Car brochures and magazines

[keithwrjones]

Afternoon all

First post, so 'hello' and apologies if I've posted in the wrong place.

Just wondered if there many other avid car sales brochures and magazine collectors about in this corner of the internet.

Brief summary of my 'library' contents:

• Over 20,000 different sales brochures including separate specification booklets and colour guides, of which about 90% are UK market, 5% JDM and 5% RoW

• Around 3,000 price lists

• Complete run of Autocar (and A&M) from October 1964 to date, plus several hundred issues from 1950 to 1964 - I'm looking to have a complete post-war run of these and I'm about 500 short at the moment

• Complete run of Motor from February 1972 to when it merged with Autocar in 1988, again plus several hundred issues from 1950 to 1972 - again, a complete post-war run of these is the aim, but about 700 of these short

• Complete run of Car from September 1962 (when it was launched as Small Car and Mini Owner) to date

The attached photo shows about a quarter of my hoard.

I'm always on the lookout for anything that fits in with my collecting criteria, so drop me a line if you're looking to reclaim some domestic space (or peace).

[keithwrjones]

It's funny, that's not how my kids describe it...

Thanks for the link to your post, BTW.

[keithwrjones]

2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:

Out of all of them, what is your favourite?

I'd struggle to narrow it down, to be honest. I like being transported back to my childhood by the 1970s ones, certainly.

I had the one for the Volvo 264 TE out the other day - it's cool, but more so the car than the brochure.

[keithwrjones]

Jim AK said:

What a superb looking collection OP.

Had quite a few when I was a child but my Mother had a habit of throwing them out sadly!!

Cheers Jim

Ha! My mother did similar when I was younger - suspect she thought she was doing me a favour.

[keithwrjones]

irocfan said:

WOW!!

Thanks!

[keithwrjones]

Jonnny said:

Are you the person who writes to dealerships asking for brochures?

Impressive collection, very dedicated.

Do you store them by brand?

Ha! Someone else asked if that was me recently, but no.

And yes, stored in marque order - every couple of years I re-sort to include the ones I've obtained since I last organised them.

[keithwrjones]

David87 said:

Fantastic. You must have some amazing stuff in there.

Yeah, a fair few niceties, but much of it's mainstream stuff for cars that you seldom see these days

[keithwrjones]

750turbo said:

I was woundering that too...

Impressive OP!

Cheers

[keithwrjones]

Biker's Nemesis said:

Thats dedication for you.

Nice one.

Ha! I've rather reached a point where I don't want to/can't stop

[keithwrjones]

V10 SPM said:

I'm very jealous of such an amazing automotive archive. I'm a collector too but prefer foreign and unusual vehicle brochures. Do you have a "holy grail" brochure that is missing from your collection?

I do like JDM items and brochures for cars not sold here, but as for holy grail stuff, I feel like that every time I get something that's new to me, even if it's just a different print edition of a catalogue I've already got.

[keithwrjones]

Mike1990 said:

That’s impressive!

What's more impressive is that that photo's taken in an upstairs room...

[keithwrjones]

Motorunion said:

Top collection. Need to show this post to the wife. She keeps telling me to get rid of my collections of What Car magazines dating back to April 1984. I always reply ' you will go before they do '
I remember once as a teenage not responding to a request from my mother to do something...she tried to rip my magazine ( A car of the year edition !! ) in half but failed. It is still stuck together with tape today, some 30 old years later.

I hear you. Last time I moved house I roped my kids in to help move them all. They vowed never to do it again.

[keithwrjones]

Wildcat45 said:

That puts my circa 2000 collection to shame.

I'm fortunate that I have the space.

[keithwrjones]

williamp said:

Hugely impresive, well done. Do you swap?

Thanks - I used to, but I try and avoid getting hold of duplicates as much as possible these days, so nothing really available at the moment.

[keithwrjones]

Alex_225 said:

Fair play to you OP, that's some real dedication to your collection! Top work.

Cheers - your sentiment is much appreciated

[keithwrjones]

CS Garth said:

Lovely stuff. There was a thread in the last day and a half where some kind chap was giving away his entire collection of Evo if of interest

Yes, I spotted that, thanks. I'd consider a run of Evo if it was from #1 onwards, but I'd also need to shuffle some things around to house them.

[keithwrjones]

Fun Bus said:

I had a large collection of brochures. Sold them off over a period of time. A PHer took a load off me. Part of me regrets it but in reality, they lived in boxes in the loft. I kept some back. I still have a considerable BMW collection which I think I might part with.

The best result I had was with a first edition, 993 Porsche 911 Turbo, bound book. £110 to a bloke in Sweden. Sold several Rover brochures to someone in the US. Never got back in to it like I used to.

About 16 years ago I sold a load of duplicate stuff on eBay - some stuff used to go for daft prices. Can't remember the last time I sold any but most items look like they go for more sensible prices these days.

[keithwrjones]

johnoz said:

Stunning collection, not many people can say they have anything like that many.
I couldn't be cheeky and ask for a scan copy of 1981 Scirocco Storm brochure

Thanks

Ha! I'll endeavour to remember, but feel free to give me a nudge if I'm taking too long.

[keithwrjones]

Auto810graphy said:

Great collection!

I was given some brochures in the late 80s as a child and somehow managed to keep them until today and have kept adding to the collection over the years but not to your level.

About 15 years back I was passed a very large collection (12 filing cabinets worth) from a long term collector who sadly passed away which are hopefully still all stored at my parents house. Most of these date from the 50’s onwards and include some really rare ones such as the DB4, Ferrari 250, Miura, GT40 etc and most are in the original mailing envelopes with covering letters.

Having looked at the prices asked on e-bay I hate to think how much they would all sell for when I get round to listing them.

Now that sounds like a wonderful collection of items. I've bought a few sizeable collections in the past to fill gaps in my own, but not (yet) been gifted any. Enjoy those.

[keithwrjones]

Fun Bus said:

When I sold my collection. I held back my BMW brochure collection. At the time, I loved the brand, having owned 2 bad ones I’m not so bothered anymore!

So, do I list individually on eBay or are whole collections something that sell?

I haven't sold any on eBay for a long while, but when I did brochures sold individually tended to yield more money. Depends on time/inclination, I guess.