I just got the latest issue of Hot Rod and I have to say it is quietly turning into a very interesting publication.There are lots of reader's cars-most I'm not into, but they do look homebuilt-there is a very good spread on the old Summers Brothers 4 Hemi engine streamliner and the photo of the Pro Street Camaro's owner,who spent 60K on his engine, actually has him with real dirt on his clothes. For 75 cents a copy it's hard to turn it down.
They sent me a year subscription for free a year back ( I have no idea why). I don't care for the car craft/motor trend format but they almost always have a tidbit worth looking at.
Freiberger just plain rules, I've seen that guy resurrect and beautify at least 4 mags in the last 10 or 15 years, starting with Peterson's 4X4. Ya'll remember when Rod and Custom went perfect bound(squared off spine) a few years back? That was Dave. He did it with Car Craft too and now he has bagged his white elephant, Hot Rod. If your are fan of magazines, especially gearheaded ones, then you are a fan of David Freiberger's. Way to go Dave!!! I'm always rootin' for ya! And tell Pewe to take a bath.
I must be either naive or ignorant of what "format" means because as long as I don't have to thumb thru 67 unnumbered pages of ads to find half a table of contents and another 6 to 10 pages to find the other half and I don't have to wonder what page to look for "continued on page 187" when page 187 has nothing but a commercial on it, or 3/4s of the pages don't have numbers on them at all and when you count pages between the ones that are numbered the count doesn't jive, I don't care. (GQ is like that...) Lets see... HOTROD, Edelbrock ad, ditto, Goodmark ad, ditto, Drugged chewing gum ad, 1/2 of TABLE OF CONTENTS page 7! Well, at least it's not 67 pages! Ford ad, second 1/2 of contents, Editorial - continuing saga about editor's personal life's angst, at least it's entertaining, and not just a prose version of the table of contents like they were "back in the day". (Editorials were BORING in the 50's and 60's) Then more ads, articles, ads... What's different about this "format" than many other magazines? It's got ads and articles, ads and articles, DC al Coda. I guess it IS sorta like CC and MT, most of the articles ARE about cars... The only scary thing about the issue is the picture on page 10... David looks sorta like a TV Vampire series producer... You working on a Screen play, David? Keep up the good work!
I gotta stick my nose in this again... If you don't dig the new direction of Hot Rod, you are not a car guy. Renew your subscription to Automobille, or if you are tough enough, Motor Trend. Yes, there were two red Cameros in this issue. (the ***le of the 2nd Camero story was ..."yes, another red Camero..") Coupla pretty intresting cars though...The first one (Big Red) covered 97 miles in under 28 minutes. Do the math..this is a car that ADVERAGED!!!!! 197 mph over 97 miles on a public highway, not a race track. Clocked at over 222 mph. What does YOUR car run??? The second car is a 2400 horse blown alcohol car that runs in the sixes. Just a hair faster that your small block Chevvie... No, you won't find every page covered with flat black and red wheels, but if you look closely, you may find a very nice article by Pat Ganahal about hot rods in a major indoor car show. You might even recognize some of the guys in said article...... Not to mention, GOLDENROD. Four, count then four injected iron hemis. I don't know about YOU, but any car that does 417 mph is pretty cool in my book. The new Hot Rod is definately cool and David Furrburger is the reason. Go pic one up today. -Abone.
My two year sub cost 12 bucks....the magazine rocks for that price....How on earth could anyone complain with a deal like that?....major****inwhining....don't buy it if ya don't like it.
I have been noticing the difference as well. Even from the first issue that frieberger was on. I started to actually enjoy the magazine. still not my first pic but i won't hesitate picking one up off the newstand.
Gotta agree, David is definitly putting some meat on those tired old Hot Rod bones. I'll repeat my old rant. If you don't like the format spend the money on a 12 pak of beer, piss it down the drain and forget about it. Frank
Why pay that much! Go to Ebay and look under magazine subscriptions. I got 3 years for about $7.00!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now that's a deal. I also did the same for Car Craft, Four Wheeler, Four Wheel and Off Road, etc. Works great! And yes David kicks ***!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I also got the 2 year/$12 deal....works for me. And it was cool to see 'Big Red' featured again, I remember seeing it 1st go round as an impressionable youngster (well, younger than I am now) hope it kicks *** at the 0-200-0 dash later this year. Plus a whole load of 'our cars' from the San francisco Show earlier this year. Can't beat it for the price Dave
I picked up the new SRM today... 'cause Terry's car is on the cover and you know what? There is a nunch of traditional stuff in there! I like it! Sam.
The Jalopy Journal
