RE: John Harold Haynes OBE: RIP
Discussion
Lord 
you made me laugh so much I cried. I could relate to everything you wrote. As a spotty 16 year old I bought a rusted out MOT failure Anglia 105E for 35 quid. I stripped it to a bare shell at which point my “encouraging” father offered to order a skip. With the help of a Haynes manual I totally rebuilt it and passed MOT first time. Despite floorpan sections that had totally rusted away been reconstructed in fibreglass covered in under seal and mud to escape detection by MOT inspector. I drove it for 2 years and 30,000 miles before the rust finally caused its demise.
you made me laugh so much I cried. I could relate to everything you wrote. As a spotty 16 year old I bought a rusted out MOT failure Anglia 105E for 35 quid. I stripped it to a bare shell at which point my “encouraging” father offered to order a skip. With the help of a Haynes manual I totally rebuilt it and passed MOT first time. Despite floorpan sections that had totally rusted away been reconstructed in fibreglass covered in under seal and mud to escape detection by MOT inspector. I drove it for 2 years and 30,000 miles before the rust finally caused its demise. RIP Mr. Haynes. As others have said, your books helped me out of a few sticky mechanical situations and were some kind of magical tome for the very young reader (Allegro and Escort Mk3 for the 6 year old me). Loved the centre colour section about bodywork repair, using a red Talbot Sunbeam as the subject in the pictures in the Allegro and Escort book if I remember correctly.
Occasionally though the info / photo given was completely incorrect - i spend ages looking for the bolts to release the back seat squab on my E30 325i when I was fitting a CD changer and routing the power cable through to the boot. My car had wire catches under the seat squab itself! I guess that's the legacy of manufacturer revisions that a book can't cater for, no fault of Haynes.
I must visit the museum one day, too.
Occasionally though the info / photo given was completely incorrect - i spend ages looking for the bolts to release the back seat squab on my E30 325i when I was fitting a CD changer and routing the power cable through to the boot. My car had wire catches under the seat squab itself! I guess that's the legacy of manufacturer revisions that a book can't cater for, no fault of Haynes.
I must visit the museum one day, too.
Yes, the museum is well worth a day's visit - huge range of cars, many run-of-the mill, some exotic, largely British.
The Hayes manuals were useful, though I felt you were missing out if you didn't also have the manufacturer's workshop manual (which I suppose was the mark of a true car nerd and which, in the day, were readily available).
The Hayes manuals were useful, though I felt you were missing out if you didn't also have the manufacturer's workshop manual (which I suppose was the mark of a true car nerd and which, in the day, were readily available).
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff