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Old 11-17-2007, 04:49 PM
Historybuff Historybuff is offline
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Default Cobra Daytona coupe book, why it cost so much

That book was published at the behest of George Stauffer of Blue Mounds WI who says he is a Cobra and Ford GT dealer (real ones).
He owns several.
He commissioned the book on the Daytona and sheepherded all the writers and photographers and once he got what he wanted, took off his publisher's
hat and went back to finding, restoring and selling his favorite cars.
Hence he is not motivated to constantly put the book back in print because he is not a publisher.
I think the first edition had one signature (16 page section) printed upside down, maybe you can get a deal on that. It is a very rare book and until George unbends it will stay rare. But you can see why he is not interested in having someone else publish it. Publishers tend to offer a paltry 10% commission on a book and by being publisher he gets to keep 100% of the money. I guess the lesson is, when you get a chance to buy a first edition, and have it in your hand, buy it...I didn't so now I can only check it out of the library (all libraries can find a book for you for $2!). I found one library with it, ordered it but they refused to sell it to me though I pointed out it was so dog-eared it was missing pages!
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