Do you remember as a youth when you’d ride your bicycle down to your neighborhood drug store to get the latest issue of your favorite car magazine? I sure do, and I had several favorites (before that, it was comic books). The seller must have been a fan of four specific magazines that date to the 1950s. Only one of them is still in publication, Motor Trend, though no longer monthly (quarterly as of last year). The seller has a trunk full of these treats which may be in good condition. Located in Beavercreek, Ohio, the trunk and perhaps 300 magazines are available here on Facebook Marketplace. This trip down memory lane will set you back $195 OBO.
All of these publications enjoyed good runs. Three of the four are no longer being published, so finding any of them used today would require a lot of online searching. That includes Rod and Custom (from the 1950s to 2014), Car Craft (1953 to 2020), and Motor Life (1954 to 1961). Motor Trend is still with us, having started in 1949 and now in its 76th year. The top tier of the magazines in the trunk looks okay, and if 300 are in there, you’d be getting each issue for about 65 cents each.
Everything you see here is a package deal, no cherry-picking specific magazines or issues that you may have missing from your own collection. The seller is looking to clear out the garage, so you could also make an offer and see what happens. We’re told you can pick them up which probably limits where the final buyer may be. Shipping that heavy trunk full of papers would not come cheaply; in fact, shipping might double the cost of your purchase. Thanks for the tip, Barn Finder “Ted”!
Jackpot is right Russ ! Hours of entertainment and a great source for reference material.
I had a large collection of automotive magazines, approaching 1000 issues. Included was almost 50 years of Motor Trend, plus a couple decades of various Mustang titles. I really didn’t want them any more. A couple years ago I found an individual/ organization who wanted a group of them to archive for future reference. I am in the process of moving another large group to an individual for the same reason. I feel fortunate to have found these recipients, as taking them to the landfill would have been (mentally) painful.
Quite honestly. That seems like a very fair price. They look like they’re in good condition too from the photos. This would be great for research etc. I’m glad they’re being sold and not thrown away. You can’t replace old magazines like this once they’re gone, they’re gone.
Really cool. Nice collection you had Bob, wow. Glad these things get passed on, we had old Field and Streams laying around when I was a kid. Loved the stories and tips. Absolutely gold for a young hunter and fisherman.
My 2 favorite car magazines were Muscle Mustangs and Fast Fords, Car and Driver.
Really cool. Nice collection you had Bob, wow. Glad these things get passed on, we had old Field and Stream magazines laying around when I was a kid. Absolutely gold for a young hunter and fisherman.
My 2 favorite car magazines were Muscle Mustangs and Fast Fords, Car and Driver.
This just reminded me of something I forgot for years and just remembered now. When I was a kid ( early mid teens) whenever I would get sick, my Mom, when he went food shoping would always get me a get well car magazine. I’d wear the cover and pages out reading it over and over. My Mom just passed away last Sept. Funny the little things you foget then see something like this and remember.
I have boxes & boxes of older car and motorcycle
magazines.Almost all of the issues of British Car/British-
Car & Bike ones.I’d probably sell off some of them,if I
could get a reasonable amount for them.
If you decide to get rid of your old magazines,DON”T
take them to the landfill – at least recycle them.
Never was a big magazine fan. In 1967 Motor Trend, and others, cost upwards of .50 cents! That’s right, all that grass cutting for a mere magazine, when that .50 cents could be put toward another model car,,,for $1.99. My uncle got Popular Science, and maybe Popular Mechanics, and they told us all we needed to know for the midwest. California surfing wagons and Barris Customs did not have much appeal in the Beer City.
I just sent in a tip, another of our youth, I hope it gets printed. Stay tuned,,,
I won’t ruin the surprise Howard. I saw the tip and man was I happy to see that!!! Some of thebbest memories from when I was a kid surrounded that.
***HINT HINT HINT*****
Someone Please write it up!!!!
Put me on the list of car magazine and workshop manual owners. Over the years I collected a huge number of publications, posters, and anything else related to the cars we had. Didn’t throw anything away but have been passing them on to younger folks who like the history. Most recent was giving a ’76 Le Mans Porsche poster to my niece’s 5 year old to put on his bedroom wall. Still have a few British and German publications including a 1954 Porsche factory service manual. I’m still working on the “Excellence Was Expected”, the complete history of Porsche from the beginning. Must be 2,000 pages in that thing.
