Thread: Street Rodder Magazine

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Got my new issue today. I can summarize every feature car in a few words:

Bodywork: By the guy I wrote the check to.
Paint: By the guy I wrote the check to.
Chassis: By the guy I wrote the check to.
Upholstery: By the guy I wrote the check to.
Wiring: By the guy I wrote the check to.
Engine: By the guy I wrote the check to.
Everything else: By the guy I wrote the check to.

Now, I'm not knocking anyone who wants to buy a car and have everyone do the work for them. We all buy various parts, and it's a matter of degree. That's up to the owner. It's the magazine I have a problem with. Does EVERY FREAKIN' CAR IN THE MAGAZINE EVERY FREAKIN' MONTH HAVE TO BE ONE OF THOSE "I WROTE THE CHECK, LOOK AT ME" CARS?

Henry,
I am just logging on late after a football game and an afternoon torquing the heads on my 350. I agree about the expense of the cars in Street Rodder. Still on page 10 there is an editorial by Brian Brennen about how cars should be driven to be enjoyed so to some extent he is saying the same thing. I have come to realize that I cannot achieve the economic level of the cars featured in Street Rodder, but I still want a car to drive so I will continue to build. Several years ago I visited Carmel on the Calif. coast where Clint Eastwood has a shop for Western clothes and the street was full of Mercedes. Then compare the pictures of the cars in the L.A. Roadster Show and it is apparent that the cost of living is much higher on the West Coast. I canceled my subscription to Hot Rod because it did not help me at all but on the other hand Street Rod Builder flirts on the edge with what this Forum calls rat rods, so Street Rodder at least has very high quality cars that we can aspire to meet somehow. Nevertheless I agreee with you in that I would like to see a magazine where "we" are not locked into billet deuce or Auburn dash boards. For instance I would like to see an article about how to use Radio Shack digital logic chips to convert one of the many modern instrument clusters for a 4-cyl or V6 to a V8 tach so we could use inexpensive modern junk instrument clusters rather than a $500 setup for an instrument cluster. Other innovative lower cost "tricks" need to be developed based on "modern junk" rather than "classical (expensive) simulated junk". Still Editor Brennen seems to realize what is going on and notes the problem and the Street Rodder articles do feature rods from all over the world. What can we do if a few older rich men (and some women) can afford to implement their teen age fantasy in metal and rubber along with the best paint. It is the old syndrome of "who dies with the most toys wins!" but I plan to enjoy driving my car.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

DEAR HENRY thanks for getting my point

Bottomfeeder,

If your point is support of ratrods, then you missed the point of my rant, which was diversity.

There ya go, Henry. It's a big old world of Hot Rods. Should be plenty of room for everyone.

I've sent in my subscription for Street Rodder, but havent recieved the first one in the mail yet though. I bought the last two at Wally World with me getting the latest today. I gotta sneak it in the grocery basket when the wife aint lookiin. LOL! With me being a beginner with the whole street rod stuff, they are a great source of learning for me. (Not to mention this place too...) At this point I'll take any information I can get. And since I have almost zero mechanical knowhow, I'm one of those that will have to pay for most everything I get done......LOL!

Henry,

Here we go again!

Uh, no, my point had nothing to do with rat rods and your post I had commented on had nothing to do with rat rods.

My point of the "any fool with money can build a hot rod..." comment is exactly what you wrote!!! If you have money, you can PAY to have anything built by anybody you want!!!! AND get all the magazine coverage! That boys, was the point at the beginning. I tried to tell you I was not trying to insult any of you and will apologize now for anyone who thought I was insulting them personally and this goes for any future comment I may make.

You know, I am capable of making comments that have nothing to do with rat rods! I think it's time to get off the rat rod rants of late and focus on other things that pertain to cars.

By the way, how's the weather?

Lemeseenow...mags make money on ads. The ads wanna' sell parts, and the more times their name gets mentioned the more parts they sell. Poeple wanna' get their rides in the mags. Soooo they buy the parts, that get them fetured in the mag, so the mag can make money on the adds. yep... street rodder seems to have taken the theory to extreem. more like a catalog with eye candy to showcase the goods. I kinda like Street Rod Builder thow ... at least they have a decent 'how to' section. Even if they do use it to showcase product a good percent of the time. The current R&C buget beater project ain't too bad either... he did whimp out on the Olds mill for onea' them belly button motors.

Another problem shows up because of this dilemma:
All manufacturers of street rod parts are not as clever as others.

