Motor Sport Magazine - Help
Discussion
Hello,
I am attempting to put a decent collection of Motorsport magazine together and am trying to find people with copies/volumes that they would sell at a resonable price.
I can't pay megabucks, but then i'm putting the collection together for my enjoyment, not to sell on at a later date.
I know the bound volumes are worth more, but i'm still interested in them. If you can help, please mail me (moir_alex @ hotmail . com)
Alex
I am attempting to put a decent collection of Motorsport magazine together and am trying to find people with copies/volumes that they would sell at a resonable price.
I can't pay megabucks, but then i'm putting the collection together for my enjoyment, not to sell on at a later date.
I know the bound volumes are worth more, but i'm still interested in them. If you can help, please mail me (moir_alex @ hotmail . com)
Alex
I have an almost complete set 1962 - 1997 and 2004-2011. It is my ambition to complete the set one day. Sadly my other half doesn't agree and believes kitchens are for cooking in not for archiving motor racing history.
Good luck with your collecting and Race Retro would be a great place to start. I picked up January 1959 there for £1 the other year. It had the 1958 Syracause GP report which described the first British World Championship win. Amazing.
Good luck with your collecting and Race Retro would be a great place to start. I picked up January 1959 there for £1 the other year. It had the 1958 Syracause GP report which described the first British World Championship win. Amazing.
By coincidence I was in Leeds market this afternoon and there were various MS mags in a box at one of the stalls. Almost picked them up for you, OP, but wasn't sure what you were after. I'm sure you will be able to find whatever you need at one of the autojumbles. My ultimate goal is to properly archive all the magazines in a database which details the primary articles/race reports from each so that it's easy to search and access precisely the information you require. Maybe once I retire...
I would echo what others have said - autojumbles are a good place to start. I was very lucky about 10 years ago to pick up 5 bound volumes from the 60s at £5 each in a secondhand bookshop.
Also keep an eye on the local free ads. I picked up a complete run from c.1947 until 2000 for £30 about 5 years ago. Sadly the chap who had subscribed for over 50 years had died and his family didn't want the magazines. The early magazines are fantastic.
My OH also says they're untidy but they're staying.
I believe that Motorsport are now producing a CD Rom or similar with all of the issues on and its available by decade. It may not be quite the same but its more compact....
Also keep an eye on the local free ads. I picked up a complete run from c.1947 until 2000 for £30 about 5 years ago. Sadly the chap who had subscribed for over 50 years had died and his family didn't want the magazines. The early magazines are fantastic.
My OH also says they're untidy but they're staying.
I believe that Motorsport are now producing a CD Rom or similar with all of the issues on and its available by decade. It may not be quite the same but its more compact....
chevronb37 said:
My ultimate goal is to properly archive all the magazines in a database which details the primary articles/race reports from each so that it's easy to search and access precisely the information you require. Maybe once I retire...
Not sure how good the search is, but you can already get every issue from 1924 onwards on DVD from Motorsport's shop: http://www.motorsportmagazine.co.uk/motor-sport-ar...Quite expensive to get all of them though!
david_b said:
chevronb37 said:
My ultimate goal is to properly archive all the magazines in a database which details the primary articles/race reports from each so that it's easy to search and access precisely the information you require. Maybe once I retire...
Not sure how good the search is, but you can already get every issue from 1924 onwards on DVD from Motorsport's shop: http://www.motorsportmagazine.co.uk/motor-sport-ar...Quite expensive to get all of them though!
david_b said:
chevronb37 said:
My ultimate goal is to properly archive all the magazines in a database which details the primary articles/race reports from each so that it's easy to search and access precisely the information you require. Maybe once I retire...
Not sure how good the search is, but you can already get every issue from 1924 onwards on DVD from Motorsport's shop: http://www.motorsportmagazine.co.uk/motor-sport-ar...Quite expensive to get all of them though!
david_b said:
Probably easier than trying to scan 85 years worth of mags yourself anyway 
As an aside, I'm always reminded whenever I read an old Motorsport how remarkable it is to see the same writer as an ever-present over 80 years. Even more so that he's still going!
I agree - the best thing about the magazines from the 50s and 60s (apart from the letters page where readers would write in to tell WB that all the wings on their new Cortina - or whatever - had rusted away to nothing inside18 months) are the letter from 'Our Continental Correspondent'. Reading these private musings of Jenks to Bill Boddy is like being allowed to listen in to an apparently private conversation between two supreme enthusiasts. As an aside, I'm always reminded whenever I read an old Motorsport how remarkable it is to see the same writer as an ever-present over 80 years. Even more so that he's still going!
