Free for the taking - Magazines, several hundred.

[Restorer32]

Magazines, several hundred.  Antique Automobile back into the '80's,  Classic Car,  Buick Bugle,  Woodie Times,  Professional Car,  Self Starter,  Flying Lady,  Horseless Carriage and others.  FREE but must be picked up here at our shop in 17327.  Will not ship.  Hate to scrap them.  All in good shape.  No promise that all issues are there but we have accumulated a bunch of them in the last 44 years restoring.  Hate to get rid of them  but we need room.

[Bill Stoneberg]

Do you have a VA hospital around you ?   I took a stack of my magazines to them and they were quite happy to get them.

 

[Fossil]

A Veterans center might be another option.

 

 

[46 woodie]

I tried for the longest time to donate several boxes of the same type magazines to all sorts of places. I called my local retirement homes, hospitals, schools, and library's and they all told me that they could not accept them because of "liability rules". I asked what was going to happen, someone get a paper cut and sue them? I'm in New York so I can understand their rule, in N.Y. if someone looks at you crosseyed you can sue them. On a trip to the Speedway Museum, in Lincoln NE, I mentioned the fact that I had boxes of magazines and they told me that they would take them all. They sent UPS labels and even offered to pay for the boxes.

[Big Beat]

I had some luck selling a few boxes of magazines locally on Craigslist. Took a few months and the price was nominal, but they went eventually (in my experience, putting a token price on what is really a freebie weeds out a lot of time-wasters). In the past I have also taken magazines to a car show and gave out handfuls to any young boy who was interested. 

[alsancle]

I have thousands of magazines going back to the 20s.   You can't donate them, nobody wants them.   I'm going to gradually go through every one and scrapbook anything useful in to my marque specific binders.   That way it is indexed (sort of) and available to be found.  95% of the content is not interesting to me usually.

 

A forum member asked me for a specific picture I posted from a magazine and when I went back to find it I couldn't.   I mentioned the magazine but not the issue (like an idiot).  I spent an hour and got nowhere.

 

 

[K8096]

Take them to Hershey with a “free” sign on the box.  

[John_S_in_Penna]

PM sent.

[58L-Y8]

The Craigslist "Free" column works well.  I had saved four decades of Old Cars Weekly from issue one, finally decided I would never get back to pursuing them again.  I listed them for free on CL for local pick-up.  A younger fellow and his son who were just getting into older cars, called for them.  We filled his Jeep Cherokee completely full of all those big boxes.  Both gentlemen were profusely grateful for receiving them, I was so glad they came for those publications rather than simply recycle them. 

[30DodgePanel]

On 3/30/2022 at 4:30 AM, alsancle said:

I have thousands of magazines going back to the 20s.   You can't donate them, nobody wants them.   I'm going to gradually go through every one and scrapbook anything useful in to my marque specific binders.   That way it is indexed (sort of) and available to be found.  95% of the content is not interesting to me usually.

 

A forum member asked me for a specific picture I posted from a magazine and when I went back to find it I couldn't.   I mentioned the magazine but not the issue (like an idiot).  I spent an hour and got nowhere.

 

 

That's a lot of magazines. I'm interested if you want to send me samples of what you're talking about in a PM 

[JamesR]

I eventually had to put my old copies of Hemmings Motor News into the recycling bin. Nobody wanted them, and 90% of the content was ads, as the publisher intended. With a few exceptions (like old magazine classifieds from 1958 showing nice used Corvettes for $1400) old advertisements have little value. I held onto my copies of Hemmings Classic Car, though. They were more informational, about 1/4 the thickness of HMN, and I had a comment published in the reader's comments section.

 

 

[60FlatTop]

A couple of years ago I thought to myself "those magazines are called periodicals". After a period I throw them out. A month or two seems to be working just fine.

 

I heard about a guy who saved every car magazine he had bought for over 50 years. He said his dream was to sell them all and use the money to take his family on a trip to Disneyland. Someone said if he was thinking like that he was already on his trip to Disneyland.

[1912Staver]

Both the Antique Automobile and the Horseless Carriage Gazette seem to be decent sellers at swap meets. $1.00 - $2.00 each , particularly ones 20 years old or older. Real early issues seem to sell even higher.

