How can I get my car in the mag? How can I get my car in the mag? How can I get my car in the mag? The single most common question posed to Super Street staffers. We get phone calls; we get emails; people come up to us at the proctologist’s office; they’re at the door when we get the paper in the morning in our robe and fuzzy bunny slippers. How can I get my car in the mag? Relentless.
OK, so here’s how you can get your car in the mag. Take some good pictures, write up a spec sheet with some interesting tidbits about the buildup, put everything in an envelope, stick a stamp on it, and mail it to Super Street Magazine, Readers’ Rides, 6420 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90048. Sounds simple, right? You’d be surprised. Read on for tips that will put you at the top of our stack.
Good Pictures
This is probably the biggest factor determining whether your car makes it into Readers’ Rides. We get piles of letters from people with really cool cars who have taken the time to write long lists of the amazing mods they’ve done and funny stories to go with them, but pictures that look like they were taken by the family dog at midnight in the garage. Here are a few tips.
Taking Photos
Do it at sunrise (or just after) or sunset (or just before). The light is the best then.
Use color print film.
If possible, deactivate the date stamp function on the camera. Find an interesting location.
Park the car on a level surface away from anything that might cast a shadow onto the car.
Turn the wheels so the whole wheel faces the camera.
Stand with your back to the sun. Very important. (Watch for your own shadow. Also very important.)
Fill the frame with the car and get the whole car in the shot. No cropping.
Take shots from multiple angles. At the very minimum, take a front three-quarter shot, a rear three-quarter shot (see examples), an engine shot, and an interior shot.
Pay attention to what else may be in the frame, e.g., trees, trash, flagpoles, dogs, your buddy who thinks he’s out of the way. Remove them before you snap the pic.
Check out what is being reflected in the car’s body panels. Make sure you want it in the photo. If you’ve detailed the car and made it shiny, we’ll be able to see it if you’re taking the photo while wearing your Jockeys.
Don’t be afraid to move around the car to find a good (not weird) angle. Look through an issue of Super Street for ideas.
Be sure there aren’t any big poles in the background that look like they are sprouting out of the top or side of the car. It probably wouldn’t take much time to move the car up 20 feet or so to get the pole out of the picture.
If you are taking detail shots, make sure they are in focus. We will not run photos that are out of focus (Unless they’re our own.—MP).
Be careful with the flash. Most of the time, it’s going to bounce off the car right back into the lens and create a glare (Bad Picture. It’s called a bad picture.—MP). If you’re taking the photos at sunrise or sunset, you won’t need the flash.
Choosing Shots
After you’ve had the film processed and prints made, pick out the best of the pictures you’ve taken. They should be well lit, in focus, and nothing should be obstructing our view of the car.
Avoid sending in photos that have sun reflections in them.
If none of the photos you took are all that great, take some more. If you really want your car in the mag, you want it to look good, right? We’re not going to choose it if the photos aren’t good enough.
Writing the Letter
Type or print legibly. If we can’t read your letter, we’re not going to try. It’s just like school.
That’s right, you can’t escape.
Compile a detailed list of the mods you’ve done. We are getting more and more entries in the Fast Facts format, which is cool (hint, hint).
When you sign the letter, make sure you also print or type your full name at the bottom so we know who the heck has this bad-ass car that we want for our next cover.
Make your letter interesting. Think about what you would want to read if you had a billion of these things to sort through every month.
Mailing It
Write your name, hometown, and make and model of your car on the back of every photo you send us using ink that doesn’t smear. In fact, write your name, hometown, make, and model on everything you send to us: envelope, letter, photos, locks of your hair. Our offices are a mess; stuff gets lost sometimes.
Insert one or two pieces of cardboard or something thicker than just paper into the envelope for protection.
Be patient. Sometimes it takes a while for us to get through all the envelopes.
Don’ts
•Don’t shoot the photos at noon on the brightest sunny day of the year.
•Don’t park the car next to the curb.
•Don’t cut your ex-girlfriend/dog/ mom/house/lawnmower/spaceship out of the photo. If there’s something in the photo that you don’t like, take another photo. If there’s something in the background that we don’t want to be in the photo, we’ll crop it out ourselves. Don’t alter the photo after you get it back from the Foto Hut. Our art director hates it when we give him tiny photos with strange shapes cut out of them.
•Don’t fold the photos.
•Don’t send us prints of the whole roll of film. Save yourself some postage and just pick the best ones.
•Don’t send color photocopies of photos. We will not use them.
•No Polaroids. Save ’em for the do-it-yourself porn.
•Don’t email photos to us. We can’t use them anyway.