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The Haynes Company to stop publishing books?


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Evening, All. 

 

This is probably only relevant to UK users, but thought it was worth posting...

 

I've just read on Britmodeller that Haynes "aviation" Manuals are now a thing of the past. According to the poster, a French automotive company bought Haynes early last year and the new parent company has no interest in publishing any kind of books. I'm guessing that once any current stock has been sold, there will be no topping any titles up. 

 

Once this blooming Lockdown is over, I can see me heading down to my nearest "The Works" and having a bit of a spending-spree. 

 

Happy New Years, folks. 

 

Chris.  

 

 

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Fewer and fewer people engage in home mechanics these days, and Haynes manuals over the past 30 years have got less and less useful, as so much in the modern ones now just say - "consult dealer for diagnosis."

 

The proliferation of "the Haynes manual about a grain of sand " &  "the Haynes manual about a peice coal" sorta ( and yes the one below is genuine from their wesbsite not a knock off ) pointed to the fact they were scrabling round for sales.

 

A pity, but a sign of the times I guess .

 

Haynes-H6653-cover-0.jpg

Edited by Panzerwomble
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I've rather enjoyed their "off the beaten path" books, and one of them is winging it's way to me right now; due here tomorrow, in fact. Perhaps fortunately for me, I never really got into their aircraft books that much anyway.

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I bought the Buccaneer one when I got the IFA 1/32, also my Son got me the Lynx one for Christmas as I used to disassemble them when the UK military retired them.

Edited by Stevepd
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Haynes site is just down the road from me. Some years ago I applied for a job there as a technical author, driving there in my old rather rusty mini. My interview was interrupted by a man putting his head round the door asking if I owned the mini reg. NAM484G, apparently I had parked in (the) Mr Haynes spot. I was politely asked to move it, and I wasn’t offered the job.....the wages were rubbish anyway! :blush:

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I had one Haynes manual years ago for an old Buick Regal I had. As i recall it wasn't much

help. I've never seen an aircraft manual from Haynes but I can't imagine what would be in

there that I couldn't find on the interwebs. I've learned about and fixed more probems with

my Jeep on Youtube than any manual I could hope to find. Same with my Chevy.

Won't be missin' em.

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Well actually this depends. I own more than a dozen of them. Some are average whereas some others are very good. The good aspect is the generally low price. I got a bunch of them for 5 pounds a book in UK. The very last ones I purchased were about the X-15, Vosper MTB and WW2 British infantryman! So, useless saying they are not anymore 'owner manuals'! However they still comply with the manual format. You must see them as reference books as others. The planes one are generally containing good restoration pictures but they became more historically rich recently. By the way, one Haynes manual was the only reference in which I found a picture of the starting crank stored behind the seat armor plate of late Spitfire Mk.I !

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The situation with writing them was that the technical author went into the workshop with a mechanic and photographer. My job would have been to take notes as the vehicle was dismantled etc..  Once complete I then had a fortnight at home to organise and compile my notes into some form of comprehensible form, before going back to Haynes to refine etc..  I guess it works if you know what you’re doing! 

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Thats bad news but not surprised, Print is taking a hammering at the moment as it always does during recession and its usually the first to get hit. Believe me as a small business supplying service, repairs and consumables to these companies these are very, very tough times!

 

Regards.  Andy 

 

 

Edited by monthebiff
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Well, it now looks like the various CAR manuals will be continuing as digital volumes only. 

 

As for the aviation Haynes manuals, who knows if they will continue? I would suspect not, particularly when the COVID-fueled global recession really starts to bite. These books are essentially "luxury items" and that product category is usually the first thing to be affected by a global down-turn. Only time will tell...

 

Chris.   

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