Old Car Magazines

[langss]

Just wondering what everyone thinks regarding keeping Old Car Magazines. I'm looking for more space in my Garage and seriously consider dumping the lot. Granted they are all in boxes stacked on top of each other,so the footprint is not really that big 16"x24".I guess the question is worth keeping or space more valuable.Opinions please.

 

[jkherd]

I can't help you, I have the same problem.

 

[Doug B]

I have every issue of Street Rodder, and every issue of Rod and Custom from '95 until the end.They all fit into 2 standard 4 drawer file cabinets.I don't mind keeping them,but I don't know when the hell I'll ever read them again...

 

[bad_idea]

When the latest issue shows up in the box, I pitch the old one in the trash and put the new one on the back of the toilet. I used to keep the old ones and realized I'm not going to re-read them again. When was the last time you looked these old issues over?

 

[wrench409]

Keep the ones you want, cull those you don't want. Garage sale or donations to Goodwill will take care of the rest.


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[Stuart in MN]

I've been saving car mags for 40 years, but the problem is they aren't really worth anything except for maybe Hot Rod from the 1950s or early 1960s. I do go back and re-read them on a regular basis, but if I was smart I'd dump them all.

 

[imok]

I saved a lot of the small car magazines from the 60s. Not really valuable, I just like to look through them sometimes.

 

[larry_g]

I found a guy at the swap meet selling old literature and filled his pickup, he gave me $100. The rest I passed on to one of the grand kids. I, like you, was tired of the care and feeding of old paper.

lg
no neatsigline

 

[wyo george]

I'm in the same boat, probably a thousand mags from the early 90's to current(ish). I gave a ton of them to a young gear head I met along the way and kept the ones with articles relevant to vehicles and engines I own. I'm guessing I kept about a hundred of them. I still haven't figured out what to do with the ones I kept

 

[RalphInCA]

Just toss them.

If you ever get a desire to look at car ****, google.

 

[C G]

I have a couple thousand at least. Several years ago I went through them and just tossed the ones newer than 75, although I did keep a few of the newer ones if they had an interesting article I wanted to save.

Recently I purchased a large copier/printer/scanner from work (I'm in the business). Now as I drag stuff out of boxes I scan the articles or pics I want to save. The scanned issues go to the swap meet with me to sell cheap.

 

[mike91lx]

just tossed a ton of mine, realized i would never get back to reading all the things i thought i would

 

[Danver]

I have boxes full of Off-Road and Four Wheeler magazines starting from the early 80s up to probably sometime in the 90s. After that the collection turned into Classic Trucks magazine and I have piles of those as well.

I really should get rid of all of them.

 

[tinbender 66]

When the latest issue shows up in the box, I pitch the old one in the trash and put the new one on the back of the toilet. I used to keep the old ones and realized I'm not going to re-read them again. When was the last time you looked these old issues over?

I'm with bad_idea. Got tired of shuffling them around.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

I read them, pull out any articles I feel are worth keeping & recycle... I do keep Hemmings Muscle Machines, although I honestly don't know why...

Tommy

 

[lbperry]

I had mine stored in cardboard boxes in my mother-on-laws basement. When we sold her house I put 30 boxes of them at the street for the recycler. Almost cried.

 

[ChevyEFI]

I read them, pull out any articles I feel are worth keeping & recycle... I do keep Hemmings Muscle Machines, although I honestly don't know why...

Tommy

I have a copy of HMM with a car on the cover I helped build in the 90s.

And some Car Crafts with a project car of theirs that inspired me in high school. I bought 3yrs worth to get those 3 or 4 issues. lol

That's about it.

 

[southalabama]

Saw a story where Dale Jr collecting older ones. He buys from ebay like the rest of us except the money, women and fame part.

I enjoy looking at old mags. They do take space. Every few years I may cull a box. I go thru and cut the articles I like. If it's a particularly good mag I'll save the entire magazine.

