It's an OK mag rag.... More times then not, I leave it on the newsstand. Definitely not worth the $5.99 they charge for it.
It's an OK mag rag.... More times then not, I leave it on the newsstand. Definitely not worth the $5.99 they charge for it.
I used to LOVE Hot Rod and Car Craft, starting in middle school up until recently. For my friends and I, Car Craft was the Bible in high school. At this time, the editors were David Freiburger and then Matt King. They ran articles on cheap speed, how to score parts at the junkyard, how to pull engines, and the wonders of the cordless Sawzall (aka The Tool). We would go after school almost every day to a junkyard to emulate what we saw on the pages.
Meanwhile at Hot Rod, Steve Mangante was building Chevettes with Cadillac 500's forcibly stuffed in there for around $2k, thus pissing off all the billet, teal and gray tweed interior crowd. That article alone influenced me greatly. I had never read any magazine attempt to build a cheap project car like that. Later, Freiburger would take the helm at Hot Rod, and with a bigger budget, he would feature all the cool stuff I liked. Hell, the first time I ever read about the GRM Challenge was in Hot Rod!
I had a subscription up until a couple years ago, because having stacks of magazines around the house was getting ridiculous, and with smartphone and tablet technology I didn't have to have all that clutter. Also, much of what was in the magazine was derived from online sources or blogs where I got my auto news anyway, so I didn't really feel the need to renew. Now, the only mag I subscribe to is GRM.
Roadkill is pretty cool too. I dig it. But if I want to get a Hot Rod-esque fix, I usually head over to the Bangshift blog. They are local guys to me, and I like what they are doing over there. Part of me is extremely jealous I didn't run into them at the local junkyards back in the day.
Road Kill is awesome. Love that show. I do agree Freiburger is FTW.
Never got into hot rod, but I did subscribe to CC for 8 years or so. I let that lapse when I just stopped reading magazines 
Picked up a copy of Hot Rod Deluxe at the Shoppers the other day. it was some special edition. They charged me 7.99 for it, and I hemmed and hawed, but eventually I tossed it in the cart and the wife laughed at me. There's some 175 pages on nice paper of old hot rods from back in the 60's, and a little background behind them. I figure a few of 'em will be good to pin up in the new garage when I get it set up.
Well, I thought they went out of business or something thats why I posted this thread. Their olds "junkyard dog" articles rocked my world when I was a kid with a neighbor who let a delta 88 with a 455 engine sit in their yard for my entire childhood.
Hot Rod was my first magazine. At 12 Hot Rod and ebaymotors were God to me. I remember when I was 15 and looking for a car with a $2000 budget when they mentioned this magazine all about such cars, it has all been downhill from there. Now though Hot Rod feels a little limited (though Freiburger has really expanded its focus well) so It might loose to a subscription to Evo.
In reply to plance1:
I've been a Hot Rod (and Car Craft) subscriber for over 15 years. It has waxed and waned, but the latest re-do and staff are awesome. Frieburger probably single-handidly saved the mainstream hot rod car mag industry and salt flat racing. The articles they run cover the widest spectrum and I always learn something. The look back at the most significant hot rods, for example: I never knew that nearly every "standard" 32 Ford mod was invented by one guy in 1947!
My favorite articles are the ones in the back where they take a random rod and fix a really nagging issue. The whole subscription is worth those articles alone, IMO. Then there's the Roadkill stuff (I'm going to pull a JoeyM and admit that I will always subscribe to HR as long as they do Roadkill just to support it).
The coverage of Drag Week and the Power Tour are always awesome, too. Their car features lately have been top-notch. They did the Model A with the Ford BPA rally car motor, the Charger Daytona salt flat car (that GRM later ran), the Cheverra, the Martini Mustang vrs the Gulf Camaro, etc. Their project cars are also wicked awesome, especially the Crusher Camaro, the Super Bee (yeah, I was a fan of the last Roadkill), the Raunchero, and even the quickes like the fiberglass T. Add in the articles on things like roadtrip destinations, beginner's guide to LSR, and the recent cover car expose and it really is a complete package.
Think of Hot Rod as GRM for those with a penchant for classic American V8's and the cars they came in. Car Craft is the way too nerdy engine-tech bother (and I say that in the most endearing way possible, I love CC).
Now, Popular Hot Rodding on the other hand, there's a title that's not long for this world. Engine Masters is pretty much the only thing left they have going for them...
VonSmallhausen wrote: At 12 Hot Rod and ebaymotors were God to me.
And now I feel sad...
There was no ebay motors when I was twelve.
There wasn't even ebay motors when I was 20.
Get off my lawn!
For a while Hot Rod made a point in featuring fabrication how-tos and unusual builds. I think that there was an editorship change a year or two ago, because that stuff looks pretty well gone. I still get the mag because they practically give subscriptions away. But for the first time, I got the last issue, spent five minutes thumbing through and sent it to the recycling bin. It's pretty well gone full fluff.
