[Books] Autocourse Yearbooks

[Grandslammer]

Although not a great reader of books,I don't mind collecting a few at the right price.
I was just wondering what the going prices were for Autocourse books,having just picked up a new copy from the shops, of the 2004-2005 Yearbook(54th Year of publication) and Autocourse Indianapolis 500 Official Yearbook 2004 for £1 each.
Bargain ?

[ensign14]

Bargain, yes, especially as they are likely to go up in value in the next few years.

Generally there seems to be a watershed in 1976 and another one in 1992. Before '76 you can easily get £150+ for a good copy rising to £300+ for those in the 60s (before 1960 it was a magazine, quarterly/bimonthly/monthly/biannually at different times, generally £30+ per issue apart from the biannual 1959 which is £200 or so).

From '76 the price drops gently from £100 or so until 1993 you can pick them up for a tenner. Basically in '92 Hazelton published a record order on the basis that Mansellmania would provide a windfall, only there were so many cash-ins the effect was diluted and the '93 order was huge as the contract lasted till then.

For 1994 they cut back but Senna's death means that there is a surfeit of demand over supply, so back up to £150+ sometimes.

Since 1995 demand has gone down again so they are very cheap (£5-10), but a quid is still good and the value will probably creep up in years to come.

Although if you get 2 people wanting 1 book you can still get a good price. A bidding war pushed a 1993 edition up to £50+ on ebay recently - even though you can get them for £38 on abebooks and they used to be a tenner through Mill House Books.

To get an idea of values, BTW, you can register with ebay and then search "completed listings only" to see what prices have been.

Champ Car yearbooks are always much cheaper, and having a dustwrapper usually increases the value at least threefold.

[Knowlesy]

My collection is missing 1994. The price is so unreasonable.

Will the 2004 yearbook increase in value? It is an absolute abortion of an Autocourse, the logo is wrong, the cover is wrong and it has about three pages.

[John Turner]

I'd agree with Ensign's assessment on prices, although I would add that I had some difficulty getting the 2000 issue (50th anniversary and MS first Ferrari WDC) at a reasonable cost. There always seemed to be a bidding war on e-Bay. However, by good fortune whilst rummaging through a bookstall in Market Deeping a couple of weeks ago, I found it for a tenner.

[Knowlesy]

Which 2000 issue? Did you get the one with the fancy cover or just the standard issue, with the gold Autocourse lettering?

I got the standard one fairly easily. The special edition costs about four hundred quid!

[Grandslammer]

Thanks for the informative response ensign14

[ensign14]

Originally Posted by knowlesy

I got the standard one fairly easily. The special edition costs about four hundred quid!

There were only 50 of those, though, weren't there?

[Knowlesy]

Something like that. Signed by Alan Henry as well.

[John Turner]

Originally Posted by knowlesy

Which 2000 issue? Did you get the one with the fancy cover or just the standard issue, with the gold Autocourse lettering?

I got the standard one fairly easily. The special edition costs about four hundred quid!

The standard issue, so I don't know why that proved hard for me to get. I do have the 1994 issue!

[ensign14]

Originally Posted by knowlesy

Something like that. Signed by Alan Henry as well.

Otherwise it would have been worth more.

[John Turner]

[Knowlesy]

Quite!

Never understood the attraction of that one.

[TimD]

I absolutely agree with Ensign14's assessment of the value of relative eras of Autocourse. There's only one spike which you've missed, which is the 1978-9 one. Andretti's championship year is a little trickier than the other Hazleton distribution era books, and I've still never heard quite why.

I've even heard one bookseller suggest that the ship carrying the consignment for the US distributors foundered somewhere in the Atlantic!

Suffice to say, while £100 will get you a good 1976-77 or 1977-78 edition, I'd suggest that you budget £135 or so for a very nice '78-9.

Dustwrappers are critical to these values though. They've got to be smart, minimal fraying and with the original published price still intact on the inner. If the jacket is tatty, the book will only fetch a fraction of the price, which is good news if you need one for reference purposes.

[Pete Fenelon]

Originally Posted by TimD

I absolutely agree with Ensign14's assessment of the value of relative eras of Autocourse. There's only one spike which you've missed, which is the 1978-9 one. Andretti's championship year is a little trickier than the other Hazleton distribution era books, and I've still never heard quite why.

I've even heard one bookseller suggest that the ship carrying the consignment for the US distributors foundered somewhere in the Atlantic!

Suffice to say, while £100 will get you a good 1976-77 or 1977-78 edition, I'd suggest that you budget £135 or so for a very nice '78-9.

Dustwrappers are critical to these values though. They've got to be smart, minimal fraying and with the original published price still intact on the inner. If the jacket is tatty, the book will only fetch a fraction of the price, which is good news if you need one for reference purposes.

