Folks Of Interest Rob gone from Rod & Custom

But aren't those advertisers on the Jalopy Journal home page? I have no idea what it takes to have his websites up, but I sure don't think you can compare them to the running of a mega magazine conglomerate. I'll bet Ryan still gets the magazines. he may not subscribe, but I'm sure he knows the value of the printed page.

The Rodders Journal charges about $4,000 for a full page ad (about as much as R&C), it only comes out 4 times a year and each issue is twice as much as the other magazines. It's done more out of passion, than profit. As great as it is, it's actually meant for the elitist of the hobby. Steve's got a small handful of employees, compared to R&C which has probably 40 people, behind the scenes.

Any way, after the Zombie wars and the shut down of the power grid, you'll be lucky to have a magazine to read by candle light.

 

After my original post, I thought the same thing. Go for it guys. I'll subscribe.

Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

But you forget that TRJ and this site started out with nothing more than PASSION for doing it right. No ads. Many of us started doing HAMB auctions to kick some money into Ryans coffers as a thank you for the great resource. All of this was pre-Alliance. TRJ had a similar injection of funds in the beginning albeit from a different source/

 

I didn't forget it. It's a given for a lot of start ups.

 

FritzTownFred has hit the nail on the head. If you think any suit above the editor level at Source gave a damn about what the reader's felt or did then you're in a dreamland. It's just a profit margin thing with them, not a quality issue. They're gone because the company is trying to make itself lean before another sale.
Between Smith, Fortier, and Geisert, they had 75 years in with the company. They are all into cars and have a bunch of them between them. They'll probably continue to work on them and be involved in the hobby regardless of who they work for.
After all, you can teach an enthusiast to be a writer, but you can't teach a writer to be an enthusiast.

 

I have been a subscriber sinse the mid 50s. I mostly look at the photos and if something strikes me ,I will read the article. I still have most of the back issues of hot rod and rod and custom from the 50s and 60s. I use them to build real cars. I still subscribe in hopes of seeing something interesting.

 

Hate to see anyone lose their jobs, especially in this economy but truthfully magazines & writers have come and gone as long as I can remember and I ain't no kid. I've hated to see them go before but it's the nature of the business and they gotta be struggling more than ever against free internet content. As for continuing to buy them, with as cheap as their subscriptions are, if you bought 2 issues at the newstand price you already paid for a 1 year sub.
To say the magazine business is over is like a guy on a street corner in 1905 proclaiming that horses are finished. It's 2014 and there ain't no horse shortage, there's just less people that want one. The best magazines will survive but I'm gonna miss the ones that go/have gone.

 

I also bought then subscribed to the "little pages" and continued until a few years ago. Sometimes I threatened under my breath to cancel because many of the magazines turned into "how to" articles for the parts they advertised. Still I hung on because feeling the magazine as I looked at the pictures and read the stories just felt right.
But, I'm still a little old fashioned. I have a big ole bulky tower and monitor. Wife bitched when I drug it into the bathroom! So the magazines kept me entertained as I sat and thaught.
As I got addicted to this computer and a few car forums, I stopped reading all of the magazines coming in. They soon piled up unopened. So I didn't renew my magazines. Funny, I guess I've been getting some of them so long they still haven't noticed I stopped paying. They're still piling up on my desk.
Yes, I miss my old companions. But, like the land line, some things are no longer needed.

 

There may be some truth to this considering we live not far from Ocala, Fl and HORSE COUNTRY. But I can't remember the last time I drove to town and saw a horse and buggy. Or a horse tied outside the local watering hole.
Horses to the average person are about as useful as a wooden phone hangin on the kitchen wall.

 

I agree. Hung out with him at GNRS and he certainly loves his job.

 

Going to have to Disagree with you there. Source has some total gear heads in positions above Editor, especially at the Publisher and associate publisher level ~ take John Barkley for instance. He was winning NHRA races when most guys on here were in diapers or just a twinkle in daddy's eye, and he is still building Hot Rods today. And there are others as well. There is also at least one guy at a VP level that is a bit of a gear head as well.
But I will agree that as a company Source is Profit driven, as most any successful company is. it is a privately held company but has many financial investors that have to be satisfied as well. remember that they put out over 75 different enthusiast magazines, not just a few gear head books.
But here is where I think they were misguided in this. They eliminated some talented people and curiously enough all were long term people that were probably at the higher end of the pay scale. they also eliminated a lot of the behind the scenes type folks, but Didn't seem to let any Management people go. The problem with that is management people don't have Anything to do with the product (magazines), and if the product suffers, there won't be anything left to manage! It will be interesting to see how this all shakes out over time

And for those that think Print Media is Dead - I think you are wrong and print media will ALWAYS have a place.

 

Is Brian Brennan still employed? Just a question...

 

yes

 

Source Interlinc bought Primemedia on credit, HUGH numbers and now they have a payment due. It's business, bad business. Ask Mike Harrington (Buick59 on the Hamb). Back in the 90'sb when I made an attmept to slide into the buisiness I was told of the '24's'. Fresh from Journalisms shchool, the 24 year olds were hired, they were worked 24 hours a day, got paid $24,000 and lasted about 24 months. Now the editors were entrenched and comfortable. But everyone knew jobs were delicate. Talk at the Mexican restaurant down the street from the McMuillan building off the 57 was; where the 'better job at a better magazine would/could be', who had left, and that new blog called the ham, normal work talk. At the time no one saw what the power of the internet would be,,free infromation to all, free show features, free build-ups and my area of photography/writing free how-to's.

