Print shop Vs. the internet... I usually root for the under dog, but in this case I'll place my money on the sure thing. -r
"Hot Rod, Street Rodder, and Rod & Custom Magazines created this world for you..." Putting on my Sherlock Holmes hat, could the fact that "Janet" included Street Rodder Magazine in this sentence be a clue to his/her identity? Maybe not...I'm probably just a 'simple' kid too. I can see both sides of the argument to an extent...but in reality I wish there was no need for an argument. There is a place for both the tactle feel of a print magazine, and the 'gotta have it now' speed of the internet forum. It would be nice if they could simply co-exist and compliment each other. However if I must take sides for a moment, I think that the "simple kid" is trying to take the high road here, and I have a feeling I'm not the only one that will feel this way. News flash: the information superhighway is real, and it is now a big part of the average person's life. The guys in the print industry have to take that seriously. Hot rodding in its purest traditional form is a grass roots movement. From the talented guy with no real money crafting in his garage...to the guy behind the computer creating a new world for hot rodders around the globe. The real 'fabric of hot rodding' should be innovation, and innovation is not always black and white. This thing we are involved in is constantly changing, evolving and sometimes de-evolving. If you can't break new ground, you damn sure better be ready to try and keep up. -Brian Bass
'Janet' is willfully ignoring the FACT that print media is disappearing and deserves to die. Before the internet, we depended on magazines for information and magazines of the last 30 years have always FAILED to deliver the truth. I remember 30 years ago, the magazines said, there is no more old tin left, you must buy fiberglass. (in the last 7 years, I bought 53 abandoned neglected cars from the 1930s 40s and 50s.) I have been incensed as the magazines get the facts wrong, calling a coupe a sedan, etc. Car Magazines are not made by car guys nor are they about cars, they are about SELLING ADVERTISEMENTS. Before the internet, magazines were all we had, so we bought them. The internet is 10 thousand times better. When my backhoe started blowing oil out of the reservoir, I was baffled but went to a tractor forum and asked. In less than 30 minutes I learned the ,most common cause was a stopped up filter. Magazines can not match that nor can they top it. Internet forums are less than perfect but are still 10 thousand times better than magazines.
I have learned more here than I could in years of reading mainstream rodding magazines! The montage was great. If the people with trailer queens and specialty shop built cars can't appreciate this site, too bad for them and all the better for us! Keep up the good work!
Ryan, I'm one of the older farts on here (just turned 72), I usually only comment or respond when I think I can contribute (my posts count verify that). I did the whole '50s rod thing: owned a speed shop (B&R Speed Supply), street raced. drag raced etc, so I think I have some insight for that era. Modern drag racing is like NASCAR-corporate jelly bean cars. The Jalopy Journal keeps the creative, individualistic attitude and style of modified cars from slipping into the corporate jelly bean world and look. I admit that some of what I read and see on here makes me say WTF especially since my daily driver is more street rod than hot rod and isn't acceptable to most people on here, but that never stops me from coming back for more because I like what you do and I like this place. In defense of the printed media, it's still good to sit down and read a mag rather than stare at the screen. Both serve their individual purposes well. I totally agree with you about Rodders Journal. Steve Coonan's passion mirrors the passion I see here. Anyway, thanks for your vision and passion and see you on the street.
Not sure if it is 'time of the month' for Janet or just old, intolerant and cranky, but whichever way it is I wouldn't let it bother you, although since you felt compelled to write/post about it, it obviously does. The HAMB is a microcosm of society - there are all types on here, from many walks of life. As always there will be good guys, bad guys and everything in between. I have no paid magazine subs other than a couple of club memberships which give them to you whether you like them or not. I buy the Rodders Journal and have every issue since Steve Coonan was hawking his dream in the early 1990s, but I do not subscribe. The HAMB is my medium of choice. The beauty of the HAMB is not only that it has a vast repertoire of experience and wisdom, but that it is interactive (and highly addictive). It entertains me constantly and while I may not always agree with the mods, and have had a couple of run-ins, all in all they do a pretty good job. Any venture like this is a 'damned if you, do damned if you don't' and there will always be naysayers whose whole narrow minded parochial view of life consists of getting pleasure from griping about someone pissing in their Cheerios, don't they Janet? Good riddance to bad rubbish.
