What do you want to See in Truck Magazines?Give me your ideas!

[seanu]

One more thing....(for now)

I want to reiterate, by saying you are taking the right step, by giving us the chance to put out ideas that may get into your magazine.

Thanks...

[weasel29gm]

I agree with Delands ideas,but a mag has to fit all incomes. I get 6 mags a month. Why? Diveristy for the average hot rodder Car Craft and Pop H/R. High tech Hot Rod and Chevy H/Po. For trucks Classic Trucks and Custom Classic Trucks. For features and some tech,build-ups Chevy Rumble and Super Chevy. I've read Truck Builder but I don't care for late model and all the LS computer stuff. But thats me I don't comdem it just not my cup of tea!! For example a 8K small block don't interest me when one can build a decent one for 1-2K without the fluff. But when someone has a big checkbook and wants a 572 go for it. Because it is called " Hot Roddin''

[panteratron]

http://www.feslerproductions.com/1967ChevyTruck.htm

check this out if you want to know about TRUCK BUILDER MAG!

[jkaylor68gmc]

I agree with everything here. i just have to push for these things. I baby this book and have recently don alot of '67-'72 stuff and my next project is going to be along of these lines. We just have killer deadlines. The next issue features the GMC-Chevy conversion using LMC parts and the whole deal cost me about 1950 bucks then I sold the parts I removed and now have about 1500 bucks in it. Patch panels, welding materials and sheetmetal isn't cheap but I am goin to be tackling some at-home panel deals my self by welding up the heater assembly holes and rockers.

[70ChevyChris]

I may be the only one, but I would love to see a mag cover fixing up a 4x4 that is stock or slightly modified. It seems that all 4x4 mags focus on rock crawlers and all truck magazines focus on lowered 2wd's.

[jkaylor68gmc]

We rareely have 4x4s but we have a 4x4 book called 4x4 Builder that covers classsic 4x4s and new stuff too.

[68GMC454]

while the high dollar builds are nice, they really lose the use of a truck. and even with the 10,000 build you got a really nice truck if you can do most of the work yourself..can we get down the the lower income guys who struggle just to get the trucks drivable..i mean my old gmc will be lucky to get a junkyard motor put in it this year and put on the street..when all is said and done i will have less than 3000.00 in my truck and that is over several years. I KNOW im not the only guy out there that struggles to pay the bills every month, let alone building a truck or any other project. i plan on doing the front cross member swap to, but even with the donor truck, i will still be under 3000. but most of the stuff that goes into my 68 gmc will be out of a junkyard or a field...now that im hurt again, who knows when i will be able to gewt a motor, but i keep my eyes open, who knows i might get lucky one day..sorry if this doenst make sense, but i think you get the idea,, there are alot of us out there who work hard for the little money we get every month, and with kids and family first, projects are last...we are called the working class,,or working poor ive heard to....
billy

[oldno7]

You guy's have some good points, so here are a few of mine. There's nothing that bothers me more than advertisment. I think all that garbage should be the last 2-3 pages of the book. I'm tired of reading an article, and it gets shifted to a diff. page because Gaylord's bought the bottom of the page. I realize you make money buy this, but come on. (SORRY) I would like to say thank's for asking us what we like. The tech article's are cool. I like to read about (JOE'S) truck, and what he has done to it. I do like the high builds, for diff reasons. I like to see trucks fixed up nice, and I take what I can from the article. I am a poor boy and do not have 20-30k worth of tools. So I think you guys should have a section called (POORBOYS WAY) for stuff like rust rem. and body panels you now! Pic's. are worth a 1000 word's. I would like to see about getting info on back issuse of truck builder mag. Pos # to call and order would be great. What issuse did you have the Fabris truck in. I would like to read that article. I think it was just on E-bay. I'm not for sure what it went for. Once again thank you for asking us. That says alot. oldno7

[Orange]

I wish we had....





















More writers like jkaylor68gmc writing for these magazines!

[beaterC10]

I would like to see something like Rod and Custom was when it was re-introduced in the 80's or like Car Craft when Freiberger was in charge.

Real world down and dirty tech. Projects for the guy who still has to drive his truck everyday. Most magzines seem to be written as advertisements for big shops or for old guys with a big bankroll.

[cojnit]

maybe we could do these high dollar builds if we didnt subscribe to so many magazines!! (J/K) I am a mag addict. Here is my .02.

