Art & Inspiration Whats in Your Library?

A treasure trove of Ford Engineering literature including much performance data dating back as far as Ford's Indy efforts and some Shop Tips brochures, old aftermarket catalogs, SAE presentations, magazine articles, and other data from my 31 years as a Ford Engineer, mostly in the Engine Performance and Development Group. My supervisor gave me his collection which dates back even farther than my career.
good stuff

 

A lot of that stuff is already condensed on computers so it doesn't take up as much room, but where's the fun in that?

There's just something about opening up an old book and smelling the pages as you search through them. I have several older Motors and Chilton's manuals, one that was given to me without a cover, has been damp at some point and pages are stuck together, and when you crack it open you get that wonderful smell of oldness. The ink, the paper, the binding glue all contribute to that smell, as does the grease stains and oily spots on the pages. You won't get that from a computer!

My collection is pretty small, Hot Rod, Street Rodder and Rod and Custom from the late 70's to the late 80's, a years worth of Hemmings, some other manuals and magazines. Have thought about getting rid of most of it, but nobody wants old magazines much anymore. My manuals though aren't going anywhere. I'll continue to enjoy the smells and feelings of them in my greasy hands!

 

Twain, ****ens..... The cl***ics mostly.

 

Seeing some of you guys libraries makes me want to get organized. I have a pretty good collection of old service manuals, little books, etc. that are pretty much stacked in different areas and basically a mess kind of like the rest of my life feels at times. Maybe that is one more thing to put on my to-do list...

 

An oldie but goodie!

 

It’s a sickness, this is a small portion of my archive. There’s major tonnage of magazines and more books too.
Probably time to start thinning this stuff out, I’m not getting any younger.
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Fordors is correct, a sickness bordering on hoarding
one photo in shop, others in house with a complete set of Auto Quarterlies

 

Earliest Motor's I've seen is '35. They published both a repair & a flat rate. Chilton started earlier, and there are dozens of lesser known manuals from the same era.
FWIW, if you're really serious about a manual, find the factory issued literature ....

 

I have a good collection of automotive hard copy books and publications. Some sources are invaluable and are used frequently during building, repairing, or maintenance. Others are mostly a once and done source of history. I have a lot of Kustom Kulture art books, by Robert Williams and others, how-to’s on pinstriping, building certain motors, transmissions, cars, etc.
Books are good.

 

When our daughter and granddaughter moved back in I lost my study/man cave, my entire library was packed up in boxes and piled high in a small bedroom, a lifetime collection of various hot rod & automotive magazines, hard bound books & manuals.

A lot of ***les go back as far as 1950.

This is the magazine that started my obsession, Dean autographed it for mr last year. HRP

 

Then there are automotive periodicals in archival boxes and copy paper boxes. No idea how many magazines in here and this is only a partial sampling.

 

I dont mind the sickness...if I'm being honest, I'm jealous!

 

Some non-automotive books too, if it is powered by internal combustion I’m in.

 

MAD magazines, tri-fold back covers were the best, spy vs spy, parody songs and stories

 

So you don't mean the stack of magazines next to the ****ter.....Oh, got it!

 

Over 10,000 car magazines along with 300+ manuals not counting the hundreds of farm tractor and implement factory manuals or the 75+ vintage Caterpillar service books.
This is after I did a purge of any car magazine newer than 1971.
Sadly, the farm and Caterpillar stuff is heading to the great recycler in the sky. Been on eBay and other selling sites for over 2 years and even at .50 apiece no takers so they will leave so I have more room

 

Just scored another... little more for fun, 2 bucks n some change!

 

As far as computer vs paper when it comes to a manual I don’t put my laptop on the fender, etc. and the phone I’d have to blow up the pics to get a better idea.
I don’t have a like for a manual, it’s just that for me I can leaf back and forth through pages faster and easier on paper. I figure oily dirty manual is better than an oily dirty phone or laptop.

 

You are SICK!

Ben

 

Old books are treasures. The book collecting just goes along with the whole Hot Roding hobby. I have manuals, books, and magazines. I read constantly and have read most of my books twice. My favorite book is one my Dad gave me called “The Complete Book of Chevrolet” published in 1970.

 

When I moved "here" I moved all of the "library" to the shop, I had an area between the doors that worked great for shelves and I keep a bed sheet over it to at least slow down the grinding dust.

 

Thats an interesting idea! I put mine on the opposite side of the shop from the drill press and band saw but maybe i should figure out some kind of dust protection. Some of mine are pretty old, hate to see em prematurely break down

 

3 bookshelves, 1 with car books (how to, hot rod pictures, hot rod art), parts catalogs, older application parts catalogs, older illustrated parts guides and binders of stuff I've printed off the internet over the years. The other 2 are old shop factory shop manuals, old Motor, Mitchell, Chilton, National (40s to late 60s) and a few machining books I found at the used book store.

I worked behind a shop that was around for a long time, it was sold and the new owner didn't want all those "old" books...........so I went dumpster diving (I saved about 10 old books, the others went into the 80s/90s). I was friendly with a parts store owner, he would save me all the old catalogs, interchange guides and illustrated guides when they were getting new ones (or old ones he found). People I knew would bring me old car books from the used book store or swapmeets if they found any.

