Hot Rods Street rodder magazine is crap.....

All the mag has been since the 80s is mostly advertisements and what passes for Tech articles is reprinted installation instructions for the widgets in the ads. The feature cars are usually nice but they don't excite me as much as the old Willys Gassers, '32 Roadsters, '34 coupes of the past did. All the car magazines have been bought up by TEN: The Enthusiast Network and they have slicked them up to appeal to the non-gearhead public. Alas, real hot rodders no longer have an outlet, save for a few outsider mags like Rat Rod Magazine and Ol' Skool Rodz Magazine. I get an annual offer to re-up my subscription to Hot Rod and SrreetRodder mag for $2/ year for both. I go ahead and drop the $deuce but I completely 'read' each issue in 3 or 5 minutes standing at the counter while sorting the mail when I get home from work and toss it in the trash. I have all my Rod and Custom, Custom Rodder, Rod Action, Car Craft, Hot Rod, Model Car Science, Car Model, etc., mags from the 60s thru mid 80s stored in my craft room. I have collected precious few keepers from then on. I dropped my membership in the NSRA and haven't attended a Western Street Rod Nationals for 5 or 6 years even though it is held about 10 minutes from my home since they opened membership to 1984 cars. Just not interested in spending a weekend looking at Yugos with lambs-wool seat covers.

 

I rarely see it on shelves outside of an airport. The 7-11 near me actually stocks Ol' Skool Rodz & Car Kulture Deluxe. But I ended up with a subscription after Rod & Custom went away; I didn't renew it.

I will say though that Hot Rod Deluxe seems to have picked up some of the slack in the vacuum left by R&C's departure. I got one of those big money off subscription deals on it a while back and I have not regretted the $20 I spent in the least. It's a lot more than the 'hey look at this stuff from our archives' coffee table mag it started out as, it is what I wish Hot Rod Magazine actually was!

 

Rod and Custom needs to come back! Rodders Journal has got things right.

 

X2

 

I subscribed to SR in 1979 and had it until 2 yrs ago when things were changing. I always wished that Rod & Custom was the size of SR. Sad that R&C is gone though.

 

I think it is just as suggested, once the big GoodGuys and NSRA shows went to the later model stuff, the magazine followed. .....follow the money....

However, just like when at the GG or NSRA shows, you can by bypass what you do not like and then concentrate ont he stuff you do. Just kind of sad there is less of what we like now.

 

I purchased the lifetime subscription because I feel it is the best all round magazine that has the best photography,the most in depth articles and TRJ has a finger on the pulse of hot rodding and customs.

I also subscribe to Hop Up because if I couldn't read a word the images are amazing and while the staff has a eye on the future they have forgotten our past.

BTW,if the old Rod & Custom was resurrected I would join that bandwagon in a skinny minute. HRP

 

My subscription to Rodder's Journal goes back to issue 1 and now I'm one of the life time guys... after several trys!
I've subscribed to Rodding USA and I'm pleased so far.
I miss Rod & Custom, Rodder's Digest, Street Rod Builder. It was Street Rod Builder that pushed the other magazines to go full color. That sure was a vast improvement for the industry... too bad much of the industry is passing by the wayside. Rodder's Digest was always the best for down to earth rodding and how to dos along with neat tips.
Great irony in that while we enjoy holding a good mag and reading it; most of us have swapped that old magazine reading time for time spent on the internet where the choices vary greatly and specific interests can be readily researched and read.
It is what it is but I'm glad I still have many old magazines to look back over now and then. Once I pick one up to thumb through again, I find myself rereading a number of pages.

 

Going to the crapper just ain't the same as it use to be!

 

I am a life timer with RJ and it's the only one I subscribe to.
I really miss the days of the Rodders Digest and Hot Rod Mechanix.
I really dislike some of the current publications that focus on the tattooed women and all of that sort of thing.
When I see someone with slicked back hair and rolled up jeans and stuff like that I always wonder if it's Halloween and I have missed part of the year

 

Rod Action got me back into hotrodding in the early 1970s because there were interesting how-to articles and the advertising didn't overwhelm the editorial content. But pretty much everything you pay for is oriented toward the profit motive, so more ads, less content, Squeezing out all that we want to the lowest level of content delivery until the customers realize that the product they seek just no longer exists. The marketplace at work. The only flaw is that we are constantly in that dead zone where we pay for the diminishing content for awhile and get less in return until we wise up.

 

Actually it's better. You know that too much time on the porcelain throne reading rodding mags lead to lots of
Hemi-roids

 

That's the truth, man. Just got the latest issue yesterday and once again I'm just amazed at the quality and the content. For selfish reasons I urge everyone to support TRJ so I can keep enjoying it for years to come.

 

Just wondering why you're spending good money on a publication you don't like? Why not get an Alliance membership and support the venue you do like ?

 

YEP.....THANKS RYAN!.....most mags SUCK.....H.A.M.B. ROCKS

 

Print media is about dead anyway. Knowing people that are in or were in the Magazine business, your subscription price barely pays the postage, Advertisers is what prints the paper and with competion from electronic media , the once normal ad rates have dropped and more ads are needed to keep the mag going.
People are cheap--- go to the bookstore, buy some coffee and read a magazine, put it back on the shelf, then leave. In the end, the covers of those leftovers are ripped off and sent back, and the rest is thrown in the trash. Bookstore doesnt care because the mags are on consignment and they made their money by selling you a $5 coffee and a $3 muffin

 

And at least now it takes less time to get the blood flowing in my legs and feet.

 

I haven't picked up a SR mag in several years. I can't blame anybody in the print business for trying to broaden their market though.

It is funny how things change. I'm pretty sure I can produce a copy of Street Rodder, with a Corvette on the cover (1975 maybe).

 

Don't even get me started on that Doc!

 

I have not been back to the NSRA Nationals since it became the ' Fat Nationals' and its only 100 miles from home. Magazines are on my list to thin down. Really like RJ. Read cover to cover.

 

X2. These three are my all time favorites. I too let my SR, GG, and NSRA deals expire about 4 years ago. Did not like the changes. I think it is good that they are changing to draw more folks into the fold, but it is not for me, so I look else where, here, TRJ, and I enjoy Hemmings. I really miss Tex Smith's stuff, and Bill Burnham's stuff also, but all things change.

 

I see it at the grocery store and don't even thumb through it any more. it has sucked for quite some time

 

Gave up on Street Rodder a couple of years ago....funny thing is I don't feel like I am missing anything!!

 

I wont go so far as to call it CRAP but it sure has changed direction.
Regarding ads...... It wont survive without them.

 

I've had subscriptions to lots of car mags. including Street Rodder for years. I now only have one,
TRJ. 'nuff said.

 

Magazines survive on advertising dollars, and most advertisers want content that appeals to young eyeballs. Advertisers know that most of us older guys have already made our brand decisions, so there’s no point in chasing us.

There is a minimum ratio of ads-to-content that magazines must adhere to, in order to receive discounted postal rates, and most publications shoot for this. I think that ratio has remained the same for decades. If you feel like your'e seeing more and more ads, it’s probably not because the ratio has changed. Instead, it's because you no longer perceive value in the ads that the publication carries, which makes them more annoying to you. Which kind of comes back to my first point.

I was in the magazine business for many years, and got out when the money started to dry up. Tough business.

 

I'm new age. I take the laptop instead of a magazine.

 

Whenever I take my wifes' Samsung notebook into the crapper, she washes it before she uses it.

 

Laptop?