Not all of us are master fabricators, heck I cant even weld. We are however enthusiest as well. I would love to know what kind of things I am looking for as a weekend warrior when I am tackling a project or having a shop do work. As well as being able to figure out what kind of shop I am really looking for. 99 out of 100 "body" wont do rust repair or fabrication, no money in it for them. these things are good to know.

As for the articles, one of the mag (cant remember which one) has some nice details about the builds now (actual cost, actual time, shop used, level of diffculty ect.) this is very helpful to me as a warrior in determinig what projects I can tackle.

As for the high dollar stuff, I NEED to have it. This is what motivates me (although I can get them in every other mag) and got me into this stuff way back as a kid.

I think a nice section would be "bolt-on Building" for those of us who cant do it any other way without getting raped.

I have a ton more opinions, but this is running long.

[fatboys69]

I agree with SlickOrange, I am a local guy to jkaylor and the guys from Buckaroo Communications and all those guys are great!!!!, very knowledgable and down to earth and some of the greatest guys you will ever meet ( they love anything automative ). Truck Builder is a very good magazine. I think that by asking for suggestions it will be even better, so if you ever see them at a show you really need to stop in at there booth and say hello.

[3/4tonterror]

Never Heard Of Truck Builder??????????

[jkaylor68gmc]

If you are interested in the Fesler Red Chevy Truck build here is the number and issues coordinating this.... 1-866-515-5770

Nov/Dec 03- Frame and beginning
Jan/Feb 04- Custom bed and other monior work
Mar/Apr-04- Body assembly
May/June 04- Rearend assembly
Jul/Aug 04- all the loose ends
Sep/Oct 04- The Dash
Nov/Dec04- Engine and frame final
Jan/Feb 05- Final body details, prep and painting
Jul/Aug 05- Braking system
Sep/Oct 05- Sound deadening and interior

I am in editorial but I think we are selling the whole set on a special for the set of ten with free shipping.

The newest issue next month,April 2007 features the "67GMC to '67 Chevy conversion as well as a Covan dash install in a '70 Chevy.

I did the '67-'72 Be Cool Radiator install in the Feb 2007 issue
Ididit tilt '67-72 column install is in the Nov/Dec 2006 issue and Fat Man boltin '67-72 Mustang II
6 lug to five lug axle swap with a '65 rearend, same as ours in my '47 in the Aug 06 issue.
Installing a Custom autosound stereo in a '72 Chevy C-10 Mar/Apr '06 issue.

I wiil find some more later


Dec 05 Truck Builder, Final Feature, pull out poster Project '67 Finale.

[jkaylor68gmc]

ttt

[slomotion]

Just a quick thought....that's the way mine are, quick, if I don't move on them they go away.

Could the Mag be set up like a book? ie, chapters; Chapter 1. News, Chapter 2, An old build, chapter 3. a current project, Chapter 4. TOTM, Chapter 5. etc. etc. Maybe that would be an editors nightmare, but we'd know where to go, and our articles would be consolidated within the "chapters". Then the advertisers could purchase spots in-between the chapters that would correspond to the previous article.

[sixty8c10]

low budget builds...like I could do at home with minimal power tools.

[jkaylor68gmc]

Like i'v said, I am looking for this and one of the big ideas was ten projects you could do at home in a weekend for under 200 bucks.

[jkaylor68gmc]

ttt

[Stroker]

First, thank you for asking!!!!!

Like many of the others I like the low buck or medium buck builds. One of my favorites was a series in Sport Truck (a number of years ago when it was a good mag) of a Yellow 67-72 Step Side. I think their budget was a little over 5K and they ended up with a decent daily driver complete with a cheap paint job and some body work.

I also like the dream truck features. Even though the truck may be out of my budget there's always the possibiliy of being able to incorporate something from these trucks in my own.

Engine builds with dyno runs are good, but following them up by installing them in a truck and testing in the real world and at the track are even better. I wish the idle rpm and manifold vacumm levels would always be included with the specs when the engine was tested. It gives some idea of how practical the engine would be for a street driven truck.

More detail on fabrication. The dash build up on the Fesler Truck was very good!!! Id'e like to see something like this on shaving drip rails or fitting a 67-68 hood on a 69-72 Chevy.

