Articles wanted for WebRodder.com, HAMBer input a must!

Well, after a long and tiring search we have finally acquired a company in Texas willing to host WebRodder.com. Due to the fact that the articles are in Adobe Acrobat format and the high resolution pics, most of the 350 present articles are running from 150 to 300 MB. Finding a host that can handle the server space and bandwidth required was not easy. We are looking at (hopefully) less than 3 weeks to be online.
Some of the biggest names in the industry are on board with us, such as Billet Specialties, Tanks, Inc., and Air Ride Technologies. So far there has not been a single large advertiser that has turned down the opportunity to get in on the action. Many have joined up because of Doc's reputation and long-standing relationship with them.
Now, we want to open the door to you, the rodding public, to contribute articles for WebRodder.com. I have told Doc about the vast talent and resourcefulness of this group and he says go for it. I'll post more info as soon as we can sit down and outline what we need you to do, but I want to give you all a heads-up right now so you can go ahead and start taking pictures and writing. Remember, this is a tech-only internet magazine site dedicated to hot rodding and customizing, supported by the advertisers. There will be no editorials, advertorials, or slamming of any kind. We cant say Fords are better than Chebbies, or GTOs are the real muscle cars, or claim one year of car as the Quintessential Hot Rod. If you have a good, meat-and-potatoes, no********* article to contribute, you are welcome to send it. Dont worry about whether you are a Pulitzer prize writer, just write it out in plain English with good step-by-step explanation and well-lit photos. If the text needs editing, that will be taken care of before the article is published to the site. Anything from installing a junkyard part, new part, or any fabrication or customizing that you have done or are doing. From one small item to a full build on a car, whatever. We want this site to be the best it can be, and you guys are the ones that can make it that way. Doc has all of his vintage engine build articles, the Wingfoot Model A, and all the others that were previously printed in SRM and other Primedia magazines. We also have some being contributed by other well-known writers (whose names I am not at liberty to state at this time). There is only so much we can do ourselves as far as projects, and the input that you guys can offer will cover so many more aspects of the hobby than we can do by ourselves.
Any questions, email or PM me. I will post more specific details as soon as we get sat down and draw up a good plan.
Thanks guys, I'm looking forward to the ride!
Ray
IronHunter Rod & Custom

 

How much do you pay for car features, how-tos, tech/engineering features, etc.?

 

Uh...Billet Specialties? Air Ride? I think youre at the wrong place. Theres a street rodder board somewhere that will love and embrace you. This place is for real hot rods.

Spike

 

Way to insert foot into mouth, HRP. If you new Ray at all, you'd know he's a HAMB type guy thru and thru. You even seen his projects or anything?

Just cuz he's got mainstream sponsors means*****. Someone's gotta help pay the bills.

 

hotrodphotos.....I'm guessing you are maybe not familiar with Doc's many great tech articles in rod mags....many dealing with HAMB style old school engines. They sometimes appear in mags like StreetRodder and even though there may be all sorts of billet related articles in that mag, Doc's articles are like diamonds. Having his tech articles online will be great. This webrodder site sounds like a really good resource, and sure, they will have stuff for the high tech crowd too, but who cares.

 

well i for one am very excited to here of the new site, hopefully it will provide a venue for some creative outlet.

i understand that the advertisers foot the bill and that is a necessary evil i am able to endure, i suppose,, maybe,, provided that the articles dont end up being test beds for the advertisers stuff..

i wouldnt mind seeing their stuff incorporated into a project that is being featured, but the last thing we need is them taking over yet another sort of media... we already have them owning the magazines, tv with boyd, jesse and the like,, and if they do the same approach with the website,, well i guess we still have this board... until they figure out how to muscle in on it.

personally i am a "build more, buy less" type of guy for good reason, we buy too much already in our everyday life, and make far less than we ever did as a nation.

what i would love to see in the new site is:

good articles on how to do stuff in your garage, how to build it yourself.

hell anyone with a fat wallet can buy it, but not everyone can build it. perhaps with those that can build doing articles and pics, more of us that cant or havent will be inspired to do more ourselves. And that my friends is a very good thing.

start it right and fight like hell to keep it right.

i will be eagerly awaiting the debut of your site.

bob

 

