Original versus Repro Owners Manual

[Paul C.]

How can you tell an original owners manual from a reproduction. Does not have corvette news card for the front page either whole or half page. The person who gave to me assures me it is original from his 1971 corvette.
Thanks Paul

[Dave S.]

Re: Original versus Repro Owners Manual

Paul,
I can't speak for reproduction Owner's manuals but I can speak for what I call re-issue manuals. These are manuals printed by the OEM supplier, Helm, Inc. for Chevrolet Service use. There is a difference between these and real original Helm, Inc. manuals in that the photography is not as clear as it is in an original manual.
The difference is not readily apparent but can be detected by the trained eye or by comparing them side by side. The presence of a Corvette News Card does not always indicate a real factory original manual. Many re-issue manuals have "full" cards.
So called reproduction manuals will have low quality photography and may refer to "reprinted" somewhere.

[Gary C.]

Re: Original versus Repro Owners Manual

Paul, as Dave says the photo crispness tells the tale. Don't know about a '71 manual. If buying via e-bay or some other long distance method and paying good money for the manual I would ask for "money back return guarantee". Then compare the purchased manual with a known original manual page by page. If not original, the differences will be apparent. Gary....

[Dave S.]

Re: Original versus Repro Owners Manual

Paul,
I forgot to mention that if the Corvette News card and/or stub is missing then you have a manual that is not original. All originals had cards and stubs. Some repro/re-issue manuals had them too.

[Gary S.]

Re: Original versus Repro Owners Manual

I can't speak for the other years, but I have two original owner's manual and one repro for my 72. Side by side, the differences are obvious. From memory, the 72 manual had either of two print dates whereas the repro only has the latter date, a 72 date iirc. As mentioned, the 72 repros don't have the Corvette News card, or its stub; the photos are crisper on the original; and, from memory, the repro is marginally bigger than the original.

If you want, I can take some photos of both, side by side - again, for a 72.

Gary

[Gerard Q.]

Re: Original versus Repro Owners Manual

In addition to what Dave & Gary have said in comparing my original 71 owners manual and a reproduction on page one at the bottom the original has a notation "First Edition Sept 1970". The repo has a notation "Second Edition Sept 1971"

[Bill M.]

Re: Original versus Repro Owners Manual

Same situation with my early '59: Repro is a second edition. Original is a first edition.

[Dave S.]

Re: Original versus Repro Owners Manual

Along with other years 1959 and 1971 had originals that were both first and second editions. As a matter of fact most years have two editions for the original St. Louis manuals and a couple of years had more that two editions. MY 1970 had only first editions most likely due to short production year.

[Reba W.]

Re: Original versus Repro Owners Manual

I don't know if it is true for all years, but sometimes a second edition was issued because something on the car changed. In 1972 the seat belt timed light changed to a sensor detecting weight on the seat in late December. The second edition explained this operation.

[Alan S.]

Re: Original versus Repro Owners Manual

Paul,
I find that many original Manuals have VERY rusty staples, enough to have stained the cover and some pages. This is 1/2 joke and 1/2 serious. Can we all say LEAK?
Regards,
Alan

[Dennis C.]

Original versus Repro Owners Manual

The first time I saw a "lit" guy do a staple and smell test on an onwer's manual, my jaw dropped. These guys know their stuff. And, I thought judging a stamp pad was a serious endeavor...