For those of us who like perusing PAPER manuals and repairing our vehicles this might be important. Below is copied from January's 2021 Rock Auto Newsletter:
RockAuto
Remember that bombshell news that broke last May? I am of course referring to Haynes repair manuals being purchased by Infopro Digital. Now we are finally learning a little about what changes to expect from the merged companies.
Unfortunately, Haynes has announced there will be no more new print Haynes repair manuals published. The good news is they also said many existing Haynes repair manuals will continue to be printed indefinitely. Haynes and Chilton (Haynes bought Chilton 20 years ago) repair manuals already published for existing vehicle models are available under "Literature" in the RockAuto.com catalog.
There will not be any new digital Haynes repair manuals published on CD either. They appear to be moving away from repair manuals focused on specific vehicle models. Haynes said it is “currently in the process of creating a new automotive maintenance and repair product that covers around 95 percent of car makes and models—an increase of around 40 percent over our current Workshop Manual coverage.”
Infopro Digital, Haynes new parent company, is a leading provider of repair databases for professional mechanics in Europe. Maybe the "new maintenance and repair product" will be structured more like a database subscription. Repair databases work well for professional mechanics who use them to fix a variety of vehicles every day of the week.
Repair manuals are great for DIYers who may maintain the same vehicles for years or even decades. A paper manual or its CD is always available for quickly looking up a torque spec, carefully planning a repair, or just for some pleasant reading; "Hmm, so that is how my '79 Cordoba's power steering pump works..."
Repair manuals sometimes become family heirlooms treasured nearly as much as the cars they help fix. My parents bought a set of factory manuals to repair their 1971 Ford Country Squire station wagon. That station wagon was traded in long ago, but the manuals kept on serving family members who owned full-sized Fords. I now use those same repair manuals while working on my 1971 Ford LTD convertible. I occasionally come across a greasy fingerprint in the manuals and sentimentally wonder which relative's hand it came from and what repair they were performing at the time.
It will be interesting to see in coming months what Haynes/Infopro Digital's new product turns out to be. In the meantime, it is comforting to know that many existing Haynes/Chilton repair manuals for old and late-model vehicles and factory manuals republished by Detroit Iron and/or Dave Graham for older vehicles will continue to be available. It would be sad if my family heirloom 1971 Ford factory manuals ever suffered a catastrophic mishap, but it is nice that I could just go to "Literature" in the RockAuto.com catalog and quickly order a new set.
Tom Taylor,
RockAuto.com
RockAuto
Remember that bombshell news that broke last May? I am of course referring to Haynes repair manuals being purchased by Infopro Digital. Now we are finally learning a little about what changes to expect from the merged companies.
Unfortunately, Haynes has announced there will be no more new print Haynes repair manuals published. The good news is they also said many existing Haynes repair manuals will continue to be printed indefinitely. Haynes and Chilton (Haynes bought Chilton 20 years ago) repair manuals already published for existing vehicle models are available under "Literature" in the RockAuto.com catalog.
There will not be any new digital Haynes repair manuals published on CD either. They appear to be moving away from repair manuals focused on specific vehicle models. Haynes said it is “currently in the process of creating a new automotive maintenance and repair product that covers around 95 percent of car makes and models—an increase of around 40 percent over our current Workshop Manual coverage.”
Infopro Digital, Haynes new parent company, is a leading provider of repair databases for professional mechanics in Europe. Maybe the "new maintenance and repair product" will be structured more like a database subscription. Repair databases work well for professional mechanics who use them to fix a variety of vehicles every day of the week.
Repair manuals are great for DIYers who may maintain the same vehicles for years or even decades. A paper manual or its CD is always available for quickly looking up a torque spec, carefully planning a repair, or just for some pleasant reading; "Hmm, so that is how my '79 Cordoba's power steering pump works..."
Repair manuals sometimes become family heirlooms treasured nearly as much as the cars they help fix. My parents bought a set of factory manuals to repair their 1971 Ford Country Squire station wagon. That station wagon was traded in long ago, but the manuals kept on serving family members who owned full-sized Fords. I now use those same repair manuals while working on my 1971 Ford LTD convertible. I occasionally come across a greasy fingerprint in the manuals and sentimentally wonder which relative's hand it came from and what repair they were performing at the time.
It will be interesting to see in coming months what Haynes/Infopro Digital's new product turns out to be. In the meantime, it is comforting to know that many existing Haynes/Chilton repair manuals for old and late-model vehicles and factory manuals republished by Detroit Iron and/or Dave Graham for older vehicles will continue to be available. It would be sad if my family heirloom 1971 Ford factory manuals ever suffered a catastrophic mishap, but it is nice that I could just go to "Literature" in the RockAuto.com catalog and quickly order a new set.
Tom Taylor,
RockAuto.com
RockAuto March Newsletter | Early Edition
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