Yeah, less content is always better...

Kind of like "fun size" candy bars.

Autoweek magazine pulled this a number of years ago, when they became Auto-biweek, with the promise of more content in half as many issues (for the same price, of course). The added content lasted about the first three months, then the magazines quickly reverted to their skinny former selves. A couple of years later they went to online-only.

HRM has been wasting away for some time now. When I first started subscribing in 1971, the magazine was regularly well over 200 pages. Recent issues struggle to break 70 pages, and a significant part of that content is "from the archives" reruns that I still have in boxes out in the barn. Yeah, much of the reduction (and the loss of revenue) is due to loss of advertising. In 1971 there were regularly full page (or larger) ads from a dozen or more automakers - most of them are gone now (Plymouth, Pontiac, Mercury besides Olds). Then there were the two page ads from Honest Charley, JC Whitney, and many others, in addition to the ads from aftermarket companies who are also either gone or consolidated.

I have to say that I've been extremely impressed with the quality of Brian Brennan's Modern Rodding, both in content and production quality. I don't know how long they can keep that up (though for now they do seem to have a fair amount of advertising), but I'll subscribe for as long as I can. Yeah, some of their content (and thus advertising revenue) is from product placement in their informercial articles, but the rest of the product is still outstanding.

 

Print media is quickly going the way of the dinosaur.

 

Remember when "car craft" went to take the dirt nap. 3 1/2 years ago. Frankly it had become a tiresome tale of LS swaps, turbos, and repetitive "paint and body" issues. Believe Freiburger, and Magnante gave a few of these mags a few extra years, if not a decade of additional life, with the "rat rod" and junk yard tales of the late nineties, but that too ran it's course, and they went back to high buck stuff. Just not interested in hearing about "twin turbos" costing thousands of dollars, which are out of place on a vehicle they never came on.

 

I think Hot Rod magazine started in 1948. I have some issues put away that I got in high school that are dated 1962. They are in the warehouse and I haven't seen them in years. I packed them in a black trash bag and hope the rats haven't gotten into them. It will be a sad day when Hot Rod finally bites the dust.

 

It could be a good thing. I have a subscription to Sick the Mag, and it's quarterly. It's a lot more expensive than HRM, but the stories and pictures are top notch.

 

It was good while it lasted.......

 

I just got the same notification from Motor Trend so I knew Hot Rod would do it too. No mention of any refund on my subscription for the 2/3 reduction. Crankshaft magazine does 4 issues a year but they are very nice.

 

Noticed yesterday the shop that shows like Hot Rod Garage were filmed is now empty. Not sure why they (MotorTrend) would dump the shop, but as long as they keep the content..whatever I guess.

 

Been a long time reader and subscriber too. Got the same notice and disappointed too. I have to say the current format with the very small text is annoyingly difficult to read. I do enjoy F1 TV on-line more than I expected maybe HR can survive on line only?

 

Printing fees are amazing. I've optimized some things after picking up the editor position for the H/OCA, but it's still a significant chunk of our operating budget. We don't distribute the newsletter digitally; I think that, any time a paper publication is published digitally as well as via paper, the writing is on the wall for the paper version. Granted, every publication is MADE digitally these days, so that makes it even easier to just publish the .pdf. I enjoy the printed part of the process; it's neat to know I've got a hand in a bimonthly with several hundred copies of each issue in distribution; I wouldn't enjoy just making a digital newsletter.

In addition to lack of advertising, I think that there is a decreasing number of subscriptions. Old car guys are old, statistically speaking, and, while there are some replacements of younger guys, those guys are more savvy to the internet.

 

Content over quality. That’s why magazines are dying. If you made print it meant something. A magazine believed your ride was special enough to print. And you subscribed because you got quality stories and photos.

The internet is garbage. Anyone can post pics of their car. Make a video on YouTube and think they have something. In turn our attention spans have shrunk so much we can’t read a two page article and don’t notice that the “will it run?” Video you just watched has 5,000 other exact copies on YouTube.

So quality magazines like Hot Rod die. My favorite magazine, Hemings Muscle Machines, has half as many pages as it once did and no longer features stock and restored cars. It’s only a matter of time before they are all defunct.

