Event Coverage Hot Rod Magazine going quarterly?

Well guys, let's just admit we're all troglodytes. In my defense, I'm proud of being one. To eschew modern technology and revere that which this website stands for, well let's just say it's a shame, a damn dirty shame that HRM and all of the other periodicals we worship are gone!

Now I'm going to go out to the garage and polish up my 1928 Sunnen honing machine...

 

The price is going up.

 

The great bonus to MT+ is that you have every copy of Hot Rod ever published at your fingertips. It's great for looking at build styles from decades past.

The new editor in the last couple years has really changed the makeup of the magazine. He's doing a great job covering many bases every issue. The latest issue has Bonneville Speed Week, a discussion on traditional rodding, and doing an engine turned insert on a 32 dash amongst other things. Hot Rod was never my favourite in the selection of mags I was fortunate to grow up with but it's not what it was back then. It's not all about quarter mile times for your Camaro anymore.

 

I got my issue today as well. I agree the magazine has been providing pretty good content in the last few years (although I don't like how they often use tiny white print on a black background), but I wonder if it is the next step towards going online only. A few years ago Cycle World magazine did the same thing; their quarterly magazines were very nice but they were substantially more expensive and only lasted a year or two more before going online only.

Hot Rod did say on that page that was attached to the front of the magazine that subscribers can get a free year of Motor Trend online, so that's worth checking out.

 

I imagine there were flathead guys who complained when HR started running stories on the small block Chevy back in 1955. The thing is, time marches on. If they want to survive (in whatever format) besides retaining their existing readers they have to attract new readers too.

 

I know times have changed......part of me wants to blame Discover Group for these changes, but truth probably is that's the only reason Hot Rod still exists.

 

I agree with @Moriarity and @saltracer219

 

It’s sad to see but we knew it was coming. In recent years their subscription prices have gotten crazy cheap. They can’t afford to put out a high quality monthly magazine with the money they are bringing in.

 

Post hack but sort of related ............. times they are a changing

I went to my parts store yesterday and asked for a 1.5 ohm ceramic ballast resistor. I had one in my hand. The school boy behind the counter said I have never seen one of those and asked what it was used on and for? He then proceeded to look in the catalog under LED lighting parts. That's when I knew I was in the wrong shop.

So I head up the road to another major supplier and similar response from the counter guy. I said have you got any old guys working here they will know what it is. So he wanders off and finds a grey beard. Said grey beard has a chat for a while asks me what I am working on, tells me about his project and magically produces the ballast resistor from stock.

 

Yes, times are changing. And we're all anachronisms with regard to the automotive ilk. Still have the 1961 pre Indy issue with AJ Foyt on the cover. It was the first issue I bought myself, before I even turned 7 years old. My older brother wouldn't get it and I liked that picture on the cover.

 

I'll wait until I see it to decide. I'm not single lane narrow focus when it comes to things automotive, I just keep them separate as far as what I discuss with who. If they still give me enough traditonal content life is good.

 

I got the latest edition and also a renewal of my subscription offer as well. I will give it a try for another year.

 

Bring Back Hot Rod Deluxe!

 

Oddly enough my subscription runs out with this January 2024 issue but I haven't received any renewal notices. They usually send out multiple letters, starting months in advance.

 

Yup Jim that,s the way I read it too..

 

Well, I subscribe to Hemmings Classic Cars. A little background here -- I was a media printer for a few years, went into advertising, publishing, etc. My Classic Cars has had a virtual rebirth in the last few issues. Remade itself. The font size is barely readable to old readers like a lot of us that make up their audience. And then they started using copy blocks with reverse typography -- you know, white letters over a darker solid of photography background. All these new "Graphics 101" folks make it look slick, but forget the audience. The presentation is nice, but the reading is not. And I'll bet that's where Hot Rod will be going, too.

 

On the plus side I just renewed my subscription for 2 years for $20. They said they will honor that, then up the price at the next renew. I should get $60 worth for $20. Win, Win. The last shelf in my Hot Rod library is almost full. With only 4 issues instead of 12 I might not have to throw out my old Playboys or biker mags.

 

Do not worry! You do not have to renew again, now that your 3 year subscription is over. You will automatically be renewed for a year subscription, and it will be charged against your payment form (PayPal, credit card, of debit card) that you previously, originally used to get those three years worth of issues. Ask me how I know this.. Got to read the fine print..........

