magazine/book collection

I'm a greybeard that has saved car/hotrod magazines for nearly 50 years. the time has come to liquidate them before my widow trashes them. i've advertised them, in bulk only, and only had dumbass replies. Other than selling singles is there a way to this or should I sell them by the ton to a paper recycler? The dumbies who would take them for free never take care/use them. open to suggestions and ideas.

 

As a magazine NUT and collector the idea of recycling them KILLS me! Find some other way to get them saved- PLEASE!

 

sell them in year bundles..59, 60, etc.,etc.

 

I need late fifties and early sixties Rod & Custom if you start selling them in lots- let me know. Thanks Jim

Also any Hop Up or any 1966-1972 Popular Hot Rodding and Car Craft.


It's funny because I have been RABID for old magazines for the last almost 40 years (I'm 44) and not ONCE have I come across someone willing to let me take care of their prized magazine collections (with a few knowing they were going straight in the trash when they were gone). A real sad one was I knew a great old guy that had them all back to Hot Rod Number 1- his son put him in a home and they cleaned out his house in one day and threw ALL the contents of the house in a DUMPSTER! They had someone come in and take his MINT '32 Roadster and all the NOS parts as well.

 

Maybe offer them to an auto museum-AACA,Peterson,etc.?

 

Would be a shame to send them to the shredders. Im like Jim A (well maybe not quite as bad lol) Ive been collecting the old mags forever. A guy I know knew I loved the old magazines and one day he gave me around 12 boxes full. Heaven I tell ya ... I even love the smell of em.

I think spoons idea of selling them in year bundles is probably an easy way to move them. Wish I lived in Florida, it would be fun to check out your collection.

 

I have a collection of thousands from 1947 up and have been very happy the price of old magazines have stayed low as I collect for there historic value. I cant believe you cant give those magazines away. I gave 30 little pages to a 23 year old at a flea market because he was looking at them and after talking to him for a while found out he ownes a chopped 54 Chev hard top that he built. Its all a matter of perspective I see no monitary value in thies magazines they are history and my collection will be given to my son and if he does not want it it will be given to some one else who will hopefully appreciate it.

 

im looking for some mags carcraft,hot rod from 1967 and all the issues of popular hotrodding that show the build up of project X

also any like dragstrip usa or anyother drag mags

 

The dumbies who would take them for free never take care/use them. open to suggestions and ideas.[/QUOTE]

I take offence to that statement. I have had more than one collection given to me over the years and take great care of them . You need to meet better people. There is a thread on here about young HAMBERS look up one of them in your area Im sure they would apprecite them.

 

We purchase bulk collections regularly. Give me a call at the shop and we can work something out.
-Rob
(916) 924-9744

 

Where have you advertised them? I'm interested. I am an artist and I am always on the lookout for reference material. Please don't even think of recycling them. My issues will have to be sold after I'm gone they mean so much to me. Please let me know what you have, and where you will be selling them at.

 

You can't find a responsible person who will be the new caretaker until its time to pass them on again? And you are giving them away? Man oh man!

I started collecting the little books 2 years ago and I love knowing that some kid picked this up off of the stand and was reading it as the golden age of hot rodding and customs was taking place. Who knows how many projects and dreams the magazine that you hold in your hand has launched.

If you still have some little books feel free to shoot me a pm. I will gladly pay shipping or I will be in Leesburg Florida in less than 2 weeks. Maybe I can borrrow my girlfriend's father's car and make the 2 hr drive to check them out. Boy, I wish you lived up here!

 

As LOWCAB said- PLEASE do not recycle them! This knowledge needs to be kept alive.

 

I had excellent results selling past copies of Rodders Journal on Ebay. I sold them grouped 1 year at a time. I think most buyers are overwhelmed when asked to buy a complete collection. After all, 50 years times 12 months = 600 issues and that only represents one subscription. Even if you were only asking a $1.00 for each magazine that is $600... a lot of money for most folks in this economy. Multiply this by say 4 or five magazine subscriptions and now you are talking about some serious money. On the other hand, anyone can visualize and afford to pay say, $20 for a years worth of magazines published in the 60's. It also allows someone to buy some magazines to fill in their collections without buying the entire collection and needlessly duplicating their own collection. To get a missing back issue most people would buy a couple of duplicates to get the magazine they actually want but would balk at speeding a lot of money to get the same result. The other reality is that some of your magazine may be very valuable while the bulk of your magazines are less so. Selling them a year worth at a time helps achieve a better overall result for you and the buyer. The only downside is that this approach results in more work for you... packing, mailing answering emails etc. and your time is certainly worth something. I managed this problem by listing enough magazines (say 4 groups) each time to make it worth my while to go to the post office once a week.

 

Marco,they have value and potential for someone who has the the patience to retail them;I don't.with the current economy I felt someone could buy or trade into a parttime job. Maybe someone will come up to bat,i certainly won't give them away. i'd sooner play with a car than play the E-BAY game

 

I used to sell vintage magazines at auto flea markets but most of the sales market dried up 10 years ago. Up here little pages sell for about a buck a piece if they sell at all and only to people who want to try to flip them again. Most people think I'm FULL of shit but the magazines are a hard sell if you want more than 3 bucks each. Every show I go to there are more gray beards wanting to sell me more magazines at a price thats higher than I can sell mine for. I have been told by lots of people to raise my prices because it makes there price look bad. I gave up on selling and just started to give my doubles away to younger guys who I meet and learn that they will appreciate the gift.

