It’s a glimpse inside one man’s worldview – a man few of us knew and most will never know. It’s a cache of hundreds, maybe thousands, of books and speciality magazines dating back 50 years.

Some of the magazines are still in the polybags or plastic sleeves they arrived in. They’re all in mint condition.

They represent some of the things that featured largely in this man’s life since 1972 – mainly cars, hot rods and classic cars and music. And he spent thousands of dollars feeding that passion, reading up on those interests.

“It’s a literary treasure trove, and we’re very fortunate he’s now sharing it with Tauranga,” says Christine Currie of the Harbour City Lions, whose annual Book Fair from November 8-10 at Tauranga Racecourse will be the beneficiary of the collection.

“Magazine collectors and car buffs will love them when they go on sale at our fair. And they’re in pristine condition.”

It’s understood the books and magazines were to help fund the man’s retirement but he passed away before he got that pleasure.

Now half a century’s fascination for car and music magazines, and an eclectic taste in hardbacks, will be up for sale at the Lions Book Fair and will help the Lions fund worthy community projects in Tauranga later this year.

That will be the donor’s legacy.

“And we’re extraordinarily grateful,” says Christine.

The collection is sitting in more than 60 bright red New World supermarket bags and numerous plastic storage boxes waiting to be processed for the fair.

In just one box there are NZ Hot Rod Magazine editions from 1972 – including a $5.60 April 2000 edition that’s still unopened in its sleeve.

There are copies of NZ Classic Car from 1987 and NZ Autocar. And for the practical enthusiast, a service manual for 1936-1942 Plymouth Dodge and DeSoto passenger cars.

An International Musician and Recording World magazine from 1975 features Jeff Beck on the cover and Eric Clapton.

There is also New Zealand Musician Volume 7 No 5 from April/May 1998 with the headline story “The Feelers from Cover to Cover”: “The boys got down to work writing and recording songs that would ultimately allow them to break out of the human jukebox they had built for themselves.”

The hardcovers range from Al Gore’s The Future – a 400-page treatise on the state of humanity – to Jeanette Hudson’s travelogue The Silk Road.

The Harbour City Lions are aiming to gather about 2000 banana boxes-full of good books for their sale.

Proceeds from the sale will go to projects like a $28,000 air patient lift, which enables caregivers to safely lift immobilised heavy patients so there won’t be a need to call firefighters out to do the job.

The Lions are now collecting books for their November book fair at Tauranga Racecourse. Books can be left at Bedpost Tauriko, Harvey Norman on Cameron Rd, Woolworths Bethlehem, Wet & Forget at Bay Central Shopping Centre on Chapel St, and Bunnings on Jean Batten Place at the Mount.