 

Look how well it’s working out for Hotrod, now it’s only a quarterly…

 

I’m a voracious reader and have always read my automotive magazines cover to cover. One thing I noticed early on was published in magazines at the end of the year, it showed circulation numbers and that ad space (or maybe it was a requirement?) came from the ABC, the Audit Bureau of Circulation. Advertising rates can be set by those numbers, if business gets a handle on how many might be reading a particular magazine they at least have some way to weigh the cost of ad space to the expected return in their investment.
Cheap subs increase circulation numbers, it might not save a magazine but it could help to keep the doors open a bit longer with that extra ad revenue.

 

My local grocery store no longer even carries HR or MT anymore. (Or, it's possible that they only stack three copies and those are gobbled up by the other grey-beards around here.) Can't remember the last time I bought a current HR mag. I read most things online now, and I DO take my phone to the throne to make sure I use my time efficiently!

 

Thought the grocery store was only good for E, Time, Vogue and weekly news. I don't ever recall a hotrod mag in one. you must have had better stores than Ohio.

 

I bought the 2016 issue of HRM with my car on the cover at the local Safeway grocery store. Never saw another one on a news stand anywhere else I looked.

 

Once they went away from actual tech articles and went to nothing but ads for garbage, I started throwing them away anyways. If you don't change that carburetor for a $3k gizmo, your car will cease to function!

 

Hello,

For every new show on the Motor Trend channel, there are o-1 show that compares to the older ones we have been familiar with over the past couple of years. The pandemic made us all choose TV streaming channels carefully. But, it was the proliferation of people that just were not up our alley, so to speak.

Appearance and presentation was the key. Some had harsh personalities that seemed to play into the bad boy arena trying to do some good work for the masses. Others were add on folks because they looked good and had no inkling of what was necessary for completion of a job or what direction a modification should progress to it finished state. Others actually had stuff that no one cares about or would spend an hour watching babble that was not interesting. It got to be a fast selection of shows with the FF button on the guide.

Even my wife liked the shows we were watching due to the great personalities of the main builders or hot rod folks. We met Chip Foose and his dad, when he was little kid in Santa Barbara and is now world wide famous. His shows were great in that they did surprise some folks. But, each of the TV shows has to have a "catch" to get folks to watch the planned direction the producers want. The outcome is known and editing is done well. They all follow a script or two.

The guys from the actual Hot Rod Magazine group are the most sincere presenters of all of the hot rod mod shows. It is fun to watch them make mistakes, then correct it. It is a pleasant viewing mode.

From across the room, my wife liked the guys on various shows just from the way they explain things and the tone of their sincere way to get information across to the viewers. There was nothing in their presentations that said “I know more than you and listen to me…” So, having access to the Motor Trend Channel subscription is not in the cards for me.

Jnaki

Over the years, having gone from an avid buyer of the magazine to a certain point in our lives, made me drop the subscription. Over time if I saw a magazine cover on the news racks, I would stop and read an article. But those days are also gone. So, it is pick and choose as to which shows to watch.

The print magazines are all on their way out of the door as costs go up and there are too many competitive digital devices and shows along similar lines. Digital websites are instant viewing of researched facts, writings and photos. The magazines take up to three months to prepare, edit and send to the printers for their monthly run at the newsstands and subscriptions. When one magazine gets sent to the printer, then the next month’s version has already started in its prep stage.

Note:
For all of those folks that have stacks of magazines, think fire hazard, so don't show your stacks to your home insurance inspector. Some policies warrant an inspection. But, clean out your stacks by donating them to the local high school auto shop or if those are gone, like most, give them to the Junior College Auto Shop. Those are still around in the vocational sections.

But, for all of the subscribers, hang on for as long as you can, the end is coming… As big as the publishing company is, the costs aren’t always topping off the income profit stash. YRMV

 

My local small town Co-op grocery store still sells Hotrod magazine.

 

Well shit. A few years ago I let my subscription lapse, then I thought I heard HRM was no longer in print so I kinda forgot about it until I found out here on the HAMB that I was mistaken so I got another subscription, and now this.

Oh well, quarterly is better than nothing.

 

For what it's worth, I've tried several times this year to find copies of HRM on stands at grocery stores, drugs stores, local book stores, etc., that all used to carry it. Each time it was not to be found. It seems that their newsstand distribution has really decreased.

 

I’ve never seen numbers on HOT ROD DELUXE, but it had to be a money machine. All of the content was bought and paid for in 1960 dollars. An IT guy (or gal) and a knowledgeable editor is all you need for the staff. Had to be printing and postage costs that put it under.