 

And with people on staff that post these articles the Hot Rod we knew has been dead for a looong time.

 

Yup. Days gone by. We lose more each and every day.

We still have Mick...

 

I didn't realize that. Congrats (I think... )

 

Amen. This is why I don't bother with any ZooTube channels (with one or two exceptions). Besides the usual 80% incorrect info, you first have to wade through the 20 minutes of blather before you get to any real content.

 

Amen. Call me old any day. I am fine with that. I am on One website. That's here. Oldsmobile On...

 

I would love to print highly technical things in Thunder & Lightning. I was able to print six pages of Karl Sarpolis' '68 H/O registry and history this past summer. Made my day. A good article on quadrajet differences for the performance models, or the benefits, or lack thereof, of UHV/HEI, or getting an '84 H/O off the computer and building a lock up torque converter circuit would be the cat's ***. People don't want to write them, and people don't want to read them.


Thank you. I suppose I should list my name in my sig, so that you know the Koda you talk to here and the John Lee you talk to on the H/OCA facebook page are the same guy. Been doing it since summer of '22. I got semi-strong-armed into it by a good friend who thought I'd do ok at it.

 

Yeah, you've seen my reaction when someone asks for a link to a video on how to do something...

 

Thus why I said the internet has ruined our attention span. Rather read a two sentence article or a 30 second video. Content over quality. People can’t write what they don’t know. They end up searching on the net for info that’s usually wrong and reposting it. Thus why we get turbo Jetfire wagon posts from Hot Rod that was reposted again yesterday after people told them it was a fraud.

it’s not that print is dead. Journalism is dead.

 

I actually attribute this to turn-by-turn navigation systems. We can't figure things out for ourselves anymore, we need to be told what to do step-by-step. Take a look at Chassis Service Manuals over the years. The manuals from the 1950s and 60s start out with a discussion of how the system works, then gives you instructions on how to repair it. The early 1970s CSMs started this dumbing-down trend by replacing the description section with step-by-step flowcharts. The absolute worst is the manual for my 1999 Chevy truck. Not only does it take six volumes (each as thick as a 1960s CSM), but nearly the entire manual is step-by-step flowcharts. The limited discussion of how each system works is relegated to a paragraph at the very end of each section. Of course, nearly every flowchart eventually gets to a step that says "replace computer (or sensor) with known good part and repeat test". Yeah, that may work for a dealership where these parts are on the shelf. Not so much for the person at home in the garage. And don't get me started on the typos in that manual...

 

I’m surprised there are still subscribers to that junk.
the only mags I’ve actually bought in the last 20 years where PHR because they had in-depth engine tech or a feature article on my engine😁

I did have a subscription before but that was before the turn of 21st century…like back in the 80’s where I would get it in the mail 5 weeks after it was on the news stands and I’d already read through it

there’s a small variety store near me who always had a huge magazine rack with every obscure magazine available…that’s all gone, everything. he told me it was costing too much to pay someone to pack up and rebox all the unsold magazines every month..it was like doing a massive yearly inventory every month.

 

You guys may want to tar and feather me, but I have found a number of utube videos helpful. Last year I had to replace a window regulator on my the drivers door in my 2012 Expedition. There are several videos to pick from. I don't have a service manual for this vehicle and probably never will. The video made it a snap. I just replaced the brake pads on my 2010 Ford Flex my daughter drives. There is a trick on the rear pads that I got from the video. If I had not watched it I would probably banged my head on the floor and maybe ruined a caliper. While I agree with most everything that has been said, I have found the utube videos to be very helpful in many cases. I know somebody will tell me I own too many Fords but I do own two Oldsmobiles.

 

I'm kind of the same way. I utilize YouTube, but I also over research/over analyze...which is why I end up asking the same questions a half dozen times and am rather obnoxious in the forums.

 

I got an oddly large amount of enjoyment from reading a reissue Presto pressure cooker manual tonight before I used the one I refurbished. 24 pages of nothing but English writing about safety, operation, use, maintenance, and recipes. I don't think they wasted a single word. It felt like I was reading something from the 50s; because I was.