Hot Rod, Street Rodder and Rod & Custom showed me something I wanted to, but couldn't afford to be a part of. The JJ/HAMB introduced me to people who did it without buying advertised products. Blacksmiths found new jobs... Edited: The other side of this coin: If your car ends up in a magazine, everybody here congratulates you, kinda hypocritical based on the tone of m ost of these posts... Is it still going to be an honor to have you work in a magazine? Will we all be sad when the magazines start folding up? I worked in printing, and I still think that having something in your had to look at and touch is still worth something... RJ gives me that.... I picked up the premier issue of SRP... I don't know if Janet is involved with it... But you can't strive to be #2...
Janet gotta get that times are a changing. You are gettin bottles thrown at you cause you're drivin the bus! I have learned more on the Hamb in 6 months than a stack of magazines could provide. Thanks for this site Ryan BTW, I have to add this. Last night I had a good juicy burger at the diner, they had a stack of "rod" type mags there so I grabbed one to check out while I was dining. You know, they absorb burger grease way better than my laptop would have.
I haven't bought or looked at any "hot rod" magazines in years - let alone subscribe to any. This is the only place I can relate to.
I am not from the era of the classic rods and customs, but I do however, share the passion for the clean classic look of a well built hot rod. When I was growing up in the 80's, I was crazy about CARtoons magazine. It gave me the hopes of one day owning a dry lakes style hot rod or bucket and cruise. I still don't have the hot rod, but I have not lost the passion or the driver to work towards that goal. I agree with some of the other comments that this is a letter from Janet aiming for your success. the HAMB is a newlyfound passion for me and I will continue to spread the word with others that share the same ideas of hot rods and classics.
Jeezus... 'design', 'fabrication', 'paint', and 'art' weren't enough... you just had to add 'eloquently-stated, insightful commentary' to the frickin' list!
I'm a 62 year old hot rodder who got directed back to hot rodding from street rodding thanks to the HAMB. And from me thank you for directing me there. As for print publications I only buy the few that have something I'm building with the exception of the Rodders Journal which I subscribe to. The majority of magazine's seem to serve their advertiser first and formost and most articles seem to push you to use their advertisers. The HAMB bring us back to our roots, of creative solutions to building rods. The exchange of ideas and solutions is immediate online, and often includes other references. Printed publication will never have that option. Thanks again to Ryan, the Moderators, and the knowledgeable posters for all of the help. And even thanks for the few posers for the good laughs.
Ryan, Remember, this is the interwebs, where people like us AND people like Janet can say aything they like without consequences. This site and The Rodders Journal are the best rot-rod related media in the world. Period. To Janet: I remember what it was like having my first beer. You'll be fine tomorrow.
Three states in New England just agreed to stop printing " White Pages " phone books, why, cause people are using thier computers for the same info. Sorry Janet.
I'm actually letting most of my paper subscriptions expire when they come due. I can't justify spending that kind of money on something I'll read once, and throw into a box. I'll keep a couple of them though, because I got to have some "paper" rod mags around, since I don't have a laptop to bring into the bathroom!
