Manuals. How much is too much?

Ryan · #1 14-11-06, 01:53

G'day guys (and girls?),
As alot of us do, I been watching a lot of items on ebay lately, including original manuals for CMPs, willys jeep etc. A couple of examples recently being $255 for a willys jeep manual and $96 for a 1943 CMP manual.
Now I know it depends on rarity and demand but how much is too much to spend on an original WW2 manual? What are some of the prices you guys have paid? Or what are some of the other prices you have seen?

And finally, glad to be here.
regards
Ryan.

peter simundson · #2 14-11-06, 03:42

Many years ago a well known collector near London paid $400 for four manuals. As I remember they were Fox, Otter, Lynx and Carrier Maint. At the time we all thought he was losing it or had come into major money. BUT he has had the use of these scarce
Canadian Manuals for 25 years and could likely now make a profit on them. At the time there were no reprints. He was wise to buy them. So...they are worth what the seller can get and the buyer will pay. Nothing looks better in a restored vehicle than the original manual.

Tony Smith · #3 14-11-06, 07:53

There are Originals, there are Reprints, there are CDs and there are Photocopies.
CDs and Photocopies I wouldn't pay more for them than they cost to produce.
Reprints are nice as they do replicate the look and feel of the original. Someone thought that a "Surplus City" reprinted Jeep parts book must have been the real thing at the Dubbo auction because they paid something like $150 for it. You could get a fresh unread one from Surplus City for US$30!
Originals are nice because you know they are the real thing (Reprinters sometimes change some small detail to distinguish it from the real thing eg manual for the "Boyes" rifle). Not only that, they have a rarity and collectibility in themselves as there were only a certain number printed and that number will always diminish, a bit like rare stamps. Some recent examples like this LP2A parts book are available elsewhere as photocopies, but how many of the originals would be still be in existance? 1 or 2 hundred copies? Large run manuals such as MB-F1 or MB-C1 can still be found at swap meets for $20 to $30 in good condition.

Alex Blair (RIP) · #4 14-11-06, 14:32

Manuals are like gold...they/it is/are nice to hord....

12 years ago I didn't know a CMP from a armoured snowmobile..
I came into a stash of Canadian parts and maintenance manuals and the rest is history..
I had some expert advice and help to set up a web site with George Bradford and Chris Johnson and it took trial and error to get these manuals to the point they are today..My copies go around the world ..museums..private collectors..and I have yet to see better copies anywhere...
I have seen some other reproduction manuals that I would be ashamed to send out..
All manuals are reproduced from original manuals and to look at the copy and the original side by side the copy is always clearer and crisper..The laser copier we use is a Xerox and is a quarter million bucks..
It will bring out detail that can not be seen with the human eye in the original.
I have made these manuals available to the world..
But not for free...They are expensive to reproduce,heavy to mail and the shop where I have them done is 35 KM one way from my house...So a one manual order take it out...come home...pick it up ..come home....140KM ....that is a lot of time and fuel for a $50.00 manual....and mail is extreamly expensive..because of manual weight.........
I don't stock manuals ..To expensive ..limited market...low volume..
I send all manuals out express post or expediated post...traceable and insured..or air mail over seas..
I haven't lost a manual or a payment in 12 years ..ever..
I don't make them available on CD ...and won't ..
They are expensive ..but I pay top dollar to have them done..and I'm not running a charity and no one gives me these manuals..I get them at market price wherever I can..and yes paid $300.00 plus for some rare ones on e-bay..
But so be it ..I will keep them available to the world as long as I can..And they will never go to a museum ,but hopefully can be kept together in one collection and made available to the world as I am doing now..
The need is there for manuals..
I will carry on...

A manual that you would keep forever and use...$XXXXX
A pocket book that I read and gave away a couple of weeks ago was $22.00.....+ tax..
They are not the dime novels of yesteryear..

Ryan · #5 14-11-06, 23:48

Thanks Peter.
Tony, that carrier parts catalogue was one I was watching but went too high for me.
Great Info Alex.
regards.

KiwiKev · #6 15-11-06, 00:39

Everything has two prices:
The price the vendor wants to sell the item for and the price the buyer wants to pay for it. These are usually different and buyer needs to asked themselves, how badly do I want the item, be it a manual or the actual vehicle. I am sure that we have all paid two much for both in the past.

The issue of buying manuals is complicated by some collecting the manual as part of the restoration of a vehicle as well as some that collect just manuals, so we get two differnet motivations for buying the item.

Generally I will pay more for a manual that goes with my vehicles but having said that I have a growing collection of manuals, collected over many years, as part of my MV book collection, that have cost me more that I set out to pay especially when currency conversion from the UK Pound or US Dollar into our NZ Dollar plus shipping. I have also found that a complete set of the manuals for a vehicle provides the restorer with a complete understanding of the vehicle. There is however a growing number of the public think that just becuase its old and has something to do with the military that means its worth as much as a new set of gold teeth.

On the issue of copies be they be CD or Paper based I think they have an important role to play in our hobby as I would rather go and print a page or two from a CD Copy for working with / under an MV than destory a original manual, as I am sure all of us would, howver CD copies are not always available so the backup is a Paper copy. Therefore I am thankfull for the vendors like Alex above that provide these Copies as well as those that sell the original Manuals.

In Summary if the cost is more than you can afford don't hit the confirm button, or sit on your hands, you never know when another may come up for sale.

All the Best
Remember to keep the rubber (or tracks) between you and the tarmac
Kev