Steve Cropley: Autocar's digital archive will be a valuable motoring resource
Scanning of Autocar’s 126-year magazine archive has begun - and Croppers couldn't be happier
This week, Steve reflects on the significance Autocar's decision to digitalise its archive and ponders how to dispose of his trusty Fiat 500 Twinair - and what he should replace it with.
*Monday*
Most people would have called it an ordinary day. There was certainly no outward sign of a great moment in global car history as an anonymous white van reversed into our office’s loading bay to begin loading 700,000 pages – several tonnes – of ancient bound volumes. But this was the entire 126 years of weekly Autocar magazines departing its home to be digitised at the higher-tech address of a new partner, Archive Digital Limited.
In just a few months’ time, every single page of this weekly magazine, which has chronicled the entire history of the motor car since 1895, will be easily available and searchable online. To find out more, please register your interest by emailing archives@archivedigital.co.uk.
As a result of this historic move, we believe that millions of long-obscured facts will re-emerge and that much previously unviable research will be enabled.
It’s a heart-swelling moment for those of us whose job is to add to the story and, we hope, for our readers, who are the reason it’s worth doing.
*Tuesday*
No matter how much you reckon you know about cars, there’s no ducking the mild panic that you feel when you realise it’s suddenly time to buy a new one. Our family’s 84,000-mile 2015 Fiat 500 Twinair is coming to the end of its viable life with us: the local spanner man has diagnosed a soft clutch (£400-£500), gremlins behind the dashboard (£250-£300), a couple of new front shocks (£300-£400) and the potential for new front brakes and tyres (£500). On top of that, I keep wondering how much longer the presently perfect little two-cylinder turbo engine can last.
In short, a new car beckons – but what should it be? The Steering Committee has put off a decision until the weekend.
*Thursday*
Why, suggests a friend over the phone, don’t we sell our Fiat privately? It looks good inside and out; someone is bound to want it. The trouble is I’ve never enjoyed making myself available on weekends so that assorted Herberts can invade my personal space to tell me my car isn’t good enough. Hence, incidentally, my part-rejection of suggestions that car dealing will soon be done mostly online. Someone has to value your swapper and you have to see and sample the cars you’re considering. How will that ever change?
*Friday*
Have you always wanted a job that lets you advance the motor industry? Maybe the latest edition of our competition, Drivers of Change, run with the SMMT and talent-search company Ennis & Co, can provide an answer. We’re looking for people with bold ideas in the fields of retail, digital and technology to present them in a short, self-made video. Impress our panel of (friendly) industry experts in a series of run-offs and you could join two other winners in carrying off a hefty cash prize, a shedload of helpful car industry contacts and a chance to join a business whose rate of progress is moving from rapid to explosive. What’s Autocar’s angle? Nothing commercial: we’re just desperate to help ensure that tomorrow’s car industry is as well endowed with fantastic talent as today’s. You can find details at tinyurl.com/driversofchange2021.
*Sunday*
Our big choice looms. It has to be a small car: our household can’t function properly without one. Since we rarely carry rear passengers, our preference is for something even smaller than the Volkswagen Polo or Ford Fiesta. That means the Fiat 500, Mini hatchback, Toyota Aygo and its relatives, Volkswagen Up and its relatives, Hyundai i10, Kia Picanto or Suzuki Ignis. But shouldn’t it be electric? That brings in the Fiat 500e, Renault Zoe, Honda E and Mini Electric as well. My own preference is the Zoe or Ignis, but it has been pointed out to me that, just for once, the decision isn’t mine alone. Negotiations continue.
*And another thing...*
No sooner does Colin Goodwin mention his and my 1997 London to Geneva trip in a Ford Model T (last week) than a fine £30 Porter-published T enthusiast’s guide appears, written by Chas Parker, Chris Barker and Neil Tuckett, all of whom know their onions. That’s next weekend’s reading sorted…
*READ MORE*
*Work begins to digitise 126 years of Autocar magazine *
*Autocar at 125: landmark covers from the magazine archive *
*80 years of the Autocar road test*