I started buying Autocourse new with the 1988-89 edition and have gone back from 87-88 to 75-76 without ever breaking the £100 quid (inc p&p) barrier, but several of mine are without DJ - ironically mostly the mid-eighties ones. The Jag edition of '83-'84 seems to be cheaper than the ordinary one.

Seems that there's nothing less than £100 pre-75 though.

[iucrmh]

Originally Posted by TimD

I absolutely agree with Ensign14's assessment of the value of relative eras of Autocourse. There's only one spike which you've missed, which is the 1978-9 one. Andretti's championship year is a little trickier than the other Hazleton distribution era books, and I've still never heard quite why.

I've heard a few times from various places that the scarcity of that issue was down to flood damage at the warehouse, which at least seems plausible. Luckily, that was the first one I ever got, for Christmas in 1980, along with the 1978 Le Mans annual.

[sceptic]

I believe it was a fire at thewarehouse, rather than flood damage. But despite nearly 70% of the print run being destroyed, they never reprinted any.

[iucrmh]

Originally Posted by sceptic

I believe it was a fire at thewarehouse, rather than flood damage. But despite nearly 70% of the print run being destroyed, they never reprinted any.

I guess the flood came after the fire, once the fire brigade arrived.... I don't remember it being particularly difficult to find at the time though.

[the warden]

Hi guys,

Seasons Greetings from down under

I have the following Autocourse & Automobile Year editions for sale if any of you are interested.

They were all bought new, complete with dust jackets and in very good overall condition, except where noted otherwise:

Autocourse:
1975/76 Niki Lauda
1976/77 James Hunt
1977/78 Niki Lauda
1978/79 Mario Andretti
1979/80 Jody Scheckter (has rip in front DJ close to spine)
1982/83 Keke Rosberg
1983/84 Nelson Piquet
1984/85 Niki Lauda
1985/86 Alain Prost
1986/87 Alain Prost
1987/88 Nelson Piquet

Also the following Automobile Year editions:
#22 1974/75
#23 1975/76
#24 1976/77 (has a few loose pages)
#25 1977/78
#261978/79 (has a few loose pages)

Sorry if I am posting this in the wrong place, but I can't see a Classified FS / WTB forum.

If you are interested in purchasing any of the above books make me a reasonable offer.....


All the best

Gordie.

[John Turner]

Originally Posted by the warden

If you are interested in purchasing any of the above books make me a reasonable offer.....

All the best

Gordie.

Please conduct any negotiations with Gordie by PM, otherwise we'll have to pull this as an advert!

[Martin Bull]

Finally managed to get hold of a mint 1994-95 Autocourse for a reasonable price ( it is very elusive unless you want to pay around £95....).

Which nicely completes my 'run' of Autocourse from 1980-1994 ; most of the turbo era and Senna's F1 career. They are absorbing to read with beautiful photography. I even like the adverts which, as time goes on, add a certain 'period' flavour.

[Matt Hunter]

I'm interested to see the prices of the 1990-2000 ones as I'm trying to complete my collection of years I've watched F1.
Got every one from 2002 to present plus the 60th Anniversary edition and 1997 which was from Amazon if I remember.
Must check out ebay more often unless there's any good specialist book sellers that deliver.
I agree with the above posters that the 1994 edition seems to be largely over priced. I understand the extra interest it has with Senna but even so. I once saw a copy of it going for nearly £300! Which is just insane.

[rmbuilder]

I have every volume from 1975/1976 (purchased on the occasion of Mark Donohue's passing) through the current volume. All are purchased new and in exceptional condition. While I am not interested in selling, does a collection increase the desirability?

[P3ndula]

Very sad to see them go but selling 1980/81 and 1981/82 if anyone is interested.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/401596033945

[andrewh]

Hello,
Not quite sure of the etiquette as a newbie here but the chap above me has posted a link to an ebay ad and the forums rules seem to indicate it's OK so...
.
Selling a load of Autocourse annuals and various other books, 20 in total, signed by 47 different people including 11 F1 World Champions.

.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/332915496912

[Penword]

Hi,

Is ebay still considered a good source for buying and selling old books and magazines? I used ebay frequently about 15-20 years ago and found things sold quickly (I also filled in the gaps of my Autosport collection fairly effectively!)

I hadn't used ebay for a while but a year or so ago I went back to it to try and unload some editions of Autocourse and Automobile Year and have been unsuccessful. Plus, I find the listing process has become more complicated and I get bogus and spam offers/contacts.

I know Automobile Year doesn't have the same cache of Autocourse, but I have the 1994-95 Autocourse and didn't even get a nibble, and I thought there would be interest in that.

Thanks for any feedback.