Bob, I’m still working on Excellence Was Expected, too. Only up to the ’70s so far. Not EVERYTHING is on the internet!
bobhess… You could probably put that Porsche ’54 service manual on Bring A Trailer [BAT] and bring decent money. Certain manuals, tools, and luggage bring big bucks on there.
Yep, I’m on this list. I had every Motor Trend magazine from Sept. 1979 to about the year 2019. Tossed all of them from 2000-2019. Still have the other issues dating back to 1979. Unfortunately, they will soon be hitting the landfill as my wife and I are downsizing.
There are countless venues for giving away items for free, including but not limited to two heavily featured here; craigslist and Facebook marketplace. They have a “free” or give away section and it’s easy to list. If you don’t want a stranger in your house, move them outside or meet them at a public place. Someone would be more than happy to take them.
Unfortunately most older car magazines don’t have much value. Rarity and condition drive price, obscure and regional publications tend to hold their value compared to mass produced names like these. The spines and corners of those pictured aren’t bad, if the rest are in similar command and aren’t mildewed the price is pretty good for someone wanting to build a personal reference library.
Steve R
I agree on the limited value of print publications. I am in the process of recycling a boatload of NCRS publications and other Corvette magazines and memorabilia. There is just no demand for them. I turn 72 in March and my wife (The one with guaranteed preferred parking and the 24/7 buffet in Heaven for sticking with me so far) are clearing out stuff we know our children have no interest in. That is just the way it is. No big deal. If you see my Corvette here in the next few years, please give “The Duchess” a fair offer.
I have at least a thousand dating from the late 50’s up ….probably more and motorcycle mags too….
Old mags like this are fascinating. I have a collection of Mad Magazine as well as some others. Like so many things in life, great stuff, as long as they don’t smell funny.
I got rid of a lot of 1980s motorbike magazines (Bike, Superbike, etc) but I have kept Motor Sport (car / racing etc) and have a complete run from the late 50s to the early 90s. I’ll give them away at some point, but there’s useful information in there!
Cars ,bikes,guns, also Playboy, Penthouse and Hustler mags.
With Hemmings Muscle Machines ceasing publication last month, the car magazine genre is just about dead. I used to subscribe to more than I could read, now it is down to Car and Driver and SnowTech for sleds. Morning constitutionals will never be the same.
My ritual of recycling them to Dentist, chiropractor and Dr. office is about over too.
The days of cool cars and cool car magazines are over, unfortunately.
There are still some good ones published in the UK. Octane for example.
I was a young teen and our family moved into a new home, perhaps in 1963. Left by the previous occupant in one of the closets was a big box of five years of “Road and Track” as well as “Car and Driver”. I read every one of these from cover to cover, over and over. Very formative years both for my education and the development of auto racing and engineering. Formula One and Indianapolis went from front engine to rear engine, and the Jaguar XKE was a new car. I never recovered from the fascination with the European and exotic. “Hot Rod” and “Motor Trend” just didn’t have the snob appeal.
Just a thought/tip for those of you considering throwing your magazines away.
Old folks homes (I guess Senior Citizen homes is more appropriate) often take donated magazines/periodicals for their guests. Problem is, they’re typically womens’ magazines….cooking, fashion, movie etc. I have donated car magazines, also hunting and fishing types to a local home, and the men love them. What’s good about the car magazines is that they often highlight vehicles from these old guys’ eras. They really appreciate them! Good alternative to pitching these great magazines.
Excellent idea, never thought of that.
I had Road & Track magazines from the early sixties. I think I put them on Craig’s List and sold the early ones to a guy from Spokane. When I asked what he was going to do with them, he said he and his wife cut out the ads and framed them in low cost frames. She had a kiosk in a mall in Spokane and sold stuff like that. I almost decided to stop the sale so I could do this myself but decided to let them go to Washington!!
You cannot keep everything, as I am finding out!!
At age 76, one thing that is foremost on my mind is downsizing the hoard. That includes old and more recent car magazines. The Saturday after Thanksgiving was a cold weather car show and flea market. I brought a yellow Bell Telephone tarp that I set on the ground with everything free. There were books and mags as well as kitchen items. The newer Hemmings mags went as did much of the kitchen items. I recycled the rest. I only made about $40 from items sold during a long day, but it’s just good to get out. I used a kerosene heater for the first time in 30 years. The 66 F-100 was loaded, not so much on the way home.
