Workshop manual

[Jason B]

An acquaintance spotted my recently acquired Elan S4 and it turns out he used to have a Sprint , but sold it some years ago. He has a workshop manual he wants to sell me and in order not to cause offence/ get fleeced I did a bit of online browsing to see what the going rate is. He is asking £100. His is an original and in good condition but online the price varied from a free download of the early manual on here, to £35 for a hardcopy of the same, through £50 for an original without a binder here:
https://www.thelotuscentreonline.co.uk/epages/sdctukef2v6v.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/sdctukef2v6v/Products/X036T0327J
and onto £200 ones on eBay.

So even this comes down to the same dilemma I keep hitting, original or improved? I could buy the actual genuine content in perfect condition and make a modern ringbinder then tastefully personalise it , thus ending up with a thing that is slightly better (to me at least) than the original, or get the original item complete with (a little) patina and be more "original". Which it isn't really as this manual never went with this car, so I would still be pretending.

So what to do?

Might opinion vary on what is best?

TIC

Jason

[pptom]

I just brought one from eBay for £35
It's in used condition, but then it is 50 years old, so not bad.
I'm intending to use it as a workshop manual, so I won't be devastated if I get oily fingerprints on it.

[gherlt]

I would also add that a PDF is printed on 80gr paper, which is normally very sensitive to dirt, and when the pages are placed in a ring binder, the holes are very easily broken.
Both can also happen with the original workshop manual, but since it is printed on glossy 160gr (?) paper, it is more resistant.

[512BB]

I think you are over thinking things Jason. Just buy an original workshop manual in the green binder for a Sprint or an S4, dated 1970 onwards.

There is no need to pay any more than £40 on ebay, and sometrimes they don't fetch a bid at £20, depending on demand at the time.

The same with B..kland's book. Dreamers are asking £100 + on ebay, and one fantasist asking £75 for a photocopy!

Bide your time and the right copy will come along at the right price.

Leslie

[Jason B]

I think you are over thinking things Jason. Just buy an original workshop manual in the green binder for a Sprint or an S4, dated 1970 onwards.

There is no need to pay any more than £40 on ebay, and sometrimes they don't fetch a bid at £20, depending on demand at the time.

The same with B..kland's book. Dreamers are asking £100 + on ebay, and one fantasist asking £75 for a photocopy!

Bide your time and the right copy will come along at the right price.

Leslie

Hi Leslie

I was perhaps being a bit too subtle (TIC= tongue in cheek) , I was being a bit more philosphical about the whole original vs improved thing and trying to be a bit funny about agonising over whether the manual is original , thus sparking a debate.
A bit too clever for my own good as clearly no-one spotted this!
Thanks for the contributions anyway and I will post some of my more controversial "improvements" and see if I can get a debate going that way.
In the meantime I will be a heartless b*st*rd and tell the nice old guy trying to sell me the manual he is asking too much and see if I can nail him on the price.

Cheers

Jason