Event Coverage Hot Rod Magazine going quarterly?

Grinning to myself here.
In regards to what @Ryan said "Print died over a decade ago"
I totally understand what he meant.

There is alot of great, past publications that just don't exist anymore, because it wasn't financially feasible to continue to produce them.

Amazingly, free unsolicited catalogs, are still being printed in large bulk quantity's!
A new Sharper Image catalog just showed up in my mail box yesterday, I didn't even want to look through it, it immediately went to the trash.

I am still amazed that the U.S. Postal System, still works as well as it does, because it still delivers a ton of "Printed" junk mail daily.

What a waste of resources, but all old news at this point !
Your results may vary !

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I hope they honor all of the current subscription's when they switch format's. It would be a shame for people to get hosed out of what was already paid for.

 

This happened to me with Custom Rodder and it made me very leery of subscribing to any thing BUT Hot Rod. Eventually, even HRM evolved away from my field of interest.
Ryan has it right. It might be better for the hobby overall if it shrinks back to the hard core, passionate few.
Looking to future, I’m waiting for an article on building a ‘32 roadster with a multi fuel turbine engine. No wait, that’s been done? Over 60 years ago - in 1962.

 

Here I am just wanting more hop up magazine... Hotrod Lost me years ago...

 

My first subscription magazine was Hot Rod, it was the November 1979 issue. It was a different time, that time has passed and the world is moving on.

 

My first subscription to HRM was in 1959. I subscribed to virtually all the car magazines in the 60's 70's and 80's. After having them take my money and then go out of business, without sending me one issue, or they gave me a subscription to some rag I could care less about, I am through. Just wait, HRM will go out of business within a year and you will loose your money. Print is dead. I worked for a magazine printer for 34 years. I know what I am talking about. Print is on life support.

 

Oh well...

 

i gave up on "hot rod" a few years back. it was too high-buck. once upon a time that magazine catered to shade-tree mechanics!

 

I'm going to re-up; 4 may not be better than 12, but it's better than nothing.

 

I recall Ryan having it out with Freibuger about a decade or so ago over the topic of magazines and online content.

 

Road & Track has done the quarterly method last couple years. I actually like it, more depth to the articles with great photos on quality stock. Still need good writers/contributors and advertisers to make it work.

 

One of the things I miss from the old days is going through the two page ad for PAW.

 

4 pages in this issue...this is the first page....

 

I guess PAW and Rod &Custom are the 2 I miss the most.

 

Maybe I'm too touchy, but I gave up on HRM when they featured a 1st gen Camaro with an in-line 6 cyl Toyota engine in it.

Gary

 

I miss Gratiot, my High School best friend bought a L-88 BBC crate motor from them in 1980, might as well as been a Ferrari F-1 motor, it was so exotic, the Holy Grail!!!

 

I’d drive it

 

other changes that involve the production of Hot Rod Magazine, Hot Rod Garage, etc is the vacating of the very large shop that has been used for builds & project storage seen on shows for many years. no info as to where new shop will be located. The MotorTrend Group is part of Warner Bros Discovery Company. they control MotorTrend TV, Hot Rod, Roadkill, Automobile and 20 other industry leading brands.

 

Formats change. Remember Rod and Custom and go karts and Volksrods?

 

Go-carts & VolksRods? Yeah, I remember them. Would, & do, like them today... Yup, if you understand them, they are some very interesting creatures. If you don't understand them, you'll be a Hater. LMAO.

I like a lot of different formats - as I can & do, learn from different genres. It's surprising what you - could - learn. & then apply to the early stuff. It just(maybe) wouldn't technically fall into the "It didn't happen(much, supposedly anyways) back then" mindset. Pete Ardemia(sp?), Tex Smith, Ak Miller, John Buttera, & a lot of others whos' names escape me right this moment wouldn't be welcome here. Problem is, & my Opinion not-withstanding, while the HAMB is probably the best place to learn a lot of things from a lot of very-highly-skilled folks, it's a limited scope(a restorers/recreators site), which = fine, but there's nowhere else to find other-topic material(no, not rr-crap or even boyds' pastel smoothie stuff. I don't mind unfinished, reachers, beaters, but not crap...) like PHR, CC, HRMx, et-al, had. Can it be cross-applied - sure, but it's still well-worth seeing what others are/have actually done, to something other than a ModelA. & the dogfight forum was so horribly named that the search-results annihilated it. I'd be real happy to see 1 or 2 forums done correctly by Ryan that covers those areas, but it won't happen - I asked. Fair enough. & I don't have the skills... so I read what I can...

I kinda don't hold much hope for a long-lived HRM anymore. Most of the past qtrlys, yrbks, spls, etc; were nothing more than reprints - which made it easier to find an article if looking, but no real great new info. Maybe these'll be different & better. I do hope so. That could be worth it.

I'm not a real big fan of video-entertainment, I'd rather read. I can start n stop reading at will, I'm tied to a damn Transcendental-Vegetation/computer screen for as long as it runs. I hate/detest using my ph as a computer substitute & won't, old eyes on miniature pics don't help. I see value in the ability to add almost-immeasurable amounts of info in a video format - provided it's actually there, but I can usually read faster than they speak. & from what little I've seen, they generally aren't nearly as useful as the early->mid 70's mags - which actually had some tech info that could be used in building. Or did, at least until one(IMHO) particular "self-styled-writer/editor" destroyed multiple magazines by his "guidance". Yah, - well...
Marcus...

 

well said...

 

Funny you mention it, even the airports I went through didn't have it.

 

It's funny how one magazine making a change is a death blow, but another one barely hanging on making no obvious changes is admirable and should be supported without question, just based on who owns it.

HRM is adapting to a changing industry. Companies that don't get left behind (Polaroid, Blockbuster, etc.). I imagine it will be easier to have stores stock a quarterly, in addition to other positives that have been mentioned.

If I buy any car magazine from a newsstand now it's $10+. $30 for 4 high-quality issues is still a deal.

 

It's all about the content and the quality. It is that simple, Hot Rod no longer has it because they try to be all things to all people! R.J. gets it.....! R.J. is and always has been the best there is, end of story!

 

I really have little hope they will do good by the HRM subscribers based on past performance. Their dumping of so many publications such as Rod & Custom, Hot Rod DeLuxe, and Custom Rodder in favor of digital and video media ended up with a bunch of unwatchable tv shows on Motor Trend.

 

Motor Trend is doing the same thing, going quarterly.

 

Lol no bias there. I can't comment on TRJ quality as I haven't seen a copy in 4+ years. It used to be a good mag. In theory TRJ is great, but they've dug themselves a hole and it's anyone's guess if they'll ever get back to any normalcy. Sure they're trying and have good intentions, but have they actually changed their business practices to help from that happening again? Currently they're filling only subscriber back-orders, so they're printing a magazine with no new revenue coming in. That's doesn't sound sustainable to me.

HRM has been great lately, including the latest issue. As posts from Moriarty show there are tons of great things in it. Yes, not everything in it will be on-topic to this forum, but there was a ton this issue. I see one magazine making changes to stay relevant, and one trying to stave off the reaper for another month.