[John_S_in_Penna]

48 minutes ago, 1912Staver said:

Both the Antique Automobile and the Horseless Carriage Gazette seem to be decent sellers at swap meets. $1.00 - $2.00 each...

Not around here, or at Hershey, from what I've seen.

Speaking at least about the AACA magazine, I'd say

that old issues back into the 1970's can hardly be given way.

[1912Staver]

Everything old car oriented seems to be a bit rarer , and a bit more costly way out here in the Pacific North West. Supply and demand most likely. Lots of old car interest , comparatively few old cars , old car magazines compared to the North East and Eastern Seaboard.

Edited April 2, 2022 by 1912Staver (see edit history)

[gossp]

We always have several old car club magazines on the table at Hershey, I charge a quarter and accept exchanges. Sometimes I get a publication I have never seen, sometimes a neighbor shows up every 30-90 minutes to swap the one he just finished out for one he hadn’t read yet. It’s as much about giving me something to read if it gets slow as anything.
 

Free to kids always. 

[George K]

On 3/30/2022 at 6:30 AM, alsancle said:

I have thousands of magazines going back to the 20s.   You can't donate them, nobody wants them.   I'm going to gradually go through every one and scrapbook anything useful in to my marque specific binders.   That way it is indexed (sort of) and available to be found.  95% of the content is not interesting to me usually.

 

A forum member asked me for a specific picture I posted from a magazine and when I went back to find it I couldn't.   I mentioned the magazine but not the issue (like an idiot).  I spent an hour and got nowhere.

 

 

Clip files are the way to go. Loyens had hundreds of them. He clipped the date and magazine name with the article or picture and kept them for reference.

[pfloro]

3 hours ago, 60FlatTop said:

I heard about a guy who saved every car magazine he had bought for over 50 years. He said his dream was to sell them all and use the money to take his family on a trip to Disneyland. Someone said if he was thinking like that he was already on his trip to Disneyland.

Bernie,  

 

Thanks for that greatly needed belly laugh...! You are a real pistol...

 

Paul

[Rivguy]

I saw an episode of Jay Leno's garage where he showed his periodicals library/ reading room in the floor below his garage.  It was as big as my house and had custom cabinets that held his organized magazines and books. It would be nice to build a library to hold all those magazines, but who besides the Lenos of the world have space for that?  I'm not dissing on Jay. I wish I had his resources. Not everything has, or will be loaded onto the internet so it is a shame to discard so much information. I've been going through a serious purge of books and auto mags lately. It's hard to be ruthless but I plan to only save a few. 

[gossp]

I suppose it is a relevant reminder. If purging anything obscure or old, make sure the AACA library has one before you let yours go for nothing or close to that. 

[36 D2 Coupe]

Last month I gathered up a couple of file boxes of Old Car magazines and papers to clear out some room. Took them to the local nursing home where they were happy to have them in their reading room. They said that for those who could no longer read, the pictures were still entertaining. When they get worn out, then they get recycled.. Better than going straight to the curb. 

[1912Staver]

16 hours ago, Rivguy said:

I saw an episode of Jay Leno's garage where he showed his periodicals library/ reading room in the floor below his garage.  It was as big as my house and had custom cabinets that held his organized magazines and books. It would be nice to build a library to hold all those magazines, but who besides the Lenos of the world have space for that?  I'm not dissing on Jay. I wish I had his resources. Not everything has, or will be loaded onto the internet so it is a shame to discard so much information. I've been going through a serious purge of books and auto mags lately. It's hard to be ruthless but I plan to only save a few. 

Bill Harrah's library had a similar set up. Unfortunately like many aspects of the old car hobby it is often the land and the buildings that are the prohibitively expensive factor.

[inlikeflint]

Art schools, artists, universities, community colleges, and libraries will accept donations.
The artists will cut them up and use them to make art work out of.
The school universities may archive them in their libraries or send them to the art department.
Libraries with either archive them or offer them up for sale to the public to buy new books.

[Bhigdog]

I had 35ish years of hang gliding magazines. All sorted by year. Too much history to be lost.

Tried to give them away for some time.

I found that if piled in the woods they made, over time, a wonderful habitat

for a wide varity of fungi, 

worms,  insects, and flora fauna of all kinds and types. 

Much more productive giving back to the woods they came from than going to a land fill where they would have ultimately wound up....bob

Edited April 5, 2022 by Bhigdog (see edit history)