have you seen the "NEW" hot rod magazine?

Some people would complain even if hung with a new rope!! Give'm a break, as pointed out by others, the rag can't be all about traditional rods and cutoms, they cover a lot of subjects. The car on the cover is far from a rat rod, it doesn't have spider webs and skulls welded all over it, and it is a well built rod. The style is somewhat a new look that rat rodders seem to follow a dropped down platform to attatch the gee gaws to. But this rod is well done, however not in shiny paint. The coverage of the AMBR roadster is awesome. The Shelby piece is very timely and informative. This rag can be had for a paltry subscrip price of about 60 cents an issue. I had stopped getting it a while back but plan on getting it again for the low low price. Some new blood in the ranks are doing a great job in my opinion and sorry to see bashing of their effiorts. Each to their own, but I givem a thumbs up!! ~sololobo~

 

Public perception of the car on the cover is that it is a rat rod. Hot Rod has always been the face of the hobby. When they put a rat rod on the cover, that is the magazine that the legislators will hold up to show why Hot Rods should be outlawed.
The original publishers and leaders of the hobby always tried to show a good face to the public and legislators.
It seemed that Hot Rod magazine doesn't care about the image it projects.
There are hundreds of pictures of Wally Parks, Ak Miller, Robert Petersen, in suits, talking to police and community leaders helping to project a good image.
Not any more.

 

I dont subscribe, but do appreciate getting mentioned in the recent early hemi editions.

 

Just got through reading mine, more paper does not a better magazine make. I liked it better before the change.

 

Rodders Journal gets my money.at this years LA Roadster Show bought their new Scrapbook,looks great

 

rodders journal is for the most part a pictorial. they don't do alot of testing, how to's, highlighting companys,letters from readers, q and a's, etc. and thats why everybody likes it. it's big, thicker than most mags. shiny paper,quality projects that most of us have grown up with knowing about. major comfort zone. but it only comes out four times a year! think of HOT ROD as the news paper. it needs to know whats going on, on many topic and try to appeal to a wide variety of car lovers. stop saying TRJ or R&K are my mags. none of those give the same kind of info! i love looking at pretty pictures to, but at some point, don't you want to know why something is? knowing what parts are look cool is only a small part of this hobbie. the only thing i will say in a negitive tone is to please get rid of all the boner pill advertising. it seems very out of place in car mag. just car related advertising please.

 

I think you stated why it is that I subscribe to HR and not TRJ. I'm much more interested in doing things, not looking at pretty pictures. Hot Rod not only shows what's going on, they encourage us to get in on the action. The pic in my avatar was taken by a HR photographer at one of their events.

 

This one wasn't so bad.., PS. I hear Mike Finnegan is building a '55 Chevy Gasser with an injected 426 Hemi.

 

They should just change the name to muscle car magazine. Or I have way to much money burning a whole in my pocket magazine. Just sayin'. or they could just call it a catalog.

 

Same crap

 

I subscribed because I got a clock. Now that i get it I am enjoying some of the articles.I am a big fan of Shelby. some of the articals on turbo charging do not intrest me. all in all it's a good rag.

 

This forum is all about traditional rods and customs, that doesn't mean we don't like other cars, it just means that's what this is about. To say Hot Rod sucks is to say everything non traditional sucks. I'm all for anything that's modified to make it go faster and sound louder, traditional hot rods being at the top of the list, ( and I don't even own one, yet. ). Because if you're dreaming of a world with nothing but traditional cars, well, you're dreaming. The ones who say "we've got to keep hot rodding alive" are the same ones who are quick to cause the demise of an icon like Hot Rod Magazine. I don't care for alot of the coverage in Hot Rod, but, I'll renew my subscription because I believe in what they are doing to keep hot rodding alive, and to do that with printed material that is made possible by it's advertisers in todays market is pretty tough.

 

I dont see your logic...

They can suck, while covering a subject matter that is interesting.


I wouldnt know if they suck or not, they lost me many years ago.

I realised it made no sense to renew my sub when the current issue just got stacked on the still unopened and unread issue of the month before that.

And once they have lost me as a loyal reader ( which I used to be ), I have no obligation to go back to being one...

 

I looked at it at the store, the cover is embarassing. But I will pick this issue up for a couple of the articles. ECTA and the Shelby story. I wish Frieburger, with all his LSR involvement, would bring back the type of Bonneville coverage HRM had in the 50s and 60s.

 

They get kicks from the backlash of putting a schlock rod (no matter how fast) on the cover several times a year. And the sales are another factor in putting those cars in the rag. Right boy'z?

 

It's almost like they're in business to make as much money as they can.

