R.I.P. Haynes manuals

[Drago]

From next year the Haynes manual will be no more. The publisher is blaming the internet as an easy soirce of car fixing info, and mocern cars being too difficult for the average Joe to work on now.

Will be sadly missed.

 

[Rusty Nails]

I thought they'd finished a few years ago.

 

[Eric Olthwaite]

To be fair, when Haynes first came out cars broke down every 20 minutes, so there was a much greater need for DIY repairs.

 

[slowmotion]

They were great. Dead handy over the years.

 

[Scoosh]

Cars used to be home-mechanic fixable. Now they're mostly plugged into a computer to tell the 'mechanic' what needs to be changed - not repaired, changed out.
Haynes manuals told you how to strip the car right down if you felt so inclined.
I had the inclination but neither the tools, facilities nor confidence to do it.

 

[Ridgeway]

Just bought one for my wives car a few months back, glad i got it now.

 

[kynikos]

They were great - and essential when I had my first car which had a service interval of 3 months or 3,000 miles and rarely made it to either without needing something doing. In stark contrast to my current steed which, in 7 years of ownership (annual service), has required nothing other than one top up of the coolant - and I don't need a Haynes manual to show me how to do that.

Over the years cars have become more like washing machines: you buy one and it just works.

 

[MichaelW2]

Just bought one for my wives car a few months back, glad i got it now.

Do they all share the one car?

 

[MichaelW2]

Surprised that they did not relocate to the virtual world. A Haynes Youtube channel woukd be killer.

 

[Milkfloat]

Maybe it was just me, but I was not totally happy with them. You often have 15 pages showing how to remove a single simple bolt and then they would skip over the actual complicated bit where instruction was needed. I found the other technical manuals available much more useful.

 

[I like Skol]

I own two.
One for the series 3 Landrover and another for the 90/110/Defender. Still refer to the latter occasionally if adjusting the tappets or changing the timing belt, while the former will be invaluable for the inevitable series project that is bound to crop up at some point.......

Both are complete with grubby, oily finger prints

 

[CanucksTraveller]

I'm not mechanically minded enough to have ever needed one but I have fond memories of my mechanic step dad having a raft of them, and I loved the colour pictures in the first few pages showing the different variants of the car. I loved them even if I didn't understand them.
"Of an age" I think is the right phrase for them.

 

[Rusty Nails]

I'm not mechanically minded enough to have ever needed one but I have fond memories of my mechanic step dad having a raft of them, and I loved the colour pictures in the first few pages showing the different variants of the car. I loved them even if I didn't understand them.
"Of an age" I think is the right phrase for them.

Still available in a charity shop near you. Probably easier to buy the book then buy a car it fits, than vice versa.

 

[I like Skol]

I'm thinking back now and I also had the Mk1 Astra manual shortly after I started driving. Happy days.....

 

[slowmotion]

Do they all share the one car?

They all share "Re-assembly is the reverse of the above".