[John V.]

I subscribe to 5 mags, Hot Rod, Hemmings Classic Car, Hemmings Muscle Machines, POCI Smoke Signals, and GTOAA The Legend.

I also got several issues of Motor Trend when my subscription to Muscle Car Review died.

My dilemma, I fall behind in reading and before I know it, I am as many as 2 years behind in my reading.

Smart thing might be to quit subscribing. But I still like to get hard copies of stuff, so I keep re-upping. And I can't bring myself to toss them until I've read them.

In the past month, I began binge reading to try to catch up. I am reading cover to cover, that is part of the problem, don't like to just skim thru a mag, I want to read it all.

I was able to read 24 issues of Hot Rod, including the latest issue which was received before I caught up. I read the handful of the Motor Trend issues from summer of 2020 (learned some interesting things about newer cars which might help with next new car purchase if and when my wife decides she needs one). And now I'm catching up with the last dozen or so issues of MCR before it folded. Got 2 more to finish.

Meanwhile, 2 more issues of Smokes and another Legend have shown up and been thrown on the pile while I've been bingeing. The Legend is usually a quick read but Smokes takes a lot longer to consume. And Classic Car and Muscle Machines are piled up, waiting their turn. I haven't been subscribing to them as long and have read a few as I got them but still a lot of issues still unread.

It just seems like a losing battle. I find good stuff in all of them. But I just don't have the time to read all of them thoroughly,

Wonder if others are still subscribing to car mags and do you actually read them or just look at pictures and an article or two?

I'm sure a lot of you have no interest in mags but for old school guys like me, I'm guessing you must subscribe to a couple car mags, right?

[keith k]

I still like paper magazines. Agree it's harder to find time, but there seem to be fewer mags still around, and they keep getting thinner. So that help with the keeping up....

[Stuart]

I subscribe to Hot Rod and to Motorcycle Classics magazines. I'm a fast reader and Hot Rod is so skinny these days I can read it cover to cover in about 30 minutes, Motorcycle Classics is thicker and maybe takes an hour. I also regularly buy Rodder's Journal, but unfortunately it appears they may be circling the drain. I'll buy an Octane magazine every so often too, along with Grassroots Motorsports and Classic Motorsports.

I'm somewhat of a magazine collector (or hoarder), and have most Hot Rods going back to 1950, most Popular Science magazines from 1945 to 1970, Cycle World from 1976 until they stopped publishing in paper format at the end of last year, and many others including decades' worth of Smoke Signals and High Performance Pontiac. I'll often pull one out at random and re-read it.

One of my favorite pastimes has always been going to the book store on a Saturday morning to peruse the car and bike magazines, but as we all know the industry has been decimated in recent years so it's not as much fun as it used to be.

If you're interested in vintage hot rods and customs you may remember Pat Ganahl as a long time editor for Hot Rod, Rod and Custom, Street Rodder, and as a contributor to Rodder's Journal. He was always one of the top writers in the car magazine industry. He's mostly retired now, but is still putting out a free online newsletter every few weeks. I'd recommend signing up on his mailing list. https://patganahl.com

[stuta]

Oh yeah, I definitely have the magazine bug in me.
My biggest problem is throwing them away!
I have a few buddies that give me some mags when they're done with them, and I sub to some myself.
I need to start purging before the pile really gets out of control ...lol

In a nut shell...you're not alone!

[Murf]

Man, your legs must fall asleep spending that much time in the reading room!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[dhcarguy]

I was in the same situation, I did stop all the magazines except for the Legend and Smoke Signals

[OG68]

Before Covid I gave my 'Muscle Machine' issues to a local Discount Tire. I keep my Legends and save the Smoke Signals and MM if they have articles I could use later for reference. Otherwise they go to the trash.
Trying to decide whether to renew my subscription to Muscle Machines.