What a concept.

 

Yes and at what point does profit become greed?

 

After a few corporate take overs, who can tell?

 

The hardcore old time readers. One thing for sure the old Hot Rod is not coming back. The schlock rods are a slap in the face really. And they know it. The temporal gains will haunt them.

 

Couldn't agree more. I have a dreaded 1969 CAMARO with a, gasp, small block chevy in it. Since when isn't body work... body work? If I fatten up the fuel curve on an EFI unit (wish I had efi) using a laptop to adjust the logorithims instead of change the jets on a holley with a screw driver....haven't I still tuned it? Suspension geometry is still suspension geometry no mater what car its on. I appreciate the old rods, the muscle cars, the kustoms, the low riders, and the ricers. Why? Because they are the expression of a fellow car enthusiasts dreams. Too look down on one or the other is just provincial bullshit snobbery at its worst. Changing something on a car to make it go faster, look better in the eyes of the beholder is hotrodding in its purist form. Peace.

 

Bashing Hot Rod is a favorite pastime here, but 8 pages? Geez you guys. If they'd publish pictures of YOUR car every month, and then a couple features of cars that looked just like yours, maybe some of you would find it more interesting.

I'm a fan of HR, have been since I was a little kid in the late 50's/early 60's, and still look forward to getting every month. To me, lately it's been getting better, and while I don't care about some of the stuff they publish, I learn something, get new ideas and inspirations in every issue.

Brian

(OK, maybe I'm fan because they DID publish a feature on my car, fulfilling a life long dream, but I liked it before that!)

 

I remember old Hot Rod from the 60's. Almost every writer was a racer and or record setter.

 

Super issue , the Jackie Howerton/SO-CAL roadster segment alone was worth the
price. Come on they are doing better.

 

I have been reading HotRod for forty years and they cannot cater and please every form of hotrodding whether it be building pre 48 cars and trucks or car showing, dragracing etc. I think they new they needed a change and I think you will see them lean more to the format of HotRod deluxe which I enjoy very much. Ihave a C5 Corvette with the traditional headers, x-pipe just as you would have done under a shade tree to find more horsepower, but I did have the throttle body ported, in lieu of changing jets or carbs in the good ole days. It cranks immediately freezing or hot and will runhigh 12's in a 1/4 mile after being driven to the track and get 25+ mpg, same with my 03 SS Silverado which I run in production pickup whch limits the modifications you can make. The truck weighs 5630 lbs. without me and I have set three landspeed records in NC and Ohio just eight weeks ago where with a constant 25+ mph quartering into the drivers door anf fender it ran 134 mph best of the day. Ialso drive it to and from the track.
When I get ready to go to my best friends old time speed shop, or to my Dad's or anywhere around home I jump in my 1937 Chevy hotrod"not a ratrod" truck, no hood or side panels, 350/350 and I run open headers which have never been capped and it has flames.
Anyway HotRod has a little of everything for everybody.
I was looking forward to this months new format and I swear I had no idea that it would be in there but I AM MENTIONED IN HOTROD, look on the top left corner of page 104 where the article starts and in the last two columns on the opposite page 105. Also I was not called to the line first because I am a walking miracle, it was because I am a chronic insomniac and I was parked at the gate to get into the airport at 4:45 am for a gate that wasn't opened until 6:00 and I went straight to the prestage lanes and two hours later when vehicles were called to the staging lanes I was first.

Garrell Patterson

 

Nice article on diagnosting a fuel pump problem.

 

I'll agree with this gentleman. I've got the hat,too. I read all kinds of mags, not just those I agree with. How else will you learn anything? I only started to read this thread because I came in for a cup of coffee. Now, I've added to the wasteland. You like it, buy it and read it. You don't like it, don't buy it.Let's all go outside and do something real now. Huh?

 

If you like it buy it; else, look for something you like better. Rhetoric and whine goes nowhere imo. Let's focus on DOING something on or with our cars or projects... that's where the fun is for me.

 

I used to read Hot Rod years ago, I found that the tended to do articles on either brand new car performance mods or high buck "store bought" rods. I have browsed them a few times and not much seems to have changed. One man,s opinion.

 

I looked at it the day it came in the mail, it's still on the floor beside my bed. Nothing new, seems too cluttered to me. After 30+ years, it seems like it's hard to quit...

 

I wanted to like it, I was really rooting for them. It seems like what I said last time this came up, even more so. They just REALLY have NO IDEA left as to what direction they want to go in, they are completely lost. Throwing darts with the lights out. They seem to just be covering new "muscle" (Which I am sure they are being paid handsomely for) and r*t rods/shock rods lately.