Art & Inspiration What in the world do I do with all these MAGAZINES?

I am sure many of you guys and gals are similar to me. I have been collecting every known car magazine from about 1970 forward. I probably have something like 3,500 magazines or better and they include everything from HotRod, StreetRodder, Rod&Custom, CarCraft, CustomRodder, Truckin, RodAction, PopularHotRodding, SuperChevy, Autobuff, plus all the varied rod and custom titles that have come and gone.

I always held onto these thinking I would want to re-read them someday, but now I am thinking they are just in my way. I am considering several varied options.

1. Just pitch em. Burn em. Dump em.

2. Sort through and try to determine what might be valuable and put up for sale (with associated pain in the buttness to follow through with this activity.)

3. Dig through them and rip out stuff I like for a random "Stuff I Like" file.

4. Donate them to the troops (if there is the ability to do such a thing...)

5. Cut out photos I like and make chairs or something like Denise does (decoupage). Unfortunately, this would create something else that I wouldn't want to throw away and it would just result in yet more stuff in the way.

6. Cut photos I like out and glue on back of garage door.

7. Give them to small kids at car shows (I am sure they would be excited to see the cigarette ads, vintage bourbon ads and bra-less pit girls from the late 70's. Our librarian used to censor them before placing them out for us to read...)

8. Save them to read later in case the oil crisis takes down the electrical grid and thus our internet as we know it. I can't imagine not getting my future fix on the internet, but reading old car mags by candlelight in the future would be better than nothing!

9. Put them on display in awesome magazine store style racks in the shop (Would love to, but NO room!)

10. ?????

I am at a loss. While I am sick of being "hostage" to my stuff, I also would find it hard to just pitch these. I am a hoarder. I recognize that. I have literally boxes and boxes and boxes of these things, many of which have just been stored unseen for 2-3 decades or longer.

What do you guys do???

 

If you find a good answer let me know. I find myself wanting to see if you want to send some to me!!!!

 

Like you said, I found an old 6 row magazine rack out of a store & stuck it against the wall in the "rec room" filled with my favorites & another shelf full just collecting dust. I haven't counted but I don't think I have anywhere near as many as you do. I love having them on display, but that's just me. I like the givin'em to kids idea as I loved'em from about 9 years old - game changing for me -but kids now- who knows how many would care at all with the internet out there?

 

There was a guy on the D24-P15 forum that send a few of us other members a few of his old mags from the 50's and 60's he no longer wanted. He offered them up to the other members for the price of shipping them in those flat rate boxes. I got a box with about 40 or 50 magazines for $16 shipping. I thought is was super nice of him. I enjoy reading them every once in a while.

 

That would be cool.

 

number 6

 

I guess a storage room like Jay Leno has would be great, but it is not in the cards...

Even the cheaper looking storage system in the third pic would be awesome. I just don't have any space left.

The magazines just end up packed in old computer paper boxes and there are boxes and boxes of them stashed in multiple locations that I can't even really access...

 

I take mine to the Veterans Hospital. The magazines are old, but they're better than Good Housekeeping.

 

I would say offer them to the troops. I send off my Goodguys Gazette every month. I have a friend who's son is there. He can get them in country in 4 days!!
I'll bet the guys would like to see those ads you're talking about!! I also make sure they get my HOG club magazines too. Do a little something for those doing a LOT for us!!

 

Good idea on the veterans hospital tfever. xlr8er, how are you getting the magazine overseas? Details? One concern is that these things are HEAVY as packaged in the computer paper boxes.

I have explored online to see what is being donated to the troops and find that there are lots and lots of places doing donations, but I haven't really found anyone willing to take a pallet or two of magazines!

Good comments so far.

 

post office has media mail rates that are cheap. might put them on pay it forward thread, someone might trade for them.

 

va hospital is a good idea..as long as the hadjis that run the place don't throw them out. when i was in iraq, my girl friend would mail mine to me, but I really didn't have time to read them. afgan. might be different, however i'm sure most bases have internet. I'd say stick any from '72 and back on ebay with no reserve. and see what happens. or you can sell the car ads out of them. you'd be surprised what someone would pay for a
69 camaro,boss 302 or any other muscle car advertisment.

