Hot Rod

[rt green]

a buddy of mine got 2 issues in the mail by mistake and gave me one. havent had one for over 20 yrs. nothing has changed- if you dont have a chevy you aint sh@#t.

[Ghoste]

Yeah, I rarely get an issue, they pretty much need to feature a Hemi or a Charger on the cover to get my attention.

[Daytona R/T SE]

a buddy of mine got 2 issues in the mail by mistake and gave me one. havent had one for over 20 yrs. nothing has changed- if you dont have a chevy you aint sh@#t.

Yep, I finally let mine expire.

Then,

The freakin' Ol' Lady decides she was going to be "Nice" and renew that filthy rag for me.

FOR 2 MORE YEARS !

I flip through it in about five minutes...

In the trash it goes.


The bride now has STRICT orders not to renew anything "for" me.

EVER !

[TheAutoArchaeologist]

lol, funny since it had a Mopar nearly every other page on there.  Way more Mopar then Ford this issue. 

My Mopar barn finds

Talking with the head of Dodge about the Hellcat

The front editorial had Kennedy's GTX

Back had a 440 powered car crusher

and tons of stuff between.

Is it all Mopar, no, but nearly every person on Staff is a Mopar Person.  Kennedy has a GTX, Freiburger has the Superbee among others, Finnegan longs for a 69 Charger, Elana has a 70 Challenger and a 68 Polara (and an Opel GT).

Last month had a ton of Mopar content as well.

[Cooter]

Damn, I was hopin this was about the 1979 Film starring Gregg Henry with the Hemi Willys.lol.

[timmycharger]

Damn, I was hopin this was about the 1979 Film starring Gregg Henry with the Hemi Willys.lol.

Ha! so was I!! going to see if that is available now...

[Daytona R/T SE]

Damn, I was hopin this was about the 1979 Film starring Gregg Henry with the Hemi Willys.lol.

Yeah.  

That actually has some content worth looking at.

[JB400]

I'll admit that HOT ROD does feature some Mopar articles, but it's usually just a taste.  The fore mentioned barn finds, junkyard fines, maybe someone sends in a pic of a Coronet or RR for Readers' Rides.  The Hemi anniversary issue got what, 1 page front and back.  Maybe 2 pages at the most.  I'm grateful that they did the article, but I think it could have been done a little better.  It was done in a way that made it seem like I was reading the same article from the 80's.  The feature cars are done in a similar fashion.  If there's any mods done to the car, it's usually just a chrome air cleaner, Mopar Performance valve covers, and different wheels.  WOW!!! They put 71 Duster stripes on a 74 Duster They put a Hemi in it    They put a 6 Pack on it No offense to the people that do these mods, it's the fact that I'm tired of reading about cars with only these mods done to them. If you look at the Camaro, Mustang, or 32 Ford's, they've been turned every which way, but someone always does something different to them every so often to keep excitement in these cars.  It's these cars that get the main features in the magazines, that often span 5 or 6 pages, front and back.  If someone does something innovative on a Mopar, it barely gets mentioned, and often takes a trained eye to spot it.  It's maybe once in 10 years that a magazine will cover one Mopar that will get me excited and get the coverage that it deserves.  My prediction is the next car that will fit the bill will probably be a 70/1 Cuda that will have the Hellcat engine, 6 speed trans, an AAR hood, a Viper color, and roll on 18's and 20's.  The reason someone will build a Cuda this way is because it most closely resembles the Camaro and it's what everyone will quickly recognize.  Personally, I think a 79 Magnum with the Hellcat would be a better candidate, just for the sake of being different.  Black it out entirely with a billet grille, duck tail spoiler, 18's and 20's. 

Sorry, but I guess I'm a little bored with the Mopar hobby at the moment.  I'm just ready for something new.  Before someone jumps me about why I don't do something different, the wheels are definitely turning.  Even a thing or two not done on a Camaro, at least I haven't seen it.

[A12 Superbee]

What do you guys think of their 'Fastest Mopar muscle cars of all time' article from awhile back?