 

[littlebritishcar]

Take the ones you don't want to a barber shop or hospital. I take mine to Kaiser here in Napa and they distribute them to the doctors offices within the hospital.

 

[71goldss]

I probably had around 300 or more dating back to the mid 60's. Hot Rod, Popular Hot Rodding, Car Craft, etc. etc... I finally got tired of storing them and tossed them all in the recycling bin about three years ago and haven't looked back! Other than a few tech articles, most of the contents were extremely outdated.

Now, if you were talking Rodder's Journal, that would be a whole different story! I've never owned any, but a friend of mine collects them all. Big collectors items I'm told! They're probably not really classified as a magazine anyway, but just thought I'd throw that out there!

 

[bulletpruf]

I'm a packrat. I know the rest of y'all don't know anything about that...

I don't have time to read the ones that keep coming in, but I keep renewing my subscriptions (Muscle Car Review, PHR, Hot Rod, Car Craft, High Performance Pontiac, The Legend). Maybe when I retire I'll catch up.

I spend my time these days on the internet; more interesting, current, and interactive.

Scott

 

[Soon2AdjustYou]

Take the ones you don't want to a barber shop or hospital. I take mine to Kaiser here in Napa and they distribute them to the doctors offices within the hospital.

This as well as Chiropractic and dentists offices as well. I know Id take newer issues and put them in my waiting room. Road and track is the only subscription I have for the office. Would love some hot rod stuff too.

At home I have several years of golf digest, Off-road, JP and Petersons 4wd. About 10 months ago I threw them all in the recycle bin.

I do keep the following organized for the garage.

Handyman
ShopNotes
This Old House

 

[Stuart in MN]

I'm a packrat. I know the rest of y'all don't know anything about that...

I don't have time to read the ones that keep coming in, but I keep renewing my subscriptions (Muscle Car Review, PHR, Hot Rod, Car Craft, High Performance Pontiac, The Legend). Maybe when I retire I'll catch up.

I spend my time these days on the internet; more interesting, current, and interactive.

Scott

You better stop renewing your subscriptions to PHR and HPP...

 

[sz0k30]

I've had this same magazine hoarding problem for many years. Over 30 years of: Hot Rod, Car Craft, Super Chevy, Chevy High Perf, Muscle Cars and others. I've also thought about getting rid of them for many years. I also realized that I never went back to check on old articles and technology was changing so fast that it didn't make sense anyway.

About a year and a half ago I completely redid my kitchen. Cabinets, countertops, floor, appliances, soffits - got rid of it all. To get rid of all this stuff I had to rent a dumpster. This presented me with the perfect opportunity to really "clean house". I got rid of them all. I still have subscriptions to 5 magazines, but I make a real effort to only keep 2 months of issues. When a new one comes in, the 3rd issue goes out. So far its been working.

 

[wnstwolf]

We are a sad sad bunch that seem to all have the same disease! Oh the **** I get from my wife about having 2 file cabinets full of them. Having gone through 5 Mustang restorations and 4 Camaro’s I have a bunch that relate to specific rebuilds or restoration ideas. Aside from that the rest just makes finding the ones you want harder.

Long live the GJ and all the great guys here.

 

[metalhead212121]

at one time I had a small collection. Finally broke down and tossed them. Every now and then I stop at Barnes and Noble for a few hours and flip through the magazines. Can't keep magazines that I don't buy.

 

[Danver]

We are a sad sad bunch that seem to all have the same disease!

Then I am sure I am not the only one reading this thread who has had the thought of taking some of these unwanted magazines to help out those wishing to get rid of them. Of course this is at the same time realizing I should be getting rid of my own hoard that I haven't looked at in years.

 

[abachman]

I saved mine for what seemed like forever... now when I finish them they go to a Veterans Hospital for the guys (and gals) there to read and pass along.

