Avanti Shop Manual Reprints

[bobconant]

Dear folks, I have an Avanti shop manual by Studebaker and many of the images are rather dark and poorly defined. I have seen other books and manuals for other cars that looked like this and they were usually reprints of original materials. My manual doesn't have any statements or publication info that says it is a reprint but were they reprinted? Did Studebaker themselves reprint them? Or were the pictures and diagrams of poor quality in the original manuals? Thanks, Bob in Bradenton, FL

[Gunslinger]

The only reprints I've seen of the original shop manuals are made for 3-ring binders and are generally clear but not as sharp as a good original. Original manuals may be yellowed and faded with time and use.

Probably the best reprint available is the version on CD which is found from a vendor in the AOAI magazine.

[Skip Lackie]

I believe several different people reprinted many of the Stude parts books and shop manuals back in the 1970s, though I don't remember if they did the Avanti books or not. The photo reproduction was muddy at best, and several of the pix were just black rectangles. The photos in the originals were pretty good. You might want to watch ebay. Used originals (often a bit dirty, but legible) come up from time to time. Perfect for the garage.

Studebaker sold all their parts and literature to Avanti Motors and Newman & Altman around 1971. They chose not to pay the fees to continue the registration of their trademarks and copyrights, so just about anyone can reprint whatever they want. Avanti Motors/Michael Kelly might still own the rights to the Avanti name, but I don't believe he's devoting a lot of time to fighting copyright infringements.

[bobconant]

Dear Skip and Gunslinger,

That makes sense to me. Back in the day I'm sure that most people didn't order a shop manual for their car yet now all the enthusiasts want one. All the ones I have seen have looked new, not shopworn. Also they have white covers and I have seen a few with black covers, probably the original ones. Thanks for taking time to chat about it with me.

Bob in Bradenton, FL RQB3420

[Gunslinger]

Original shop manuals have a white colored jacket. The black jacket manual I've seen have all been parts manuals, though the first parts manual was red, white and blue colors. The black jacketed parts manuals were more complete as they were printed in December 1963. The first parts manual was printed in July '62 and doesn't list any updated parts as production proceeded. You see far more of the later parts manuals than the early.