Just speculation but I wonder if some of the loss of content is due to frivolous litigation.
Someone with just enough knowledge to be dangerous does something stupid and hurts themselves. They got the idea from a magazine article so the publishers end up in a lawsuit.
That hasn't happened as far as I'm aware. If you're referring to online content, many sites will "prune" old/less-popular articles to help search engine rankings. We don't do that, FYI. Might hurt our rank, but it seems wrong to delete potentially useful editorial.
Like many others, I grew up reading Hot Rod. There was the occasional foray into Car Craft, PHR, Super Chevy, even Hot VW's as I explored the automotive landscape. I expanded my mechanical horizons with Car & Driver, Road & Track, 4Wheel & Off Road, etc. I even wrote a few articles for Bronco Driver magazine.
But, like everything else in life, car mags change - and usually not for the better. Many are gone, most of those that remain have morphed into crazy expensive, couple-a-times-a-year editions that, while containing some interesting stories and beautiful photos, just don't have the comfortable, familiar vibe that used to bring monthly pleasure.
I miss the DIY mindset that used to prevail in Hot Rod - "Go Fast With Junkyard Parts!", "How To Paint Your Car In 3 Easy Steps Using Only Things You Have Laying Around The House", "Align Your Car At Home With Just A Roll Of Kite String And Some Electrical Conduit", those type of things. I learned much from those wonderful Marlan Davis tech articles. I liked seeing the featured, big buck cars, too - those gave us goals to aspire to, even if our bank accounts always brought us back to reality. GRM exists because the vast majority of us have bills to pay, but we still want to get our racing jones sated - even if it's just flinging an old Miata around some cones in a parking lot.
But Hot Rod, and others, now....so much advertising, so few articles - and so many reprints of old articles that are obviously just filler. Not that there's much to fill, since each issue seems to get thinner and thinner. LS everything - I'm not knocking the LS motors, I love them, own and drive several, and building another - but after seeing the same old thing over and over, I yearn for the different, the unusual, the cool. I want to hear, read, and see more about the Rambler station wagon with a Ferrari V12 in the back. About the new Bronco with a baby Godzilla V8 and a manual trans. How about a Porsche 912 with an SHO V6? (Ok, that was me, but I sold it. The 912, not the SHO.)
It's not all just about '32 Fords, or '57 Chevys, or '69 Chargers, or Hemi whatevers. Yeah, all of those are cool, and if I had the money, I'd own them - all of them, plus many more. Bring back the variety, the useful, the "huh, I didn't know those would bolt together with a little bit of work" kind of how-to's.
Make Hot Rod Great Again.
Wally (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to Stealthtercel :
If Freiburger worked for Consumer Reports he could find a way to make it interesting. He's got a gift for storytelling, and I've read magazines just because he was involved in them.
Now I'm picturing a Freiburger-led Consumer Reports running a twofer set of articles: "Compact Family Crossover SUV Comparison" and "Off Road Recovery Products Tested" from the same set of research. Or "Face Off: Vice Grips vs the Right Tool for the Job" coming in too close to call.
The trouble Hot Rod had run into (at least at the time I let my subscription lapse) was that it had lost its sense of relatability. It was turning into a Robb Report for fans of older American cars. While some high end builds can be a good way to inspire and show what can be done, Hot Rod was turning into only high end builds. At that point the column where they fixed cars with long running issues was one of their last bits of tech. There wasn't much about things the average reader could do, unless the average reader had a mid six figure income and that something was "write checks." There wasn't even much in the way of shenanigans - very little coverage of their own Drag Week, even, let alone something like the Bad Seed Chevette.
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