Spike, I'll forgive your ignorance. You don't know who or what you are talking about and that is understandable. Get out your past issues of SRM, CR, Engine Builder, Street Trucks, whatever it is you read (you do read, correct? ) and look for Doc's articles. I think you'll find that he is much more the rodder than most. Sure, a lot of his articles have dealt with products that you and I dont necessarily like, but he had to play the game for years in order to collect a paycheck. He dont have to anymore, and that is the reason for the new site. He dont own a Deuce with a SBC in it. He dont think that any certain car is the "quintessential hot rod". In fact, he recognizes the long overdue "uprising" (if you will) amongst the vast majority of us in the hobby that are tired of the media blasting us with the idea that a true hotrod had to be a billet-laden, Chebbie-powered 32 Ford that cost more to build than most of us make in 10 years. Spike, Doc has done some great build articles with 50's and 60's hemis, FE Fords, Y-block Fords, Nailheads, Rockets, etc. You've read them, I know. There has been discussion between us concering a 365 Cadillac and 289 Studebaker engine builds, but they wont make the pages of SRM. They will, however, find a permanent home on WebRodder.com. Bud, if those arent traditional enough for you then I give up trying to please you. You'll just have to stay away from the site
Thanks to the rest of you for your support, and I know Spike will come around once he knows what it is he speaks of. Big Jim and Fraz, you got the right idea. You look at the stuff you like and overlook the rest. Thanks guys, its that frame of mind that I wish we all had in common.
Brutus, you said it man! That is exactly what it is going to be. See, the good thing about this is even though the advertisers support the site, they dont control the content of the articles. Hell, I dont even control that! Doc has already laid down the law that in any disagreement over content, his decision will be final. I can live with that. Sure, there will be a lot of articles that include new parts, but that is why we want input from guys like the HAMBers. To balance everything out and widen the range of subjects. Doc and I are just like you, we love to build it instead of buy it. In a lot of cases we have to. So far, there has been near nothing that has been a buy-it-and-bolt-it-on part on my car. I've had to make it, or at least buy it and make it fit. The advertisers donate parts for print, that is why I have a******in firewall (its a 46 Chevy firewall that will have to be modified heavily) and Air Ride Technologies trinagulated 4-bar under my car. Of course, once I got the 4-bar and roll-up bags installed I am VERY satisfied with it. "Traditional"? Maybe not in some opinions. Safe? Definitely. I originally had the car set up with a 40 Ford rear spring and bones (which was fine), but after the offer was made I didnt hesitate to change. After all, I am building a car that no doubt will be driven a lot by my wife and will rarely leave the garage without at least one of my 4 children in it. I'm not foolish enough to throw something together half-assed when they are going to be in it, especially when the opportunity comes along to make it better.
The mags that will not run an article unless it features a current advertiser's product. Thats not********* or an observation, thats the way they operate. Since the article ran in CR where I installed the Tanks, Inc. gas door and my name was placed at the end of the article in the contributors list, I have been hit twice with questions about advertising with them. I gotta stop doggin the mags though, since that isnt our purpose. They have their place, and I hope that we will find a niche to fill. Webrodder will be tech-only. How to do it, how to make it, how to install it. And yes, there will be some "where to buy it" articles. Part of the territory, and we all have to buy something. I can make a lot of stuff but sometimes its cheaper and less time consuming to just buy the damn thing. How many of us have access to Lincoln backing plates or the means to make them? C'mon guys, we all depend on vendors of some kind.
One thing he and I agreed on up front is there will be no feature cars, no editorials or opinions published, and absolutely no selling out to powerful advertisers. The advertisers that we are working with are absolutely great, and they know up front that all the articles will not be featuring their products. Many articles wont feature a product at all. I've got plenty of customizing how-tos, such as some of the floor and panel work I did for Doc's 54 Dodge and the trick air cleaners I build from 50's body panels. They want to see the site promote ALL aspests of hot rodding. Billet Specialties and ART arent demons, they are trying to make a living like all the rest of us. Why are they the bad guys for making a living producing parts for the trailer queens? I make polished billet brackets that have ended up on some very high end cars. Does that make me a bad guy and an enemy of traditional rodders? Hell no! I'm building a billet heavy 48 Ford in my shop right now. Does that make me untraditional? HELL NO! I'm getting paid damn good to do it, and I'd be a fool to turn down the man's money because the car isnt traditional enough to suit me. I am beginning to like the car a bit, but if it was mine I'd sell it and buy a couple more early-thirties NON-Ford/Chevy steel bodies and build them with Nailheads or 50's Caddy engines. A lot of us make our living building cars or parts for cars that we dont necessarily have a great liking for, but that doesnt make us un-traditional. Its called using our talent to make a buck where a buck can be made. Funny how you see the SRM feature cars with the big advertiser's stuff on them, but have a conversation with the company's owners if you have the chance. They love traditional cars! They arent stuck on themselves or their products like some of us little guys sometimes think they must be. We are the ones that many times alienate them, not vice-versa.
By the way, anyone that says my air bags arent
"traditional" just doesnt have his facts straight. The concept is straight from the 50's (actually much earlier), but we're fortunate enough today to have the technology to make it work.
At this point there is no monetary pay for articles. We are just hoping that some of you enjoy sharing what you have, and will enjoy the satisfaction of having an article attributed to you and showing off your talents. I didnt get paid for the Custom Rodder article, but I sure enjoyed the attention and the work it is bringing in.
Thanks fellers

 

Ironhunter- No need for insults, I DO read ( Ifound my way here all on my own). I just happen to dislike the sponsors you mentioned. I'll stand by my original post.Thanks for your concern.

