Great film Ryan, No worries, Janet sit's down when he has to take a leak!!! You know this would make a Great t-shirt... Hmmmmm limited run...
Okay ya'll, got my official HAMB bumper sticker on tonight... whatcha'll think??? I sure hope they'll still take my picture and put my car in one them there mazagines!
All this time I thought it was the people with the cars creating this industry. I felt like a giant jack ass when I found out that it was in fact the printed word of Primedia that gave me my car. Holy crap! Thanks Janet! I was feeling like a real moron discussing all the issues from tech to the glory days on this board with all of the hoodlums on here. I plan to cancel my membership with the HAMB, get fiberglass phantom/phaeton/rodster/gay ass car name monthly magazine, and fully expect to get my complimentary little kid crying to lean against my 4 door nova with trailer wheels. Goodbye hoodlums, the air is much crisper up here. Sincerely, Another hoodlum
Ryan, I just want to say 'Thank you' for the great job that you do on all of your sites. If "Janet" is affiliated with printed media, please get a grip. Personally I have hardly bought a magazine since the mid 70's. The biggest reason is I know how to install a radio. When they all started with the how-to's on junk like that I quit reading. I wanted to see the real how-to on engines, chassis, etc. Then it really got bad with the ricer cars. I have totally disliked them when I was in parts sales, hasn't changed since. "Janet" you really need to get a grip on reality. If you are affiliated with the print media, give us what we want, not what you decide what we want. "Nuff said!!"
thanks for the site ryan. i'd drink champagne while reading that letter if i were you. we all should. you changed the way enthusiasts interact with their hobby and each other. people readily communicate and collaborate. don't matter where you are - england, germany, scotland, japan, and don't get me started on those swedes - all are welcome - that is the gospel part. ...and for some of us unlucky folks who did not have a cool hot rod dad teaching them to wrench all day - this information is now accessible and freely learned. this was original promise of the internet. i haven't built a car from scratch in my garage. ...but i have learned and done so many things in the course of that future goal. in the meantime, i've learned to weld, cut, fix, hoard parts, laugh at myself, and with the help of the sister site - keep my triumph running and much more. you've got their attention and they can't figure out to stop you (or us). ...and they can no longer effectively monetize their stale business model. i'd whine too. ...and oh yeah - what nads said.
I recall a phrase from high school English class, something to the effect that "the old order changeth, yielding to the new". When I was a teen, you haunted the local cigar store for the next issue of the little car magazines, bringing California into small town upstate New York. Things like Facebook, Twitter and so forth that my grandkids use today were not even thought of back then. Hell you picked up the telephone in my house and some lady said "number please" and phone numbers were three digits. Yup, I'm old and proud of it. Today the phone my daughter has plays videos, gives directions, picks addresses, takes pictures and oh yeah makes phone calls. So what we have here is change, pure and simple as some other posters have already said. Ryan, you invented a better mouse trap. "Janet" is like the buggy whip manufacturers when the Model T brought cars to the masses. It ain't fair, its ruining things, etc, etc. But change and evolving technologies is the way of the world today. I recently read a book where the author, with good data, predicts humans will be wired with a chip in 20 years allowing mental communciation with the web without any hardware. I enjoy the hell out of the Jalopy Journal. I have learned a lot, bought some neat parts, and been able to reconnect with a lot of old friends. I start my morning with a coffee and my laptop, in my pajamas at the kitchen table. I don't have to wait 30 days for the next issue of print magazines. I don't have to wade through tons of advertisements. I can go right to pictures of hardcore hot rods and customs, droll over cars for sale that I can't afford on Social Security, and see what guys all around our planet are doing, saying, building, or dreaming about. So don't worry. "Janet" whomever that may be, is entitled to an opinion. I would not lose sleep over it. I think you were over generous to give as much bandwith to the comment as you did. Just keep up the good work, Ryan, a hell of a lot of guys have your back.
