For those of you that think that HRM is going down the shitter, consider that the circulation is 699,000 copies a month and a full page B&W ad is $54,645 per month. The circulation is actually higher than it was in the seventies and eighties. I remember the Terry Cook cover showing '32's going over the cliff. Dean got it right when he said that we are no longer in HRM's target demographics. Get over it!
The last time I renewed I had let it run out I got a deal 3 yrs and a T shirt for less than $.50 a month. What does it cost to mail it?
I hear you guys. And I agree, too much about billet this and that, and LS this and that. Frankly I just got one of my last issues of Street Rodder. I don't plan on renewing it. One article had all of THREE, count em, words on the engine. Big Block Ford. Well to me drive train is the soul of the thing. I could care less how much the idiot paid some shop to build his dream. My Focus has a computer and injection, and all of that. It's quick for what it is. But I almost never look under the hood in it. I'm just not interested.
Hot Rod Magazine has always followed, sometimes led current trends on modified cars. For the most part they are not a history book. In the fifties, for example, current dry lakes & Indy car racing, ect. Hot Rods are not limited to a year. Tastes have changed, we as a group have not. Like denis 4/4 says- Get over it. I have been a subscriber for more years than most & will continue to be one. I always learn something from each issue, plus it doesn't hurt to broaden ones interests. On the other hand, Street Rodder has lost me.
Yes,I don't think it has been even close to what I like for some time,but it was before!. I gave up on HRM back in about 1965= It had a front cover of a VW dunebuggy,at that point for me,they lost there way. Haven't sub. it at all from then on.
I can see why they do LS stories I would be like 1975 and to many SBC stories and not enough on flatheads.
Dennis4x4 and 42merc are probably right, they are serving a new demographic these days and rightly so, but they no longer get my subscription dollar. Marlan Davis' work and the "We'll fix that" articles were worth reading but I'm tired of Camaros, Trick-of-the-Month LS articles and Pro-Touring muscle cars. HRD is sort of spotty these days too, Dave Wallace's dive into the magazine and tabloid coverage of the old days is interesting enough to keep me onboard so far. The only magazine I subscribe to these days is Hemming's Classic Car Magazine, the H.A.M.B. pretty much replaced the rest.
we all want it to be better than it is. it's awful. then once in a while, some great thing, but it always seems like an accident when the next issue comes in.
automatic renewal system - take a look a what the cover price is & how much a discount regular customer renewal is - I stopped getting it in mail - now go to Barnes & Noble & pick out the car & truck mags that look interesting for that month
Well, I re- read this thread and Squirrels "sunk cost fallacy" which my mind read as "skunk cost". Same thing, it means our logic stinks when it comes to throwing good money after bad. It also matches up with my "Buy high, sell low". Dad bought me my first Hot Rod for my 10th birthday in March 1959, I still have it and started my subscription in the mid 60's and filled in the years back thru 1949. So the last 60 years have shown me to be a person of habit and I took advantage of the $5 specials. My Street Rodder subscription run out and I'm waiting for a good deal on it when a offer for Hot Rod shows up in the mail, 3 years and a T shirt for $20. It said to log on to bestdeals.magsfan.com/hotrod. That page had the Hot Rod offer and one for Car Craft for $10 per year, but no deal on Street Rodder. I took a fly and typed bestdeal.magsfan.com/streetrodder and got 3years for $25. No such luck with Hot Rod Deluxe. I let it expire last year. I'm a lifetime Rodders Journal and after next year I figure it will be free. My buddy talked me into a NSRA lifetime membership about 30 years ago, if they had events in my neighborhood it would be a killer deal, but I have a stack of their mags anyway. Just collecting stuff my son will have to throw away. Back up the dumpster.
I have subscribed to Hot Rod Magazine since December 1956. When my subscription runs out, so be it. The magazine used to feature real hot rods, not 1-800 build-a-car. I now go to Barnes and Noble, and peruse what is there. If I see something that interests me, I buy the magazine. the last time I was there I looked at 7 magazines, not all car magazines, but I bought none of them. They seem to have lost their customer base, and offer ridiculously low prices to entice you to re-subscribe. This is because they base their advertising rates on the number of subscriptions. HRM has a large following, and they can sell advertising because of this.
I did this with Popular HotRodding when Johnny Hunkins (spl?) took over and turned it into a G machine only crap, bastard posted my email to him (edited of course and taken out of context) made a couple snide remarks and signed me up for two more years ! Now that idiot just took over CarCraft, I'm sure that's the nail in the coffin for it like he did to PHR and a few other tags he took over.
One of the kids gave me a subscription to StreetRodder a couple of years ago. It was sweet of them but DAAAMMMNNN GINA! I've seen catalogs with more interesting feature cars. I box them all up and take them to my Dr. and Dentist offices.
I gave up on Hot Rod a couple years back. Car Craft was running pretty good but the last few issue shave been pretty much worthless. Probably let it go too when the sub is up. It's pretty obvious they have gotten out of sync with the average reader. LS and Coyote engines are awesome in what they deliver and jaw dropping with boost. But they have a high cost of admission. SBC and SBF, even BBC and BBF's are plentiful and interesting. Mix in some Chryslers and some Buicks and Olds and you have some interesting stuff going on. Mix some traditional stuff in.... stir and sell some magazines. But paid fluff articles, sponsored articles and such are killing the party. On top of that hobby as a whole is in a shrinking posture. There is an assault on cars happening too.Plus there are less and less viable options to hot rod something. Emissions testing. Other legislation, Etc.. It's making the cost of the hobby prohibitively expensive. Fewer and fewer people have the time or knowledge to fix something. It's a damn shame. The magazines should get their houses in order, or they will not survive. The writing is on the wall and has been for a while. Print media is dying. All that will be left are things like TRJ and other "high end" magazines. The HAMB is a modern "magazine". A lot of the kinds of content the print rags are missing.
Received Hot Rod and Street Rodder up to about 2014 and just gave up after Rod & Custom folded. Only one I buy now is Rodder's Journal. Every now and then I get the urge to get an issue to check on current parts made that are advertised but the urge goes away when I realize how much money I spent on magazines over a 50 year span.
I quit subscribing to Hot Rod years ago, however a friend of me still gives me some after he is done with them. It might take me 15 minutes to read everything that interests me, than it goes to the circular file.
I get Hot Rod , Hemmings ,one from NSRA , and some others I send a lot of them to my son Who is on an US Aircraft Carrier. The guys on the ship love getting them I also have took some to nursing home Libraries My mother was there and I noticed They had all kinds magazine Except no old car ones So I took some there Also hats off to you guys who take them to the V.A. Hospitals Great idea I’m going to try to do that . Ought to be giving them to kids to Get them interested in these old cars
I bought my firstHRM in 1949, when it got to the point that no one on the staff new what 3/8 by 3/8 meant I Quit buying. i
Coyotes are still pretty new, but LS engines have been around for nearly 25 years. It's been a lot longer than that since there were Buick and Olds V8 performance engines. As has been said more than once in previous posts, HRM is not a history book. They may be out of sync with the average HAMB member, but they have to keep up with the times.
The Jalopy Journal