 

Hello,

We have/had a large library, but having slimmed down in these minimalistic days, we have cleared out most of our books to charity stores and old used book stores for other to get a chance to read them. So our vast open bookshelves were empty and they were even given away to friends and family. So, our minimal enclosed bookcase is dust free and still holds rare books and favorites.

We used to have several old Chevy/Ford manuals, but those also, bit the dust. Dust is the allergen that creates watery eyes and coughing, so as there is little chance to get a household 100% dust free. But, we do as much to keep it minimal and the ones we have are behind gl*** doors in a cabinet.

Our current readings are put in a small basket and are handy. They are read a lot more than most magazines or hardbound books. So, they have their place in the order of things. If they become a non read item for too long, they get relegated to those behind gl*** doors of the bookcases. We learned that built in bookcases serve their purposes from stereo shelves to toy shelves to larger openings for speakers or TV. That was during the old days. These days, it is relatively dust free, since the stereo is in its own cabinet, the toys are in the drawers and the speakers/subwoofer are minimal, but blast out loud through wireless system.

The basket serves as a rotating recepticle for the current magazines and books. Our granddaughter gave us a recent coffee table book on the History of Surfing. It has taken its place on the table, but will take off for the enclosed bookcase, soon. You can only read about history so many times, before the real life memories take over for a better version.

So, reading the Mickey Thompson book made anyone think right back to 1959-60. That shop was about 4-5 blocks from our house and we were frequent visitors there. This book was fun to read. We followed his exploits in all of the Drag News and Hot Rod Magazines of the time period. The photos were the same scenes we saw in person as teenagers.

Now, with this book on the career of Mickey Thompson, it is clear, concise and pretty great to relive local history, despite the wrong facts about the "altered coupe" stopping the racing on August 13. (page 63) The information came from the Drag News paper of the day and they(Drag News) had reported it incorrectly. We (C/Gas coupe) blew up, caught on fire, and crashed, shutting down the strip two hours early.

The Albertson Olds story, King of Lions, was excellent and we were right there at Lions while this win streak was happening. As a matter of fact, again, we were mentioned erroneously as "an Altered having an explosion to stop the consecutive win streak." So, we were record breakers of sorts. The accident and race stoppage was mentioned on page 59.

As the record breaking streak was alive, the drag race fans all crowded in to see the match races. Seats were hard to come by as the stands were packed. Lucky or unlucky, they saw our Willys racing all day and had to go home early because of our clutch explosion and fire. This caused the stopping this fantastic, drag racing win streak.

The "Three Weeks in March" tells the story behind the West Coast foray of Don Garlits, that wild driver from Florida. He had captured the attention of all of the fastest racers on the West Coast and this book tells the story of that scene in So Cal. Was that East Coast drag racer with top speeds and times listed in the Drag News, real? That was the questions asked from most West Coast racers. So, with all of the hoopla from the east coast records being set, everyone wanted to see what was what at the first sighting in march of 1959. This took place at the Bakersfield Smokers March Meet.

His first experience in So Cal was not the most enjoyable. So, this book tells of the help he got from the So Cal racers and manufacturers to up his game for the rest of the Westcoast tour in 1959-60.

Jnaki

But, the most comprehensive book on the Westcoast Lion’s Dragstrip history was written by John “Waldo” Glaspey, a So Cal local. He has been following drag racing since those early days. It is a small world as if someone who stays in So Cal long enough, you are bound to meet someone from way back then. I had a nice conversation with John Glaspey at the Lions Dragstrip Museum Grand Opening in June of 2017.

He gave me a recollection of a then, 19 year old college art student, sitting in the crowded stands all day, watching the racing down on the track. The story he told me created shivers down my back and arms. It was a first hand look at our racing, winning races all day and final run late at night. The description he gave was one of being a “fan favorite” as we kept winning race after race in the 671 /292 SBC Willys C/Gas Coupe until 9 p.m. at night.

John Glaspey described the clutch blowing right in front of his “spectator side” seats and a clear view of the flaming Willys wedged into the spectator side fence, burning itself out. He probably saw me using several fire extinguishers down below, to no avail. Then, watching me zipping off to the ambulance back at the finish line.

Of all of the books we have in our basket/book shelves, (So Cal Thunder) this is the one to read and own. The art work is fantastic. The stories are on a different viewpoint from the others. But, the photos (old college roommates were pro photographers) and his own, personal, drag racing art work is by far the best published. This is one heck of a good book to read and have on your coffee table. That and the fact of being a visitor in a certain time period of drag racing history for us.

So Cal Thunder it is an excellent book on the Drag Racing scenes in So Cal with outstanding artwork from the author, John "Waldo" Glaspey (an auto illustrator, plus)

Some of the best drag racing original photos were taken by Don Hale and Roy Robinson.
So Cal legends
There were even some great photos of the late, Tom McEwen in his early days. At***ude, style and all...

 

Magazine binders...what a cool way to keep them! I almost purchased a magazine rack but decided it would take up too much shop space. I may need to figure out how to buy or create some magazine binders for myself as I have several and hope to collect many more! The tech articles in those things! Theyll tell you anything you want to know and so much you never knew you wanted to know!