Will Hemmings Motor New lose its relevance???

[JV Puleo]

Man at Arms for the Gun & Sword Collector.

 

I should add that any car magazine, print or digital, aimed at me would go broke instantly - which is why I don't expect to ever see one.

[Billy Kingsley]

I like Hemmings but my subscription ran out and I didn't notice, so I didn't resubscribe. I just read them and then put them in my storage unit anyway. 

[37PackardMan]

My subscription expired and today I returned the postage paid renewal notice with a note...."save your postage...take my name off your mailing list."

Bottom line is that I felt guilty...all the trees that had to be cut down, all the pulp processing generating pollution..the ink....for me to read 3 pages of Packard stuff....and then the effort and pollution to recycle it.

[keithb7]

Computers and smart phones have altered my attention span. My brain has been programmed to constantly seek fresh new information to read. I scan web sites like this one probably too often. I am always seeking new, interesting information connected to the old car hobby.  Printed magazines attract me but fail to keep me engaged. I lose interest and head back the internet.  So much information on the net. Within 30 seconds of reading printed material I start to wander. Looking for something else to read. 
 

I know I’m not alone....

Edited April 9, 2021 by keithb7 (see edit history)

[Captain Harley]

I got my first subscription to HMN in 1966 when I was 15 years old.  It was also the first time I joined the AACA.  After high school some college and the Army.  I got into Harley's big time.  In the mid 80's I started drifting back into antique cars again.  HMN, AACA mag with the VCCA and the two national Model-A Ford club magazines were my favorites.  I'm down to one Model-A now and doubtful that I will buy* anymore antique cars.  My present subscription to HMN is probably my last.  I do like to day-dream about at all the late 20's early 30's cars for sale on the HMN website and probably always will!😊

 

Capt. Harley😉

 

* If I ever win a lottery you'd better believe I would buy many, many antique cars!🤩

[60FlatTop]

On 4/8/2021 at 10:11 AM, Matt Harwood said:

we would get a call 15 months after the ad and 12 months after the car sold asking if it was still available.

 

In the 1980's I subscribed to Hemmings and a friend always asked me for copies that were 3 or 4 months old. He said by that time the seller would begin to get a realistic idea of the price. I am sure that kind of thinking is still going around.

 

My introduction or acknowledgement of Hemmings Motor News did come until the early 1980's. I had been buying car magazines since the early 1960. Those whom remember know most printed material on the old car hobby came from Great Britain. To me anything with "Motor" in the title surely had to be of the foreign veteran and vintage type. And Hemmings certianly isn't a common American name in our parts,  Not real American like Chevrolet.

[joe_padavano]

24 minutes ago, 60FlatTop said:

 

In the 1980's I subscribed to Hemmings and a friend always asked me for copies that were 3 or 4 months old. He said by that time the seller would begin to get a realistic idea of the price. I am sure that kind of thinking is still going around.

 

 

That kind of thinking is still going around because it's still relevant. I regularly watch ads on ebay, C-list, and FB Marketplace where the seller is asking stupid money. After relisting the item three or four or five times with no interest, reality starts to set in and the price starts to come down. Sometimes it comes back to earth, sometimes not. I also wait through several relisting cycles before making an offer, again to let reality sink in. Frequently, I get the item at a price much closer to what I wanted to pay in the first place. Sometimes the seller gets lucky and finds a buyer that can't live without the item. More power to them.

Edited April 10, 2021 by joe_padavano (see edit history)

[alsancle]

1 hour ago, joe_padavano said:

 

That kind of thinking is still going around because it's still relevant. I regularly watch ads on ebay, C-list, and FB Marketplace where the seller is asking stupid money. After relisting the item three or four or five times with no interest, reality starts to set in and the price starts to come down. Sometimes it comes back to earth, sometimes not. I also wait through several relisting cycles before making an offer, again to let reality sink in. Frequently, I get the item at a price much closer to what I wanted to pay in the first place. Sometimes the seller gets lucky and finds a buyer that can't live without the item. More power to them.

