have you seen the "NEW" hot rod magazine?

I like it. The articles are longer and do their subject matter justice, and they have a bunch of fun stuff....

 

looked at it on the news stand ............... it stayed there right next to the tuner mag,................. for ten bucks i can find a hat or clock id like to advertise for the company,

 

I have spent several days now reading the new issue. I still hate it, hate it more then when I first opened it up.. . not because of the content (though I really never want to see another article about a ratrod and lambo, keep both of other mags) as the coverage of Poteets Talledaga and the AMBR roadster are great. I hate it because of the new formtat. to much shit going on, hard to tell the difference between the ad and the feature info. ads are huge, content is small. It is truly hard for me to look at.

I still think they need to spend more pages covering Dragweek and Power Tour (spread across several months with more pictures of cars on the tour and at the local hometown cruises they have each night. Both are about real hotrods, cars you can drive.. some fast some not so...

 

Good points Boones. I don't like the new font, hard to read against color background for those of us with bifocals...

Brian

 

Bingo. And more of the tech and dyno testing they were doing a couple years back. I also enjoyed the article on the AMBR car, that was about the only thing I really spent time looking at. That and the Ohio Mile article. The rat rod/lambo article was just plain stupid, as was the Cuda stuff, ESPECIALLY the TOTALLY DUMBASS AA/GS drawing. Christ, there actually WERE '70 Cuda gassers (Bob Chipper and Fred Hurst spring to mind) But by 1970, gassers didnt look ANYTHING LIKE that dumbass abortion.
I didnt find ANY new or useful tech in this issue, and thats one thing I have always looked to Hot Rod for.The 1.5/1.6 rocker comparo and the "How to buy a used Holley carb" have been done so many times I could wallpaper my bathroom with articles on those two subjects.
Even if I win the lottery, I am not likely to go out and buy a new Lingenfelter Camaro, Lambo or new Mustang. Covering stuff like that has ALWAYS been something that Hot Rod has done, and I get that, but man, now it makes up half the content of every issue. If I want to read Motor Trend (Shoot me now) I'll buy it.
I just dont get what the hell they are thinking. Where is the article they promised on that turboed LS-1 Pinto? Where are the dyno comparisions they were doing? Its like they dont know what they are trying to be anymore. A hybrid cross between Motor Trend and Old Skool Rods? WTF is going on down there??!!
When I flip through a mag in twenty minutes, read two articles, one just because I want to see if its a stupid as I expect it to be, then put it down and dont pick it up again, thats not good enough. Its like they are deliberately looking for content for the Youtube generation, people with a 30 second attention span. If they want my $$, they are going to need a lot less sizzle, more steak.

 

Title says Hot Rod. They should stick to it and sales might improve. I don't want to know anything about a Lambo or Eurosport anything.

 

Hot Rod Deluxe gets my money too! I look forward to each new issue and I am currently searching ebay for older issues I have yet to read. It is also the only Magazine I read cover to cover.

 

I prefer Hot Rod Deluxe as well - less billet, more hands-on projects rather than writing-a-check type stuff. So I guess Dave Freiberger is back in as editor at Hot Rod in place of Rob Kinnan? I have to say that when Freiberger took over at Car Craft about ten years ago, I started reading that more. A couple months into his tenure there, they started featuring a lot more different types of makes besides the same old '69 Camaros, etc. Anyways, I thought Freiberger left HR about 3-4 years ago to do some online magazine? I used to be in touch with a lot of the ad sales/publisher guys at Source-Interlink (I still think of them all as Petersen Publishing....) when I used to work in the aftermarket industry. Sorry for the rambling.....back to my point - I think maybe Freiberger will make HR interesting again, at least to me, with builds that are kind of off the beaten path. At least it seems he tries.

 

I REALLY hope they can turn the current mess around, I really do. I have been a steady reader/buyer of Hot Rod magazine since the late sixties. There really NEEDS to be a magazine that presents a broad-based coverage of the hobby, Hot Rod has always been the magazine that filled that niche. The current mess DEFINATELY does NOT do that.

 

I don't get some of the feedback on here, especially from people who call themselves "car guys."

I realize they aren't going to hit a home run every single issue with traditional snobs any more than they will with Mustang guys or AMC fans, or any other niche segment, but if you *really* like cars, the new issue has a whole lot of stuff, and the articles are more in depth than before.

