Bev Spencer: A Legacy Comes to Life

Like his father, Roy Spencer is deeply involved with cars. “I was 5-10 years old during the early-mid ‘60s and went to many races with my father, along with my three older brothers.” Today, Roy Spencer is the founder of mercedesheritage.com, a classic Mercedes-Benz web portal.” In addition, Roy says that he’s been buying Mercedes both young and oldtimers and selling them around the world for 23 years.

Roy is also the family historian. “I’ve been keeping track of our family archives for 40 years. The collection has just been sitting around in the meantime. I had digitized a few of the images that related to my father’s cars,” says son Roy. “And then, about twelve years ago, I obtained the ‘Motor Binders’ collection and related racing ephemera.”

Roy had accumulated a treasure trove of photos, anecdotes and artifacts and he wanted to share them in some way. “It’s a shame that this massive archive of generally un-published motor racing images from the golden age of the sport should remain hidden from enthusiasts of the era. We all tire of seeing the same images of our favorite cars and drivers of this era over and over. What makes a particular vintage racing article or book compelling to readers? It takes new images or a different perspective on an iconic car or driver. The MotorBinder collection has revealed a number of outstanding and unique images of the legends of the ‘50s and ‘60s. And the Spencer family archives reveal some of the most legendary Ferraris in some very interesting settings. When my father arrived home the day he purchased his 1958 Testa Rossa in early 1962, we all got rides around the neighborhood. He had driven it home from nearby San Carlos ‘as-is’ from its last race with full numbers and decals. He was still in his business suit… I’m hoping to share this unique view of the era with enthusiasts young and old.”

What might one do with all that material? Roy knew he had to do something. “We started digitizing thousands of unpublished images from 1955-1965 with the plan to create a book which would also include a section on Bev Spencer’s racing exploits on the west coast in the early ‘60s.”

Despite the new crop of publishers willing to put whatever you have between two glossy covers, publishing a quality book is still neither easy nor cheap. And Roy’s material was both personal and fairly esoteric. “I doubt if a major publishing house would have picked up the project,” he says. “And I don’t have the funds to push the project to completion and wanted to gauge the demand before spending any further time and money on it.”

So Roy discovered Kickstarter.com, what is known as a crowdsourcing funding site. “Kickstarter seemed the perfect venue to test the market. Of course, help from my contacts in the classic car world have been essential in exposing the project,” says Roy.

We’ve seen several Kickstater projects now; some succeed, others don’t make their goal and the project expires with no money changing hands. While it may seem too good to be true (put your project on the site, sit back and wait for the money to come rolling in), it is both legitimate and gaining in popularity. Kickstarter caters to the arts and publishing efforts in particular. There are rules and regulations; to be successful one has to know how to play the game.

Roy seems to have learned the game well. His Kickstarter page is extremely well done, very professional, with two videos, one with Phil Hill driving one of Bev’s Ferraris. The project is explained clearly and there are 9 levels of support (all with appropriate “Rewards”) from $10 to over $150. Obviously he is doing something right, for the campaign closes on October 25th and he has already met the goal of $10,000. Don’t let that stop you from backing the project; it has eight days left and Roy will need all the money he can raise.

To get $10,000, one has to be prepared to spend; the “Rewards” will cost money to implement and ship. By his own account, Roy has already spent large amounts of dollars on the project. Publishing costs may be higher than originally estimated. Marketing, storage, handling, and advertising are further costs accrued even after the book itself is published. Kickstarter gets its 10 percent or so too.

But Roy’s effort is worthwhile; Ferrari-oriented photos from the 1950s and 1960s are always in demand. ”The book is offered for $35 on Kickstarter now. A more lavish version might be possible at a higher price point. We will make fine art prints of images contained in the book available as well,” says Roy.
Back a book now for $35 and you’ve probably in line for a pretty good deal. We’ll do a review of the final product and let you know.

Found at: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/258943649/motorbinder

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