[KS circutguy]

Originally Posted by Stuart

I subscribe to Hot Rod and to Motorcycle Classics magazines. I'm a fast reader and Hot Rod is so skinny these days I can read it cover to cover in about 30 minutes, Motorcycle Classics is thicker and maybe takes an hour. I also regularly buy Rodder's Journal, but unfortunately it appears they may be circling the drain. I'll buy an Octane magazine every so often too, along with Grassroots Motorsports and Classic Motorsports.

I'm somewhat of a magazine collector (or hoarder), and have most Hot Rods going back to 1950, most Popular Science magazines from 1945 to 1970, Cycle World from 1976 until they stopped publishing in paper format at the end of last year, and many others including decades' worth of Smoke Signals and High Performance Pontiac. I'll often pull one out at random and re-read it.

One of my favorite pastimes has always been going to the book store on a Saturday morning to peruse the car and bike magazines, but as we all know the industry has been decimated in recent years so it's not as much fun as it used to be.

If you're interested in vintage hot rods and customs you may remember Pat Ganahl as a long time editor for Hot Rod, Rod and Custom, Street Rodder, and as a contributor to Rodder's Journal. He was always one of the top writers in the car magazine industry. He's mostly retired now, but is still putting out a free online newsletter every few weeks. I'd recommend signing up on his mailing list. https://patganahl.com

Just checked out Motorcycle Classics magazine, thanks never heard of it.

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by KS circutguy

Just checked out Motorcycle Classics magazine, thanks never heard of it.

They're published in Topeka, Kansas, which doesn't seem like it would be a hotbed of motorcycle activity but they've been at it for probably a decade now. They cover all years and makes, but tend to concentrate on European and Japanese bikes from the 1960s and 1970s which is my main area of interest. The stories are well written and there's a good mix of feature content and technical articles. https://www.motorcycleclassics.com

I was a big fan of Cycle World magazine until they went to online only this year. The best part of the magazine was reading Kevin Cameron's columns, he's a wonderful technical writer. Fortunately, there's some content available on their website that doesn't require a subscription. https://www.cycleworld.com

[John V.]

Helps to know I'm not alone although probably means more to the publishers, editors, and writers !

I'm also a hoarder, although only saving since about 1990 plus the handful of mags I bought off the newsstand in the '70s and '80s and a few collectible issues like the C&D March '64 issue that a work friend had saved and gave to me years ago.

No way can I plow thru a Hot Rod in 30 mins. I just read 40 pages of the last issue of MCR (and that isn't the entire issue) in about 1 hr, that worked out to about 1.5 mins/page. I'm not a slow reader but to actually read the verbiage, including photo captions and look carefully at photos, I couldn't do it faster without just flipping pages and skipping much of the verbiage.

I enjoy reading the stories. And I always learn from the how-to articles.

I'm not averse to digital format, I've spent untold hours on these forums. But the print mags still fill a need for me that I would never seek out in a digital format.

One way I know this is true, I actually read Hot Rod mag. They send me tons of emails telling me about all sorts of content I could read on-line. On rare occasion, I'll see something that sounds interesting and open a link. Sometimes it is worth the time. But it has never been so appealing that I'll spend even an hour clicking on links. And most of the time I don't even look at the emails.

I'm sure I could get through my backlog of mags fast if I just skimmed them and only read the 1 or 2 articles that seemed most interesting to me. But my OCD nature would kick in and I'd worry I was missing out on something important. So I guess I'll just keep reading!

In case anyone worries that I'm spending too much time reading and not enough time enjoying the GTO, my wife and I took a 160 mile round trip top down jaunt yesterday to a park on Lake Lanier and back. Was worth every penny of the $3.69/gal Exxon premium to log those miles.

[dhcarguy]

What is that C&D March '64 magazine worth?

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by dhcarguy

What is that C&D March '64 magazine worth?

You can probably find a copy at a swap meet for $5.00 to $10.00. That's the problem with old car magazines, is they're not worth that much on the open market.