Autocourse vs Automobile Year

I received an email question from a reader asking about the value of Automobile Year annuals – which also invites the question about the relative differences between Autocourse and Automobile Year. I posted earlier in the year about Autocourse values.

Content
While the covers of Autocourse annuals typically feature that season’s championship car, Automobile Year covers can vary from F1 cars to supercars. This is also a reflection of the different emphasis of each title. While Autocourse is focused on 4 wheel motorsport categories  (e.g F1, F2, F3, GP2, Le Mans) – Automobile Year annuals cover these categories plus rally racing and also general auto industry developments (from road cars to exotic supercars) for that year.

For instance, the first section of the 1979 Automobile Year annual takes up the first 82 pages (of a total of 264 pages) and includes articles on the state of European car manufacturers, American cars 1945-80, electronics in cars, cars dressed by Salvador Dali (every Automobile Year includes cultural articles on motorcars) and nostalgic replicas.

The rear section of Automobile Year annuals are a results section of the different races during the calendar year. These are only very basic results tables unlike the detailed stats in Autocourse.

Photos
To be fair, I don’t consider there to be much difference between the quality of photography in Autocourse and Automobile Year. Historically, they have both featured reknown F1 and motorsport photographers (Schelegelmilch, Bernard Cahier, LAT). The earlier issues of each of the publications had colour and B&W photos.

Values
As I’ve mentioned in previous posts – the collector value of Autocourse annuals are higher for pre-1983: usually over $100. The values of Automobile Year annuals for the same years are also high but less than Autocourse (in some cases 30%-50% less).

If you’re lucky to be holder of any 1960’s issues of either Autocourse or Automobile Year you’ll have some comfort that these are quite valuable. The first Autocourse annual was 1961 whilst Automobile Year’s first hardcover was 1954-55.  In years past, its been known for early Automobile Year annuals to be sold for incredibly high prices but nowadays an early Autocourse annual in excellent condition would have a much superior resale value.

Autocourse 1990 style

Autocourse – Piola technical analysis

Automobile Year 1978 photos

Automobile Year 1978 stats