NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! say it ain't so Danny, say it ain't so. you can't do this to me. my whole goal was to get my model A done before i turn 30 (this August) so that i can be featured in the Young Guns column. RnC has been my FAVORITE mag for quite a while now and the Young Guns segment was allways the FIRST thing i flipped to. that and the "dream rod of the month" to see if JEEM had anything new in there. this truely saddens me and angers me all at once. i dont want you to go and i don't want to see Young Guns go either. this [expletive] SUCKS! i met you in Indy last winter Dan and we talked about my model A and Denny Lesky's RPU (the one Mutant Art did the rendering of) and i was excited to have YOU do the feature on them both when they are done. i thought you were a great guy. i could be wrong it was just one meeting , BUT SERIOUSLY. i think they are making a HUGE mistake. it seems sometimes the suits get so distracted by the bottom line they loose sight of what REALLY matters to the core of the readership which in the long run will effect the bottom line and therefore should NOT be ignored. i realize that it is a business and it is only there to make money but if it starts to suck i will let my subscription go just i have Hot Rod magazine and many others when they started to suck (for lack of a better term). DAMN I'M MAD!!!! Mike Brimm
[ QUOTE ] You can't read the HAMB and take a shit...well, most of us can't, anyways. [/ QUOTE ] I got the solutin for this (not implemented yet!): Set up a wireless LAN in your home & use a laptop! Seriously - glad to hear that folks still have principles & are willing to stand up for them even if it costs something in the short term. In the long term, you'll be able to look at yourself in the mirror without any regrets. Keep the faith.
This is horrible. I dont know about any other young guns but as a 16 year old building a car it feels so freakin awesome just to hear someone say, "man, sounds like your building a cool car" or "That things gonna be wicked!" I think the young guns section was just about the same except longer and in print form. I was kind of even hoping to be in that section some day. I guess i wont now. I definately think its time to start getting TRJ instead of R&C. Good bye R&C. Nick Giacalone
man, young guns was the last thing really keeping me into r and c. what a bummer! although i will say that the mag has been going down hill since frieburger left! bring back frieburger!
It's amazing how short sighted suits can be. Instead of building future loyal paying customers, they choose to alienate the new parts buyers that their advertizers will be clamoring for. Rod & Custom got me hooked almost 50 years ago. Looks like they have given up fishing.
What a Christms present. Whilst getting my first cup of coffee, I turn on the only site on the net. And I read this post first. I can not add anything to the sentiments expressed here, but can offer a suggestion. Maybe it is time for a mass mailing to primedia of all the comments written here. What about it Dan? Think it would help? I like Rand C. as well as CR, but have noticed a downturn. I'll stay with both for a while, just to see how far they go. Jim
No use ranting about it here.-Thats like preaching to the choir. No use bitching to the guys who work for R&C.-They don't have the say so they should. No use complaining to the suits in charge- They aren't listening to us mere mortals. You need to get to the core. The advertising money. I think a well crafted letter to the advertisers explaining the customers distain for anyone who would support the managements disregard for the reader and everyday rodder. A well placed thought that it would be better to purchase items from someone who wasn't sponsoring such disregard for the hobby is in order. If they get such emails and letters, it's possible that they might say something to the suits at R&C. Of course it would have to be from more then just a couple people. It would have to be a large quantity of people to carry any weight.
Dan, good luck on your endeavors. I enjoyed your writing and it was nice to see some of the hamb guys actually get press. I have friends in the TV and radio industry and it too looks glamourous on the outside but they are constsntly worrying about job security. Hopefully you can land a good job at a reputable company that appreciates your skill. Thanks for all you have done. Root
[ QUOTE ] I can not add anything to the sentiments expressed here, but can offer a suggestion. Maybe it is time for a mass mailing to primedia of all the comments written here. [/ QUOTE ] i don't know if it will help either but damn it i'm gonna start sending a letter a week telling them to do WHATEVER it takes to keep Danno happy and bring back YG. i think it's a fabulous idea. Mike
Is it just me or has R&C started to look a lot like HRM (at least the HRM I stopped reading a few years ago) with nothing but endless pages of Americruise/Power Tour coverage - in every damn issue? Really, it is the same dozen cars just stopping at a different advertiser's shop each day. I'm over R&C. Young Guns was the only reason I bought it. From now on give me the HAMB, Rodder's Digest, and TRJ and I'll be fine. JH
Dan, I'm sorry to hear that. Good luck wherever you end up. I always enjoyed the Young Guns stuff. I'm a couple years past 30, but I'm still immersed in that "younger rodder" crowd comparitively speaking. Interesting idea with writing the advertisers. I will try to write to the mag itself too.