 

If you still have them when the Road Rocket Rumble happens in june some of us could bring some trading material along and?????? Maybe our CRAP could become your STUFF and your STUFF could become our CRAP!

 

Get a flat rate box and send them to the troops overseas. If you don't know anyone personally, just go to the local office and ask for an addy.

 

Those flat rate box prices are for USA only. The box can be used for overseas, but there is a much larger fee. You can look it up on the usps website to find out how bad it would be.

 

I take them to the Houston Veterans hospital. Here, they have a large lobby. I just take them and leave them on tables in the lobby. Sometimes, I take them to the different waiting rooms. No one minds and most are greatful.

 

Like a lot of guys I saved my magazines for years and years, then I experienced the joys of divorce after more than 20 yrs. I had built a bookshelf on one wall of my shop and had all my mags in book storage boxes seperated by brand and year, very neat and organised. The circumstances dictated that they be moved quickly so they were put into boxes by brands and went to storage. Long story short, after paying storage for a couple years I decided at my advanced age I really didn't need thirty years of old magazines. Took to Pomona swap and sold a few (very few), then decided my brethren at the VA hospital, that provides my health care, could enjoy them more than I, and that is where they ended up. Now I have never seen them in any of the various clinic waiting rooms, I do know from a friend that they were available to him in one of the hospital wards. My advice is pass them on to a worthy cause and know that you are making someone else's day a little brighter!

 

Take a box with you to every show you go to. Every time a kid looks at your car, ask him if he reads magazines about hot rods. If he does, give him a handful. I did this with a bunch because I love corrupting youth. And if you don't keep the hobby alive, who is gonna buy all you other crap that you collected, thinking you were gonna build another couple cars before you kick.

 

i just went through this in the last couple weeks i took every mag i had newer then 71 and removed whatever i thought i liked or might use and threw the rest in the recycling bin and went through my 71 and older books and if i had doubles i posted them here in the classifieds

a friend of mine has a ton of mags that im going to be buying from him and ill do the same thing with them

 

Years ago, I filled the trunk of a local kid's Skylark with about a hundred old Hot Rod, Car Craft and Street Rodder mags. The smile on his face was priceless. Don't know if he is doing anything trad these days, but he is still into cars big time nearly 25 years later.

 

HAMB auction some. And when there is someone hit hard by life, auction for that cause.

 

Other than donating to the soldiers this is one that gets my vote. Spent Easter with my 4 nephews 6-11 years old for all of which the grease DNA has skipped their gene's. We messed around with my pops 27 and I was dumbfounded to hear him say it he liked the "Japanese Lamborghini better"...I had to school him on hot rods and geography, how pathetic, should've slapped my sister! Give them to our nations deprived youth!

 

Google for "donate magazines to troops" for some good ideas / organizations. They ask for current stuff but car mags are different IMHO, kind of timeless, but check with the org.

 

Several years ago, I sold most of my car magazines on that auction site. I realized I was never gonna read them again. The money I made on the magazines made for a nice Christmas for my family. This time of year, the money made could go into your ride.

 

I did something similar to #7 a few years ago, after I sorted through all of them and kept a couple dozen that seemed worth saving. I took some to car shows and handed them out to kids, and also dropped a bunch of them off at a couple different high schools that still had "shop" on their curriculum. Got back some of my storage space, and I'm sure at least some of the kids got a kick out of reading the old stuff.

 

Scan them and make a database... a library of this wonderful stuff

 

I would say give them to kids, I got a big box of them and im still reading them. It makes a bigger difference than you may think.

 

i like the "give them to kids" idea. my dad would get really mad when the cover was torn off his HotRod or Super Ford before he got to read it

 

I think that they cost about $30 or so to do it from all the ones I've sent over there. Well worth the price to me for the "price" those men pay every day. Hopefully it can make a day go quicker for them.

 

What ever you do, don't cut them up or destroy them. There are plenty of people out there that love this stuff (me included). If you don't want them, I would recommend selling them to an interested buyer on one of the auction sites. Even if you don't make that much, at least the magazines will be preserved, and the history in them saved for future generations. Donating them to various sources sounds like a good idea, but they would probably get thrown out eventually. I constantly seek ideas and inspiration from my old magazines, and I'm sure there are people out there who would want most of what you have.