F1 brochure valuation

[mcl1]

Dear All,

I have some McLaren F1 stuff I'm thinking of selling, namely:

Original F1 Owners Manual
Driving Ambition signed by the author and McLaren Directors inc. Gordon Murray
Monaco launch brochure

I was hoping you guys could give me a rough idea of what they're worth and maybe the best place to sell them?

[mini magic]

i think the owners manual is worth about $10. I'll take it off your hands for $20

[MalkaJB]

They're only worth what someone is willing to pay for them, and I'm willing to double Chris' offer. $40 for all of them.

Just kidding. About selling them, informing us was a good place to start. Also, Ebay would probably be a good place to sell them.

[Peloton25]

Alright - now that the jokesters have had their fun I'll give you an honest reply so you don't get a bad impression of us.

I've only seen one original F1 Owner's Manual change hands. There was a thread about it here:

who wants a McLaren owners manual?

There was another thread to inquire on the value of one here:

McLaren F1 Owners Manual

I can't really add much to the info you'll find in those two threads.

There have been several of the Monaco Launch Brochures offered, and in the past year or so most seem to sell for ~$600 up to ~$900 at about the maximum on Ebay. I've seen some honest sellers let go of damaged versions for even less than that minimum though - I probably should have bought one of them. Anyways, they used to be in the $400-$500 range but demand seems to have risen in the past year for some reason. Also the actual value of the US dollar has fallen, so the price may not have really changed much. There's one up there now from the Netherlands that has a 'Buy It Now' price in the $650 range.

Driving Ambition signed by Gordon Murray doesn't seem to pull down the numbers one might expect. The book alone is available now in reprinted form, so the price of entry (for an unsigned copy) has come down to around $40. They used to go for about $70 - $90 on Ebay. I have seen several copies signed by Murray sell for between $100 and $125 that I can recall. I'm not sure if the fact that the entry price has dropped will have a direct bearing on your signed copy, but it was noteworthy I think.

All the prices I have mentioned were USD. As Malka said, those things are all worth whatever someone is willing to pay for them. In some cases you'll see what appears to be a bidding frenzy on the brochure and in others there's almost no interest. I'd suggest setting the starting bids or reserve prices a little higher than the average and see if you have any takers, assuming that you will try using Ebay to sell them. You could also try to move them at a motoring memorabilia auction in your area, but you might not find the right audience for them like you will on Ebay.

Good luck!

>8^)
ER

[mini magic]

YOU ALL SUCK!






$100. Final Offer

[jcsaleen]

Originally Posted by mini magic

YOU ALL SUCK!






$100. Final Offer

lol mini ur obsessd

[mini magic]

not obcessed...well, ok.

[brochurebox]

Just bought this one:

http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...e=STRK:MEWN:IT

Has anyone a nice picture of the brochure? Are there different versions? Have to wait until Saturday until I hope to have it in my hands.

Is the price ok?

PS: This is the best Forum I have ever read, great work, great enthusisats here !

[Peloton25]

Originally Posted by brochurebox

Just bought this one:

http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...e=STRK:MEWN:IT

Has anyone a nice picture of the brochure? Are there different versions? Have to wait until Saturday until I hope to have it in my hands.

I looked at that one, but was a little wary of it without an actual shot of the brochure itself. The image used in that ad is from the cover of "Driving Ambition" - so hopefully it is a brochure that shows up at your door. The description seems accurate listing 72pgs and 30x30cm dimensions.

There are two versions of the Launch Brochure - one hardbound version with an actual metal 'McLaren' badge affixed to the cover, and the other a softbound version that is much more common. Don't believe the rumors that there are only 100 of the softbound version. I don't know the actual number, but the figure must be much higher given the frequency they come up for sale. There are other brochures for the LM, GTRs, and GT but this is the only real 'F1 road car' brochure I am familiar with.

Is the price ok?

If you get what was advertised and it is in good condition, then that price is wonderful - excellent actually. I've seen the price of these reach much higher on nearly ever occasion except when they have been damaged in some way. The highest price I have seen a Launch Brochure auction reach was over $800 USD, but as I recall the seller had an even higher reserve price and the item went unsold.

PS: This is the best Furum I have ever read, great work, great enthusisats here !

That's very kind of you to say. I'm glad to hear you've found some valuable info here. We try to keep it active and accurate and most of the people here do have a deep passion for the F1. Enjoy your stay!

>8^)
ER

[brochurebox]

Hi Peloton,

Thanks for Your quick reply. Mmh, think I got the softbound version, this is the outside-picture the seller sent me:

http://www.brochurebox.de/mclarenf11.jpg

What did You say? There is a brochure for the LM ? Do You have a pic of this? How many pages does it have?

I have 18.000 brochures in my collection but never came across McLaren F1 ones. May be the most are in the hands of collectors, at least in Germany.

