Do you guys subscribe to any car/truck/re-build type magazines?
Which ones would you recommend?

In a recent post, someone talked about an article about boxing a frame... I'm just wondering which mag(s) would be good to get.

Thanks

 

Custom and Classic Trucks and Classic Truckin. I haven't bought either of those magazines in quite some time. I subscribe to Rod and Custom, currently, as I think they have a lot more variety and cover quite a bit of stuff. I would recommend Rod and Custom if you are into general hot rodding. If you go to Barnes and Noble or Borders Books or whatever bookstore is in your area, buy a couple mags and see which you like best. Street Rodder is pretty good, but their subscriptions are a little expensive last I checked.

 

So far what I have done before I subscribe is go to the biggest news stand take one of each read them cover to cover for the first 2-3 issues and then subscribe to one I feel is most informative regarding your particular application to your truck and the ones you choose will be dependant on if you are rodding or restoring.

So far I would agree with 53fatfndr on Custom and Classic Trucks and Classic Truckin and would add Street Rodder and Truck Builder.

 

I go through stages, I'll subscribe to a magazien for a year or tow until the articles start repeating, then I'll cancel them all. I like Rod & Custom, Street Rodder is a monthly catalog full of trailer queens but I like it too. As for Custom Classic Trucks and Classic Trucks....its kind of a crap shoot. Right now I'm in the middle of one of my phases where I havent subscribed to anything.

Check out your local newstands, buy them over the counter for a few months and decide which ones you like. There is alot of good info out there and the purty pictures can be a big help to keep your motivation up.

Bobby

 

I like the Buckaroo publishing rodding titles. They actually have tech articles that aren't just infomercials on how to bolt on their biggest advertiser's products. The also often include "in process" shots of the featured vehicles while they were being built, I find it enlightening to see just what was started with and what was done to arrive at the end product. Their subs are more expensive but I find it worth it. Primedia just sold all their enthusiast magazine titles (Hot Rod, Car Craft, R&C, Classic Trucks, Street Rodder, Motor Trend and about 50 others.) to an investment firm known for breaking up companies they buy and selling off the most valuable assets. They have already shut down Custom Rodder and it's rumored that R&C will be gone soon as well.

 

Word

It's really rare to find an article anywhere where a guy takes a piece of flat 1/8" steel and makes what he needs. Far more common to slap down the plastic for mail-order.

 

There aren't many suppliers plunking down the big bucks to advertise their stock of 1/8" steel.
Someone here wrote in and asked the editor of Classic Truck or it's sister publication why they didn't do an article on installing a Volare IFS, and he printed the answer right in the magazine: because no one pays to advertise Volare IFSs!

 

Auto Restorer Magazine is my personal favorite.

 

Careful AX, tattoo man will be crying about being abused on here in an editorial again! I love some of the descriptive "filler captions" that accompany some of the pics in those 2 mags; "Here, Joe Blow turns the nut to remove it." Left, I think"
That was wrong of me. Lord, I 'pologize for that there, and be with the pygmies, Amen.

 

Right now I just buy the issues that cover '57-60 related stuff. Some years back one of those truck magazines DID print an article on installing a Volare IFS. Of course, they STRONGLY recommended that you buy the templates from one of their advertisers, or have the work done in their shop, but the pictures looked good enough for a shade tree mechanic to work off of. It doesn't make sense for them to repeat that kind of article every year, but maybe they could put together a "Custom/Classic Truck Annual" every year or two with reprints of the best articles.

 

They don't seem to have a problem with printing an article on putting a FMF IFS under everything short of a baby buggy 3-6 times a year...

 

That was funny wasn't it? That was about when I decided to drop my subscriptions....again

If you want to see some innovative fabrication techniques all you have to do is look around this site. There are some amazing people doing some incredible things!

Bobby

 

I received a gift sub to Custom classic trucks and probably won't renew. Same simpleton tech articles every month, very little content. They do have a nice spread on an Aussie F1, painted yellow, this month so I could show my wife what our truck will look like. Other than that, subscription to street rodder, and the random buckaroo publication.

 

I subscribe to CCT and CT and Street rodder, but honestly get very little from any of them... The tech articles are just pictures of their advertisers installs and the dang pictures are so small you can't see the detail anyway. Same with the show pics... but ain't them big two page IFS spreads pretty.
It takes all of about 12 minutes to do them cover to cover... I hate the later model stuff they are moving toward now.

I took the long route on my mags and they all run out in 12/08. I'm already getting renewal offers ??? I've made a little money on article writing for both CT and CCT but since change of masthead and editors (at least twice) it's sliding... I'm probably a little partial to CCT since they published a couple of my articles back when Rich Boyd was still with them. I wouldn't be surprised to see them fold along with some of the other standards...custom rodder.

Street Rodder is nothing but a catalog to me and usually sits unread until I have an hours wait in the doctors office. I take a copy to kill the time.

I'm with AX on the Buckaroo mags.. high quality, good tech and well written articles. But, they are a little too pricy and show quality for my taste in mods. They build magazine trucks exclusively. But they ARE pretty.
John Dianna is a really critical editor and he accepts nothing but clean crisp writing and highest quality photography. That's why they have such a good mag that isn't just trying to sell ad space.

I don't know if any of the others realize that it's the content that sells them not the ads.. at least that's what I look for... but hey ? what do I know

later
john

 

Larry Flint once said that the advertising revenue for Hustler was so lucrative that he could give the magazine away and still make millions. The only reason he charged for them was the newsstands wanted their profit or they wouldn't display them and he couldn't legally claim the readership the government accounting required without the paid subscription records. Street Rodder has to be a major moneymaker in the lineup they probably "throw in" some of the other titles as well as the editorial articles as a carrot for a big advertising contract. Most of the articles and pictures are done by in house staff which makes it cheap to produce. There's economy to scale send a photographer to an event and have him shoot a ton of pictures, deal the different angle shots to each title with a salting of "exclusive" shots targeted towards each title's "specialty". Add some variations to the captions in the word processor and you have several pages worth of editorial coverage for little extra cost. Plus then they own the copyright and reprint rights without anyone expecting a royalty check.
Even some of the tech articles that aren't infomercials are of the staff working on project vehicles and their knowlege and skills are almost laughably bad. It's a good thing the pix are small and of poor quality or it would be even more obvious they are hacks.