RIP John Haynes

EricTheWeary

https://haynes.com/en-gb/john-harold-haynes-obe-obituary

He died a few days ago although I've only just seen this, don't think we've had a previous Discussion about his passing. 
Not someone I could say I knew a lot about but he certainly touched a lot of lives, sometimes genius is in a simple idea. 

Emp_Fab

RIP Mr Haynes.  I dirtied more pages of your products than any other books in my library.  ...and yes, the only other publications I had were porn.

However, your manuals these days are a pale imitation of the hardback legends of yore.  The flimsy soft-cover books your company makes today are nowhere near as detailed or informative.

I’ll always remember the Champion spark plug picture-diagnostic page and the body repair section that showed a dent in the n/s/r wing of a red Mk II Escort, and the finished result was so perfect, I swear to his day the photo was taken before someone put the dent in it.

Thanks anyway.

Octafish

RIP - I found his books could inspire and infuriate in equal measure. His gravestone should bear the legend "refitting is the reverse of removal".

StanleyAccrington

RIP sir. I too found the books inspire and infuriate in equal measure. Usually when I thought a certain repair/maintenance was viable what with my limited knowledge only to read the 'you will require the special tool for access or removal of' sentence relating to the job in hand.

boogieman

I think a lot of the manuals were based on the manufacturers’ own stuff. I can remember following a Haynes book to replace the steering column bush on my old Sierra. I had to take half the dash out and remove the steering column, took me all day. I was talking to a guy at a garage about it later and said what an arse of a job it was. He just laughed and said “You been looking at a Haynes manual? Nobody does it like that, you can just disconnect a joint on the column and slide the bush off from the engine bay side. Takes about half an hour.”  

Still, Haynes books got me out of the shit quite a few times. RIP. 

Kilgore

RIP Mr Haynes.
Your manual was invaluable when I needed to fix the cigarette lighter on my Millennium Falcon.

57Deluxe

Kilgore said:

RIP Mr Haynes.
Your manual was invaluable when I needed to fix the cigarette lighter on my Millennium Falcon.

Mini Metro

ICBM

I felt it was the sign of a changing world, when about three or four cars ago, I *didn't* go and buy the Haynes Manual for my new one as soon as I got it home, as I had with all the previous ones... they had become less useful, largely because most modern cars are getting more difficult to service by an amateur on their own drive.

But the earlier ones certainly saved me an enormous amount of money over the years.

RIP

ESBlonde

My first motor was a mini clubman estate (with the woodwork like the moggie 1000). At the first MOT the bill was £200 and I'd only paid £300 for the car a year earlier. Of that £200 most of it was labour and VAT, so I popped to Halfords and bought a Haynes manual and a set of sockets (once I'd sorted the bill via a loan from Dad).

I wore that book out and like others my first purchase to accompany a new car was a Haynes manual. I've kept most of them (greasy pages and all) and similar to @ICBM only my last two cars have not been accompanied by a Haynes because: 1) They aren't as usful as they used to be and cars are more reliable. 2) I can muddle through most operations I might tackle now. 3) I'm old, fat and athritic, so prefer not to sit on the damp concrete outside on a winters evening getting the car fit for the morning. I can afford more reliable motors and pay someone else to sort most things.

It was interesting to hear his widow speak about how they sold more books than there were examples made for some models of cars (porsch etc.) becacause people kept the book when they sold the car.

RIP Mr. Haynes, you've saved me a fortune over the decades.

boogieman

ICBM said:

I felt it was the sign of a changing world, when about three or four cars ago, I *didn't* go and buy the Haynes Manual for my new one as soon as I got it home, as I had with all the previous ones... they had become less useful, largely because most modern cars are getting more difficult to service by an amateur on their own drive.

But the earlier ones certainly saved me an enormous amount of money over the years.

RIP

I’ve still got a couple of old Haynes books for cars and bikes I’ve had in the past but like you I haven’t bothered buying one for the last two, there’s hardly any point. You can’t do much more than change oil, filters and brake pads anyway but all the info you need is on YouTube or owner forums anyway. 

equalsql

Haynes manuals saved my bacon more time than I care to mention. From my first Austin A40 Countryman, through a couple of Ford Escorts, a VW Beetle, a Triumph Dolomite and a Saab 900, those manuals saved me a fortune. 

I used to be employed in telecomms and one day whilst working at RAF Wittering I was in a large workshop where the engineers were stripping down a Harrier jump jet. The whole huge engine was on a hoist supported just above the airframe and one of the engineers as working on some complicated piping on the aircraft. I remember asking him if he had a Haynes manual for it and he laughed and said "Oh I wish we did, it would make my life so much easier". 
I think Haynes might have missed a trick there.

Phil_aka_Pip

The book on BSA B/C25 was OK. The one on the Bantam didn't tell you how to line up the gear selector plate, so the first time I put a Bantam engine/gearbox back together I only had gears 2&4. I was lucky enough to have the Factory manuals & part lists for the Norton Commando so I never need the haynes book.

Those books defined an era of DIY automotive maintenance. 

fandango

StanleyAccrington said:

RIP sir. I too found the books inspire and infuriate in equal measure. Usually when I thought a certain repair/maintenance was viable what with my limited knowledge only to read the 'you will require the special tool for access or removal of' sentence relating to the job in hand.

And those tools were harder to obtain than unicorn deposits.... especially pre-internet.

fandango

Oh yes, i still have my Hardback Mini Haynes, with oily fingerprints and a damaged spine. Those were the days.