[ QUOTE ] You listening Primedia? [/ QUOTE ] Trust an insider, unless you're an advertiser, they're not listening. I'm about 95% sure that the reason they made Young Guns so small this month was because ad dollars are down and they had to trim the book to make it fit next to a 1/2 page ad. I can almost guarantee that this is the reason.
As I continue to run through this thread, I'm a little upset at some of the responses. Some others are right on the mark. First, the reason they have that page that talks about what is one the web is because it drives you to the site, where the magazine probably derives a decent amount of revenue from online ad dollars. If they didn't post the page, then you may not got. It's also there in case you want to check some of the stories on the web without having to buy the mag. Lastly, some of the stuff on the web is exclusive to the web, namely more pics and some content. For the person that said he would rather spend his R&C money to help out the HAMB, that may make Ryan really happy, but it's not going to improve the situation and R&C. If you all decide to come away from R&C instead of speaking your mind to the folks in charge at Primedia, then the mag is doomed, and we'll all have one less outlet to go to for our fix. <font color="red"> If you're really serious about getting in touch with the people that count at the company, you can email any of the people out of the Credits box just by their first and last names. For instance, my email at the company is Dave.Conrey@Primedia.com. The art director for R&C is Dan.Silvario@primedia.com. If you want to make a dent, email the Publishers and the Editor. The rest you can figure out on your own.</font> Good Luck
What I meant was, if you are standing in a store reading the magazine and you don't find it interesting enough to purchase, you probably won't bother going to the website. If you never intended to buy it to begin with, you would probably have assumed that the magazine, like EVERY BUSINESS in the world now, has a website that you can look at, and you would have already seen it. If you bought it already, that page always shows the stuff that you already paid for. I may be wrong, but I don't ever remember seeing any "website exclusive" ads on that page. Lastly, if you have to cut a page to put more ads in to make money, do you really think that sales are going to stay high if you cut an interesting column, but leave their shitty ad in the back of the page? Let's look at that in the long run. They ditch the cool articles in favor of fluffy ads. Readers are upset that there are too many ads and not enough tech. Readers stop buying the mag. Advertisers back out because circulation sucks. Now, they are worse off than when they started.
[ QUOTE ] (Flamedabone) As for the T-shirts. Those are too cool to never see the light of day. Is there ANYTHING we could do to score one? Duct tape over the R&C logo if nessessary...? [/ QUOTE ] I agree, that art work is way too cool not to make use of... It's too bad we can't use the design for the "young gun's" that participated in the club, but not in association with R/C. I'm sure there would be some 'rule' that would be broken if it was tried.... Man, this stinks! Rat...
Thanks everyone for all of your support. Dave, I got yout PM and it means alot, as do your comments Ryan. I guess my youthful enthusiasm that so endeared me to the Young Guns concept in the first place is what allowed me to think that the powers that be were interested in making great magazines, not squeezing every last dime out of every page. Dave's suggestions are VERY valid... check out the names at the top of the staff box (publisher, editor, etc.) and jet off a few emails... who knows, even if it doesn't bring the old YG format back, at least they'll know what they lost. Thanks again to you all, and have a happy new year! Dan
With old titles going for $10 a year and extra copies being sent to auto parts, and ads disguised as features, it's no wonder they are running scared. Yet the upstart Buckaroo is selling Street Rod Builder for $35 a year. If a double sawbuck stands in the way of a subcription, what's the odds the average reader will be spending the sums required for the advertiser's product? We say in construction don't cut your price regardless of the current market or you'll dig a hole that's hard to climb out of. I don't know the magazine industry, if sales numbers get you a spot on certain market's shelves, but I would think charge a little more so you can maintain your editorial integrity. If we are a bellweather of th eindustry here on the HAMB, what generates interest, rodding scene, No. glossy shots, No. tech, hell, yea. And the doers are also the buyers.
I think that R&C has missed the boat on this one. Young Guns and Ego Rama are the two coolest things they have going. I will continue to subscribe, for now. It's still going to be a good magazine. But Young Guns was why I have looked forward to each issue for the last while. It's awesome to see "one of us" get recognition for home built cars. Even though I'm older than the YG's, I still feel a lot more connection with them than the other cars featured. They/we are the ones that will be subscribers for the next several decades. Our demographic of rodders is growing faster than any other. The ad $$$ thing is weird to me. Say you don't buy a pre-made part for a 1-800-rodder store. You buy a welder, grinder, bondo and supplies to do the job, right? That stuff costs $$$. Sounds like a ad sales dept. issue to me.
Buzzard, you are WAY older than the Young Guns cut off age.. It is a shame to see it go though. My little brother was trying to get his car done for acceptance into Young Guns.
