We just moved a few months ago and it was a LOT of work - 7 project cars, a shed and cellar full of Mopar parts, garage full of tools and equipment and of course all the house contents and furniture almost all done by my wife and I. I still plan to move south in a few years when I can hopefully at least semi-retire and do not want to have to move that much crap again so we are trying to sort thru everything and get rid of stuff we don`t need. I have 10-12 Staples paper boxes full of old mags, 99% Mopar that I rarely look at but hate to get rid of them - is it worth it to keep them or just toss them in the recycle bin?
Jeff,
My name is Ben and I am also a magazine-olic....
I was facing the same dilemma a few weeks ago, I'm a pack rat for old magazines, they are all arranged in order in boxes, hate to throw them away... but all of the info we were keeping them for is available on line, now, so no reason to keep them! I found another pack rat with more space and got rid of 30+ years of Car&Driver, Road&Track, Automobile.. etc.. about 15 boxes full! At least I won't be the one recycling them... but kept the Mopar mags for now. There is no justification to keep them, but like anything vintage, they do bring me back to the past...
Ben
While Hot Rod does a pretty good job, the less popular magazines are not always available on line. I'm talking about the pre-interenet editions along with one offs. I would love to have a pile of mags like that to go through. I'd suggest at least donating to a local car club or put them on CL or ebay cheap. Media mail rates are pretty low.
I've got several boxes of old mags too and what I've started to do is each year go back to the oldest I have and re-read a year. I'll make scans of anything I want to preserve and then sell them in one year lots. Make a little gas money and keep the knowledge flowing.
I keep them for a few reasons - there are some reference pics for restorations and just general resto or modifying articles but also for the old pics that you can`t find online. I have old Chrysler Power mags along with the usual Mopar Action, HPM etc. so still on the fence about keeping them or not.
I have lived in my house close to 30 years now, and clutter is an issue on my mind a lot lately because I want to move out of this state in the near future. I'm not a hoarder, but I do keep things I think have some value or that I might someday have a use for.
I have magazines dating back to the 80s and some car magazines from my high school years in the late 70s.
My other big passion is aviation and decades of issues of pilot magazines are among my clutter. I decided I'd never need most of them and needed to start tossing them. But, I can't just throw one in the recycling bin, I need to read through the magazine first to see if there are any articles I want to save before it gets tossed. End result is it takes 30 minutes or more to dispose of a magazine!
I've gotten rid of a lot of aviation magazines over the last couple years, but still have a lot.
I haven't found that car magazines material from the past widely available on line. In fact, I'm glad I saved some things from Mopar Actions website before they closed down, these things disappeared.
So I slowly plug away on my magazine hoard, but in the mean time, every month brings another Mopar Collector Guide, Muscle Car Review, Hemmings Muscle Machine, Hemmings Classic Car, Hot Rod, AOPA pilot, Flying, and National Assocation of Flight Instructors Mentor and American Rifleman in my mailbox.
I'll never get on top of this I fear!
I have every Mopar mag printed until about 3 or 4 years ago. I also have a whole bunch of H.R. Motor Trend etc. going back to the sixties. I am keeping them all. There is just something cooler about an old magazine that the internet can't compare with. They usually aren't good enough for reference as the photo quality isn't generally there. I also collect tons of brochures and service manuals as well. I remember scoring brochures from the Chrysler dealer and day dreaming about how I would option my new musclecar if I could afford it so those aren't going anywhere either.
When I moved to Panama all of them got tossed even the ones with my car in them , sad but it is just stuff !