[Peloton25]

I think what was offered for the LM was actually more of a Press Kit that a brochure. I have some photos of it. The same would be true of the GTRs - more of a press kit than a real brochure.

There was an actual brochure for the F1 GT though and a few have sold on Ebay for over $1000. I can put up shots of each later and there are some people here who also own them who might feel like sharing.

The brochure you are getting is the softbound version. Here's a small shot of the cover from the hardbound edition - it's the same inside as I understand, but the cover is actually embossed with the outline of the car, and like I said, the 'McLaren' in the center is a real badge, not something just printed on.



I've only seen this version offered on Ebay twice, and the last time it sold for over $1000 as well.

The one issue I've always had with the Launch Brochure is that it is not production-accurate. It was created nearly a year before the first real F1 road car prototype rolled out of the factory, and all the photos contained inside would be of the Clinic Model - a non-running mock up of the road car that has a few details that differ from the production cars. Some of the descriptions regarding the aerodynamics at the front of the car didn't carry over to production either, and without having seen a brochure myself, I would still suspect it has other inaccuracies as well. That makes it less valuable to me from an information standpoint, but I will probably look to add one to my collection eventually because its still a nice piece of history on the car.

>8^)
ER

[brochurebox]

Would love to see a picture of the GT brochure.

Well, I am happy with the softcover, but I am a little disappointed that there is even a better one



What You say about the brochure which features a preproduction model, that´s the reason why I never got the brochure when the car was new. In 1992/1993 I thought I would have some time until the car was going to be on the market. Usually the manufakturers don´t make the brochure until they exactly know how the car looks like.

When I started asking for it they already realised that there was an enourmos demand for the brochures and they would not give it away without seeing a real buyer. And ten years ago I would´nt have spent 500 D-Mark for a single brochure, I bought three F50 brochures for 90 DM each in 1995 and that was the most money I spent for a new car brochure then.

Another collector told me a story that McLaren or the German importer had a stand back in 92 or 93 at a smaller German Car Show, the Motor Show Essen, where they sold the brochure for 100 D-Mark the first day, at the end of the show they asked 600 D-Mark or even more. But that´s just a rumour and I don´t know if it´s about the hardcover or the softcover version.

[Peloton25]

I too have heard of the days when McLaren would give away copies of the Launch Brochure on request. I really missed the boat on that one.

Here's a full shot of the hardbound version. I suspect this one might have been produced in very limited quantities, but I don't think they are numbered in any way. I'm not sure if McLaren ever sold these or what the circumstances were for getting one. Maybe someone else here knows?



You'll have your copy soon, but here's a very nice photo of the cover of the softbound version of the launch brochure:



This borchure has several engineering drawings overlayed onto a photo of the real item. Here's one example of the shift mechanism and shiftknob.



The entire brochure is very nicely put together, especially considering a lot of it was layed out very last minute before the Launch Party. There's an anecdote about the delivery of the brochures to the Launch Party in Monaco inside "Driving Ambition".

= = = = = =

Here are the shots of those Press Kits I mentioned for the LM & GTRs. From the few auctions I have seen of these, there doesn't seem to always be a standard set of items contained inside each one. It is possible that the sellers were simply combining different things into one auction, but it's also possible that the filler items changed as different things became available.

LM Press Kit:





I believe these shots came from separate auctions, but both were labeled 'LM Press Kit'. As you see, they seem to offer similar things, but they aren't exact.

GTR Press Kit:

I've never seen one specifically for the 1995 GTRs, but here's a shot of the '96 and '97 versions.





You can see in both of those shots what appears to be a large postcard of an F1 road car with a white border. That is actually a mini-pamphlet on the F1. It's folded on the left seam like a greeting card, and has info and photos printed on the front, back and both pages on the inside. You can find these seperately. I've seen them sell for $25-$100 - it just depends on who is watching. I think the people that pay the higher amounts for one would come away disappointed. One thing about it, is there is a shot of a white F1 road car taken from the rear on the inside pages. There's only two of F1s that were reportedly painted white and photos of either one are ultra-rare.

>8^)
ER

[brochurebox]

Wow, thank You very much for the pictures. Especially the presskits are totally new to me.

Can You confirm that the soft- and haardcover brochures are internally the same? I just ask because it might be possible that the softcover version was made a little later and included some changes

[Peloton25]

You're quite welcome!

Having seen neither one of the brochures in real life, I certainly can't confirm the lack of any internal changes between the two. I do recall the auctions for both listing 72 pages though, so I would suspect they are the same 72 pages. Also the photos I have seen of each one seem to reflect like content.

As for which came first - I'm nearly positive the softcover was what was given out at the Launch Party in Monaco in 1992 - in fact there was one listed on Ebay supposedly by a motoring journalist who had attended the party and his was a softcover version. It also seems more likely that McLaren Cars would produce the hardcover as a special edition, rather than a 'cheaper' softcover later on down the line.

>8^)
ER