I find it interesting that "most" of the "hot rod" mags out there now have editors (and staff...???) that are very young...instead of older, more experienced people (true rodders that grew up with it...???), in an effort to cull favor with those "youngsters" now building "trad" cars and possibly reading/featuring their slant on it... Years ago, it seemed to me, magazines set trends, of course that was before the internet and its instant "trends"...nowadays, they are behind the curve, and I suspect, Janet, and his/her ilk doesn't like it that way --following instead of 'leading'. Times change, things change...yep, "instant" is gratifying...why wait 3 months to get an answer or see the latest trends happen when "we" can actually direct it, from a keyboard...??? Move over Janet, cuz as Bob Dylan once proclaimed: "the times they are achangin' ". R-
Hot Rodding doesn't belong to anyone person or group. Anybody can go out, get a car and turn it into their vision of what a hot rod is. Anyone is free to start their own magazine, wether it be a print magazine, a video magazine, or an online magazine. . . and in the same token you are free to dislike it and not read it, not watch it, or not visit it. To blame someone else for the failure of your product simply because they have a better product is complete and utter stupidity. "Step up your game" and try to remain competitive. You want to squeak by forever offering something mediocre, doing the bare minimum, but you also want to get mad when someone who has the drive and passion to do it better comes along. It doesn't work that way, either give it your all, or prepare to be left behind eventually.
There, there, Janet . It'll be OK. The big, bad, Jalopyjournal is pretend. Janet needs to gas up the ride and go for a drive. I'm guessing Janet started doing the car thing for the same reasons most of us here did too and got a little lost. Poor Janet needs our help..
I've got say that Janet's email made me kind of sad. I'm 20 years old and it was old issues of HotRod and little pages that got me into hot rods when I was 14. With the kind of material that today's magazines offer, is it any wonder that most kids my age are driving Civics? I wasnt there, but as far as I can tell, young people were a very important part of hot rodding in back in the day and there's no reason they shouldnt be today. I cant even begin to explain how helpful the HAMB and the Jalopy Journal have been. I want to thank everyone on here and especially Ryan for creating a place where people are willing to take time, answer questions, and help each other out.
Bass said it perfect, the way of the future is the internet. I mean we are now just getting Lonestar Roundup coverage in the mags, when it was up the next day, sunday of the show. Plus your house is not cluttered due to the magazines piling up. I'm having this issue now with all my magizines, except for The Rodders Journal. This is a magazine that time, effort and attention to detail are all over it from beginning to end. Also you get great consumer feedback, the classified ads are incredible, Tech archives are the sh!t, the HAMBODEX is full of great people. The HAMB is a good place..
"Note: I’ve heard before that the only person that truly enjoys a video montage is the person that made it. Sorry." Nope, i liked it too! good audio choices as well. I started thinking of lines from "Rocky Horror" about dear Janet!
I believe the car hobby as a whole is stronger with a diverse group of interests. I don't have to like your choice of style, what you invested, what your ride is made out of, or what direction you turn or not while racing, just keep doing it with passion. Instead of a civil war lets focus on the powers that would prefer we all did not exist!
I think that you either get this hot rodding thing or you don't. There are people I talk to, who see me doing my hot rod art, and they totally get it and think it's fun. Others think it would be better if it had a nice bowl of fruit sitting in the roof. Others wonder why you would spend so much time making a picture of an car that doesn't look like theirs. None of it matters. You only live one life... have fun with it... J A N E T ! I hate bitching.
I have been a subscriber to a few of those rags for 20 years or so, but I have also been reading the Journal around 10 years as well. Im not much for posting, but what I have learned from reading others posts has proved invaluable. This site is a great resource and a great source of entertainment. I look forward every morning to glancing over this site while enjoying my coffee. Ryan, you have created a wonderful thing here and by reading your posts one can definitely see that you have poured your heart and soul into this site. Thank you for what you provide to all of us. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o> <o> </o> In reading Janets email you can sense the fear in his words. For years they have tried to move their business to the internet and have failed (failed miserably here recently if Janet is who I think it is). They know the printing business is on the way out, pretty soon we will all be reading on Ipads and Kendals. Dont let them get you down, they are just envious of what you have here and want it for themselves.<o></o> <o> </o> And as to Janet: lay the hell off, just because some posters are ripping your rag doesnt mean that the fabric of hot rodding is in peril. Worry about your own publication, not someone elses.<o></o>
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