Sign of the times?

[spdway1]

I think Hemmings Classic Car Magazine is DONE. I believe more bad news announcement coming in March or so. I received an email today 5 issues for Hemmings for $10.
The museum has been closed since Covid, most of the vehicles are still there. Some have been slowly sold off. The gas station (building) is closed, and there is no attendant on duty, but you can still buy gas and pay at the pump.
New Ownership is always the best.

[nkaminar]

Will it move to the internet, like everything else?

[marty in Ohio]

Spdway1, I think you're right. I got Hemmings for years until my subscription expired and the magazine changed so. Now they are sending me mail telling me they want me back. They keep reducing the price to try to entice me. Don't see any reason to accept the offer.
Marty

[gdmn852]

Hello, years before the internet, Hemmings was the main source for antique cars for sale , the was also Cars and Parts , that was a magazine with auto related articles and car show coverage.All printed media has taken a “hit” from the internet.Hemmings does have a internet presence, they may just continue on with that . The original Hemmings Motor News was only smaller publication said to be able to fit in your pocket back in 1960,s and before.

[GeneBob]

They have a really nice website and I was surprised that they still publish a print version. Sales on the internet would be faster than the print version could keep up with. They also have an auction that could not be done in print.
I remember pouring over the print version that my boss got at the gas station I worked at as a teen.
Everything changes but I gotta say, I don't know that things are better today as a result. I wish I could move to 1967.

[WTSHNN]

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)

Time to change lanes before you miss the turn.

Hemmings didn't get into the auction game until Bring a Trailer started to show great success in the format. But is it too little too late? The number of people who would be comfortable buying a car based off of a months' old photograph in a printed book with a couple lines of description is dwindling by the minute. Printing and shipping costs are expensive and reading about the Pebble Beach car show three months after thousands of photos and first hand accounts are posted online isn't "breaking news" any more. I subscribed to Hemmings Classic car starting with the 2nd issue and kept the subscription up until 2018 or 2019. By then the Hemmings blog and various other hobbyist sites replaced my need for the magazine.

Vehicle sales? I can post a free ad on Facebook that could be seen by tens of thousands of people and include with it dozens of photos and even videos of the engine running. No need to pay out commission to an auction house or sales agent.

Well established institutions are falling or pivoting to a new line of work. If Sears and KMart hadn't insisted on doubling down on their brick and mortar stores they could have been the new Amazon. There's dozens of other examples.

Is it a new phenomenon that the internet is to blame? Go back to 1926 and read Ernest Kanzler's plea to Henry Ford begging him to consider replacing the Model T with a new model before the great and powerful Ford Motor Company fell into hard headed-induced obsolescence. Six months later Kanzler was out, and Henry quietly told Edsel to proceed with developing a new car.

MARC and MAFCA would be wise to see the writing on the internet wall and find ways to change their income away from a membership dues model.

Just the ramblings of an old-soul Gen X/Millennial.

-Tim

[Synchro909]

Large corporations generally get large not by the good management of their current "team of executives" but because someone had a good idea some time and put in a lot of work.
Before I met her, my wife was in the photography business. In those days, there were no digital cameras but there was gossip that a new kind of camera was coming- one that didn't use film. The story goes that the inventor of the digital camera took it to the Board at Kodak but was turned away. They were doing quite well so why should they bother with this new fangled gizmo. Well, we all know where Kodak is now as a result of that Board decision.
I don't like doing things on the net but I can see that things are going that way so I'd better get used to it. IMO, any company that doesn't do likewise is consigning itself to history.
Kodak's decision is often used as an example in business management training courses.

[40 Deluxe]

Originally Posted by WTSHNN

Time to change lanes before you miss the turn.

Is it a new phenomenon that the internet is to blame? Go back to 1926 and read Ernest Kanzler's plea to Henry Ford begging him to consider replacing the Model T with a new model before the great and powerful Ford Motor Company fell into hard headed-induced obsolescence.

Just the ramblings of an old-soul Gen X/Millennial.

-Tim

This reminded me of the buggy whip industry. Around 1900 almost every family owned a buggy and a horse to pull it. Since a whip was needed to direct the horse, every buggy had a whip. Just about every whip was made in Westfield, Mass. which is still known as "Whip City". Needless to say, the buggy whip industry is no more. Is this a bad thing? Not really! Cars don't need whips but need a lot of other things. So change happened.
When I (a pre-baby boomer) get to grumping about the death of print magazines, etc. I remind myself of buggy whips and how glad I am that the automobile replaced the horse and buggy. Just think of all the horse poop and pee we don't have to wade through, and all the horse flies that are no longer everywhere (ever been bit by a horse fly?!)

[ronn]

well said WTS.............


for me, I totally lost interest in Hemmings when they added hot rods. sort of like selling jello and creme brulee together.


I understand theyve lost their base, but I wont subscribe any longer.

