Thursday, June 13, 2024

Whatever happened to Automobile Quarterly? And why is everyone trying to replicate it, when it failed in 2012? If that, which was highly regarded, failed, then why are all the rest of the magazine companies going to 1/4erly publications?



 On Ebay, the going rate is about 2 dollars apiece, but the shipping is expensive. About half the cost of purchasing a bulk amount of books on Ebay is shipping.

If you ever wanted to read them, you're not alone, obviously a LOT of people loved Automobile Quarterly, collected them, and now? Find they have a shelf full that they will never look at again. Like most magazines, it's one and done.

I guess that's why so many people go to libraries, instead of buying books. Rarely does anyone re read a biography for example. And re read a magazine? Not likely. 

I can tell you that I've got boxes of magazines, and likely won't ever have time to look through them again, but, I have the goal of reading through the 1949-69 Hot Rods, the entire collection of Muscle Car Review (thank you Mike B!), Rodder's Journal, Hagertys, Maxim, Razor (really good but unheard of), and FHM. 

For the past 5 years or so, I've only kept Rodder's Journal, and Hagertys. I gave up on some, and some gave up on publishing. Automobile, Car Craft, Motor Trend Classic -  they all quit. Road and Track, Car and Driver? Rarely have anything interesting, it's always about Porsches, Ferrari, etc test driving new cars... who's buying a new car every month? Seems overkill when people only buy a new car every 4 to 6 years. 

So, does it make sense to buy a collection of Automobile Quarterly? I guess only if you then donate them to a museum library? It's not like you'll ever read them twice, I suppose if you can get them cheap enough, that you can sell them on Ebay for the same price? 


4 comments:

  1. I am sure some Playboys are re-read from time to time

    Cool to read about AQ though, and this blog is awesome in general, checked daily

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  2. Replies
    1. Ebay. Like I said, it's about 2 bucks an issue, and 2 bucks for each to ship, if you buy in bulk. 50 of them cost about 150 shipped. But it's all up to what you bid on and buy, there's a ridiculous amount out there, and no reason to pay more. None of them have been read more than once is my guess. Problem is that once you've read them, you'll want to off load them without losing much money. So, buy the cheapest package deal you can find

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  3. I have an almost complete run of Rod & Custom that I finally decided to get rid of (because you're right, who re-reads them?), but how? Who wants them? I thought about taking them to a car show and giving them away to kids.

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