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The Rodder's Journal?


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Rodders Journal is still around, but it comes out only four times a year so every three months you get a new issue.
They have recently relocated tho'.

Rodders Journal is one of the good magazines left since The Enthusiast Network (TEN) folded most of their paper magazine lineup including the Hot Rod DeLuxe.

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I am glad that I took advantage of their original offer of a lifetime subscription. I was of course concerned when all those other car magazines were cancelled but I guess that the slow death of most printed matter is just one more indication of our changing times. I just bought the Feb 2020 issue of Car Kulture Deluxe and there is still a page included where you can subscribe for as long as three years.

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Hi!

I buy the Rodders'Journal at my local newstand at every issue. Unique product, very focused editorial policy, masterful writing and photography. And lately, they returned to printing in USA. The only reason I don't SUBSCRIBE is the long delay to get most publications trough mail, which is frustrating to say the least. 

I remember dropping at their offices in south San-Francisco many years ago. They were located close to the airport, in an industrial park. I think they were sharing a building with a header company, or was-it Roy Brizio street-rod? That's the price of getting older, isn't it? You forget stuff. 

Anyway, I wish them a long and fruitful continuity. Reading their fine publication is good for the soul. 

CT

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Street Rodder appears to still be in publication.

R and C is gone. Of course I bought R and C and don't care for Street Rodder.

Elasped Times, which was a drag racing magazine that mixed current, newstlagia and nostalgia is gone.

I've heard rumors that Hot Rod Deluxe is folding. It along with the Rodders Journal and a couple of model car magazines are all I buy now.

 

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20 minutes ago, iBorg said:

Street Rodder appears to still be in publication.

R and C is gone. Of course I bought R and C and don't care for Street Rodder.

Elasped Times, which was a drag racing magazine that mixed current, newstlagia and nostalgia is gone.

I've heard rumors that Hot Rod Deluxe is folding. It along with the Rodders Journal and a couple of model car magazines are all I buy now.

 

Hi Mike!

Elapsed Time was a gold mine of references for those of us who replicated older race cars. Having been in the media biz all of my professionnal life, I saw that it was a "low cost-high return" approach to recycle years of photo archives from Hot-Rod & al. albeit very interesting  Even at that, it lasted only a couple of years.

I cherish my copies, and frequently refer to them for research. 

In the age of 3D printing and technology, colateral damage to the publishing industry appears to be terminal, I'm afraid...

CT

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33 minutes ago, iBorg said:

Street Rodder appears to still be in publication.

R and C is gone. Of course I bought R and C and don't care for Street Rodder.

 

 

Street Rodder is gone too.  Of the print magazines published by TEN, only Hot Rod, Four Wheeler, and Motor Trend (why?) remain.  I too was baffled when they dropped Rod & Custom while (then) keeping Street Rodder.

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I went looking to confirm the Street Rodder was gone. Sadly I found this:

https://www.foliomag.com/ten-publishing-shuttering-19-print-magazines/#list

Here's the death list:

Here’s a full list of discontinued titles:

  • 4-Wheel & Off-Road 
  • Automobile 
  • Car Craft 
  • Chevy High Performance 
  • Classic Trucks  
  • Diesel Power 
  • Hot Rod Deluxe  
  • Jp 
  • Lowrider 
  • Mopar Muscle 
  • Muscle Car Review 
  • Muscle Mustangs & Fast Fords 
  • Mustang Monthly 
  • Street Rodder 
  • Super Chevy  
  • Super Street 
  • Truck Trend  
  • Truckin’ 
  • Vette

 

Everything is supposed to shutter during 2020.

DARN IT!

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So, I have about 18 months left on my last two year renewal for Street Rodder magazine.  I received a letter from the publisher TEN this morning saying Street Rodder has been discontinued.  In its place I can sign up for my choice of the digital edition of Hot Rod, Motor Trend or Four Wheeler - none of which interest me at all.  Although this appears to have been planned for some time,  the copy of Street Rodder on the magazine rack at the local grocery store contained two subscription cards for one or two years...  I'm not really interested in buying anything from TEN anymore because of the way that they handled this.

Rodders Journal had some issues (I know) this year when they changed printers and moved.  That caused some delays which may have disrupted distribution to the magazine racks.  The latest issue (which shows as current on their website) is number 82 which I received in September.

Mike, thanks for the list of discontinued magazines - sad, but good to know

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3 hours ago, Mark said:

Street Rodder is gone too.  Of the print magazines published by TEN, only Hot Rod, Four Wheeler, and Motor Trend (why?) remain.  I too was baffled when they dropped Rod & Custom while (then) keeping Street Rodder.

Hi Mark!

Having been an advertiser for a few years in some street-rod magazines, I was always puzzled by their sales "tactics". Every year saw a reduction in pressed copies (net press run), and SOLD copies. However, to be able to INCREASE their advertising rates and hopefully maintain their revenues, most editors claimed that "yes, we are selling fewer copies of each issue, BUT, we estimate (?!?) that each copy is read by MUCH MORE DISTINCT READERS... ". Therefore, they claimed that it was logical to increase rates for advertisers.