Widow Maker picture, low buck vintage bicycle board tracker, an Automotive Archeology car-in-barn story, a perspective of what it's like to drive in combat, a request to seek out former hot rod feature cars for their 65th Anniversary, a collage of vintage helmets, an interview with Courtney Force a chick who goes faster than most readers ever will, inside the Mazda Raceway and some cool old car pictures, a look inside the 96 Imapa SS with a car jumping, some current news, Poteet's awesome Torino, the AMBR winner, a comparison between two of automotive's attention whore cars, a near death experience with 200mph run in a car that wasn't supposed to go that fast, a new Mustang that is cooler than most everyone else's daily driver, a tribute to Carroll Shelby, the Ohio flying mile, some photoshop ideas, a 1,600hp (!) twin turbo engine..., some handy plumbing part numbers and prices, Swap Meet carb stuff and how to dumb down your patina, a GTO, some parts, a machine that tightens all cylinder head bolts at the same time(!), some tech advice, some dyno tests on rockers, some parts, and some fun stuff at the end of the book....

What is there that isn't covering a wide range of automotive subjects in one issue? I don't get it... it's not all pomeade and cuffs, and whitewalls, but 1,600 hp and fast factory cars, and cutting edge cars, and parts, and tests, and some tech, and profiles on guys like Carroll Shelby are what the magazine has always been about...

I don't get it..... start your own magazine and see how many people YOU can please.

 

Hemi, if you are refering to me, the only thing i can figure is you didnt read a goddam thing I said. Either that, you are ESL...

 

Screw it. Hemi convinced me, I'm pickin' it up.

 

Not at you directly, just a general "don't get it" every time this dead horse subject comes up, and everyone starts saying how they quit reading in the '80s because of the new-fangled fuel infection tests or something. You either like cars or you don't....

I don't get mad at a book store because they didn't have the one specific book I wanted to buy and say they are a crappy store.

The variety is there... It's not '50s and '60s "variety," but new musclecars, Rat Rods, and turbos are just as current as OHVs engines, autorama customs, funny cars, and musclecars were when they were new. The magazine isn't lacking, most people's preference on what they like has stopped progressing....

 

You let me drive that Camaro at 200mph around a bumpy old track or give me the keys to the all-new 662hp '13 Shelby GT500... that's the "new" old car. Boss 429 nothing...

 

More times than not they've had their pulse on what the current trends are, what the future might hold for us while also taking a look at the past and throwing a whacky/off-beat article tosses in here or there. There's always something in each issue worth the time to read.

Their base formula ("brand" if you will) hasn't changed much and it probably shouldn't. Hot Rod has been in print since 1948 and you can whine/complain all you want but you can't argue the fact that what they've been doing works well. ....well enough to out-live most other magazines on the planet.

 

Ok, just wanted to clarify that, because if anyone is reading what I am saying is that Hot Rod needs more traditional content, they are getting me ALL wrong. I do NOT want to see Hot Rod become a lightwieght, for the masses version of Hot Rod Deluxe. I want them to get back to what they do best, and become an "all around" hot rod magazine. 9 pages, NINE pages devoted to that ridiculous article comparing a rat rod to a Lambo. And lets face it, that article is just straight filler, nothing else. Uh ok, dumbasses who dont know anything about cars like rat rods, and lambos are real fast, but belong to goldchainers?? Took 9 pages to tell us THAT?? Come on. Another 11 pages devoted to brand new muscle cars?
The 1 page Holley article? Tell you what, if you need an article in Hot Rod to tell the difference between a vacuum secondary carb and a double pumper, do yourself a favour, skip rebuilding a swap meet carb, and buy a brand new carb from summit, and take to someone to have it installed. SERIOUSLY. Yea, I know, everybody has to start somewhere, but if this is the current level of your carb knowledge, save yourself a lot of grief. More pure filler.
The article on the twin turbo BB was little more than an ad. They tell us how much power it makes, where we can buy it, for how much, and drop the name of a few of the companies that make some of the parts in it. There virtually NO real tech info, no cam specs, nothing on the static compression ratio. THIS is something new for an engine article in Hot Rod, and it doesnt bode well for the future.

