Art & Inspiration Who Collects Magazines

I have no idea how many....multiple thousands. Hot Rod vol 1 #1 on up, many other titles. I recently gave away around 3,000 car mags of about '75 to 2005. they became door prizes. It gets out of hand sometimes! Someday I might get rid of most or all of it, but i find it useful now. Been at it for about 60 years. I must be some kind of moron is what some think. I think I am no moron, just some kind of misguided nut.

 

Not directly Hot Rod relAted but still good reAding and reference stuff, but I have a collection of PopulAr Mechanics, Popular Science, Mecanix illustrated, ect back to the 30's.

 

Here's the start of my collection (older ones, the modern ones live in the cupboard ) mostly aussie titles. Custom rodder and australian hot rod. Missed out on a mint copy of aust hot rod vol1 issue 1 at the swap meet last year for 5 bucks. Apparently Worth over $250 to a collector.

 

I gave a collection of Auto Buff,I only look at the pictures of the cars,of course the are pictures of women in various stages of dress & undress with the cars.

I also have 3 issues of Rodders World. HRP

 

Wish I had known that people on here were collectors of old magazines.6 years ago, sold my house of 30 years and moved to my retirement home in northern Wi. In the process of removing 30 years of "Stuff" , realized my wife and I had slight hoarder problem. Had years of car magazines, nobody in my group had interest, one fellow took a huge group to take to nursing homes on his visits, one son took the Open Wheel, had every issue, and I threw the rest in the trash, thinking I had not looked at them in many years, why haul and store again. I would have gladly gave them to someone who wanted them, as I am aging, my priorities of what's important have changed. When my time expires, either the "Vultures" that will sweep in to "Help"my wife OR her next husband will say, WOW ! Your husband had a lot of Kool " Stuff". The cycle of Life continues, Feeling Very Lucky and Fortunate to have had a Great Run so far, believe my Lucky star will continue to keep shining, Remember ! Every day is a Gift !

 

You know, i have a few.Also local racing program and such. Nearing 60 yr old. My kids are not into cars. When i die figure the wife will just chunk them in garbage, along with all my model cars/toys. Thinking really hard about selling them off.Of course, then i'll live to be 100,lol but time to let some one else look at them i think?

 

A few years back I had boxes and boxes of old HOT Rod and other mags. Here on the Hamb there were guys serving with the Military overseas. I sent a lot of boxes of car mags to them-they enjoyed them and responded as well-put them to good use. Since then I have given away and thrown away probably 2-300 more. Only have a bunch of Rodder's Journals now--they may be next-who knows--too much junk piling up.

 

I have roughly 20 shelving units. 5 banker boxes fit nicely on each shelf. 5 shelves per stand. Every magazine I have is cataloged and can be found easily. I`m not hoarding. I`m slowly building a reference library. There`s a lot of interesting reading out there. Today I read about Tom Senters amazing Ardun powered Flathead again for the 3rd time.

 

Have complete years of Hot Rod, 1951, 55,56,57,58,59( 72 magazines) I would like to sell.. Mags are in very good condition.. $165 shipped...

 

Mine are in the process of being sorted, catalogued and very neatly (and securely) stored for easy access. I've got about 1500 - all the Rodders Journals (actually about 1 1/2 complete sets), most Street Rodder up to about 2007, tons of R&C, 99% of American Rodder (and the Rodders World start up titles as well). Gave my Hot Rods away years ago except for a few with specific articles I really like. Also have lots of Rod Action, a bunch of the Buckaroo stuff (those are going to be sold if anyone is interested) and quite a few Hot Rod Mechanix.

Now, my buddy Dale has the biggest collection I have EVER seen - he buys them at every swap meet, buys out friends who are downsizing or changing hobbies, picks up some online, wherever he finds them. He plans to open a used hot rod bookstore someday - he should do fine for a while as he must have somewhere north of 20,000 magazines!

Steve

 

I've saved a few over the years, 1954 HRM and up, along with some others.
Great resources.

 

There is a way to store mags in 3-ring binders w/o punching holes in them. It's called a magazine holder - a strip of polyvinyl slightly longer than the mag and about 2 inches wide. Has three holes to accommodate the binder and a slot. Open the mag to the center, slide through the slot and place in the binder. Bought mine from March Performance (folks who make the slick aftermarket serpentine belt systems) but they sold off that subsidiary business awhile back. The obvious advantage is you can open the 3-ring binder to the page desired without removing the mag from the binder. There are also other solutions like vintage tin document boxes so keep your eyes peeled..

 

Lucas, there is another fairly inexpensive way to store mags and that is a simple 3-ring binder such as is sold for less than a buck at Walmart. For most mags such as the new Hot Rod or the old R&C's, the 1" binder will hold one year's worth. Them go to Staples or Office Depot and buy the clear sheet protectors which fit the 3-ring binder. Slip one mag into the protector and place in the binder. No need to punch holes. Now you're all set to go. The only problem is that you need to take the mag out of the protector in order to view it. Pretty simple and fairly cheap. Just a thought...

 

Here's some of mine. All these are from 64-70, IMO the best era of drag racing ever.

 

Nice to see others share the magazine collection disease. I have a collection which goes back to 1949 Motor Trend. I really have no idea how many I have. When my house was built I eliminated a "half" bathroom to use for a magazine room. Have twice that now!

Magazine mailing boxes are a handy size and hold 24 to 35 issues each. Easy to sort by years and not too heavy to move around.

In addition I created indexes for some of the collector magazines. Makes finding articles easy. Some publishers have offered indexes for sale.

 

Here are just a few of mine. Glad I'm not the only one with a problem

 

I would have close to a couple thousand magazines, New Zealand, Australian and American Rod mags. Store mine by the year lot in copier paper boxes. Does anyone happen to have handy their American Rodder stash with the concept drawing of the Joe Kress Model A tudor project ?? I have it in my rafters somewhere but would like a closer idea where to start year wise.

 

this is the last of my once-huge collection...

 

Great idea! I am always torn between anal compulsive - having everything exactly the same - and cost effective - I am a devout cheapskate - so my collection is organized using different approaches. Here's a thought. In Kentucky, surplus government property MUST, by law, be sold at public auction. The university system is always undergoing updates and is a great source for high quality metal bookcases (w/adjustable shelves), magazine holders and the like. Also, commercial furniture sellers are a good source of office type systems and prefer to sell it off cheap than to sell it for scrap. The trick organization solution for man caves (read garages) involves slick metal built-in cabinets of various configurations, and these often appear at surplus property sales. There is normally not a lot of interest and prices are very low.

 

Here's a few more