Motorcycle magazine destroyers....

Just one more stupid trend that happens on Ebay. People taking apart old motorcycle magazines and selling individual pages.

This is stupid on both ends. The seller is destroying history to put a few bucks in his pocket.

The buyer is getting screwed because they could buy a complete magazine that they can read and that will appreciate in value over the years, and from which he could photocopy any page they choose to make their posters from. In the future they could re-sell the magazine after making copies of anything in it they wanted for free.

The magazine hacks are as bad as those who are buying matching-numbers bikes up and parting them out.

I have a stack of old motorcycle magazines and literature several feet tall from WWII through the 70s, if anyone I know asks me I scan and email pages to them for free if it will help them research their motorcycle.....

Ah another one which leads to blood on the floor.

I had an argument about this just a week ago.

I have one friend who routinely buys old magazines and removes the pages he wants.

- and another who is driven apolectic when he tells him about it. The second friend refuses to let him within a mile of his 1940s and 1950s collection.

I agree. Why destroy something which can never be remade.

Ya I hate this stuff too on many levels. (1) it clogs up eBay with thousands of these pages to sort through if you've typed in a searc. (2) I want the whole magazine as part of history, not just one page. (3) well nevermind.. Let's just hope these people stick to paper and don't do it to real bikes. Those guys should be dismantwled themselves & had thier parts sold off one at a time!!!

Aw get over it, its the same deal as parting out a bike, worth more peace meal than complete and even running. I bought a few articles on Tom Drouin some by whole magazine others just clipped out article. It was neat to read about then current offering and even better the old ads, but just more clutter so clipped article out and gave rest to a friend or tossed out. Unless you send your collection to a museum or younger family member is as involved as you, how long do ya think they'll last after you.

You buy em books and buy em books and what do they do - they chew on the covers and wipe their arse with the pages.


With copying/scanning equipment there is no reason whatsoever to cannibalize a vintage magazine. No excuses.

One would think the magazine companies would maintain copies and provide reprints for complete archives.

Im talking about original magazines which are now 50 to 70 years old. ("The Blue un" The Green un")

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Motor_ ... agazine%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_Cycl ... agazine%29

I doubt the original companies exist any more.

By running round all my friends we can probably put together a set for all the 1950s at least.

johnm said:

Im talking about original magazines which are now 50 to 70 years old. ("The Blue un" The Green un")

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Motor_ ... agazine%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_Cycl ... agazine%29

I doubt the original companies exist any more.

By running round all my friends we can probably put together a set for all the 1950s at least.

Click to expand...

A relative some years ago obtained for me a new 60 year old copy of the TT edition. These are I believe still available for the prints of TT week.
I see a lot of these old mags at the British bike swapmeets.

who cares the worlds ending this year anyway, thats why i maxed out all my visa cards and quit paying bills :shock:

Seems very strange to me that anyone would clip out pages in a vintage magazine. Just sell the whole magazine already. Is it really that important to make say $20 from piecing out a magazine than perhaps $15 for selling it complete?
I understand everyone's desire to make the almighty dollar, but it gets a bit ridiculous.
And don't even get me started about parting out a Norton motorcycle. If it's complete and matching numbers, then it just shouldn't be separated.
Potential profit aside, it just isn't right. And anyone that has a love for Norton motorcycles would understand that preserving them while they're complete is far more important than making a few more dollars by parting it out.

It appears that the passing of paper books is imminent. Electronic books, while less clunky, are ephemeral.