Five years ago, I thought Hot Rod was "in the zone". Good solid tech, maybe not groundbreaking, but decent, solid tech in every issue. Drag Week and Power Tour, Nice balance of real world and high end cars. Virtually no "traditional" content, but thats a small niche market , and at that time TRJ had it handled way better than Hot Rod could ever expect to. Now we also have Rod and Kulture.
I AM really worried by what I see in Hot Rod. My gut reaction is they really dont know what direction to go in, and are grasping at sensasonalistic straws in a desperate attempt to get their news-stand numbers up. Its the content of the magazine and the crap they are putting on the covers that make me think that the sales numbers are so bad right now, and they are desperate.
I really want to see Hot Rod get back on track, but i am wondering if the hobby has become so fragmented, and the internet has consumed so much of the territory that used to belong to magazines, maybe there really isnt a market for a mainstream, covers all the bases type, hot rod magazine. If thats the case, Hot Rod as us 'old guys" know it really is a doomed dinosaur. I hope thats not the case. If it is, we really are about to lose a lot.
I've used up enough band width here, and I dont think i can add anything else to make what I am thinking/concerned about any clearer. My current subscription ends in October, so I guess they have one more issue to try to pull it together and find some sort of cohesive direction, and I REALLY hope they do. I doubt i will be renewing at this point, but I will keep an eye on it on the news-stand and see where they go from here. In the last 4 decades, the only time I stopped buying Hot Rod EVERY month, either in the form of a sub, or on the news-stand, was in the early eighties. Its about to happen again, and I hope this isnt the last time I am a regular reader of the magazine. But man, they REALLY need to figure out what it is they really want to do.

 

It is called "Hot Rod". Not "Stuck in the 60's Old Rod". My .02

 

I quit buying them a few years ago. Too many articles about people who paid someone to build their ride. And of course if you didn't have Edlebrock tatooed on some part of your body, or engine, they didn't bother to include it. They spent far too much time catering to their advertisers. But that's who pays them the most.

 

hotrod mag is about hotrods of all kinds,new and old.If you like to go really fast ,this is your mag.

 

I quit buying cell phones in the '90s because they were huge, and I had to flip them open, and there was no way to see any pictures or put a name on who was calling me and I had to pay by the minute. All cell phones suck and I'm never buying another.... LOL

 

Crap lets not go there I just get in trouble

 

I just wish they would stop saying rat rod...

 

Dude that's classic right there!

 

I got it in the mail the other day and absolutely LOVE it.

Lots a quick reads, mind blowing stuff and things to make you laugh.

Then again, I'm a hot rodder... and I like hot rodding.

The traditional stuff has played out with me...

While I really like a traditional car... and will continue to build one here and there...

I think there is more monkey-see-monkey-do with traditional hot rodding than there is in Hot Rod Magazine.

Plus, their Roadkill episodes are just fun to watch!

Sometimes I think we take this stuff too seriously.

Traditional hot rodding was born out of a rebellion against the big dollar cookie cutter rods... but as with anything else, it hits a saturation point, and what is new is passe... and then the process starts all over again.

Sam

 

Bought it a few days ago, really like it a lot. Good magazine.

 

Word...

Sam

 

makes me wonder if people got all bent out of shape when they( hot rod) started talking about those new fangled hemi things...."you know that crap will never take off" or when they did a feature on the new fangled chevy v8..."jeewillagers why arent they showing pictures of flatheads any more.." then in the 60s when you could go to the car dealer and get a new car thats faster then a built hot rod....they should have just boycotted the whole thing...they evolved,,just like the sport/hobby...i like the rad rods car,,,very nice workmanship....did anyone read about the 65th annivesary car show,,guess the cars featured from 48-64 wont be traditional enough,,,,,,i dont like everything about the mag,,i dont like everything about the hamb either,,,nataional geographic makes me mad every single time i read it.... i put my feels about it a side...,, i like them all enough to keep reading, hope to learn something and pass on some info i think might help...i bought a rollingstone ,,,first one ever cause i wanted to read an article about a DJ...ended up reading 4 about other subjects..

 

Man,

I gotta say, I recieved it yesterday, sat down with it at breakfast this morning and read it cover to cover. Its great...that said, and knowing what board im on, the term 'Hot rod' covers a lot more than what we believe it is here. Im a guy that has a 30's 60's and a 70's car...I think the mag has a little bit for all enthusiasts....they need to do this, however, Im glad there is no imports in it (even though these vehicles fall under the definition of "hotrod" in others eyes as well - Im glad it is saved for other publications). I enjoyed the AMBR article, the Shelby article, the feature on George Poteet's Ford Torino, the courtney force interview, etc....I will say the worse part of this months magazine was the "rat rod". The thing is hot rods today are more than just strombergs and 32 fords...things have changed and the magazine has too....

also, Hot Rod NEEDS to change. The internet is hurting magazines, look at playboy...they are pushing out 10-11 mags a year now, so, I think its a good change and a good magazine....thats my opinion....I dig it....

 

I think it's ok, kinda like reading multiple magazines at once.
Except I left mine in my car this week with temps in the 100s the last 40 pages fell out! They have to use some kinda epoxy to contain all that content.

 

Sometimes things arent traditional. They are just old.