 

Ive only been collecting since the 70s, but ive got plenty. Often wondered what id do with em, as in bulk, it would cost a lot to ship em. (they take up lots of space)
Im going to keep a look out for young people who love hot rodding, and give em away.
Of course thats only the mags, the hardcovered books can line my coffen! Ill take those with me. lol.

 

I get more enjoyment passing the history to a young person that I ever got selling them. But Im weired that way.

 

Boy does this strike home to me! My wife is about to give me the old heave ho, and one of her reasons is is all my "car junk", her words, not mine, in particular all my magazines! When we split, I'll miss the dog (Yoda), but I'll still have my cars, tools, and automobilia. That being said, don't recycle them, I'm sure there are people out there like minded who will help you out. I personally am looking for American Rodder's from the early '90's with the tool building articles, mine got destroyed when the basement flooded, also any Hot Rod Mechanix and Rodders Digests.

Brian

 

date/grade / bundle and sell or give away

i wish HR would have directory index annuals/ books like NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC (i have almost all these mags too from a local school dating from 1899... sad the entire edition come on two CD's now )


i have way too many car duplicates cuz guys don't wanna sell singles ...
i have invested in magazine binders and three drawer lateral file units (each of the four drawers are not tall enough )
one unit will contain my near complete HR pile 20 YEARS A SHELF so four cabinets will contain all my car mags when sorted

i keep a updated spred sheet and grading .. update when i see some of good quality and add lists of dates of others like the LIFE mag with GRABOWSKI


bundle/box my dups by year its alota work
AVON BOXES WORK SWELL KNOW A DEALER?

very hard to just sort without reading and getting distracted..

 

That's damn sad that a women would give you the flick over car magazines. Just doesn't seem right to me.

 

i sell mine @ swap meets - price them cheap & they'll go like gangbusters - i usually get a buck apiece for them

 

Do you "buck apiece" guys have any of the ones i'm still looking for? I end up paying through the nose for the ones I need and once complete my collection will be worth maybe 10% of what i paid.

In buying and selling magazines i've found eBay to not be much advantage, between the fees and postage costs it's tough to sell them unless in bundles like suggested and even then they go for much less than individually. Buying them individually on there is too expensive.
I'm not sure what a complete collection of Hot Rod from Jan 48 to this months (March 11) is worth but i'm doubting it's as much as i've paid for the just the 1948 and 49 ones.

Another issue is shipping. Hot Rod alone takes up about 15 feet of shelf space and weighs several hundred pounds.

 

I've been collecting car magazines for decades and have always thought they were an incredible bargain. Pick up a 50 year old magazine for a buck or two. Hell...that's cheaper than a 2011 copy hot off the stands. I'm amazed how many magazines survived the test of time. It seems that some of the stuff has more supply than demand (ie 60's Hot Rod's).
Buying/selling old car magazines is like old car parts; when you're selling, nobody wants to buy your part and when you start looking for something, you can't find it or it's the moon when you do.
IMHO, old car magazines are a huge part of Hot Rodding and it's sacriligious to shit can them. Turn someone on to them, they may get hooked!

 

start selling them in year bundles. there are people worlwide interested in what you have! myself included.

 

I've got a ton of Hot Rods listed for sale in the classifieds right now and havent had much interest. Sometimes when I list magazines for sale I barely am able to post the ad before I'm flooded with PM's from interested buyers, other times no interest at all.

 

I buy mine at swapmeets and carshows. I could spend a fortune buying from classifieds. Too many magazines and to little money. If it`s meant for me to have them, they will cross my path. I would rather buy another project car than a boatload of magazines. I can imagine the room they take. I have 15 units of 30 inch wide and 6 shelves high. There is sombody who would glady pay to have these.

 

Find a young guy that shows an interest in the hobby and give him the magazines. It happened to me and I think about Ralph every time I look at the 1940's Hot Rod magazines and SCTA newsletters he gave me back in the late 1970's.

 

I got a huge collection from an older gentlemen a few years ago he was 73 at the time I had to borrow $$$ to buy his stuff. But got all of honk,hop up rod&custom,hot rod,car craft up to 57. Plus lots of other stuff. Every year up to his passing last year I would call him just to say thanks he was a nice guy. Last June I answered an ad for 10 boxes of free car magazines in a town 2 hours away the older man told me he had them advertised since March with no reply. In that collection was Hot Rod annuals from 54 to 61 as well as Custom car annuals of the same years.

 

Hi Screwball;
I collect magazines as well,and have just started moving some out..Library is too full.. Anyway, your comment about selling them cheap at flea markets around Ontario, your really still giving them away. Time you add the Ontario fuel cost and swap meet fees,there isn't much margin left..
I dug out a bunch of 50's stuff for a guy who "just had to have them"..that was a month ago,and there still sitting here..

Moral of the story is, ANY of you guys who are worried about your "stuff" ending up in landfill, put the stuff in a box,(or boxes),and mark on the box,WHERE you want the stuff to go..
maybe there's a kid down the road,or a museum who will preserve, the "stuff" we spend a lifetime hoarding.
Thanks;
Rick