I too used to be a big fan of sport compact car and european car before they became fixated on $500,000 builds. They both took a nose dive right around the time Fast and Furious came out and the "scene" exploded.
Anyone else notice the serious downturn in all enthusiast based mags (aside from GRM) when the "tuner lifestyle" became popular?
stuart in mn wrote: So how does that work that they can have more assets than debt and they still can file for bankruptcy?
Because they aren't necessarily "liquid assets". Stuff like their building, which could be sold off but not until they're entirely shut down. "Goodwill" or name recognition that is assigned cash value if their brand names or trademarks were sold. Plus they're supposed to have reserve cash for mandated employee benes if they abruptly shutdown. Even a relatively small company (couple hundred people) can have a payroll of over $1M a month, including taxes & overhead costs.
So it may sound like a big number, but reality is "we only have enough cash for the next week". I'm an IT guy who has been sucked into payroll, HR and cost accounting garbage for too long.
TR3only wrote: Whenever I see a copy of HotRod, I am amazed that it is(was?) still being printed. Are C&D and R&T STILL owned by the same publisher?
Yeah, Hot rod is just stupid old redneck garbage. Well.... occasionally there is "resto mod" stuff like a 500ci fuel injected big block Chevy crate motor stuffed into some old rusted POS. That's sorta cool.... if they add decent brakes and.... Oh, just send the POS to the junk yard. Waste of engine. Slightly used Corvettes are cheap and fast if that's your thing.
And yeah, CD & RT are both Hachette Filipacchi Media. They used to be somewhat different (I sub' to both) but in the last few, they're just redundant and superfluous. Anyone want an RT subscription? I'll change my addy to ya'.
Is Car Craft still around? Who publishes them?
I cut my car mag teeth on Hot rod and Super Stock back in the 60's I remember when one piece fiberglass bodies came out and funny cars were hatched....
sorry to see any choice leaving the racks, but I havn't picked one up in a dog's age.
The big problem now for magazines is the interenet.
And, no, it's not because of the obvious articles and whatnot.
But advertising. NPR did a thing on the auto industry pulling ads due to lack of money, and there was a note about a HUGE drop in advertising revenue for magazines. So I think a lot of the magazines that are largely advertising are going to suffere big time.
What I find interesting, especially for GRM and CM is that they seem to offer their advertisers a better deal. And I mean better directed advertising toward real, paying customers. I don't know how you manage to do it guys, but GRM and CM are probably the only two magazines where I actually read ads to find possibe sources of "stuff" (currently that being data acq systems).
I kid you not- your advertising is SO much more directed at us, the readers, than any other magazine I read, by a VERY, VERY wide margin. And I always try to remember to mention where I saw the ad when calling.... 
But I expect that C&D and R&T will both suffer a lot in the coming months. Ironically for C&D since they love to bash the domestics for no real good reason. After so many years, karma comes back to bite them.
Eric
Yeah, I do have to admit it, GRM is one of the few (perhaps the only?) mag where the ads make the magazine MORE appealing.
Excellence is like that, too. If you have a Porsche, the advertising alone is invaluable. Ross Publishing does a good job with everything they publish, though - "Bimmer" has lots of BMW-related advertising, etc.
I think the difference is in the (magazine) ownership. Tim Suddard owns GRM and it's his baby. It's a magazine for enthusiasts that's written and published by enthusiasts. He and the GRM staff have their fingers on the pulse of what's going on and what's interesting to us, because they walk the walk.
(Robert ?) Petersen started Hot Rod and he WAS a hot rodder.
Tom Toldrian publishes Excellence, and he's a guy you can actually get on the phone and talk Porsches with.
David E Davis Jr. MADE Automobile what it was.
See the trend? Primedia, Sourceinterf***link and so on can't hope to compete because they are not put out by the same kind of people they are trying to market to.
That's why Freiburger rocked Hot Rod and Car Craft so well. I desperately hope he can wrench those two titles from Interlink and run them how he wants.
I've open countless GRM's and never felt the need for "male enhancement." Wonder why?
WB20 wrote: Yeah, Hot rod is just stupid old redneck garbage.
That's a pretty harsh statement.
Road and Track - Just because they have Peter Egan, I'll never let the subscription lapse...until he retires or joins Classic Motorsports!
Egan is terrific, he writes for Cycle World too, and is just as good there.
