Event Coverage Hot Rod Magazine going quarterly?

...and another thing! I sure hope they bring back more written content. The old tech articles and features, written by guys like Baskerville, Tex Smith, Don Francisco, etc. were much more informative, educational and detailed than a bunch of little photos with captions. Doesn't anybody know how to write anymore? Sure miss Pat Ganahl!

 

I guess the demise of car magazines is inevitable and I guess I’m not helping their survival any.
I quit subscribing many years ago, don’t know exactly why. Maybe it’s because even though I had an active subscription, all year long I would get bombarded with cheaper subscription offers and extension offers to the point that I never really knew what I had or when I needed to renew. Or maybe it was the onslaught of LS and Hellcat articles. Or the absence of any good drag car coverage. Too much Pro Touring stuff? IDK. Marian Davis’ column became the only thing I actually looked forward to reading.
I was never really interested in Ol Skool Rods or the others. You could flip through them in the grocery store and be done with it, why buy it?
I buy old magazines from a guy who shows up at several of the swap meets. We chat a little and I buy a few magazines or manuals. Out in my shop, I read through them, put Post-its on pages of particular interest and put them away in my dedicated cabinet. That’s the extent of my magazine experience these days.
Streaming automotive shows? What’s that? As slow as I’ve gotten working on my cars, I’d never get anything done if I sit and watch some guy trying to make his ‘67 C10 handle like a Porsche.

 

The small print and reverse typography the Stan Back mentions make it tough on these old eyes.
I have always been a dead tree guy and remember the first 25 cent how to pamphlets they sold in the late '50's and early '60's.

 

Curiously, or not, there were no little subscribe/renew postcards in my mailing-usually there are quite few.

 

It looks like HRM will eventually go the way of TRJ. RIP.

 

I quit subscribing to car magazines when I just renewed my subscription to Popular Hot Rodding, they took my money, quit printing it, and rolled my subscription into Motor Trend. Won't get fooled again!

 

Ya, they tried that Bullshit with me, I made them send me a refund check!

 

Just saw that there is going to be a price increase too......

 

My opinion what they are doing is Bullshit. It was good while it lasted!
Hot Rod will never be anything like the quarterly mags well maybe now all their car features will have head lights on Lets see Hot Rod mag reporters attend Speedweek August 2025 taking pictures and collecting info publish date Hot Rod mag Fall issue 2026 WTF
Ronnieroadster

 

Yeah, quite a while back, I subscribed ($50) to a new drag racing magazine, started by a well known auto photographer and writer; got one issue then went belly-up. I got nothing back. I feel so violated...

 

The problem I see is in this day and age "more content" means 3 extra pages of hot rodding and 6 extra pages of advertising.

So the mag looks alot bigger with the price hike but along with the price hike is a lot more advertising.

I understand it cost money to publish but I also understand the publishers aren't giving away free space in those mags either so between adds and subscriptions I don't understand the "we losing money" part...

.

 

Surprisingly, a lot of airport newsstands still carry it. I am an airline pilot. When my car was on the cover of Hot Rod last year, I got to see my cover shot in eight different states.

 

This last monthly is pretty thin and doesn't have a whole lot of ads.

 

Less is not more.
HRM will gradually fade away as did Custom Rodder and so many other magazines.

 

In my travels around Chicago and its suburbs there are areas that never have an automobile magazine in the hot rod category, those with gentrified neighborhoods, high numbers of young professionals or the more exclusive suburbs. Haven’t been to Walmart in years and it was years ago that they eliminated their magazine selection as did Walgreen Drug, the local Barnes & Noble does have a few titles that might interest us but I never see Hot Rod there, IDK, maybe they sell out? The only grocery store in my town that does have Hot Rod only seems to get a few copies now, and nothing more of interest.
I never needed a 12 step program for my addiction to car magazines, between the weak tech articles, slim content and disappearing titles it was easy to quit. But seriously, I might give that HRM quarterly a try. I’ve dropped $30 on stupider shit and who knows, I might just be surprised.

 

Which is still better than the "Pay more, Get nothing" options that we have seen in recent years with some other hot rodding publications.

 

Thank Goodness TRJ is showing the way forward.

 

I get it every issue for pennies on the dollar (they need advertising $) but it has little relevence to my interest anymore. The articles/cars that intetest me are few and far between and even those have much more money spent than I could ever swing.

 

I have a brother-in-law that is always bitching about how ‘it’s not like it was when I was in High School”. He’s a doofus and hasn’t done much since he was in High School in the 1970s, except talk about it.

Change is inevitable. Let’s wait until we see a few issues before we all start having morning coffee with my brother-in-law. Then I’ll buy the first round.

John

 

Who is TRJ?

 

My opinion it’s all due to online content. I recall the classifieds ads in the newspaper. Not even there anymore. The Sunday paper was thick full of sections. Looked like a weekly flyer they used to give away for free, the last time I was going to pick one up.
I don’t care for online magazines, manuals, etc. I like to flip back and forth through the pages, but I didn’t grow up with technology.
My guess is publication’s that stay in business aren’t going to be catering to my age demographic.
It’s no different than car parts. Things on the shelves in the’70s have to be ordered in many cases. Why not just order it online and eliminate a drive?

 

.........Something to be Thankful for.

 

When I was a kid growing up in the 60's, the two magazines I always used my paltry funds for, were the latest copies of HOT ROD MAGAZINE and the latest copies of MAD MAGAZINE.

I can truthfully say now at 70 years old, both of those publications, contributed greatly to my over all education!

Many thanks to William M. Gaines, Robert E. Petersen and Wally Parks.

 

I think the reason many of us find it not so compelling any more, is that we've completed our education decades ago...and there's really not much for us to see as "new and exciting", like when we were young.

 

What I think the problem is...........the magazines got used to doing certain things a certain way. Then as the competition increased from social media they eliminated a lot of the tech stuff and thought that a whole bunch of tiny undiscernible pictures were "more content" than fewer but larger pictures where you can see details.

Its like any other product, you have to provide things that people want to see. There are other new magazines that have sprung up and seem to be doing Ok.........but their formats are different. Personally, I love the TRJ format with large detailed pics and listing the components used. I think if Hot Rod continues with their present format on the quarterly basis, it won't work. If they would do lots of tech stuff in the bigger format with details, I think it might survive. I hope it does survive.........

 

The internet has replaced magazines as the source for tech info. And we get it right now, not whatever year they decided to publish stuff about our particular fetish.

Ryan has a healthy view of the situation. It is what it is...learn to deal with it, and move with the flow, or get left behind.

 

Our “text books” are online. The CD versions have all but faded away. Was strange at first but I prefer it online.
Why would someone buy a magazine to just complain about the content?
I guess if I want a magazine that covers taildraggers, lowriders, vintage log trucks, commercial vehicles and c10s, I’ll have to make it.
I like vinyl records and see more now than 30 years ago. But I don’t buy em. Any song I want to hear is a simple search away.
folks online wondering about print seems to be a situation that answers itself.