Mini-rant: I take my one-off car (Midlana) to some hot rod events and concluded that it's all a scam. That is, the organizers ("Goodguys" in my case) charge:
Of course the facility have to be paid for renting the place... and that's about it. Someone's making a pretty penny off everyone, and the worst aspect of that is how it's done under the ruse of "we're your buddy, come hang out with us cool guys and talk cars." Sure they are, and they're skimming off a lot while smiling.
At the other end of the spectrum are the grassroots Cars and Coffee events. They REALLY shine a light on how out of hand commercialized hot rod shows have become. Surprise, no one needs to pay to have a great time talking cars - just like it was in the 1950s with the original hot rodders.
The connection I see between the above and Hot Rod magazine is that they, like the shows, have turned it into a parade sort of thing, having forgotten the true roots where everyone worked on their own stuff. Sadly, they're probably right - hardly anyone builds their own hot rods any more, and instead just write someone a really big check, and the magazines reflect that. Now, they're reduced to glossy pictures which they expect you to show the hot rod shop owner, "make me one of these."
Because single issue newsstand sales are dead. The only magazines that will survive the next few years will be the ones with dedicated subscriber bases (cough...Grassroots Motorsports...cough cough).
beans wrote: Road Kill is awesome. Love that show. I do agree Freiburger is FTW.
^This, for the longest time I had trouble explaining to people what a banger rally really was. Now I just make them watch season 1 episode 1 of Roadkill, its pretty much a one team banger rally. They have been invited to participate in S2S and are currently seeing if they can work it in the production schedule, I think it was the promise of many beers that got their attention :)
On this topic or similar topic, I listened to the Podcast of GRM co-owner Tim Suddard last night.
Two things came to my attention while listening to it.
1. Tim knows who his first subscriber was and knows that he is still a subscriber.
2. Tim also knows who his first advertiser was and knows he is still an advertiser.
Both of these points were not intentionally highlighted, rather they just came out in what appeared to be "normal conversation." My point being that Tim or JG found no surprise that they knew this info, it was just me that was surprised by it.
In the more "corporate world" of magazines, I do not think you would find this depth of knowledge or understanding of "the whole picture."
If you are interested in this thread, I highly recommend the podcast.
Nothing to add on Hot Rod, but Roadkill, wow, never heard of it. Looks like I've got some watching to do.
Adrian_Thompson wrote: Nothing to add on Hot Rod, but Roadkill, wow, never heard of it. Looks like I've got some watching to do.
I had some co-workers mention it to me, but I forgot about it.
Now that I know Furburger was involved, I'm going to have to watch, for sure.
Trans_Maro wrote:VonSmallhausen wrote: At 12 Hot Rod and ebaymotors were God to me.And now I feel sad... There was no ebay motors when I was twelve. There wasn't even ebay motors when I was 20. Get off my lawn!
this was what was available when I was 12
I get Hot Rod, Car Craft and Street Rodder. For the price they make decent reading on the train. The Goodguys shows are awful. The one by us died a few years ago because of how high the prices have gotten. There is a street rod show at the same fair grouds that draws the same cars on another weekend that costs a whopping $10 a day to enter your car in.
I've subscribed to Hot Rod for something less than 10 years. I like it. Is it perfect? No. I think it's worth the money, though. At least it's not all drag racing like it used to be.
We no longer have a local news stand. Border's moved in, scared them away and then vaporized about a year later.
In reply to Woody: Don't you just love those Big Box Stores? Come in, kill the locals, then leave a huge empty building when they close.
You can subscribe for like $15 for two years. That's some cheap bathroom entertainment.
Maroon92 wrote:Adrian_Thompson wrote: Nothing to add on Hot Rod, but Roadkill, wow, never heard of it. Looks like I've got some watching to do.I had some co-workers mention it to me, but I forgot about it. Now that I know Furburger was involved, I'm going to have to watch, for sure.
So, I watched 4 or 5 episodes of Roadkill last night. It's awesome, love it. I tried to get my wife to watch as well, but after ten minuets she said "It's a couple of stupid guys doing stupid stuff being stupid, it's the kind of thing you and Tom (Spangler) would do. I don't get it" That's about right :)
I mean, dropping in a new crate motor in the Summit parking lot in a snow storm over easter weekend while dog sitting a pit bull that barfs all over the new interior. This E36 M3 is gold. I think this road kill episode has just earnt them at least one new subscriber.
Wally wrote: I get Hot Rod, Car Craft and Street Rodder. For the price they make decent reading on the train. The Goodguys shows are awful. The one by us died a few years ago because of how high the prices have gotten. There is a street rod show at the same fair grouds that draws the same cars on another weekend that costs a whopping $10 a day to enter your car in.
We have a car show every month in Covington Square that's completely free. I show up there from time to time, but couldn't see myself paying Goodguys show money for a car show. Maybe if the price included autocross runs.
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