[CWPASADENA]

I have been a subscriber to Hemmings since the late 1950's when they were in Quency, Illinois. I still have a few of the early small format issues. Certainly, Hemmings is not the same as it used to be, but I still enjoy reading Hemmings. For many years, Hemmings was the "go to" publication for parts and services relating to old cars.

Chris W.

[Jeff/Illinois]

My subscription to HMN runs out in a few months and I will not re-up. I've been getting it since about 1971. All it has become is, a magazine with collector car dealerships to show their over priced stuff. That and stories about foreign cars, yuck. The Model A Ford section is now what maybe two and a half pages? And most of those cars for sale are listed by you guessed it,,,, the old car sales garages. I won't mention any names.

I quit Hemmings Muscle Machines too this summer, all they wanted to do was highlight Mopars (yawn) I could give a sh++. The only occasional Ford they ever wrote about seemed to be the 1964 Fairlane Thunderbolt, how many times do we have to read about that? Ford DID make other 'muscle car' variants.

All I get is HCC. It has a bit of everything usually something interesting to read about. Sounds like that is going away now

[Gene F]

They can not even get the index correct. Events are less than 1 page most of the time now, and they can not even get the page number (month after month).

I once also added to my US Mail subscription the electronic membership. It's not the same. It was a waste of money, and they always send the same old wrong answer. Ever since American City Business Journals bought them it has been one thing after another. Guess they bought it to run it into the ground, and pull all the cash out of it they can.

They will one day have an auction in Bennington, VT. After that the biggest asset they will have left is their subscriber list. Normally I'd say times change, but not this time.

[spdway1]

Originally Posted by Gene F

They can not even get the index correct. Events are less than 1 page most of the time now, and they can not even get the page number (month after month).

I once also added to my US Mail subscription the electronic membership. It's not the same. It was a waste of money, and they always send the same old wrong answer. Ever since American City Business Journals bought them it has been one thing after another. Guess they bought it to run it into the ground, and pull all the cash out of it they can.

They will one day have an auction in Bennington, VT. After that the biggest asset they will have left is their subscriber list. Normally I'd say times change, but not this time.

The recent MARC magazine also had a bunch of page number typos, but that won't stop me from being a member. And Hemmings has already auctioned vehicles from the collection.

[The Master Cylinder]

Originally Posted by spdway1

The recent MARC magazine also had a bunch of page number typos, but that won't stop me from being a member. And Hemmings has already auctioned vehicles from the collection.

I noticed the recent Model A News is missing on of my favorites, the Techincal questions and Answers section.

[Jeff/Illinois]

Print magazines are dying a protracted death, and sounds like the e-issues are nothing to brag about.

I still like holding a paper magazine in my hands those days are about gone!

We don't even have newspapers here anymore it's all online I just gave up on all of that. Not interested. Besides, their mis-spellings and pathetic grammar makes me wonder if I still live in an English speaking country. I see it on TV regularly also.

[Herb Concord Ca]

Just got my Classic Car Magazine today, with a letter saying next issue will be the last. Rest of my subscription will roll over to Hemmings Motor News.

[Chris in WNC]

Syncro- your Kodak story reminds me of when the British Occupation Forces offered the Volkswagenwerks to Ford Motor Co at no cost. HFII sent someone to look at it and that poor schlub told Mr. Ford that "what we are being offered is not worth a damn".

[gz]

The Hemmings on-line is a great place to sell cars. I still enjoy the actual magazine but now it is as desirabl as a black and white television.

[ThirstyThirty]

Originally Posted by gz

The Hemmings on-line is a great place to sell cars. I still enjoy the actual magazine but now it is as desirabl as a black and white television.

I bought my '32 Ford Roadster out of Hemmings. No pix, just a listing. A bit of a gem, had won World of Wheels in its class, 2 years running. Seller had lost her hubby, passed on... and was selling his car collection. She was overwhelmed with many, many inquiries. 'Too many to handle!', she said as I talked to her about the car. 'Everyone want pictures...!' I was at my office. She had said a few things that told me the car was nice. "Very nice!" I asked her to just fax me some pix. she said 'ok!' I did not care if just black n white, she had told me the color, etc. Seeing the fax's, told her I would buy the car. And told her how. Would send a Draft, ck with your banker, its a standard way to send title and get $$ in car selling industry. She said ok. Sent Draft... and week or so later... I arrived with truck n trailer and took my lil Deuce Roadster home with me. Beat out all the othes... 'at their own game!'


As I said Thank You! and bid farewell... she told me... 'Hope you enjoy the roadster. You got the car because you took those fax'd fotos... and offered me an immediate payment for the car!!!


"snooze, ya loose..."

[Model A Canuck]

I have seen this happen in the antique tractor hobby some of those magazines have also folded.Seems like if you dont go to online reading your out of the game.It is really too bad that online has taken over print media like it has in the last few years