But if they use lots of advertising money in all the magazines, which of the magazines dare to write someting negative about the manefacturer?
Can we actually trust the "how to section" if the rest of the magazine is filled up with ads from the same manufacturer?

Personally I trust friends and forums like this much more, even if most of us are not professionals.

I guess it is my turn to stir the pot a little....

As far as Street Rodder and every other magazine in the world goes... They have a format... As was mentioned above different mags have slightly different content and there is a reason for this, they are all looking for their market "niche"... This is more about Marketing than it is about editorial likes and dislikes... As was also mentioned earlier, Hot Rod changed their format a few years ago to include more articles about later model cars... I also dropped my subscription since their format change did not fit my interests... Guess what Hot Rod magazines supscription numbers have gone through the roof since this change because of savy marketing and knowing where the market is growing... I have talked with people at Buckaroo and Primedia about how they have worked to keep their formats different that the competition, for them this is business and they are in business to make money... This means they tend to cater to the masses...

With that being said, there is a reason you are seeing high-dollar cars in SR, since that is what their format is based on... If it is not to your liking then it is probably time to buy another mag that has a format more to your liking...

Another thing to consider... Magazines want to publish cars that are innovative... You don't have to spend mega-bucks to be come up with and execute good ideas... I have seen many low-buck rods that were built with great ideas, but remember that the big rod shops build cars faster and use innovative ideas throughout the build... Since they execute better and faster than most of us who build our hot rods in the Garage you can understand why they get the lion's share of the press... You can build the most innovative hot rod in the country but if you are not at a major show or have not made a name for yourself, how are the publishers supposed to know about your awesome ride... Being a Professional builder is a full time job, building cars during the week and attending events during the weekends... This is how they keep their names out there and how the mags know about the cars they are building before they hit the streets/shows... These builders survive because there are people who can write checks!

As for me I want to see what is hot in the car world, I like all kinds of cars, but I want to spend my money on magizines that show the kinds of cars that will inspire me to built to a higher level, even if I have to do all the work myself and it is not as good as what is in the mags, it gives me something to aspire to... If the mags were full of mediocre cars I doubt I would buy them...

If you want a mag full of owner-built cars, let me suggest a membership to NSRA... Every month they send out Street Scene which is their monthly publication that usually features a couple of home-built rides...

Oh yes... I like to read the ads too... I love to see what kind of new parts the aftermarket companies have come with and the best way to see the latest and greatest is to scan the ads...

Dave Brisco

Dave,

Notwithstanding my rant, I agree with you. Magazine publishers publish what sells. I'd just like to see them do something a little bit different now and then. The editor seems to agree with that concept . . . but never does it.

That the Editor's hands are tied on the subject...

Dave Brisco

Attaboy Davey!

While on one hand I can sympathize with your point of view Henry, I also have observed that the "home built" perspective hasn't sold. Smith used to publish "Hot Rod Mechanix" and failed. Two other entities tried to revive it, failed too. I suspect that the appeal is too limited, though the adherrents are vocal.

Personally I find a lot of info in all the magazines, just need to keep in mind what their slant is and dig a little. And the reality of the publishing world is that subscription fees don't pay the rent. It's the advertising revenue that hauls the freight.

I guess I would draw a comparison to another interest of mine.......remodeling a house. There are a gang of magazines out there aimed at that market. The formats are a lot like the rod mags. (and don't we see a lot of similarity in the car based TV shows to the remodeling shows that preceded them?) Some may specialize in contemporary styles, others on Victorian, or mid century, or some other variant. The advertisers follow suit and command the greater proportion of pages. All for the same reasons. Like with the car thing, I'm not going to do a kitchen or bathroom exactly the same as the contractor/designer in the mag does, and a lot of them are way out of my budget, but I do get inspiration from them. And the advertisers make me more aware of new technologies to accomplish solutions to old problems. And, just like with cars, the magazines (and TV shows) make everything look easier than it really is.

And if you search hard you can even find guys who advocate building a house with wooden pegs themselves instead of taking the "gold chainer" approach of using those new fangled, high dollar, steel nail/screw things and employing a professional contractor!

It should also be noted that supscriptions justify pricing for advertising... The higher number of copies produced the higher the ad rates... Magagines without large subscripion lists are doomed to fail...

Dave Brisco

Originally posted by Bob Parmenter
And the reality of the publishing world is that subscription fees don't pay the rent. It's the advertising revenue that hauls the freight.

NSRA , = national stuckup and retired association