For a whole generation, Jenks was their only link with continental motorsport taking place in far flung corners of Europe (I think I am right in saying that he was the only British journalist who made the trek south to Syracuse in 1955 and was on hand to record Tony Brooks scoring the first continental Grand Prix for a British car and driver since 1923). DSJ would pack up his Lancia/Porsche/E Type at the start of the season and live a nomadic lifestyle travelling from race to race throughout the season - perhaps returning home for the British Grand Prix. Sounds just about perfect to me. If you want to find out more, there are two great books on this - Jenks a Passion for motor sport and Jenks my Passion for Porsches.
jonnylayze said:
I agree - the best thing about the magazines from the 50s and 60s (apart from the letters page where readers would write in to tell WB that all the wings on their new Cortina - or whatever - had rusted away to nothing inside18 months)
You realise how used we are to reliable modern cars when you read old road tests and it's a note-worthy point that the car started on cold mornings, or when the engine was hot 
jonnylayze said:
For a whole generation, Jenks was their only link with continental motorsport taking place in far flung corners of Europe (I think I am right in saying that he was the only British journalist who made the trek south to Syracuse in 1955 and was on hand to record Tony Brooks scoring the first continental Grand Prix for a British car and driver since 1923). DSJ would pack up his Lancia/Porsche/E Type at the start of the season and live a nomadic lifestyle travelling from race to race throughout the season - perhaps returning home for the British Grand Prix. Sounds just about perfect to me. If you want to find out more, there are two great books on this - Jenks a Passion for motor sport and Jenks my Passion for Porsches.
Cheers, will have to hunt down a copy of them - there were some great articles in the 1000th issue edition of Motorsport along similar lines, as you say it's always interesting to read those period reports and see just what a different world it was. Looking back at DSJ's views in the late 60's/70's, where he was generally very much against the safety measures being introduced, seems quite odd with today's knowledge, but probably more understandable when you take into account the motor-racing he had grown up with and competed in.Edited by david_b on Sunday 23 January 22:04
n3il123 - could you let me know roughly what years you have in your big box. I'm pretty sorted for 1970 - mid 1990.
dr_gn - definately need some 50's copies. Could you let me know what you find at yours Dad's and roughly how many magazines we're talking about?
Please email me on the address at the top of this post and we may be able to sort something out.
Thanks,
Alex
dr_gn - definately need some 50's copies. Could you let me know what you find at yours Dad's and roughly how many magazines we're talking about?
Please email me on the address at the top of this post and we may be able to sort something out.
Thanks,
Alex
Edited by almoir1981 on Monday 24th January 15:16
having watched my old man build up a collection over the last twenty years, from the late forties to the present day i can safely say that its actually not that hard to build up a good collection of motor sport magazines. the magazines titeld "the brooklands gazette" and "speed" will be really hard to find though and sellers will ask a lot.
your best bet is to write down all the ones you havent got, go to autojumbles, car shows etc and find the sellers. then have a quick rummage through and ascertain what he has.... but dont get out your list at the stall because if he sees it and knows you are a collector the price of each magazine goes up a pound or two! you can get years or even decades in unlikely places so second hand book shops in old villages and the like are good haunts.
on the whole you really shouldnt be paying too much more than £5 per issue for the fities and sixties, £4 for seventies, £3 for eighties to present day. I have seen complete collections from the early fifites go for just over £1000.
there will always be some premium issues, Moss' Mille Miglia was about £10 purely because DSJ's review is such a good read, driver's deaths (Clark, Senna etc) also seem to add a few quid too.
centre pages often fall out, especially when they were colour and teh rest of the magazine was black and white due to the difference in paper weight.
...and, never, EVER, look at the classifieds....
your best bet is to write down all the ones you havent got, go to autojumbles, car shows etc and find the sellers. then have a quick rummage through and ascertain what he has.... but dont get out your list at the stall because if he sees it and knows you are a collector the price of each magazine goes up a pound or two! you can get years or even decades in unlikely places so second hand book shops in old villages and the like are good haunts.
on the whole you really shouldnt be paying too much more than £5 per issue for the fities and sixties, £4 for seventies, £3 for eighties to present day. I have seen complete collections from the early fifites go for just over £1000.
there will always be some premium issues, Moss' Mille Miglia was about £10 purely because DSJ's review is such a good read, driver's deaths (Clark, Senna etc) also seem to add a few quid too.
centre pages often fall out, especially when they were colour and teh rest of the magazine was black and white due to the difference in paper weight.
...and, never, EVER, look at the classifieds....
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