Are you kidding? The covers of the September and October issue's probable have Robert E. Peterson turning in his grave. I won't even pick it up at the store to thumb through.
Personally, Freiburger has always done a great job in my lowly opinion. I like his stance on stuff, I like his realistic and fun approach to cars and enjoy his editorials immensely. But sometimes I wonder why Hot Rod spends so much time reporting the Power Tour. OK, they drive around the Eastern US, I get it. But until they at least try to get out west so I can join, I couldn't care less. Devoting so much of nearly every issue to promote the tour is a bit much. I dumped my sub the last time they became the Power Tour Newsletter, but my wife bought me a gift sub a few years later and I've kept it up since then and agree they are much better than they had been.
the cover of the news stand issue has a girl on the front seat of a car. The cover of the subscription issue has a willys
Did you guys read the article on Phaff sonic testing small block chevrolets, Oct. issue ? I though it was outstanding. IMHP
seems to me on they bmostly show car shows from ca . never seen anything from englishtown where i use to live or fla where i live now. never thought that detroit, stillwater ok and arlington tx were the east. almost 5000 miles doing this years power tour from fl to detroit to texas and back to fl. heck i even brought a few extra copies cause the first long hauler pic is my wagon. sounds more like an excuse cause i think freiburger is about getting the car out and drive it
Just grabbed this issue the other day. I'm really liking the magazine a lot now. Always liked it, but IMO it hasn't been this good since the early 90's. The additional content is just outstanding, it's a good read.
Better than some dude on the cover. I'm just saying. Or are the covers paying homage to the cl***ic low rider mag. I quit reading it years ago sine I don't need a spread on tuning a 950 horsepower camaro.
I got an irrationally cheap subscription offer once, like three years for $18 and a clock. I was able to renew at a similar rate and got a hat. At 50 cents a copy I think I am getting my money's worth. When I'm done I drop it off at the VA Clinic. The next time I come by it is usually gone.
HRM is the print version of sound bites directed at people with a limited attention span. Doubt if I'll live long enough to check out what those tats on great looking women will look like in 20 years! From a marketing standpoint, they have hit a home run by appealing to the new demographics.
Do you mean to suggest that hot rodding might have changed a little in the past 50 or 60 years? what a concept
I personally think that the crew is really trying to make the magazine good again while still trying to keep everyone happy and still make money. I think they are doing a great job. Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad
I've been reading Hot Rod since the late 50's, yeah it ain't perfect but I like the diversity of information, some I skim over and some I read. If you don't like it just don't read it. I take Street Rodder and Rod and Custom too, I usually get something out of each one of them but so far no publisher has developed a magazine that meets ONLY MY DESIRES. The choices we have now are great as far as I am concerned.
"so far no publisher has developed a magazine that meets ONLY MY DESIRES." Rodders Journal has for me as far as I'm concerned. Hop Up annual did when they were published. I miss Hop Up. sigh---------------
Hot Rod has really been improved lately, lots of interesting articles, Rod & Custom has improved also but still needs some more polishing up !!
I have not been a fan of Hot Rod for quite a while. I know, surprising since they made me what I am today. But the pics in the latest issue of Don Waldron's stash is well worth the price.
Saying bad things about HOT ROD magazine is like saying bad things about the Statue of Liberty. HOT ROD carried the torch for 'American Ingenuity in Action' when the general opinion by John Q. Public was that people who wanted to go fast were criminals. All the folks who worship at the altar of 'traditional' should keep in mind that the ideas and opinions about what made 'cool cars' didn't just get p***ed from individual to individual but were also carried in the articles and pictures that appeared in this magazine. Maybe it has grown a few warts and seems a little p***e in the digital age but many of the old timers who wrote and took pictures for it drove cool rides and were instrumental in promoting land speed racing and what became 'drag racing'. Some of the car shows promoted by Petersen Publishing helped change the public's opinion about those crazy kids in their 'stripped down' cars, and as a result while a publishing industry was created, so was the aftermarket parts industry that placed adverti*****ts for 'go fast' parts inside the covers. These same folks that research and develop aftermarket parts are as important today, as they were in the infancy of this symbiotic relationship, that propelled the genesis of hot rods as we know and love them. Many of us who grew up as readers spent as much time studying the ads as we did reading the articles, and drooling over pictures of cars that formed our ideas of what we wanted to build, or own. As the times changed, so the readership. While I'm no fan of street machines and muscle cars, at least I know a little bit about them, and other aspects of motorsports, because of what I read in the magazine. Yeah, it has changed, and was even sold to new owners who tinkered with the format and content. So what? The world has changed, too. I still read it occasionally, and subscribe from time to time, and appreciate that Freiburger is not a Chevy Guy --- because as a magazine it's already been there and done that, in spades. So, to those who don't know better, you should at least know whereof you speak before unloading on something as 'traditional' as the cars we worship.
Inmyarrogentopinion, HOT ROD and ROD&CUSTOM lost their vibe when Peterson folded. I'll give the folks that are trying to make these icons cater to all tastes credit for the effort, but the mags just don't work for me anymore. If they work for you, great, but them. I won't buy a periodical out of respect of what it was at one time.
x2, Freibuger does a great job to make whatever he works on more entertaining, at least to me. Car Craft was great when he was editing it, not so much now that he has moved to HR. Love those builds where they list every cost down to fluids just like I do.
Step back and look at what Hot Rod Magazine has done with this latest rendition. If you think about it, it's as close to reading a website as you can get in a print product. Yes, there is a LOT of information. But the term Hot Rod has grown and evolved so much that there is a lot of ground to cover. Yes, a LOT of it you could care less about. But again, because there is so much to try to cover, you can try to give every reader something to be interested in. And while 90% of the info doesn't apply to me or my car, the information I glean is certainly worth the read. Yes, there are a BUNCH of short snippets of information that would hold the attention span of a gnat. However, nearly every little blip of info invites you to learn more online at their site or somewhere else. I was overwhelmed when I first read the new rendition, but once I looked at it from a different perspective, I realized that I didn't have to read it from cover to cover to enjoy it. I could take small bites, one snippet at a time. The issues take so long to get through these days that by the time I'm done reading them, they are all wrinkly from all the moisture in the bathroom. Hell, I just got the new issue and realize I haven't even finished reading the last issue yet. Cut 'em some slack, they are trying their best. Besides, there's always the HAMB.
Hadn't read this thread,but did a search for R & C to see if I'd missed anything lately.. The big book store doesn't have it anymore,and the few copies on the convenience store shelves are months old. I was thinking it was gone again? Hope I'm wrong but copies sitting there that old doesn't look too good,I think.. or is it just my podunk town?
I thought the article on Don Waldron's shop Rods West was awesome! Also was cool seeing a pic of my Model A that Don is working on in the mag. I normally don't buy HotRod, but I think it had some interesting and cool articles in this issue.
The Jalopy Journal
