By Jeff Glucker
John Harold Haynes passed away this past week. The man helped a generation of burgeoning car enthusiasts keep their scrappy bits of pride and joy on the road. And that love of tinkering and wrenching extended as it was past from parent to child. As machines changed hands, and knowledge was earned along the way. It’s with an oil-stained Haynes that this process continues to this day.
With the purchase of a new project car, I figured I’d need a fresh Haynes to go with it. But I was wrong. Because the owner before me already had one tucked away behind the rear seats. And like the car was changing hands, so to is the manual that goes with it.
And it joins the Haynes I have for my Mercedes-Benz. That one will be stuck in the trunk of the W114 Benz when it shuffles off to a new owner. And the cycle of car culture rejuvenation continues.
Do you have a Haynes nearby? I assume you do, but sound off and let us know. Share your manuals in the comments below.
I do not as I’m at work (maybe I should actually get busy and stop reading the ‘verse?)
At home, I only have 2 Haynes manuals – both for trucks I no longer own: 1974-1993 Dodge Pickups and Ramchargers and 1988-1998 Chevrolet/GMC C/K pickups.
Nope. But I do have factory service manuals for them. Always preferred those.
It would be really appropriate if the program for Sir Haynes funeral has greasey fingerprints on it.
I have a dozen or so in the back of my truck. There was a guy sort of squatting (he moved in with his girlfriend who was on the lease, she moved out) at my parent’s rental house. He was running a repair shop out of the house. When he wa https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/795ce7ffd54a5e96ef5c664c05ae703530b2ead28a0eee7fa263304fab066073.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f97ca98089e97d6bcd32c0547bc119ccd0d4e777e6442ff6b093ce77a7a272fa.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/aab7be304f24644f11bc96b9051eb8ae115051f3d00fdff86d89099114bb2c74.jpg s evicted he left behind a couple of dozen car manuals. I think that there are two are three on my manual shelf in the basement too for cars that I have owned.
Here are a few of the ones I got from the rental house (if you need one of the ones pictured, let me know) https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/74fb2d80a9e2d5a0bfdb71ea1d430d27e62cbbde0984b432b0b640c7ce84d219.jpg : http://ebay.us/G5zjBQ?cmpnId=5338273189 http://ebay.us/XhAXw7?cmpnId=5338273189
I have one for the Suzuki DRZ400S (in hardcover!) but have not gotten one for the Econoline, a fact I am reminded of every time I open the (ugh) Chilton’s. This may be because I hate working on vans and I send it off to the shop whenever something goes wrong. My guy was a fleet mechanic on that era Econoline. I grabbed the Chilton’s at McParts Store when I went in for some oil or what not.
They never made one for the IH Scout or Laverda motorcycle, the bastards.
I find the options for my 84 Guzzi a little lacking, too…
My Laverda shop manual has English on one half of the page and Italian on the other half. There have been occasions when I’ve asked an Italian speaker (and mechanic) if what it says makes any more sense in Italian that what I can deduce from the English. It doesn’t.
The repair manuals above the desktop in my study suggest a rather limited perspective on classic cars…which is not really wrong.
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The Haynes manual was to guide me in exchanging rear doors on a 145, among other things. It said: “Now remove the wiper engine and lock case”, which to this day stands as the biggest service literature middle finger I have seen – as it didn’t explain how.
The repair manuals above the desktop in my study suggest a rather limited perspective on classic cars…which is not really wrong.
https://i.ibb.co/r5NgL8K/IMG-20190212-205945.jpg
The Haynes manual was to guide me in exchanging rear doors on a 145, among other things. It said: “Now remove the wiper engine and lock case”, which to this day stands as the biggest service literature middle finger I have seen – as it didn’t explain how.
I still have about half a dozen of these. I kept buying them for every car I had, but then somewhere around 10 years ago the internet just became a better resource.
I think I have Haynes manuals for nearly every (older) car I’ve owned. I also have a few Chiltons, and there’s a Bentley repair manual in the trunk of my E28.
If I’m going to work on it I have some combination of a Haynes manual, a factory manual or a Clymer. For motorcycles, I have the Haynes general manuals on electrics and workshop practices, plus a BMW Airhead manual, supplemented by the Clymer manual that’s 3x thicker, and a BMW parts book. I also have a Clymer for the Honda CM250 somewhere.
For cars, in chronological order, I have the John Muir “How to keep your Volkswagen alive” book for the A1 Rabbit/Golf and two Robert Bentley manuals for pre and post 1980 A1 VWs. A Haynes for early Ford Rangers followed by the Haynes and factory manuals for a 1995 Ford Escort and a Haynes for the Saturn S series.
An interesting related question would be “What factory service tools do you have?”
Not anymore. I have factory manuals for my two classics which are much more comprehensive. The last Haynes one I owned would have been my Peugeot 505 one.
I found this one helpful in dealing with my nephew the drummer. Added to my own faded memories. Something must have rubbed off as he now drives a BMW E90 330 manual wagon, while his friends drive Nissan X Trails.
https://a.disquscdn.com/get?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.dailymail.co.uk%2Fi%2Fpix%2F2016%2F09%2F28%2F10%2F38DFAB0D00000578-0-image-a-24_1475055992105.jpg&key=R3c2UHPdnHxlFLCAy728Hw&w=800&h=617
No Haynes manuals, last one I had was for my 1993 Escort, I think.
I have a factory manual for my Thunderbird and a knock off of the factory diagnostic software for my Prius. It’s pretty inscrutable if you’re not a Toyota tech, however. I had a PDF of the factory manual for the RSX and the Bentley manual for the 318ti. I’ve gotten by with just the internet for the rest so far.
I don’t have any Haynes, but I have a couple of Motors manuals and the factory manual for my Lancer. I did have one for my Datsun 720 but I let it go with the truck. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/43383b488a7f50ef56f698d74e70787c7b6c23cad01df451f5e19e2d117ade25.jpg
Scored these at Goodwill for 3$
Those look incredibly fancy. Nice!
I still have Haynes manuals for a Skoda Felicia and Fiat Cinquecento of all things.
Yes, I do, but in the interest of full disclosure I do not own, nor have I ever owned, a Renault Fuego.
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This is as good a time as any to dredge up a comment from the Lemons forum of, ahem, nine years ago concerning shop manuals:
“Agree with Murilee [factory manual], but if that’s not available, in this order: Bentley, then Haynes, then conventional wisdom, then what the homeless guy under the bridge recommends, then coin flip, then Chilton, then reading entrails, then the AllData website.”
I own, and regularly drive a Rover 800.
So, yes. I have a Haynes, as well as about three million web pages bookmarked, each of which are, naturally, slightly contradictory.
Thanks for showing us some love. We are still in Sparkford, England and Newbury Park (outside L.A.), CA taking apart cars and writing manuals for them, even as the cars have gotten increasingly complex. We have no plans on stopping any time soon, and have just finished putting back together a Toyota Corolla and a Dodge Challenger for books to be released soon. One the motorcycle side of things, our guide to the India produced Royal Enfield 500cc and 535cc singles just started shipping, which has been eagerly awaited, as the only other available manual (a bootleg factory one) was only mostly translated from Hindi. We love to see greasy and well used copies of our books, and hear your stories about them, so feel free to post pictures here or tag us on other social media with #MyHaynes