Cool idea. Ya done good!
Love this. Good job.
That collection will offer someone hours of entertainment and nostalgia. Speaking of magazines who remembers the late great “Automobile Quarterly”?
AQ was total class.
Landfill and throwing away comments. Um, put them on Craigslist or Facebook for free please. People will jump at them. Or, if you did want to make a couple of bucks and go through the leg work, list them as sets of 12, a full year on ebay. There’s always a market, even if it is dwindling. But, at the very least please donate/ give away.
I used to have a fairly sizable collection of custom car magazines – when I lost interest in that side of the hobby I peddled them off at swap meets, etc. Looking at the photos I see in the middle row an old Rod & Custom magazine with a white ’53 Studebaker coupe in the upper right hand corner. I had that issue and recognize the car – John Simonson’s car that set a record for closed cars at Bonneville of 208 miles per hour in 1963-64. I originally saw the car on its return trip to North Dakota after setting the record. For years John displayed the car at the North Dakota State School of Science (he was a graduate) in a glass encased garage. After years of cooking inside the garage the car was removed and restored and now sits in the lounge at the Simonson truck stop on Highway 2 in Grand Forks, ND.
In the early 70s I got a mag called Chevy High Performance. It was not the slick magazine that most are familiar with. It was all black and white, even the pictures. It featured part numbers from Chevrolet for cams, heads, pistons rods, cranks, short blocks long blocks, even the L-88, ZL-1 and the LS-7. Also how to set up your Camaro or Corvette for racing. Had articles on new cars and the options that could be ordered on them. The magazine didn’t last long. My brother threw them out.
Thanks for featuring my “find”! Great write up and great comments from the readers!
Whoever scores this will have fantastic throne material for the rest of their lives.
GLWTS! As a hoarding packrat trying to donate various things to charities, I’ve found that they will ONLY accept certain things on certain days. Among other things, I have a four drawer file cabinet full of Auto sales literature ranging from mid fifties through late nineties. Not tech savvy enough to list on line, I contacted two dealers listed in Hemmings Motor News, only to find one unfortunately deceased and the other retiring. Over the years, I’ve spent several thousand $$. Like the old song 🎵 Some People Got it and Make it pay! 🎵Some People can’t even give it away 🎶 😐.
I wonder if any old Hemming’s or J. C. Whitney catalogs are included, they were THE BEST, and so great to browse through! (Everyone reading this knows how cool these were too ;-)
As you said, it is interesting to look thru the old Hemmings and JC Whitney catalogs. A few years ago, I did buy one of each for maybe $5 apiece at a flea market. And I saved some that are from the 90’s even that I may have bought on the news stand. Fun to check the old prices on vehicles like station wagons and pickups. Forget about early Broncos!! If we had invested in them, we’d be rich. But back then there was no money for that.
UND! Go Sioux!!
I recently went to a large book store in my area that i use to go to and buy car related magazines, I had not been there for quite some time. I was surprised to see the car section mostly empty, I asked the clerk why that was, he said sir where have you been, many car magazines are discontinued and only a few can be seen on line. That was a sad thing for me to learn.
That brings to mind times when there were numerous car mags, and those that did not sell must have been returned to the distributor. Then, some had a second life for sale at a much discounted at marts. One that I used to go to across the Delaware River from Philadelphia was the Pennsauken Mart in NJ, a very long building with rented stalls along the outsides and a center aisle. There was also Zern’s Market and the Montgomeryville Mart in Montgomery County PA, similar thing. The car mags had some or all of the covers ripped off so they could be sold at discount for 50c each. Zern’s was a farmer’s market that also had outdoor stalls. It lasted until about 10 years ago.
The Reading Terminal Market that still operates in center city Philadelphia is somewhat similar but not as run down and is a popular tourist destination. This is beneath the defunct Reading Railroad shed but is next to Septa trains that connected the old Pennsylvania and Reading RR lines, and lead to Amtrak at 30th Street Station.
Dave, I too was a regular at Zerns market, I miss it, someone said the building is still there sitting empty.
John C. I also recently was rather shocked and dismayed to realize yhere are hardly any car magazines left and even fewer survive as monthly publications. I think I’ll started trying to buy up old copies of Automobile Quarterly before the relatives toss them in the garbage as the older collectors pass on.