Really sad what has happened to Road & Track, back when old John Bond was owner and publisher it was a wonderful magazine. Best of all was the writing of Henry Manny, I sometimes get out old copies of R&T just to read ol' Henry's work. As often as not I'll soon be laughing right out loud, -- my wife just thinks I'm nuts.
Thanks for all of the nice comments. And thanks for sticking with us, too. (Or something like that.)
If you want to read Peter Egan, I think Cycle World is a better choice as you also get Kevin Cameron.
I was just over on the HAMB board reading the discussion thread about this same subject. Interestingly, GRM has been mentioned several times as the only print magazine people still subscribe to.
I remember when I was a kid, I would spend hours cutting the grass and raking this huge yard the grass for a neighbor, when I was done I would get $6.00. I would buy a coke, a candy bar and a Hot-Rod magazine and still have some money left over. My all time favorite article was entitled "junkyard dog" and it was about a low-buck build up on a 69 cutlass. But then the pro-street craze started and I just stopped reading it. It certainly seemed pretty good though in recent years.
Until recently I got autoweek but I gave up and asked for my money back since they went upscale with articles on $400 pens, expensive golf clubs, rich guy garages, wine, etc. in every issue. Not sure what they are thinking in these recessionary times. I gave up on Mototrend because every photo they publish is just too artsy and blurry.
I now buy various four-wheel magazines, Old School Rodz and of course GRM. Ill still pick up HotRod every once in a while as long as they keep publishing it.
SoloSonett wrote: Is Car Craft still around? Who publishes them?
primedia, They do a good job on staying on top of LSx tech and swaps, as well as using E85 as racing fuel.
Where is Freidburg now? He did a great job
hes now in charge of Hot Rod again, as of this last issue.
TR3only wrote: Whenever I see a copy of HotRod, I am amazed that it is(was?) still being printed. I keep thinking I'll buy a copy and see what they are up to, but it's been so long since I've owned ANYTHING with a V8...what's the point?
If I have to explain the point of a V8 to you, you need to start again, TR3 this is an engine bay..........8 cylinders means more capacity, more torque and more horsepower...the point is "More NA Power"
neon4891 wrote: Who publishes them?
primedia,
According to wikipedia Primedia just does those coupon mailers now and they sold all their car magazines to SourceInterlink
I just remembered another odd thing that Primedia/Source Interlink/whoever has been doing: they produced a bunch of automotive DVDs, and to try to sell them they send out unsolicited copies to subscribers and then pester them if the subscribers don't send money back.
They did this to me about a year ago - one day I got this DVD in the mail, I think it was volume 1 of how to restore a muscle car. I looked at it once (it wasn't particularly good) and tossed it on the shelf. Since then, I've received a half dozen 'reminders' in the mail that I haven't paid for it. Yeah, like that's going to happen...one of these days I'll print out the pertinent info from the US post office about unsolicited mail and send it back to them.
problemaddict wrote: I doubt Hot Rod is going anywhere. Isn't it one of the most widely distributed magazines in the world? I thought i heard that once...
I hope you're right. Hot Rod going away would be a real travesty.
I first subscribed to C&D in 1969. About a year ago, I noticed I wasn't getting it any more. When I realized I had let the subscription lapse 9 months earlier, and didn't notice, I knew it was no big loss. GRM, on the other hand gets read cover to cover and passed around.
Really sad. I really only read GRM and CM anymore but I think variety and competition is good and keeps everybody on their toes. I think Hot Rod was the mag that first got me interested in all this kind of thing.
Wow, pulled up an old thread there! What has changed in the last 18 months re the mags mentioned?
72SuperBrian wrote: Automobile: David E Davis Jr. Without him, what good is Automobile?
Its the current C&D, which sucks. Automobile has been much better with Lindamood in charge. When Davis returned to C&D it started sucking hard. Except for Phillips all the good writers and editors left, so apparently its not just his writing but he's an ass in real life too.
Its funny, I just realized my collection of C&D spans from right after Davis left to just as he came back. Maybe I should sell them off. I need more shelf space for GRM
When Source Interlink told me last year at SEMA that Minissan didn't fit into any of their mags, I put a cursed clown nose in the "big" guys brief case. It took a year to fester, but I guess it worked. This just means there will be less cookie cutter cars on the news stand, hopefully over time some creativity will come back to the automotive world... 
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