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BoostedBrandon
BoostedBrandon SuperDork
12/6/19 2:42 p.m.

In reply to NickD :

Four Wheeler, not 4 Wheel.

Which probably reiterates the point of why this is happening.

Keith Tanner
Keith Tanner MegaDork
12/6/19 2:42 p.m.

I have the first issue of Automobile, maybe I’ll go pick up the last. 

You could see this at sema this year. There used to be a massive TEN booth with all the magazines. This year, it was MT only. 

stanger_missle
stanger_missle UltraDork
12/6/19 2:48 p.m.

Damn, my beloved JP and MM&FF magazines are biting the dust sad.

bigdaddylee82
bigdaddylee82 UltraDork
12/6/19 2:48 p.m.

I was an occasional subscriber to JP, I think my step brother gave me a subscription as a Christmas gift once or twice, and I ponied up for a year on my own a time or two.

As much as I enjoy Jeeps, Christian Hazel and Rick Pewe's adventures, they weren't enough to keep me.  Jeep "innovation" kind of hit a wall by the mid '00s, by the time the JKs hit the market I wasn't interested, and anything new worth paying attention to was in the Pro Rock/We Rock and eventually Ultra4 after KOH became a thing.

I didn't care in the slightest about JKs, and I had ample forums to read, so no need to subscribe.

I don't think I've picked up an issue of JP in 10 years.

Yet I'm still sad to see it go.

Jim Pettengill
Jim Pettengill HalfDork
12/6/19 2:58 p.m.

A sad day - back in the day I sold stories and photos to five of these titles, and have a subscription to Vette.  I find a print mag much more convenient for my lifestyle than my ipad - although I do read ebooks on the ipad, i prefer print for my magazines (and I currently subscribe to about 30 mags and newspapers, on a wide variety of subjects).

Knurled.
Knurled. MegaDork
12/6/19 3:09 p.m.
BoostedBrandon said:

In reply to NickD :

Four Wheeler, not 4 Wheel.

Which probably reiterates the point of why this is happening.

4WOR was the GRM of off roading.  Four Wheeler was the Popular Hot Roddin'.

 

I was a 4WOR reader until I discovered GRM in the late 90s and realized "OMG, my people!".

Ranger50
Ranger50 UltimaDork
12/6/19 3:15 p.m.

Typical buy, cut, squeeze, fold scenario prevalent in "investor based" MBA schools of thought when you have zero ideas on growing your brand.

RIP

NickD
NickD PowerDork
12/6/19 3:21 p.m.

Got thinking of all the magazines that I used to frequently read or had a subscription to that are no longer around: Popular Hot Rodding, Honda Tuning, Modified, 0-60 Mag, Pontiac Enthusiast, Muscle Car Enthusiast, Cars & Parts. God, my father subscribed to Cars & Parts for decades, until the publisher rolled Cars & Parts and all their other mags up into a single disjointed magazine called Auto Enthusiast. We both read it for a while and decided not to stay subcribed and I believe it folded up shortly afterwards

Kreb
Kreb UberDork
12/6/19 3:22 p.m.

I think of those as the convenience store mags. Any time I'd head in for a slurpee, the siren call of big V8s or hot VWs with trashy women would be there to allure me.... 

But odds are, if you like print you're old or well on your way.  

Floating Doc
Floating Doc SuperDork
12/6/19 3:33 p.m.

It's a survival of the fittest world for any print media out there. 

I've been a GRM subscriber for a few years.

I'm subscribing to Classic Motorsports right now. Print subscription numbers sell ads, ad revenue keeps the bills paid.

 

 

nutherjrfan
nutherjrfan UberDork
12/6/19 3:36 p.m.

Probably a clueless thought but I stopped reading magazines some time ago partly because I wasn't interested.  No real stories.

I mean I just got finished watching a 30+ min video on Youtube about a house renovation.  The Homemade Home guy and the $9k house.

I used to enjoy Ray Evernhams TV show where he toured the US.  (don't watch TV anymore.)

Then today one part I enjoyed about the MT Duff McKagan interview was how he just gets out there and talks to people across the country.

Eh.  What do I know?  smiley

Floating Doc
Floating Doc SuperDork
12/6/19 3:39 p.m.

In reply to Floating Doc :

Relying to myself. I'm now a CM subscriber, too. 

Follow my lead!

NickD
NickD PowerDork
12/6/19 3:41 p.m.
Kreb said:

 

But odds are, if you like print you're old or well on your way.  

Ouch. 27: It's the new 60!

Tony Sestito
Tony Sestito PowerDork
12/6/19 3:46 p.m.

Growing up, a lot of these magazines, and especially Car Craft, were my drug of choice. When I first started wrenching on my own garbage, Car Craft was there to show me how to spot cheap speed parts in the junkyard, how to ID and pull an engine (including the infamous article where they said to just dump all the fluids on the gravel), and more. They covered all the oddball junk I liked, and I ate it up like Homer Simpson at an all-you-can-eat buffet. They later fizzled out in the late 2000's, and became a rehash of whatever was going on in Hot Rod, which was boring me to tears.  By that time, I had found GRM, which was basically old-school Car Craft for ALL types of cars and motorsports. laugh

If it wasn't for that magazine and others that got the axe today, I would have never started writing about cars myself. They were a huge influence on me and my writing style. This one hurts, but I'm not surprised, considering a lot of niche print publications have fallen by the wayside in recent years.