 

The problem with this approach to selling is the car becomes "stale" and "shopped" in some peoples eyes.  So when the price finally reaches market the seller has eliminated a number of buyers.

 

From my casual observation of CL, eBay, Hemmings and this forum,  most "collector" cars initial asking price is probably at least 30-40% more than true market.   

[Doug Novak]

I do not get the Magazine. I can get most of what I want to see by searching Hemmings Auctions, what's being sold and what the Buyer payed.

Recently a '68 AMC AMX same color as mine, excellent condition, was up for sale with a $41K reserve, it ended up selling for $88,200!!!!!!

You can find it buy searching the Hemmings Auctions for make year and model, and check it out if you don't believe me......I'm still in total shock over this.

And, I thought  the Reserve was too High?

 

Doug Novak

[TAKerry]

I am the person that needs a piece of paper in his hand for reading. I have tried and do not like e-magazine editions. However, I do admit that since my hemmings expired I go to Hemmings online almost daily. There are a few marques that I search on a regular basis, every now and then I will pick out one at random just to see what those cars look like and what they sell for. I find the catalogue version is much easier to read and negotiate than the print version of that particular 'magazine'.  I think they sell the print copy on the idea that online adds are a month behind print. Im not buying so makes no matter to me.

[joe_padavano]

58 minutes ago, alsancle said:

 

The problem with this approach to selling is the car becomes "stale" and "shopped" in some peoples eyes.  So when the price finally reaches market the seller has eliminated a number of buyers.

 

That's the seller's problem. As a buyer, it works for me.

[Jim Skelly]

What ruined it for me was when the auction ads started to dominate the classifieds.

[Terry Bond]

I've read HMN since you could fit it into your back pocket.

It's been said you can either be a big fish in a small pond, or a little fish in a big pond.

HMN has made their choice, we'll see how it plays out.

Terry

[JimKB1MCV]

  All, or most of the comments I could make have already been made.

   I first subscribed to HMN in the late '70s and it saw me through a multi-year restoration of a '41 Cadillac series 61, and I kept up my sub probably til the early '90s.  In the early '90s I went through a several-year sorting out project with my '31 Ford Victoria, let the sup lapse because I was narrowly focused on the Victoria.

   In ~2012 I was in the market for another car so I took HMN's on-line subscription and was not happy with it, did not renew.

Times change, I guess.

[John_S_in_Penna]

Hemmings management would do well to read these

comments, just as Cars and Parts management should

have done as they lost direction.  We want to see magazines

succeed, but they never will if they give only lip-service

to constructive comments.

[John S.]

Hemmings has fallen victim of the times. Like all other magazines that have gone under in recent years, Hemmings is treading water, and may go 100% digital sooner than later. Print is enjoyed by few , but not by many. I was a subscriber since 1975, but as of last year, I dropped my subscription. It is not the same magazine, that I enjoyed reading. They put too much into the auction, as opposed to ads. When the 1955/1957 Chevrolet section is down to a page and a half, you know times are changing for them and us.

[padgett]

Now I mostly read Hagerty's articles.

[Wowabunga]

Hemmings used to be just 8 pages...!   I have an original edition and the front page was proclaiming the news that they had just switched from "mimeograph" printing and the new offset printing would give greater quality.   I'll scan a few pages for fun and post them one of these days, I think it had Model A's for $100 a pop in the classifieds.

[tomcarnut]

I have been reading Hemming since the 1970’s but mostly hand me downs from my Dad. After he passed, I got my own subscription. I have been checking out Hemmings.com for years finding my 1912 McLaughlin Buick nearly 20 years ago.  I still do that and like the Hemmings Auctions and parts section online.  However, I still like the brown paper copy that has coverage of the auctions that I don’t find anywhere else and services ads for parts rebuilding like Marks Mags and such. I also like glancing through the car ads for fun. I also like Hemming Classic Car too. Try to pass all of these to younger cars guys. 

[Larry Schramm]

I too have subscribed to Hemmings since the '70's.  This months issues was fairly sparse.   Having gotten a quantity of vehicles that keeps me busy, I am not looking for more vehicles.  I have thought about letting my subscription lapse.