I don’t know what it is about the human brain that makes us want to collect stuff, but it seems to be a universal truth. What obscure car stuff do you folks collect?

I don’t think anyone would be particularly surprised to learn that I obsessively collect old race car merchandise. Trawling through eBay and spending dumb amounts of money on race car stuff I don’t need but that I desperately want is a sport in its own right for me. So far, I’ve collected:

A Formula One calendar from 1974Two Marussia laptop bagsOut-of-print books about Ronnie Peterson and François CevertA 1960s motocross jacket from Watkins GlenSome sort of cartoonish Indy Racing League carGlassware from the 1972 Indy 500 Marlboro Racing booty shortsA Jackie Stewart Wrangler stickerA Holman-Moody steering wheel buttonUS Grand Prix programs from 1970-1973

And countless other things that I’m sure I’m forgetting. Things that serve very little purpose but that make me feel nice just because I own them.

When I was growing up, my dad collected car magazines. We had a hip-height, six-foot long storage shelf for them in our living room, and that space was generally reserved for the favorites. We also had tons of boxes of them downstairs. There were editorial magazines, parts catalogs, one-off mini-books, you name it. I’m not really sure why we kept them, but it was important to my dad, so we did.

What about you fine folks?