Kelly Blue Book and Kelly Kar history

[m-mman]

https://homesteadmuseum.blog/2022/01/15/from-point-a-to-point-b-kelleys-report-for-subscribers-of-the-kelley-kar-blue-book-los-angeles-15-january-1929/ 

 

Kelly Kar Company, the Car Max of its day 

Edited January 17, 2022 by m-mman (see edit history)

[Walt G]

Please correct the title to BLUE  book from Blub book. Had to read the thread to figure out what you were talking about. I have a few Blue books , most interesting for research as they list a fair amount of specifications.

[TAKerry]

Very interesting. I suppose thats one of the things I have never given any thought to.

[Phillip Cole]

Great history! Thanks for sharing. 

I still remember my great uncle Jack's copy of the Blue Book sitting on his desk at the Chevrolet dealership.

[TAKerry]

I thought at one time they were only available to dealers. Like they held all of the used car dealer super secrets.

[m-mman]

1 hour ago, TAKerry said:

I thought at one time they were only available to dealers.

They were offered through a (rather expensive) subscription. We think about their connection to auto dealer operations but they were also used (more regularly?) by loan companies.

 

Before the days of credit cards when cash & carry ruled the day, if you needed money to get by, you got a consumer credit loan on you car.

Not so much the high interest "Auto title loans" of today, but when you needed a few hundred bucks to get through the next few months. 

 

The blue books (NADA too) show the value wholesale and retail, but also contain a notation "LV" followed by a percentage. (LV 90%) This was how much you should loan of the wholesale value to secure your money. The older the car, the lower percentage that they would loan. 

 

I have several hundred from all decades and publishers. 

As Walt noted they also contain information about Wheelbase, horsepower, serial numbers and details about how to identify a particular car.  Example the serial number cut off that determines the difference between an identical 1948 and (first series) 1949 Chrysler corporation vehicle is listed, because it would make a difference in value. 

[John348]

I had this up at the 2001 Auto Show at the Javits Center in NYC it was a reprint of the 4th edition of volume 1 in 1926 of Kelly's Blue Book, I since had given it to a friend of mine.