What’s the next best thing to buying a Porsche Carrera 2.7? Buying a book about it.
Specifically, Ryan nodgrass’s definitive guide to the model, published by Parabolica Press in 2015 and called, helpfully, Carrera 2.7. Just 2500 were printed. There are about 300 copies of the Limited Edition version left, each costing £225. Sounds a lot? Don’t worry: in two years your investment could be worth £1000.
“Carrera 2.7 set a new benchmark for motoring books,” says Ben Horton of Horton’s Books, a specialist motoring bookseller in Marlborough, Wiltshire. “It’s not only an in-depth story of the car but is also packed with all the information – colour charts, component photographs, mechanical evolution – every owner, enthusiast or restorer could desire, plus it’s beautifully produced. “Buy a limited-edition version today and in two years it’ll fetch four and a half times its new price. I’ve been selling motoring books for more than 25 years and for the highest quality or most interesting books, I’ve never known a downturn.”
For the speculative petrolhead who’s clumsy with spanners but loves a good read, Carrera 2.7, and books like it, seem to be the perfect alternative. Choose your book, stick it in on a shelf and wait a decent interval before selling it for a profit. Except it’s not as simple as that. Not every car book turns a profit. Coffee table books heavy on library pics, light on expert copy and published in their thousands are just charity shop fare. Ferrari is one marque that’s particularly poorly served.
“Many books on Ferraris are a criminal waste of trees,” says Doug Nye, historian, journalist and author of more than 70 motor racing books. So horrified was he by the quality of motoring books that GP Library, the photographic archive he co-owns with former racer Paul Vestey, has just published its first book, created, Nye says, “to set new standards”.
Inside Track, the story of 1961 F1 champ Phil Hill, goes “far beyond” being just another shelf-straining book, says Nye. “The impetus was Phil’s incredible collection of colour photographs. He recorded that golden era in motor racing from 1950 to 1962, every picture properly composed and beautifully framed. The book had to be right and has taken us 16 years to produce, from those first conversations with Phil to the books coming off the presses.”
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Great Article about us reader/drivers
I spend much more time reading about my cars than I spend actually driving them, cleaning them or working on them. (I have a couple of classics.) So this article made me feel a little better. Not that they are unloved I hasten to add.
How about a feature on car
How about a feature on car brochures?
Great idea.
Not that I've got any.
abkq wrote:
I had a small collection of car brochures for a while including 1998 BMW M5, 1998 BMW 7 series, 1989 Porsche 964, 1989 Porsche 928, 1973 VW Beetle and early 1970s Rolls Royce Silver Shadow among others. All were either given to me or acquired from garages over the years. I sold them on ebay about 7 years ago and even then they fetched anything from £8 - £30. Probably should have hung on to them for a bit longer!
One thing to note: if the brochure came with extras such as a poster or a separate options/price list, they are worth considerably more if you have the full set as opposed to just the brochure.