Spike
Hooked on Phonics Spokesperson

 

Ouch Spike, you got yelled at.

 

Spike, look really close at my post, specifically where you took offence. See the little winkin face? That means I'm not "really" meaning to insult you. Sorry if you felt insulted. If you couldnt read, you would have never replied to my original (and lengthy) post, now would you? Just having fun, man...if you felt it was a laugh at your expense I apologize. No hard feelings here, I stand by the first few lines of my reply. I understand where you are coming from.
Ray

 

Any interest in some custom interior build-up type stuff? I've been taking lots of pics at work...

 

Yeah Ray [Fatlucky's] could do you some good -his stuff looks GREAT!!

 

Sure! That is exactly what we are looking for; you guys showing your talents.
Ray

 

Ray, I can't seem to "hook" on to your web site.
Something I'm doing wrong??

 

Ironhunter, I've sent You a pm( atleast I think it went thru), let Me know if I can be of****istance. Von Doc

 

Dave, I cant seem to either. It is on a local server so it is constantly up and down. That is one reason we arent using a setup like that for WebRodder!

DocFranknstein, I got your message and I thought I replied. Yeah, I'm lookin forward to seeing your pictures and story.
Sorry about that, I'll reply again. I remember typin a reply, but I have been working with three or four browser windows open and editing web pages, so I could have hit a link and accidentally left the reply page before I sent it to you.
Sorry
Ray

 

WOW! I'm jazzed. A tech-only site partially paid for by the big-dogs of store-bought fabricated parts. I love it. I wanna get in on this.
So, it's gonna be a few weeks before it's ready, eh?

 

[ QUOTE ]
Dave, I cant seem to either. It is on a local server so it is constantly up and down. That is one reason we arent using a setup like that for WebRodder!
Ray

[/ QUOTE ]

Ray, I used the PM (HAMB) to send a note.

 

You know, sometimes I get confused when I'm on line and have to ask myself things like:

"Hey, what website is this anyway?"

"What websites would love and embrace me?"

and

"What the heck is this real hot rod thing all about?"

Lucky for me, there's always a "HAMB policeman" on hand to answer these questions and help me to feel safe again.

(Insert sigh of relief here)

 

Thanks Repo, again another clear thinker (I never knew you as anything but)

Rocky, it is great, aint it? They not only support the site financially, they support the idea that a lot of guys are doing the stuff themselves instead of buying their pre-fab parts. To some, it might not make sense, but once you understand their view it becomes clear. They know that some fellas build cars for the simple fact they love to fabricate stuff and make it work. Hell, thats how most of them got started. They suuport that way of thinking because that very thing is what made them successful. What they are looking at though is the fact that if they support an all-tech site that demonstrates the "build it yourself from junkyard parts" way of doing things, the rodding community (particularly the die-hard traditionalists) will see that they are on our side. It is their hope that if they support what we are doing, sometime in the future when we actually do NEED to buy a part we'll remember them. I dont have a problem with that and I cant see where anyone else would. They arent our enemy, and a lot of what is happening with WebRodder is actually based on ideas that have been presented by the owners of some of the bigger companies. They want this site to succeed because it is not only in the best interest of the backyard builder, but in their best interest as well. We seem to forget that the paper media are the ones that left the little guys behind, not the vendors. The vendors want to sell parts, sure, but at the same time they want to see everyone building a hot rod. The higher number of hot rods that are being built calculates into beffer sales for them. Not that every car will have Air Ride under it or Billet Specialties parts, but there will be a stable percentage of the total number of cars that will. The paper media is limited to a certain amount of space where they have to cater to the best interest of their advertisers, hence the reason the pages are full of featured trailer queens and installation articles instead of fabrication articles. We dont have to do that. Space limitations arent a problem, and we are free to include articles that deal with installing junkyard or fabricated parts just as much as we are free to publish an article about installing an ididit steering column or Shockwave system. It is OUR choice what goes on the site, and that is totally supported by the advertisers. Paper media milks advertisers for $3500 for a full-page ad, so they are committed to promoting the advertiser's product even if it means alienating their readers. You dont really think that, in Letters to the Editior, there was only one reader every month that complained about the billet trailer queens, do you? I always thought it somewhat amusing how they manage to print one letter every month where someone voices his opinion on the decline of real skinned-knuckle, backyard-built cars, but there were 10 letters praising their features on Boyd cars or whatever. There is a resurgence everywhere of traditional-style cars (not that they ever left) where cars are being built without the high-tech*****. The magazines have mentioned it, but never went much farther. Why? It isnt in their best interest to do so with their limitations of space. They are stuck with the idea that they have to use their space to sell advertiser's products in order to keep their books in print and keep their jobs. WebRodder isnt my job, and it isnt Doc's. Sure, there will inevitably be some profits made from advertising dollars, but we are doing this to share technical information with everyone who wants it. Plain and simple. In fact, the opening page contains a piece of artwork, done by one of the well-known magazine cartoonists, with a bull squatting over a pile of***** and a big red circle with a line across it; NO*********! Period! Best part...the advertisers LOVE IT! This is what they want as well as what we want. All tech, no feature cars, no opinion based statements designed to piss off readers. Just (as the opening page states) "All Tech...All The Time".
You are gonna love it, I'm convinced of that!