 

[Falcon67]

I have a 4 drawer file cab full of articles clipped from the 70s on, plus special editions, Engine Annuals, old catalogs, etc. I clipped things to reduce the pile over the years. Guess what - now I'm buying them back off eBay LOL. I did manage to leave 12 years of Byte Magazine in the attic when we left Houston years ago. I did manage to toss most of the 80s and early 90s mags, not near as cool as 60 through 74ish.

 

[wornoutoldman]

Yep and old motorcycle mags and also Mad magazine...

 

[lynnbilodeau]

This one made me laugh.
I have a few mags that I have kept, mostly from the 60's but a few from 70's and even a couple 80's. I have an 83 BMW 745i grey market car, so I kept a Road & Track article from 80something with an article about it.

The only other mags I keep are the Roundels (BMW car club mag). All the rest I just gave away. Posted an ad on Craigslist for free. The lady that came and picked them up said her grandsons will love reading through them. I had four big boxes of Hot Rod, Road & Track, Chevy High Performance, Car Craft, Super Chevy. Most of them were 90's through about 2007.

There is always someone out there who was in high school when these things were printed, and will want to read every issue.

 

[nonhog]

I'm getting spoiled with the online build threads. I use to have 8 magazines coming to the house. Never had time to work on cars. Now I only have Hot Rod coming to the house. Have been since 78. Tossed many a box full during one of many moves. Thinking about doing it again.

Down from over 1000. Don't care what I have now. Thanks for the reminder.
Time for some cleaning!

 

[gjz30075]

I've been framing the ones with the interesting covers (to me, anyway). They make great artwork on the walls of your den, garage, etc. Got the idea from Jay Leno's garage.

Yes, I frame the entire magazine; just don't have the heart to cut the cover off.

 

[willymakeit]

I have tubs full of them, stacked in the shop attic. Cant seem to get rid of them. Used to have about 150 of the small ones from the 50/60's. They disappeared in a move and I still regret it. Someone will dig thru them at some time and think they've found a treasure like I originally did.
I will just keep them. There is tech articles that are not in a lot of websites.

 

[Joe69]

I have a ton of old Mustang Monthly's, and quite a few HR Mustang mags. I used to reread them, but haven't in several years. It's probably time to let them go. I used to keep them for the tech articles, but the web has made a lot of that obsolete. Besides, a lot of the techniques are obsolete. I remember many sheetmetal jobs, welded in with a torch.

I might go through and pick out the articles on detailing engines and suspension, in case I ever get back to work on my Boss 351. Other than that, I really have no use for them.

Joe

 

[coljar]

If the Garage Journal was a paper magazine, I'd keep it, too. I keep all my car magazines and store them in those card board magazine storage boxes on shelves.

 

[WQ59B]

I have a lot, between the usual titles and club monthlies. But I do go back thru them; this spring I pulled out like 5 years of Rod & Customs looking for re-wiring articles, as that's a near future step for my '40. I hate relying on Google, the search function of any of these engines *****, and there's PLENTY that either gets broken-linked, corrupted on your HD, or just plain never shows up. Guess I'm a 'paper dinosaur', as nothing will ever supplement the volume & accessibility of paper, IMO. I mostly value the rare vehicle features and the tech pieces.

 

[KMinAF]

I have a pretty good stack of Hot Rod from 1990's and every time I go to throw them out I think how much I enjoy reading the car mags my father in law gave me that he saved from the early 50's. I wonder if my stash will have the same appeal to my kids and grand kids as those early copies did for me.

 

[Stuart in MN]

The only other mags I keep are the Roundels (BMW car club mag).

When I bought my BMW M535i, the previous owner threw in every single issue of the Roundel all the way back to volume 1, issue 1 so I have a complete set. I've read them all, but now they just take up a ton of space.

 

[FXR500]

I always told myself that someone would want to buy my 30+ years of Hot Rod, but now I'd hate to let them have my name and address history off the covers. I recently purged all the Mustang magazines. The Hot Rod will be going soon, as soon as I get up the nerve to drive them over to the recycle place.