[Ghoste]

I did pick up that issue, I remember the article making me think it was sort thrown together like filler.  May not have been but that the impression it left on me.

[pettybird]

I read hot rod cover to cover every month.  The writing is entertaining and like Ryan says there is an awful lot more Chrysler content then you're giving it credit. Articles are interesting especially the ones where they go and fix other people's cars...it's kind of like a mystery you try to solve before you read the answer.

Roadkill is an awesome Web series that shows the good, bad, and ugly of some truly low buck cars. 

And you want to talk repetition?  Single brand magazines are the worst.  The issue of mopar muscle I just grabbed had a cam test with three loser grinds in a motor home 360, a 400 based stroker, an E body feature, a B body feature, an A body feature, and a 2007 Charger with hillbilly mods and a V6.  Oh. Boy.

[wingcar]

They have more Mopar content today, than they did back in the day.  But, they have never been "Mopar heavy"....and is that really a surprise to anyone here, I mean really?   It's just like "Chevy Craft", I mean Car Craft, and even Popular Hot Rodding...first Chevys, then Ford, and then maybe if they needed filler...a Mopar. 
If you want a car that's covered in all the major magazines (what's left of them), then buy a Chevy and you will be happy every month.......

[pettybird]

It's just like "Chevy Craft", I mean Car Craft

I get that one, too.  They even mock themselves over it.  There was an issue where they were looking at projects to do and were thinking about another Chevy.  In quotes, they put "We're already Camaro Craft!" 

You have to like that they know...

[Charger-Bodie]

I think Hot Rod has gotton better in recent years. Enuf so that I subscribe for the first time ever. Yes its more chevy and ford, but so is the whole world. they need to cover what the readers are gonna want .

[Aero426]

The current content in Hot Rod is excellent.     I don't go there looking for Mopars.   In fact, I don't go to ANY magazine exclusively for Mopars.   Now I love Mopars, but sometimes, looking at a Mopar magazine is like looking at all blondes, or all red heads.     I do like to look, but I can get enough of that just about anywhere.   Do you see what I mean?      

The latest Hot Rod has a great interview with Craig Breedlove, the land speed racer.   A recent one went to Ed Iskenderian's shop.   I really like the historical features when they run them.   Some of the general tech  and tool stuff  is pretty interesting.      Also, a subscription to Hot Rod is ridiculously cheap.   I forget how much I paid, but it is perhaps a dollar or so an issue.      It was a no brainer.

[HPP]

Since Chrysler is the third of the Big 3, do you really expect us to get more coverage in an all brands format than the two makes ahead of us? Really?

If the Mopars they feature are boring is that the magazine's fault or ours as a collective group still living in our past glory of what was and not steeping far enough out of the fold to garner attention?

I've let my sole Mopar mag subscription run out and kept my Hot Rod one intact. They cover more aspects of the automotive hobby in more areas covering more of what was cool about the old days along with what is cool now. Interviews with big names from the past, current projects, land speed racing, drags, cruises, daily driver stuff, in depth real world problem fixes with conventional hot rods and muscle cars that most of us own, what isn't to like about the new Hot Rod. Sure, they do feature a lot of Chevy stuff, but I'm sorry to admit it, Chevy has recognized and delivers more to its enthusiast market and does better at it than Ford and Dodge ever have. Who else offers a whole set of emission compliance crate parts with plug and lay capability that can be dropped into any car in any state in the country and have you driving with a weekend's worth of work with all new, modern components? If you run a hot rod magazine, why wouldn't you feature those organizations that are friendly to your market segment?

[Mike DC]

Since Chrysler is the third of the Big 3, do you really expect us to get more coverage in an all brands format than the two makes ahead of us? Really?

If the Mopars they feature are boring is that the magazine's fault or ours as a collective group still living in our past glory of what was and not steeping far enough out of the fold to garner attention?

