all the ads and see how many pages you're left with. You know you need a new issue when the one in the outhouse is down to just car pics.
Yes and No, but does it really matter if the company that provided all the technical information to the public gets some benefit from it ? The point simply is that there is no way on God's green earth that I could have assembled that information together on my own or from talking to other local car guys. I'm probably not the only one that got some good information from it. So both sides benefit....Win/Win
I don't get the screaming subscription offers for Hot Rod, and I've looked online but that seems a crap shoot, so if someone has a subscription card or offer (3 years $20 or similar?) I'd like to get it and have something to read in the "library". Lynn
If you went back and did the same thing with an issue from 1962 you wouldn't have very many pages left either.
I take Hot Rod because I have little spare time, and it only takes about 8 minutes to read the articles in Hot Rod that interest me.
Interesting point about only reading 1972 and back mags. If you're into customs at all, you'll miss a lot of good stuff.
The Jalopy Journal