First,... I will admit,.. I didn't read all 255 previous responses,... But here is how I see it, Hot Rodding survived as a community long before it had "publications",... In fact, other than Throttle,... I believe all other Hot Rodding publications were more of a attempt to make a profit, off of the Hot Rod community. (With rare exception) Hot Rodders actually "Created this world" for the Car publications ! , And they have held the upper hand for a very long time, more interested in turning a profit, than in what the "Hot Rod community" had to say,.... they have been at the helm so long, they think they should be the ones to dictate the next direction! Frankly, I think Ryan put the Hot Rod community, back in the hands of the real Hot Rodders,... (How Traditional is that ???) The HAMB,... Of the Rodder, By the Rodder For the Rodder !
The internet is not going to destroy the print media. Magazines are artifacts, material "things" that you can possess. Since there is now a very competitive alternative, magazines will have to change; they will have to become something that people desire to possess. Rather than vehicles for advertisement, they must become works of art, literature. They need stories that take time and effort to write, and truly excellent photography. There is already one mag like this. It will be good for the "Janets" to get out of their ivory towers and mix with some "hoodlums".
Easy now to slam the mags but, they were there for many, many years before the net . Who doesn't enjoy looking at a vintage hop up mag some 50 years later ? Magazines have always had there place in hot rodding , I kept a library close to read while doing my duties for years
I say just enjoy what ya got because one day the nazi computer geeks will get ya and we will be forced to look at reruns of mickey mouse and friends.....
My son is a 18-year old TOTAL gearhead- he's done a TON of work on his car himself over the last 2 years. He's in college now for photography (already was taking awesome car photos). I tried to buy him car magazines and his answer was- "I get all my information on the internet". That's when I REALLY knew where magazines are headed.
come renewal time, the HAMB can count on getting my money again. the help i got with my electrical problem a few months ago was worth much more than 50 bucks to me, and I'm sure I'll get my money back again next year. thanks to everyone for making this site what it is, hot rodding.
No doubt it was the Ididit post that brought this on. I understand what Janet is saying though, to a point. There is a large and growing faction in the traditional scene and on the board of guys who think they are building "traditional" cars but really dont (as so many have said) "get it." These are the same guys who are the first to start talking shit about street rods and trophy whores and show cars, when 1 year ago they didn't even have any opinion on them at all. Overnight experts. I'd say thats about 60% of the current posting membership on the HAMB. The other 40% are the guys who "get it" and who have a right to be offended by Janets rant. The 60/40 ratio is getting worse on a daily basis, hopefully to peak soon and decline rapidly as most movements do. It will be nice when we are in the minority again. I'm taking a sabbatical until. P.S. I love magazines. I buy the good issues, leave the crappy ones on the shelf. I love Hot Rod Deluxe, Rod & Kulture, and Rodders Journal. I'll keep buying them as long as they are around.
Oh blah blah blah... I've been reading on this very sight since the day I joined that "Magazines are going to die." And the head computer boy has been leading the charge. Which is natural... he's a computer guy. And he's got a vested interest in this site, and this medium. And the magazine guys have been saying "No! You're wrong!" which is natural. Because they're magazine guys. They've got a vested interest in the medium. You always gotta ask yourself "Who's ox is being gored?" "Magazines are going to die" is a song that's been played more than Little Deuce Coupe for the last 15 years. Ryan even went so far as to tell me that Hot Rod Deluxe is a great mag, but "won't make it until next year." I bet him a steak dinner that I'd be shooting the HAMB Drags for HRDx. That was three years ago. The executives at what was then Petersen pissed away a TON of money justifying their existence in trying to create websites that made money. They didn't grasp that they were a magazine publishing company and not a website company. They've flogged that horse since I was at Mopar Muscle in the late '90s. Magazines need to step up and figure out how to adapt, but the internet guys haven't gotten over their "We're the hot new shit" arrogance yet to realize they're not the end-all/be-all. Think I'm wrong? If so, why all the threads and love when someone here gets their car featured in a magazine? Nobody's braggin that someone posted a pic of their car on a website. As for all the whining about advertising? Pound sand. Every one of you dorks has picked up a phone and called someone to buy a part for your hot rod. Where'd you see it? How'd you find their number? How'd you even know it existed? Yeah... that horrible ad in the magazine. I will say it's my own personal opinion that the executives at the car magazines need to stop doing "Business as usual." That's largely (in MY opinion) why so many magazines are struggling. You simply can't keep selling magazine subscriptions so cheap that they don't even cover the cost of mailing it, let alone the print cost, production cost, shipping and distribution costs. The game is that they base their ad rates on circulation numbers. But they haven't grasped that A) advertisers are tired of getting raped and B) it's compounded by a rough economy where advertisers CAN'T afford to get raped, so they're losing advertisers. Meanwhile, they've sold subscriptions with the thought that the ads would pay all the bills. I'm fortunate to work for Hot Rod Deluxe regularly... that mag went from a quarterly to a bi-monthly, and they're about to make it available by subscription. Guess what? That's the only mag at Source being run the way it is... as a print magazine, it's adapting to the new reality. The new reality being that in today's instant-gratification, quickie-world, there's still a place for a slower, quality experience. -Brad
I believe the OP was referring to the Charmin quality mags. The true Publication Of Hot Rods was praised. The weak will not survive, good for the strong and good for us because the quality will get even better.