Thanks again

[Rokcrln]

Ok were to start. First off most people here know me as a do it your selfer that loves showing others how to do small to large projects. The reason I like doing this is because I grew up in a house were the only thing my parents were into was Golf So almost all my fabrication skills started by reading every car mag on the shelf (and I still have everyone today). But back in the 80's and early 90's their were alot more do it your self articals in the different mags and today their are still good ones from time to time but alot more "Flash" articals of new trucks or 50K old trucks not the backyard truck that granpa parked because it was falling apart 15 years ago and now you want to fix it up kind of trucks.
So the reason I do so much as far as builds and How-to stuff on this site is to get more people back into old cars and trucks. I agree that the Low buck stuff will have a great following but the high end stuff sells mags as well to a different market but that helps keep it on the news stand for us as well. As for advertising being placed in and out of articals that is just what they need to do to get the buisness to advertise with them. Do you guys realize if all the advertisments were in the back and you never looked at them and the buisness pulled their adds what it would cost for each mag you bought $8-15 easy. So that being said they do what they have to do so we can afford to keep buying our 8-12 mags a month

By now most of you guys have run accross one or more of my builds on this site from 67 extended cab, 68 4 door crew cab, Project slow build, Lemon Drop and my curent personal build for the site is "LFD's Low buck truck build". I might be wrong but from how many people look at these posts I would say their are just what we all want. Here is my LWB to SWB bed chop from this week end http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...=223158&page=9 and if their is anything I can do for you guys with your Truck Builders mag let me know. I think it would be great for this board to get some of its members in the mags to get more people to this site.

So if their is any I can help out with please let me know.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

[PanelDeland]

Hey that's an Idea.You guy's just need to move in next door to Kevin and continously tape everything he touches.He has added a lot of how-to to this site and it ranges from basic cheap to very involved and expensive if you were to have someone custom fab it for you. Also,I noticwe you are using one of the most expensive parts suppliers for the 67-72 trucks.Maybe a listing of websites and vendors would be a good adition to the mag.

[CG]

Ive never seen or heard of your mag either. When I read the other two classic truck magazines I skip over any article with newer rides...73 and up, they just don't interest me. (I don't read truckin at all anymore. Waaay to much bling in there for me) I also skip over the engine and tranny builds. I wonder how many people actually build their own engines and tranny's? Yeah I know people will pipe in now and say they do. I do like reading about drive train install though. And I am interested in pretty much all other aspects of building a truck.

Unfortunately for me you have to make your mag readable for the generic truck masses...Or maybe you could rename it TRUCK BUILDER for MARK..
I'm going to stop in Barnes and Noble tomorrow and pick up a copy.

Mark

[lowrollin70gmc]

I personally see how high dollar and new trucks can help cheap builds on old trucks.

These two segments can give one many ideas, even if it doesn't seem like it. Let's say Chevy has some interior gadget or arrangement in a truck and it ends up in a picture. I could say "wow, I think I can incorporate something like that." or simply say "argggggg". Which is to my benefit. Or when a new truck has something put on, those stock parts could be gotten cheap to modify old trucks, gives us something to look for. many stock parts off of new trucks are scrapped and could be modified to work on old trucks. Also, high dollar builds give ideas for cheap projects. Often times my custom modifications have been based on high dollar rides and I modify their design to repair something on my truck to save $$$. Most of the money on the expensive rigs comes from getting everything perfect, something we can all strive to do in our garage.

A balance of cheap and expensive, we can share these trucks from two different camps. Just keep on keepin' on.

[metalmassfab]

I pretty much agree with everyone here. Problem is that it really doesn't matter what you cover, how much tech, etc. There will always be us readers wanting more, more, more! I rarely do more than glance at big $$$$ buildup articles/features. Some car mags have gotten really bad about that, and I dont even bother buying them anymore. I think everybody here wants to relate, we want usable info on virtually every aspect of these trucks, from stock replacement to aftermarket upgrades. Get a $1000 truck, as was mentioned before, and start bringing her back to life, covering everything in your mag for us to check out. Maybe a budget 'frame-off' resto project, and another one with a running/driving ($2000..?) truck to use as a bolt-on vehicle. The type of stuff most of us do over a weekend thrashing; brakes, tranny swap, hood and door hinge fix...the 'little' stuff that hopefully keeps your daily driver on the road while improving it at the same time. I'm on the fence with the engine buildups. Virtually every mag out there does engines every single month. An engine buildup is an engine buildup; the cost and the power level depends solely on the parts used. I can pull 10 random mags off the shelf, and 8 or 9 of them will have a chevy engine buildup. Then again, bolt on items like heads, cams, intakes, etc. could be fun for the daily driver project.

For you guys that want the most bang for the engine buck, build a 383 stroker, stab in a stump puller cam and slap on a set of vortec heads. Its the cheapest gobs of fun get! Tons of torque= tons 'o fun...

Look out jkaylor68gmc, it appears I'm tryin' to take over your mag! Sorry bout that....