Hot Rods Hot rod magazine 75th anniversary issue

I have not been a subscriber for a long time but I’ll be looking for this issue at the newsstand, 75 years is quite a milestone.

 

Why do I have a feeling that there is at least one article by Pat Ganahl in that issue.

 

I got my issue on Saturday and read it through completely. I have been a subscriber to Hot Rod Magazine since December 1956, and I just signed up for another 3 years. IMO, it is the best issue that they have published in a long time. The comments from the previous editors were what made this issue. There seems to have been a lot of backroom finagling and arm twisting. The tenure of most of the editors was not too long.

 

I haven't been a subscriber in sometime. I should since there aren't many options and recently this is the second one that makes me feel left out! My next keyboard move is to find a place to subscribe! Thanks Mark for sharing!

 

I'll have to watch for it at the news stand but it probably won't have the roadster on the front. I had a subscription for probably 30 years but let it stop 20 or so years ago.

 

I received two issues the other day, read some. Pretty good.

 

I better go find one. I think I have all the big ones. 10, 20, 25 etc

 

Couldn't have said it any better. I just grabbed my issue out of the mailbox as well, looks like this one might be a keeper. Looking forward to reading it. Thanks for posting this!

 

Looking at how long a particular editor held his position was interesting. Seems as if two years was the norm. Were they ready to leave OR were they pushed out?

 

Other than the great coverage of Baskerville's '32, I was disappointed in the coverage. Nothing on the fact that Wally Parks was the first editor and Tom Medley the first employee. Circulation is dismal (under 400,000) and paid electronic subs was almost 13,000. Like most here, the cost of my sub probably doesn't cover the cost of the ink. Ad count was embarrassing and no support from Ford, Chrysler or GM. Opp's, forgot about the 8 page advertorial on the LT-6. This should have been a 300 page issue instead of 130 pages. This is proof positive that corporate ownership and editorial content decided by a committee is not a good thing in the specialty automotive publishing business.

 

Yep, ain't what it used to be - but, there are great tidbits to be found

 

personally I liked this issue, lots of history on the mag,...been a subscriber for decades...

 

Agreed, I thought it was very good.

 

I had to walk through the snow today to get to the mail box but it was worth it. I liked the 2022 Bonneville photos as well as the history lesson.

 

Got mine, still subscribe, for some reason can't let it go. Have about 40 years worth now. There were some pretty lean years when what I call "hot rods" were few and far between or non-existent inside. But the term "hot rod" seems to have taken on a different meaning to most people these days.

 

This was one of my favorites.

 

I've been reading Hot Rod since the mid fifties. One of my older brothers used to subscribe to it and I would look at all the cool cars. I would also read the articles that I could understand as a kid. I started subscribing when I got out of the army in 1969.

 

@Moriarity I have that same issue(25th) still, and those were my favorite articles too. Funny thing is, I was just thinking about the Glass Slipper the other day, and when my wife went out tonight she asked if I needed anything at store, I asked her to pick up Hot Rod magazine if it was there. And this was before, I read this thread. Must be my sixth sense!

 

Decent issue! I think editor McGann is doing his best with what's allowed at moment, I think too much focus on video shows detracts but print media is on thin ice. I hate no comments from Lee Kelley or Len Emanuelson were offered, but not sure if they are still living.

 

Well two issues in a row worth checking out...last month Norwell and now this. Interesting...

 

I subscribe and enjoyed much of the issue. Having said that, I was dissappointed that there was no mention of the roots of Hot Rod or the people that created what became the standard measure oh hot rod journalism. Nothing about Pete and how he started the magazine, or Stroker, or how Wally took the helm and hired stellar hot rodders who could also write, like Don Fransisco, Tex Smith (a dear friend that I still miss to this day ), or Don Clark, Racer Brown, or photographer, Eric Rickman. I guess the bean counters figure that it would have cost too much for the added pages. Thankfully, I am ancient enough to personally remember most of those trailblazers. I still have my first subscription issue, February 1958. My dad would by it very often for me before that, but my tenth birthday was in October 1957 and my grandmother bought me a subscription and the first issue arrived in January with a real label with MY name on it! I've seen Hot Rod rise and fall over the years. But, when Pete sold out, changes happened as different publisher owned, as sadly, as a whole entity, it has become mediocre at best. But after 64 years, it's hard not to keep my subscription active. Pat Ganahl and Freiburger were the best of the later editors to be at the helm, they understood.

 

People have changed. Print media is dead, newspapers a thing of the past. Sadly most people know what they know based on what they read on the internet or see on cable channels. Few read books anymore. The short video clip is the preferred method of communication, nobody reads the printed word. Petersen sold out at the right time.

We are lucky Hot Rod is still going, but the magazine can't last much longer. Roger Huntington is Alive!

 

Hope Hot Rod Magazine hangs on for a long time cause so many other car mags have stopped publication.

 

I bet I have not bought Hot Rod magazine in 30 years.... damn I'm old.
we used to ride our bikes out to "the Bottle Shop" in Irvington every Thursday for car magazines starting in 1972.

the good old days when kids rode bikes.

 

The editor stint is so short likely because it costs so much to live in CA and they got paid very little, relative to the amount of work they did. No one can afford to raise a family on what they paid those guys (I suspect).
The issue is great for sure.

 

Lee Kelly is gone. I think Lenard Emanualson is still with us.

 

Exactly. I know the magazine is not what it used to be, but at 12-15 dollars per year for a subscription, it only takes one good article per issue to make it worthwhile. I wish every HAMB member would subscribe to it, to help keep it alive.