What I miss most about the current publications is the Editors that I grew up with: Wally Parks, Bob Green and Jim McFarland. I followed Tex Smith from mag to mag and at least we still have Brian "Brave" Brennan at Street Rodder, Tom Vogle at Street Scene and thank God for Steve Coonan for Rodders Journal, of which I have a complete collection and a lifetime membership ( looks like I;ll live long enough to make it a great deal). The past couple of decades it seems Hot Rod changes editors every year and there is little continuity. I guess I'll go watch Freiburger on Netflix.
I just finished 12 issues of 1992 Rodders Digest. Those guys were funny and helpful. Sent from my LG-H830 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I started buying them around 1958. Car Craft and Rod and Custom were half page size at that time. I also got a number of older Hot Rod and their annuals for my dad. I stopped collecting in the early 70's. I have four or five large boxes out in my shop I have not been through in years.
The tech articles used to be really in depth and detailed. You could actually learn from them. Nowadays tech articles aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on.
Gray Baskerville, where are you, now that we need you? Too many "He had this done at..." shop advertisements. Gold chain, check writer stuff. When I was subscribed, I got bored of the, "You cant afford this, but we're going to do it anyway".
They must be hurting my subscription just ran out and they kept offering better deals. I finally took the bait at 3 years and a T shirt for $20.
My Dad built a miniature ten wheeler and Hot Rod Mag . did an article on it in January 1955 issue , I'd like to buy a copy of that issue . has Jack Webb on the cover
I just got 1 year subscriptions to HR and Car Craft for $9ea! I read them in the bathroom. I'm usually through with them by the time the next months issue shows up! after subscribing to so many magazine for years, I try to do it, but at $9/year, they must ALMOST be loosing money!
I remember buying Hot Rod and many of the little books starting at about age 11(I'm older than that now)and built up a pretty good collection from older guys giving them to me. When I went into the Navy in 1964 they all got trashed when my grandfather(where I lived)passed away. After getting out of the Navy I started collecting them again and a couple other friends gave me a bunch of them. We were out in Massachusetts one year for the Ty-Rods show and as we were leaving ran into an old friend at breakfast who asked if I knew anyone that wanted some old magazines. I told him I would like to see them but we had to leave before I could get a look at them. About a month later two HUGE boxes appear on my front porch from FEDEX.The shipping cost alone was nearly $200. Inside were old issues of many car magazines dating back to 1951 including many little pages. I called my friend and offered to pay for them but he just said enjoy them. I offered to pay the shipping costs but he told me his son worked for FEDEX so he had it done for nothing. A month later I get another huge box and a note saying he had found some more! I still enjoy pulling a few out at a time and perusing them. And yesterday I get an e-mail from another friend saying that Bob had passed away last week. Rest in Peace my good friend Bob Sacco and thanks for all you did.
I bought my first issue of Hot Rod in 1961 and still have it and every issue since. My interests are broader than just traditional stuff so I still find things in HR that I enjoy. Here's a photo of one wall in my "library"
I've subscribed since 1975 when I turned 13. Through the years I've collected just about every issue back to 1948. I still like to read the current issues to keep up with what's going on.
I started buying Hot Rod in August 53, and have subscribes since then, and have collected almost all the earlier editions, as well as most of the other popular rod magazines as well. I have them in boxes like 2002p51. Some of the earlier magazines were the greatest, with out a doubt.
My mother bought my first subscription when l was 11. It was Rodding and Restyling. She knew l would read them cover to cover and increase my reading skill. It did. It also let me be at least as knowledgeable as the instructors in tech school in how things worked when I joined the military. Still have stacks of old magazines.
Having purchased well over a million dollars of ad space in HOT ROD MAGAZINE (HRM), I have a different take on the state of car magazine readers. For instance, HRM has a circulation of 651,000 vs. HOT ROD DELUXE (HRD) at 57,500. An advertising page in HRM costs $92,020 and one in HRD is $8750. Brand reach is the actual number of readers of an issue and HRD is too small to record while HRM is 6,216,000. Here is the mind blowing number in my mind; HRD has 312,181 FB followers while HRM has 2,875,098. followers. To sum up, traditional hot rodding is a genuine niche market and the people that publish magazines can't be bothered. HRD is a genuine money machine as it's using archived material that was paid for 30 years ago. To sum up, be happy you have the HAMB and quit bitching about the print magazines not caring about traditional hot rodding (RODDERS JOURNAL excepted).
its so cheap how can you not subscribe. hot rod has always covered what is the current trend. from the then new v-8s to vans to pro street to drag week and hell cats. im rather partial to this months issue starting on page 50. who says they don't cover hot rods anymore?
A lot of it is not my special interest, but it's like 50 cents a copy. How can you not find something of interest worth 50 cents.
I'm fairly certain what was meant by the post saying it had too much stuff they didn't want to read they is that it was not worth them collecting anymore https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/index.php?threads/1089728/
Hod Rod has changed a ton since the 50's to stay solvent. Many car magazines have died, huge during their place in time but by the late nineties the internet had the information complete with photos without having to wait. When I was 10, in 1960, I had to wait 2 months for a car magazine to find out who won the Nationals. Today, not so much.
I've got a few Hot Rod Magazines in 1956 and 1957, and then all of them forward to now. Not sure when I subscribed, I'm only 73 so it probably was around 1958. Here's a picture of my library, I've got lots of magazines in the "library" in the shop. What's sad is I seldom look for anything that's in them. I guess I just like having them. There are Rod Action, Street Rodder, Auto Restorer, Rod and Custom, and a bunch of manuals, some back into the 30's, am I a collector or a hoarder?