[ QUOTE ] I think the word "Management" is Latin for "Over paid Dumb Fucks that take all the credit for other peoples hard work when things are going well, who can't do the job themselves but know how to put up road blocks in front of those that do, who know 1001 ways to alienate their long term customers and staff, who add no value to the organization beyond their shallow personalities, who change things just for the sake of change without understanding what sort of effect it will have, and don't mind pulling the rug out from under some hard working slob when he's are not watching." [/ QUOTE ] And you guys are just learning this? Seen it up close and personal myself a few years ago and I did exactly what Dan is doing. It's a REALLY tough decision because most of these jobs all now belong to one monopoly. I found out that ANYTHING you say will get back to them. It's hard because those guys are all your friends, but the big "decision makers" don't often care what you, or what you say readers want. Bottom line is advertising. I think good stories can lead to new and better advertising, but it's about "the bottom line", if it's not payin' TODAY'S bills CUT IT! Good luck to you Dan, and to everyone else best to move on and let them make their own decisions because they will only take notice when the sales and subscription numbers SIGNIFICANTLY drop, and by then the excuse is nowhere related to what the original cause was- and by then some GENIOUS has the "fresh" idea to reinstate what was pulled in the first place. AGAIN, this is what EXACTLY happened to myself and a good friend. The two things that they felt we "ruined" the magazine with were REINTRODUCED with grand fanfare. It's the business, glad I'm not dealing with it right now.
That sucks. I was hoping to try and get my 54 in the YG column after I got it going. I've actually been busting my a&% trying to get it far enough along to send some pics in with the paper work to R&C so I could possibly get in soon. Oh well I quit subscribing along time ago when R&C SCREWED ME ON MY SUBSCRIPTION!!!! I reordered a sub for a year then my mother ordered me a two year sub and my grandmother ordered me another two year sub on top of that. That would have been five years total already paid for and guess what they did sent me two issues and thats all I ever saw of it. But they kept all the money. My mother and I wrote letters to the company about it and they told us that some of the subscription info for our area got lost and that we were basically just screwed out of our money. And the same happened to several of my friends around here that had subs also. So now that they are killing this they can KISS my White ASS!!! Sorry for the rant but I'm still sore over them screwing me especially since that sub my grandma got me was the last christmas present she got me before she died. I still buy it sometimes off of the news stand but only for stuff like Y&G and sometimes the tech articles that have info I need for my cars. I know I sound kinda messed up wanting to be apart of something that screwed me but I thought young guns were cool even after the fact. Scribe to bad your leaving I enjoyed reading everything you were apart of in the magazine I hope your future endeavors are more fullfilling then what R&C has done to you now.
After meeting Dan a little over a year ago... I can say that he can, and will, be successful in any job that he decides to do in life... his enthusiasm and attitude are stronger than any misguided industry... so Dan, think about the things you did change and the people you did influence in a positive way... and forget about the things that you couldn't, nor any one else could have changed... then take those positive things on with you to your next career. Sam.
Man, this really sucks. I can't say I'm at all surprised though. Primedia and the companies like it are really just awful. I still like R&C and will continue to read it, but it still always gets to me reading it when I can see the huge contrasts between "what the car guys wanna do" and "what the ad weasels decree". On the one hand it's good that R&C is still going, but on the other hand, it's still going under management that doesn't have a damn clue. Primedia runs like 50 car mags, you'd think they'd have a better idea of how to operate them. Sadly, it's probably just a matter of time until they kill off R&C to replace it with three other ultra-speciality mags, like "Deuce Ford Performance", "Tri-Five Chevy Street Beast Monthly" and "Billet Accessories Digest" or whatever. Sigh.
I found out the hard way that Primedia is the evil empire that you always hear about. The book Barbarians at the Gate is about Primedia's parent company KKR. They're f-ing evil!
honestly, and this will make me real popular, I think most of the young guns cars suck. Used to be all the cool hotrods were built by kids under 30 but now you'd be hard pressed to find enough to do it once a month. Guys, I am talking about hotrods not lowered 54 Fords. I built a bunch of them before I was 30, shit, I'm only 32 now! Big deal. Reading a write up on how some fucknut built a 55 truck just because he still has zits is lame. Get over it and move on. Rod & Custom sucks too. Fuck them. Love you all
since we are on the subject anyways, since when is 30 young? I mean, guys were flying Mustangs and p-47s over fucking Germany in their 20's. So you bolted a body to a rusty old frame and got it to run..... my hero. let's do a story on it. Now you love me
Only one good thing could come from Primedia killing Rod & Custom........Gahnal bringing it back again Clark
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