Motor's Manuals

[bluestringer]

My Dad passed away last week. He was 99. Most of his life he was employed in the forestry industry, first working in his dad's sawmill operation and later his own logging outfit. He was also a shade tree mechanic, always working on some type of vehicle from large trucks to lawnmowers. Friends, family and others would always come to him when they needed any repairs, rebuilds, etc. I remember he had a bunch of Chilton's and Motor's repair manuals. Going through some of his stuff I found these. They are in fairly good shape except for a old musky book smell. The truck manual seems to be from 1968. 

[Draggon]

What a neat time capsule. ?

The Shell Station I worked at in 1972-75 had an interchange manual. I found out 2000cc Pinto distributor points worked just fine in a 1600cc VW dual port. That helped out when my girlfriend's bug died late on a Sunday afternoon a long way from home, but only a block from a gas station.

[Brian Austin]

Some of my local public libraries have had similar manuals in the stacks over the years.  The most random auto manual I'd seen there was for an early '50s Hillman. 

[Tabbysdaddy]

They are cool books. I have a few lying around. Lots of neat stuff inside. 

[RSchnell]

The old Motors & Chilton books are great. I still refer to mine somewhat often when working on a customer car.

[espo]

I would save those for ever. I also have a few dating from the late '50's thru the mid '60's. These are from a time when I was using them on almost a daily basis and they were invaluable for torque specs and clearances on almost any part of a car or truck. You may not use them now, but remember a lots of the information in these is accurate and a lot can be learned if working on some repair you're not performing on a daily bases. 

[bluestringer]

I got them for keepsakes only. I will never use them. Just remember seeing him using them a lot. I also used them some back in the day when I was younger, and learned a lot from him on how to maintain and repair my vehicles. I'm 70 now and I don't do much mechanic work anymore. 

[Brian Austin]

Also fun are chassis lubrication diagram books and frame dimension charts.

Edited September 29, 2021 by Brian Austin

[mk11]

Also great for ID pics... 

Edited September 29, 2021 by mk11

[Brian Austin]

I also have a couple of aircraft maintenance manuals dating to WWII that I inherited a while back, one of which for Pratt & Whitney engines.  I'll never be called upon to overhaul a bomber engine, but the artwork is lovely...