.02 below.
10 or more years before the World Wide Web was a word any of us ever heard of, books were all we had. I remember seeing more than a dozen Camaro books back in the 80s and early 90s. I assumed they were all accurate and were factually correct in every aspect. But we all know different now. See below for the CRG. link of some that were available.
http://www.camaros.org/crgrefs.shtmlKudos to anyone who coughed up the big money, put a solid effort to publish information they believed to be true and accurate, put their reputation on the line, and did what none of us had done. Kudos is actually a huge understatement. Are there some books that more or less just published already published data/pictures etc? Yes there are. I wouldn’t say they are coffee table books for anyone who is new to the hobby. Because there are always new people to the hobby who know nothing about the cars, except they like them.
One thing that gets seriously overlooked from the start is who did the person who put the book together get their information from? I guarantee there were hundreds if not thousands of hours of research, questions, travel, looking at cars, phone calls via landline to get answers just to name a few.
Camaronut and 69Z28RS, I would respectfully disagree with you about “Hoppers books” because there are (stand by while I search) at least 7 (Give credit to Donna Crispino as well) and they are all different. Data book/Reference/Recognition/Pace Car. That to me means at the time it’s the most accurate available at the time of printing. But it’s subject to change when new or more accurate information becomes available. Is some just reprinted? Absolutely. Was there a lot of new pictures/information/listing of parts numbers/casting numbers now available in 1 book? Yes! And not having to have several books to lug to Carlisle or any swap meet was awesome.
I remember Hooper and I had a few discussions about book content after his 69 Reference book was published. I immediately called him out on NOT having any 6 cylinder information. Nothing. Zilch. Nada. Zero. Once again, the 20% bread and butter club that’s an afterthought got left out of another book. Still a huge part of sales totals nonetheless.
Jerry’s book is a “Definitive Fact”. That means everything inside is most accurate available at the time of printing. Everything inside the covers is gospel till the end of time. Period. No Legends Judge can question anything. Just reprint. And while I don’t agree with the title, I give kudos (again a huge understatement of a word) to Jerry for getting it done. Money and reputation on the line. Nobody else stepped up in this very specific option which I double dog dare any of us to do. Hell, this book was printed at least a decade before “Legends” was even used.
Is the Legends manual 100% spot on from cover to cover? I understand the 6 cylinder section is incomplete so I can’t spend my money just yet.
Frank incremona printed a 67-69 Fact book in 1984! I wonder how accurate that is compared to what we know today?
So click the link above, look at them for what they are, empower your knowledge, be kind, rewind. Or better yet, publish your own.
Enjoy your weekend.