My friend is a wonderfully intelligent retired GM engineer and in his life the only way to collect automobiles is when they are restored to showroom condition. Mind you he's well along in his age and his collection is formidable. Yet when I bring up the new chevrolets that have speed added to them, he still scoffs. He as is many of my friends are baffled with the number of scrappers destroying old tin. Thus limits OEM parts for restoring. There are many Janets that do not appreciate the creativity and just plain hard work that goes in to making these wonder vehicles of speed and art. I have one to restore and two to play with and the heck with those who are stuck in only one way of thinking. In a nut shell, Janet can go drool in the closet. Thanks for all that you do here and press on reguardless. ray
“Hot Rod, Street Rodder, and Rod & Custom Magazines created this world for you” I must have been reckless and careless in my thinking as all along I thought it was created by regular Joes in their garages who wanted different cars than what corporate America was “creating for them”. Little did I realize that corporate publishing created hot rodding. Obviously I don’t agree that magazines created “this world” of hot rodding. But assuming for argument’s sake that they did, isn’t this statement very unfair to at least a dozen other titles from the early days of hot rodding that unfortunately aren’t around anymore? Unfair as well to an additional dozen or more that are currently on the shelves? Correct me if I’m wrong here, but Street Rodder didn’t come out until 1971 or so. The obvious question is why include SR in the ‘holy trinity‘? As for “you have allowed the audience to speak their mind carelessly and recklessly”, isn’t that what freedom is all about? Uncensored voices where we agree to disagree at times? Thank you H.A.M.B. admin and members for allowing me this voice tonight. You are all free to disagree with my reckless statements. My humble opinion is that “Janet” had a truly bad day at work. Really and truly bad. I will be watching the letterheads of the three publications as I have a bet that a staffing change went down today.
Ryan Those of us who live the Hot Rod life THANK YOU for the HAMB. Being able to comunicate with so many from all over the world who have the same Hot Rod interest is fantastic. Janet should really take a look at the mag he/she is in charge of its really just a bunch of adds. Sure Janet works in a for profit industry and theres nothing wrong with that whats wrong is thinking that industry is threatened by this site. The heritage of Hot Rodding goes way back to the first guys making changes to their cars which lead to the birth of all we know today. Their decision so long ago to modify their cars layed the foundation for the aftermarket parts industry. From there the for profit mags began. This site is about the grass roots of Hot Rodding taking us back to those early days which to me is refreshing. So Ryan keep up the good work spreading the word and we will do the same.
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 This is a terrific site. I still enjoy reading Ol' Skool Rods, and like Mr. Bass so nicely put it, some of us who don't want to conform to a "Total 1950's era traditional rod". We like running our brand of unique Rods. ("Rats" are here to stay...)<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->
One thing about the HAMB, outsiders are more than welcomed, and as a lifelong mag subscriber, how often is that encouraged in the field? Not all letters to the editor are printed, but Ryan has allowed us to join together to grow or openly be damn fools about these old cars we love, seems that should alone be a selling point without print ads and those little cards that always fall out in the store!
The Jalopy Journal