Given a choice of having he magazines or moving to Panama it is not contest :bigthumb:
Just like the rest of you, I too have a collection of old auto related magazines. I look at my collection of these mags every so often and think, I should recycle them. I have them in large plastic tubs in a large storage shed out back the house. It's not that I'm a hoarder as was said, but it's more organized chaos. I have a lot of the originals going back to the beginnings and origin of these magazines especially the Mopar related ones. Premier magazines like the newspaper type of Mopar Collectors Guide, or when they shared the pages of Chrysler Power to get a start in the subscription side. First issues of The Mopar Enthusiast, High Perf Mopar, Mopar Muscle even the Chrysler Quarterly of SIAC, which I was a member. When I was a member for a couple of years of Mid-America E-bodies, I have a collection of their club magazine The Broadcast Sheet, and the Slant Six News. I get very close to chucking them in the recycle barrel, and then say we'll maybe next year. But I continue to keep my subscriptions up to this day. Thanks, Al
Keep them. On occasion my friend finds some info from his thousands of mags. Well worth the space they take up.
I ended up recycling them and I had a lot of them. Not just Mopar but many Hot Rod, Popular Hot Rodding and others. I found myself finding everything I needed online and some of the older stuff out dated unless you are doing a nut and bolt restoration which I am not. My build is on the modern side so most everything I have in the older mags wasn't really current and is available with a quick search online.
I tried selling and giving them away and no interest at all.
I still kept a box of mags that had special meaning to me but that's about it. I moved the whole collection twice and finally gave in.
I think it depends on what you are doing, and if you ever look at them or if they are organized well to find that special tech article you need.
Wes
Another keep 'em vote. I have many; the usual current Mopar titles along with older runs like Mopar Enthusiast, Hi-Performance Mopar and MoPerformance/ Mopar Performance plus some regional ones from way back like Street Power and Street Machine. And some issues of Hot Rod, Popular Hot Rodding, Car Craft - remember the Cruisin' USA articles? I'm just not at the point of deciding it's time for them to go yet
:alan2cents:
I have all mine, a little over 800 by now...
I too have a collection of mags . . . Mopar and playboy. Just taking up space at this point but not too much. Not bothering me at the moment so keeping them for now . . .
I have kept most of my car magazines
Favorite was always Mopar Action; liked Rick's tech articles
Have a lot of Mopar/Car mags that have been discontinued or evolved into another title; High Performance Mopar, Moperformance (spelled correctly), Mopar Enthusiast, Muscle Car Review Chrysler Power and Chrysler Enthusiast.
Plenty of copies of early copies of Mopar Collector's Guide and very early Muscle Car Review and Mopar Muscle Mags.
Also have copies of All American Racer, MuscleCars, and others
Still subscribe to the Hemmings Mags (Muscle Machines and Classic) still reasonable price for subscription.
Backed off on my subscription to Mopar Muscle, just got too expensive and redundant.
I did organize my collection in loose leaf binders (pick up the 1 in binders in a dollar store and buy sheet protectors) cheap and easy.
What they get for older copies on ebay is insane! $10.-20 dollars a copy
Can't part with them just yet!
:drinkingbud:
Same as a lot have already said. I have a lot dating back to the late 70s. Been weeding them out as well. Some have gone in bulk without looking. Others I get caut up in before they go. I have an outside covered patio I hang out in. Always now keep some there. Few minutes of down time i will leaf thru one and make the call to stay or go. Most go.
You are not alone in this dilemma...
We all suffer from the same disease. I too have been collecting since the late 80's. When we moved from PA to SC in 2002 I put boxes and boxes of Hemming and other car mag out in the trash but kept on Mopar Specific ones. I thought the purge would cure me but now I have boxes and boxes of old and newer mags in my attic. Just can't bring myself to toss them.
Maybe some day but NOT TODAY !!
JS27
I ran into the same dilemma, had them since I was a kid. A lot of the articles aren't even relevant any longer but they are interesting to look at especially the ones from when I was a kid.
Now I just cut out the articles I think I will use in the near future and put them in plastic sleeves and put them in a binder. I have 3, 3 inch binders and every once in a while I go through and toss what I don't think I will need. Although I did keep a dozen or so from when I was a teenager. They are great with all the grease on them and all.