Now, I want to be a "faithful believer" in the strenght of certain brand names (let's say Hot Rod, for example)... But to claim each issue is read, ON AVERAGE, by many HUNDRED of readers simply defy intelligence. So, in the face of declining copy sales, hence readership, and ever increasing ad rates, it is not surprising that many household names advertisers put their ad budget elsewhere. 

Faced with shrinking markets, editors do some research, and determine that SOME of their titles still enjoy enviable "brand recognition". Hot Rod is more of an icon than say, Custom trucks. That explains why they put their bets and promotion money on the remaining titles they deem the most likely to "survive" in the current environment. 

Like it or not, it's the world we live in...

CT

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The only complaint I have seen regarding Rodder's Journal is that new issues appear at book stores before subscribers get their copies.  No big deal as far as I'm concerned.

Many other magazines outside the automotive realm have gone away or cut back in recent years.  

I waa hoping that Hot Rod Deluxe and (earlier) Elapsed Times would hang on.  They seemed likely to be less costly to produce, seeing as much of the content was recycled archival material.  Guess not.

Rod & Custom screwed up early on, by going monthly as Pat Ganahl was heading out the door.  Not enough content for a monthly left them essentially printing half of each issue as nothing more than instruction sheets for using advertisers' products.  Rodder's Journal has no how-to content, only features and historical stuff, so they should be fine as long as enthusiasts want to flip the pages themselves.

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1 hour ago, Muncie said:

 

  The latest issue (which shows as current on their website) is number 82 which I received in September.

 

I guess that jibes with my original post.  I last recall buying my latest issue in late August/Sept and haven't seen any new ones since.  I'll keep looking and hoping.

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3 hours ago, Richard Bartrop said:

Magazines of all sorts are shutting down.  It's more about the viability of print in general.

But the mags are going AWAY...not just going to a digital format.

There are MANY more people in the country than ever before, but far FEWER real hardcore dirty-hands car enthusiasts.

Just as the percentage of drivers who can operate a manual gearbox is declining every year (in 2017 it was down to less than 20%), the percentage of the population that would even think working on a car was something they might like to do is dropping rapidly. I'm in the industry. Even though a good mechanic or bodyman/painter can still make high five- to low six-figure incomes, we have NO entry level folks coming in. 

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Good mechanics and bodymen can make a good living because so few people are coming in.  Were I in high school now, it's a field I'd consider.  But a lot of school districts don't have shop classes anymore.  My brother-in-law recruits techs for a large dealership group; he likes the job but it is challenging.

Good tradesmen can make decent money: automotive, plumbing, electrical, drywall, painting, because so few people are willing to do it.  I work for a construction company (in the office); we are a union contractor, but some of our (and other contractors') key guys actually earn higher than scale.  

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Rodders Journal works on a different revenue model than Car Craft or Street Rodder. RJ is for the most part a coffee table book. Its designed for the enthusiast who is more a spectator than an active builder. While they may have a hot rod in the garage, more than likely it was bought not built by the owner (sorta like die casts). The how-to articles of Car Craft and Street Rodder were often in exchange for advertising. They'd feature the product in a build up if the manufacturer committed to advertising.

The decline in the magazines that served the shade tree mechanic is reflective in the decline of people who will attempt to do things themselves. This is reflective of our society. Note full range hardware stores are also on the decline. While box stores carry some hardware go looking for something oddball like a 2.5mm screw. Good luck.

I'm surprised Hot Rod Deluxe was cancelled. As said previously, their use of pre existing material should make them less expensive to produce. While HRD may have sold more new stand copies per issue cost, Hot Rod has a larger subscriber base which does reduce editorial costs. Their revenue models were different. HRD was new stand sales driven while Hot Rod is ad revenue driven.

It is interesting to note they claim they will continue covering the same editorial content digitally. A digital publication can be great. Smithsonian did at one time produce a great digital publication with video content to illustrate the written content. Sadly it was too expensive at the time to continue publishing it in that format.

It will be interesting to see what magazines will step up to fill the void.

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2 hours ago, Mark said:

Good mechanics and bodymen can make a good living because so few people are coming in... 

Good tradesmen can make decent money: automotive, plumbing, electrical, drywall, painting, because so few people are willing to do it. 

I would have to disagree with that. One reason I got in the hands-on end of the car biz after engineering school...5 decades ago...was because I could consistently make more money than I could as an entry-level engineer. There was no shortage of people joining the trades back then, and the pay increased rapidly with experience. I was able to get into racing, and all kinds of other fun stuff I wouldn't have been able to afford until much later in my career, had I stayed as a salaried engineer climbing the corporate ladder. I was also able to launch my own garage business soon after learning the ropes...but I didn't hang out my shingle as an independent engineering consultant until 1995.

My point? Skilled mechanics and bodymen have always been able to make good livings...at least for the 50 years I've been involved in the car biz. And there's never been a time I couldn't get work pretty much instantly, if I needed to...anywhere in the country.