 

I quit buying R&C when they started printing it on paper that felt like Charmin!

 

I guess I don't get the bean counter logic that these mags are operating with. I just got an issue of Hot Rod Deluxe telling me that my next issue will be my last - unless I accept their wonderful subscription offer of 6 issues at 39.97 - comes out to $6.66 (hmm) per issue, a whopping 33 cents off cover price. Used to be subs were at a pretty good discount but not anymore, I guess. And how many of these mags just fold up and go away in the middle of a multi-year sub? I've been around long enough to see them come and go.

 

By the way those trees used for magazine paper are renewable, unlike the source of alot of computer parts!

 

For me, it pretty much is. In 2000, I subscribed to 73 different magazines (yes, seventythree) AND even bought oddball ones as I saw them on news stands if they caught my eye. 2014, not a single one. I dont subscribe, I dont buy on newsstands.

Its not because of the internet, its simple COST. Sorry, but $7.99 per mag (some higher, a few lower) just isnt in the ballpark for me. Hell, for that same $8 a rag, I can go into the classifieds here and buy tons of 50s and 60s magazines and enjoy them MUCH more than a modern one.

I never minded ads, I actually like them.

 

...............

 

As editor of Custom Car UK Kevin was promoting trad rods and customs long before most other publications "got it". He did it with a great sense of style and humour that I've not seen in other mags. I for one look forward to R&C with Kev at the helm.

 

hey, you like "family guy" too?

 

Hey Chris! I agree with you on Eric. He was a fun guy to talk with.

Rob was cool too but he shot my `30 coupe over two years ago, said it was coming out soon, lost the pics, we reshot in a hurry for his deadline and never saw the car featured. Never heard another word.
Not sure he was able to call the shots at the magazine without approval.

I`m not concerned about the car feature but felt bad for the photographer that jumped through hoops to make it happen. E-mails went unanswered.

Maybe Kev will make it right....

By the way, love your `32 roadster. Thanks for letting me sit in it and drool last summer.

Bill

 

Ha Ha - I'm not sure how anyone could read 73 magazines a month. I get about a dozen and have a hard time keeping up.

As for the cost, I just did a quick search - R&C for $15.09 a year, HOT ROD $11.75, Street Rodder $18.95, Car Craft $9.84 - a few examples. So even if you wanted ALL 4 of those examples, it is only $4.63 a MONTH for ALL of them! Seriously. who can't afford that? Just cut out one beer at the bar every other month and you paid for it! If you can't, you probably can't afford to build a car either.
And if you can't find $4.63 worth of information or entertainment out of those 4 books, you are either really narrow minded or aren't really into this hobby.
(I'm not picking on you specifically, I'm using the "you" collectively for everyone on here)

 

That's the actual point. They've made is so cheap, you can't really complain about the cost. I used to do the "an issue when it looked good" shuffle. But when that one magazine cost, could have paid for a whole year, it wasn't very fragile. As I posted earlier, I got a Car Craft 3 year subscription for $15 AND a wall clock. There's NO logic in an argument about cost. And yes. if a person can't afford that, then how can he afford building a car?

People love to exaggerate. They are NOT printed on toilet paper and I guarantee, if you're a car guy, there's something of value in just about every issue of any given magazine.

And what 73 magazines does one person get and does the mail man have a hyernia?

 

It's a good thing I used the bathroom BEFORE opening the HAMB today.

Sent VIA top secret BIGREDTODD Mobile HQ

 

The cost of magazines are cheaper now than ever. Including November, 1982 the Hot Rod cover price was $1.75. I just subscribed to Hot Rod for 3 years for $24.97 total. That's less than .70 per issue.

I know, you get what you pay for. That's why 2 years of Rodder's Journal is $88.00.

 

I made the mistake of subscribing to Car Craft and Street Rodder a year or so ago. The postage for amount of junk mail that resulted easily used up any profit that the publisher made on my subscriptions.

Since I loathe junk mail, spam and all of that kind of stuff I thoughtfully failed to renew.

If I see a copy on the news stand that looks interesting I may pick it up. Then again maybe not. For me the content just isn't there.

 

I wish the best for all those recently let go. Rob seems to really know his shit and digs our kinda cars. Eric Geisert didn't really seem to be much of a "traditional hot rod" guy but he's done a good job.

I subscribe to R&C and Hot Rod. The Hot Rod subscription was a 2 year deal at something ridiculous like $.75 an issue. I've not really enjoyed Hot Rod in 15-20 years but figured it was worth $.75 if it was delivered to my doorstep. This past month, IMHO, my issue of Hot Rod was better than my issue of R&C. It hurt to admit it, but it was true. (For me at least.)

I'm afraid R&C is circling the drain. Every month they feature the same, basically "textbook", cars that I wouldn't walk across a parking lot to look at and do an 8 page "Tech Article" (ie. - an ad) sponsored by Miller Welders or someone. The rest is ads, new parts showcase (ie. - more ads), some letters, (what has become a rather weak) history story on someone in the hobby, and not much else.

It just sucks. There is NOTHING interesting in R&C. Informative and educational? Maybe... a little... but not real interesting. Not to dis on Rob though. Reading between the lines in his editorials recently, it sounds as if he's struggled with the "corporate suits". I think he would have done it very differently if he could have.

I wish we could just bring back Steve Hendrickson and the Rodder's Digest. THAT was a car guy's magazine!

JH

 

My car is going to be on the internet said no one ever.

People still LOVE to have their car featured in a magazine. Long live print. I know I love it...

I really enjoyed RF and I'm sure Kev will continue to make R&C a cool read.