The beauty of not having something
I’ve told the story about not having Noelene Morris’s _The Lettering Book_ as a child, because I knew the NZ$5 was outside my parents’ budget. Ultimately was a good thing and it led me to remember and create typeface designs, later becoming the first digital font designer in New Zealand. Another item came to mind over the weekend when Amanda and I went to a used bookshop in Upper Hutt.
There were old copies, one each, of _Automobile Year_ and _World Cars_. As a boy, these were out of reach, too. In 1982, the latter retailed for NZ$80. Even with my parents’ improving financial situation, that was far too much to ask. But I remember flicking through it and, like _Auto Katalog_ , which at that time I did have a hand-me-down copy of, it was sensibly arranged, cars referred to by their names in their countries of origin. _Automobile Year_ I saw occasionally, once every few years, and had an impression of what was inside. The _Automobile Year_ was from 2002 and _World Cars_ from 1981.
Even though I could afford them now, I didn’t buy them. Simple reason: for my interests, _Autocade Year of Cars_ is better.
I know I am comparing apples and oranges here given that publishing technology has come a long way. _Automobile Year_ was heavily geared toward motorsport, which is fair enough: it’s always had a mix of new cars and sport. Motorsport is not an area that I feel I can write about authoritatively, and I know what I enjoy.
_World Cars_ , of course, beats anything hard copy book I’ve produced in terms of comprehensiveness, but I already know the concept, and our presentation is superior. There was nothing to gain from my buying it, especially as I have sufficient resources from 1981.
I’m sure _L’année automobile_ today is a superb production, and part of me wouldn’t mind ordering the latest to find out, but I feel quite happy developing _Autocade_ in its own way. I’m not trying to replicate them, I’m carving my own niche with the help of my customers who choose to send me feedback. I know what _Autocade_ ’s strengths have been over the last 17 years, and what the brand stands for. I was propelled by my memories of both books as I saw them as a child, and it’s been OK to not have seen either titles readily available in this part of the world over the last few decades. The memories of those books are far more colourful, indeed more aspirational—what I’m trying to re-create is that sensation, which, sadly, the reality no longer lives up to.
The ones I do have are _Auto Universum_ , an old _Wheels Yearbook_ , dozens of _Auto Katalog_ and _Toutes les voitures du monde_ , and hundreds of periodicals. They are influential, but there’s not enough in them for them to colour my thoughts on what _Year of Cars_ should have.
What I want to create was so accurately put by _Octane_ in their review of _Autocade Year of Cars 2025_ in their March issue: ‘Very professionally produced, good value and totally absorbing.’ I hope to deliver this again soon.
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* _Autocade Year of Cars 2025_ now out