I've let my sole Mopar mag subscription run out and kept my Hot Rod one intact. They cover more aspects of the automotive hobby in more areas covering more of what was cool about the old days along with what is cool now. Interviews with big names from the past, current projects, land speed racing, drags, cruises, daily driver stuff, in depth real world problem fixes with conventional hot rods and muscle cars that most of us own, what isn't to like about the new Hot Rod. Sure, they do feature a lot of Chevy stuff, but I'm sorry to admit it, Chevy has recognized and delivers more to its enthusiast market and does better at it than Ford and Dodge ever have. Who else offers a whole set of emission compliance crate parts with plug and lay capability that can be dropped into any car in any state in the country and have you driving with a weekend's worth of work with all new, modern components? If you run a hot rod magazine, why wouldn't you feature those organizations that are friendly to your market segment?

Word.  


HOT ROD actually covers interesting builds.  

Everyone else wants to cover interesting cars - they just don't want to take any risks over it.  They don't want any cheap bodystyles, imperfect bodywork, less than 400hp, or going against brand-loyalty.  You can't keep that kind of heavy checklist and expect things to stay interesting forever.  

I also agree that HOT ROD's Mopar content has been surprisingly heavy in the last couple years.    

[Brass]

I've been enjoying Hot Rod.  They are very Mopar friendly and David Freiburger, David Kennedy, and Elana Scherr certainly all own Mopars.  There is a good, mixed-bag of content to cover a variety of interests.

[RallyeMike]

a buddy of mine got 2 issues in the mail by mistake and gave me one. havent had one for over 20 yrs. nothing has changed- if you dont have a chevy you aint sh@#t.

I could not disagree more! I started subscribing to Hot Rod almost 40 years ago and there is WAY more Mopar coverage right now than ever before. You can thank the current editor who is a Mopar-man, as well as Ryan here who contributes to the magazine also with a very strong favortism toward Mopars.

Considering that Hot Rod is an all-makes rag and that coverage on would be expected to be relatively equal on a pro-rata basis of actual brand production and ownership, I think they are currently covering Mopar's in a favorably unbalanced fashion.

Good thing there are plenty of all-Mopar publications out there for those of us who just can't get enough.

[Ghoste]

And on a tangent, Popular Hot Rodding is done now, correct?

[TheAutoArchaeologist]

And on a tangent, Popular Hot Rodding is done now, correct?

Correct, the editor of PHR is now the editor of Mopar Muscle fyi.  Also there is another thread on that.

[rt green]

well, hell. maybe I should take another look at the mag. 

[69wannabe]

I subscribed last year since it was so cheap, like 10 bucks for a year if I remember correctly. The thing I don't like about all the magazine's these day's is there is hardly any old school material about basic tuning of timing and carb's for what I would say alot of us actually have as an old car. Mine is still a basic old carb and distributor engine and I feel like every now and then we could see an old car set up talked about instead of everything is electronic and fuel injected with all these expensive power adders like blowers, super chargers, and turbo chargers! They put all this stuff on the car just like it cost's 20 bucks to purchase and it just bolt's right on there and works perfect with no problems, yeah right. Then it's dyno time and big HP numbers to brag about with a small block chevy 383 stroker of course. What they don't brag about is a good built 340 stroked to a 416 ci will dust any 383 chevy stroker and any 347 ford stroker. Just speaking from experiance with a 68 barracuda my buddy used to own which had a cast iron headed 416 ci stroker in it that ran 6.60's and 6.70's in the 1/8 mile and was usually a car length or two ahead of the ford's and chevy's of similar built engine's. Alot of the cars in the hot rod magazine are new cars instead of the old hot rod's that I like to see and read about and it's usually who can spend the most $$$ on their ride that is on the cover or in the magazine. Just my 

[rt green]

hot rod the movie.  I looked and I have it on DVD. haven't seen it in a long time.  it is available. I did look at some old issues od Chrysler power and the like, and there was a lot more articles on back yard hot rodding. unlike today.

[jaak]

I have actually gotten into HR magazine lately. A friend at work has a subscription, and he brings them to work. I let my Mopar Muscle subscription run out back a few years ago (and didn't renew, but buy an issue every now and then off the shelf).

I really like HR mag. Like the tech stuff... really like the Hot Rod to the Rescue articles, also like reading Ryan's Barn find articles. Been thinking about buying a subscription.

Jason