Somehow, many of today's young people have been convinced that the trades aren't respectable work, that everyone needs a college education, and that there's an unlimited market for 3rd rate programmers and emoji designers.

Or they're saddling themselves with crippling debt to get useless degrees with majors in, let's say, art history, focusing on things like 16th century Inuit basket weaving...and then whinge because they can only get minimum or sub-minimum wage jobs as Starbucks baristas, having to live in mom's basement, or with a dozen roommates, and can't afford cars and insurance.

America's youth are being lied to, misdirected, and screwed in general. Much of America's largely vanished middle-class was made up of skilled tradesmen and factory workers. Until somebody who's driving the bus realizes that, and does what's necessary to bring it back...

EDIT: Just as an aside, a non-CNC machinist who can make one-of-a-kind parts can pretty much write his own ticket these days in any metropolitan area, because there just aren't many guys left who can use a mill or lathe with no computer interface. The machine tools themselves aren't that horribly expensive when you consider what you can do with them, and how much money you can make...and that you'll have virtually no competition. The hardest thing is marketing to a populace that's all but forgotten THINGS CAN BE MADE BY PEOPLE WITHOUT APPS.

Edited by Ace-Garageguy
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On 1/18/2020 at 5:29 PM, misterNNL said:

I am glad that I took advantage of their original offer of a lifetime subscription. I was of course concerned when all those other car magazines were cancelled but I guess that the slow death of most printed matter is just one more indication of our changing times. I just bought the Feb 2020 issue of Car Kulture Deluxe and there is still a page included where you can subscribe for as long as three years.

Well it doesn't matter how much time you have left on your subscription, if the publisher decide to discontinue the magazine you subscribe to they will do it anyway, and if you're lucky they will substitute the magazine you subscribed for with another title...if they have one, otherwise you loose your money.
This has happened to me several times the last few years.

20 hours ago, Muncie said:

So, I have about 18 months left on my last two year renewal for Street Rodder magazine.  I received a letter from the publisher TEN this morning saying Street Rodder has been discontinued.  In its place I can sign up for my choice of the digital edition of Hot Rod, Motor Trend or Four Wheeler - none of which interest me at all.  Although this appears to have been planned for some time,  the copy of Street Rodder on the magazine rack at the local grocery store contained two subscription cards for one or two years...  I'm not really interested in buying anything from TEN anymore because of the way that they handled this.

I subscribed to Hot Rod Deluxe, the best magazine they had in my opinion, I also got an email telling med the same thing they told you, I wrote to TEN the other day and told them I don't want any digital subscription what so ever as I hate reading magazines on the computer screen or other devices.
I also said, I paid for a printed paper copy magazine delivered to my door and that's what I expect to get for the remainder of my subscription period.
I mentioned I could live with Hot Rod Magazine as a replacement as it's the only of the remaining magazines I can stand reading...today I got an answer from TEN that that could be done, so if they keep their promise I will get printed Hot Rod copys instead of the folded Hot Rod Deluxe for the remainder of the subscription period I have left...better than nothing.
I also mentioned in my email that I will never buy anything from TEN in the future if they didn't handle the matter better.
Replacing my printed magazine with a digital version of whatever magazine they offer is like stealing my money, internet is free so they don't have to pay anything for shipping, but I have paid for them to send me a printed magazine to my doorstep here in Umea, Sweden and that's quite a difference in cost.
There is a long topic on this matter on HAMB.

16 hours ago, iBorg said:

I'm surprised Hot Rod Deluxe was cancelled. As said previously, their use of pre existing material should make them less expensive to produce. While HRD may have sold more new stand copies per issue cost, Hot Rod has a larger subscriber base which does reduce editorial costs. Their revenue models were different. HRD was new stand sales driven while Hot Rod is ad revenue driven.

It is interesting to note they claim they will continue covering the same editorial content digitally. A digital publication can be great. Smithsonian did at one time produce a great digital publication with video content to illustrate the written content. Sadly it was too expensive at the time to continue publishing it in that format.

It will be interesting to see what magazines will step up to fill the void.

Hot Rod Deluxe was a great magazine and I too was surprised they folded that one, it's the only magazine I got from TEN after they folded Rod & Custom some years ago.
They can put out what ever digital magazines they want online, I'm not interested and will not read them or absolutely not subscribe to any of them, as I said before, I hate reading magazines on any screen.
You only need a light source to read a printed paper magazine and you can take them with you everywhere, not that easy with a digital version where you need a computer or some other device for several hundreds of Dollars and you need power for them to work, either battery power or from a wall outlet.

At least we still have Rodders Journal and that magazine has so much in every issue it takes a lot of time to read it all, but I will still miss some of the magazines that has been discontinued the last couple of years.
 

Edited by Force
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Hakan, thank you for the information.  I agree with you and I will check with TEN and see if they can give me something more useful than a digital subscription.  I have faith in Rodders Journal but they have had a busy year changing printing companies and making a move from California to the East Coast.  I think they mentioned that it was tough to find a printing company that could even do the magazine like they wanted when they changed printers.  Steve.

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