 

Ray, ironman web still not working.
Sent you an email using the addy you gave me in the PM. (HAMB)

Did IT work??

 

Let me try this once more: What will you pay for suitable contributions to your site?

Thus far I've seen nothing in this thread that would compel me to spend much time seeking you out. The unrelenting, unbroken density of your posts tells me you (a) haven't a clue about effective, compelling communication, or (b) do have a clue but are too lazy to expend the effort. In either case, my expectations for your site are not very high.

 

Dave, I got it. Reply in the works. thanks man...really!

av8
read my posts...no monetary compensation at this time except proper credit given to contributing writers. Sorry. If you arent interested in having your name and talents shown, then I'm happy not to publish them. As far as your expectations, I hate it for you. I have answered every question asked in my posts, including yours twice now. I'm interested in tech stuff from real guys that get their hands dirty, not from those who hold their tech secrets in hopes it will someday make them a fortune. It doesnt work that way, never has for me anyway. That is why I offer my tech services to the clubs I belong to for FREE. I do it because I enjoy helping others with problems in order to get their projects going and keep them going, not to try and sell my brain. WebRodder will be free to readers because we will be able to keep the site going through advertiser's support. If you do a bit of research, you'll find that the paper mags operate the same way. The circulation sales are minuscule and would not support the enormous costs of publishing the magazine. Advertising keeps them going. Same here. I'm sure your input would be an****et, but it's not a neccesity

 

[ QUOTE ]

At this point there is no monetary pay for articles. We are just hoping that some of you enjoy sharing what you have, and will enjoy the satisfaction of having an article attributed to you and showing off your talents. I didnt get paid for the Custom Rodder article, but I sure enjoyed the attention and the work it is bringing in.
Thanks fellers

[/ QUOTE ]

av8, this is from my second post in this thread. Kinda wasted the time you spent******in me out when all you had to do was read...now who's lazy

 

av8, not to leave you totally out in the cold (that is not my intention at all), I would like to make a suggestion if you would be willing to hear it. Most vendors will donate the parts for a project IF (1)the parts are used in an article in such a way as to promote the product, and (2) you have a reputation for doing quality work. If you would like to contribute and be compensated, you might want to try that avenue. Many of the articles that I am right now adding to the site were done that way. That is how I got my rear suspension, firewall, and air springs, with many more items promised. That way, you get some good***** and readers get to see what you can do. I'm sure you have some good material, but the funds are not there to support the server hosting, bandwidth, software, and administration costs AND pay for articles...not at the present time anyway.
I really don't think you are lazy, hell I know sometimes my posts are too large and I need to come to terms with that. I know you won't think me lazy either once the site is up. It's there in part (just not accessible until I enter the DNS information), but I am spending several hours per day editing and adding articles still. I'd like to work with you if I can do so, and if you are interested maybe we can point a vendor in your direction that will be interested in working with you. Hell, we can't do all the projects and don't intend to try. Your call, man. Just wanted you to know where we stood and that I really don't want to piss you off, but reality is exactly that...reality.

 

Iornhunter: I've got a journalism degree from U of M, I work on multimillion-dollar advertisements all day long for a major communications company, and I am devout fan of the HAMB. If you need free editing (or preliminary editing...i.e. proofreading chores) done, please contact me at kevsho2000@yahoo.com. Sounds like a great idea you've got in the works...

MercMan

 

mercman, you Rock! I'll get with you shortly and we'll talk. Much appreciate your support!
Ray

 

Gosh, I guess I don't have a*****in' clue about doing any of this work that you're talking about . . .

Do your homework and know your audience!

 

I'm gonna****ume you weren't sniping at me, Ryan . . .