Appleseed
Appleseed MegaDork
12/6/19 4:09 p.m.

Woops, missed the Hotrod surveying part.

 

Of all the magazines that have folded under me, Wings & Airpower were the hardest to swallow. Any aviation enthusiast that read that mag would agree that those articles read better than most books, with many of the stories em written by those who were there. I still miss it, and in fact was reading an issue from 1980 just the other day.

Remember these?

Streetwiseguy
Streetwiseguy MegaDork
12/6/19 4:16 p.m.

Car Craft is the only one I ever really cared about, until Frieberger turned it into a "How to buy cheap crap, and keep it looking like crap, and blow it up with a cheap turbo."  Kinda the Roadkill idea. I do not approve.

I will miss print.  GRM, CM, Hot Rod, National Geographic still show up at my house, and I will likely keep them coming until they, or I, die.

David S. Wallens
David S. Wallens Editorial Director
12/6/19 4:17 p.m.

Thanks for the support, and it's interesting to hear that print only interests the older audience. Next weekend I'll be tabling at Orlando Zine Fest. I guarantee that I'll be the oldest person there--by like a lot. 

slowbird
slowbird Dork
12/6/19 4:22 p.m.

In reply to David S. Wallens :

Zines aren't like traditional print, they're punk! Print is old white guys in suit making money. Zines are cool hip youth with radical ideas to share! laugh

(I get what you mean, though.)

spacecadet
spacecadet SuperDork
12/6/19 4:27 p.m.

Whooooooooa The death of Super Street!

 

That surprises me, but i guess it doesn't. I cant remember the last time i picked up an issue. I interact with their content online.

 

 

Tom1200
Tom1200 Dork
12/6/19 4:38 p.m.

I confess that the only US publication I read is CM. The other three I read are British magazines.

I look at a computer all day so I don't want to stare at one at night plus the lovely back light on the tablet makes it hard to wind down at night. I read at least an hour every night before bed but always something in print. But I 57 so I'm old.

The same way online has clobbered once mighty retail giants it's hitting print media as well sad to say.

 

_
_ Dork
12/6/19 4:41 p.m.

In reply to spacecadet :

I interact with their online content as well. Latinas with big booties and Tatas.  Sorry guys, I couldn't resist.

docwyte
docwyte UberDork
12/6/19 4:49 p.m.

I'm a print guy.  I really have no desire to read an "e-magazine" and when the titles go that way I don't read them.  Many, many magazines have folded up on me in the last ten years.  At this point the only small ones I get are GRM and Excellence.  I also have subscriptions to R&T/C&D.  Used to get ESPN magazine but that just folded. 

Luckily the club magazines have really stepped up their game.  Panorama is quite entertaining now and the Hagerty magazine is also very good.  Roundel has slid, I don't like most of the new columnists and the content just blows.  All they do is "test" or drive some hideous looking new BMW and fawn all over how great it is.  Plus Satch is an enormous shiny happy person.

californiamilleghia
californiamilleghia Dork
12/6/19 4:49 p.m.

I always bought magazines that had cool how to articles , mostly sheet metalworking , painting etc

I would love to get a pile of them at the swap meet  and thru the next week or 2 go thru them.....

But I have 1000s of magazines and really they are worthless to sell  and people keep trying to give me more !

My friends that worked at the magazines would spend all month on a detailed Tech story of 4-5 pages , most readers would pass it over for the "Chrome and Flames" on the next pages , 

No one will be doing Tech articles for Digital media because it does not pay enough ,  what you will see is company paid stories pushing a product ,  and call it Tech.

At least thats how it looks from here......

Jerry From LA
Jerry From LA SuperDork
12/6/19 5:17 p.m.

Here at Autobooks, we just lost 14 of the 19 publications listed as dead. 

The list in its entirety.  Mags we carry (carried, sigh) in bold:

  1. 4-Wheel & Off Road
  2. Automobile
  3. Car Craft
  4. Chevy High Performance
  5. Classic Trucks
  6. Diesel Power
  7. Hot Rod Deluxe
  8. Jp
  9. Lowrider
  10. Mopar Muscle
  11. Muscle Car Review
  12. Muscle Mustangs & Fast Fords
  13. Mustang Monthly
  14. Street Rodder
  15. Super Chevy
  16. Super Street
  17. Truck Trend
  18. Truckin'
  19. Vette
nutherjrfan
nutherjrfan UberDork
12/6/19 5:49 p.m.

What eventually happens to the titles?  Does corporate get to hold onto them forever?

For example Sport Compact Car.  Could someone just apply for the trademark and start using it?

Or does Super Street online just get to sit on it for eternity? cool

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