When I was 20 years old I bought my first hotrod project a 47 Ford coupe. Growing up I was pretty handy but building the 47 left me scratching my head quite often. Here’s where I found one of my mentors, Billy Martin. Billy and his wife Martha owned H&B auto in Rapid City South Dakota, Billy drove a 47 Ford two door sedan named PLUMP daily it was seen all over town and it was a road warrior that went all over the states. Billy became a good guys heartland rep so the Martins were at a lot of good guys shows. Back to the days when this 20 year old would run into a snag I would head down to H&B auto head to Billy’s office and ask, Billy what did you use for this and what did you use for that, his response would be come on kid as he would get up from his desk (with me following)walk thru the store into the parts room and out the back door. He would open up the hood, door, trunk and tell me what he had used and then say go to the salvage yard and get the part. Several years ago Billy wasn’t feeling good went to the dr and a few weeks later he was gone. Billy’s wife Martha just put there house up for sale and gave me some of Billy’s things when she was moving things out. So here’s the things that are really special to me all of Billy’s little pages. 138 magazines from when he was a kid. 38 rod and customs,18 rod ding & restyling, 18 car craft, 6 custom illustrated,8 speed & style,3 rod builder& customized, 7 spot lite how to mags, 1 auto craftsman,2 rods illustrated,9 custom rodder, 22 custom cars and 2 custom cars annuals, and several big mags. The earliest year is 1954 up to the early 60s.
Ryan’s right it’s worse than any addiction out there. You can’t pass an estate or flea market and you start sweating like crazy when you’re at a swap meet and see some laying on a table a booth or two away That is a very special collection and I know it will be cherished
That Hot Rod handbook in the upper right was one of the early ones I got in 7th grade as I remember ..Good stuff there for sure.
Congrats, I carried a list of what magazines I had or needed in my wallet for decades. I bought at swap meets and had wanted ads in the newspapers (this was the 80's) and I ended up completely filling out my collection of the little books. Man those things are historic treasures
That’s cool! Quite a gift! I started buying those in the 50’s. Really fed my hot rod addiction at 10 or so years old.
That’s a cool story…I’ve got over 400 of the same era magazines that I found in my dad’s shop after he passed. Not sure what to do with them. I do get them out from time to time to look for ideas or just flip thru the pages to pass time.
Nice collection. And in good shape too. I would guess we all just gained another good traditional resource. Thanks for sharing.
I have most of them from volume one on up. I started getting Car Craft, Rod And Custom and Hot Rod magazines in the mail in 1956. When we moved to San Francisco there were a couple of used magazine stores downtown. I used to go there at least once a month and eventually filled out my collection of magazines. I also filled out my collection of Hot Rod magazine, too. It wasn't until June 1971 that I got the last issue of Hot Rod magazine that I needed, the June 1948 issue. That issue cost me $ 20.00. At one time I thought of selling all of my magazines, but I came to realize they were more important to me than the money that they would bring me. You did well by getting those magazines, they mean a lot to you, as they were part of your growing up, and remembering a friend.
Very cool! I was able to buy all the little books from a local guy a couple years ago so started a real similar collection. But, getting those from a mentor is even better!
The little books are probably the best reference material out there next to the HAMB. I’m like everyone else they are really priceless when it comes to preserving the history of rod and customs
I have been buying and selling and trading magazines for a long time. I love the little books. I get a lot of them from time to time and I lust over them and reread them all again. Someone on here will give me a holler looking for something and I will help them make their collection whole if I can. Then it is back to the hunt
It’s a good thing that you are at the other end of the state because I’d be sneaking out of the house all hours of the day and night to come get a fix
I just Love those little books, I see the two that were given to me by Uncle Bud back in 1957!! I don't think my Mom was real Happy about it, but Uncle Bud was always there for as my automotive mentor.
The little books are like encyclopedia's for us, plus they would fit in between the covers of your school notebooks.
The Jalopy Journal
