AIM Quality of reproductions - Does anyone sell better copies? - NCRS Discussion Boards

AIM Quality of reproductions - Does anyone sell better copies?

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  • Donald H.
    Extremely Frequent Poster
    • November 1, 2009
    • 2580

    AIM Quality of reproductions - Does anyone sell better copies?

    The first AIM I purchased for my 1960 was very poor quality. Most pages were hard to read, and all were 8 1/2 x 11 size. I didn't know any better. I later found a better copy with the original 11 x 17 fold-out pages still full sized. First picture below is a scan from my current 1960 AIM. Night and day difference in usability with the new one I got versus the one I original bought.


    Now to my problem, I purchased an AIM for my 1966 and it is not very useful many time when trying to identify details of how something is supposed to go together. The reproduction quality seem to be good and dark. But, the images and art work seems to be of a much lower quality than the 1960. The details are just not as crisp and clean as the 1960.

    Are the original GM C2 AIMs just that much of a lesser quality that the earlier C1 AIMs?

    Were all the C2 pages 8 1/2 x 11, the one I have certainly does not have any fold-out pages?

    Are there better copies of the 66 AIM to be had, or do all the reproductions come from one source?

    Thanks,
    Don

    1960.jpg1966.jpg
    Don Harris
    Current: 67 convertible Marina Blue L79
    Former: 60 Red/Red, 2x4, 245hp (Regional and National Top Flight 2013), 66 coupe Nassau Blue, L79 (Chapter and Regional Top Flight 2017)
  • Terry M.
    Beyond Control Poster
    • September 30, 1980
    • 15573

    #2
    Re: AIM Quality of reproductions - Does anyone sell better copies?

    Don, the quality of the AIMs has been poor for quite some time. I am not so sure the "originals" -- even the ones used in St Louis -- were a whole lot better than what we have, but given I know only a few people who have first generation copies, and I have never seen many of them myself, we may never know. Keep in mind these were working documents and the quality was of far less consequence to the original users than it is to us. I have seen printed copies from GM micro film files (early C3) and they are not much better than what is commonly available.

    Given the history of the AIMS we have -- the first copies were literally stolen from St Louis (I think I can say that now that the party involved has passed on to his reward) they almost all came from that source, but some vendors have been more or less scrupulous in managing their files. Back when I was Restorer Editor I was tasked with contacting the Corvette Brand Manager to see if we (NCRS) could get access to their AIM files in order to improve the product. At that time we believed those files were on micro-film -- if they were there at all. To make a long story short that attempt was futile. We never even found out if the micro film files were preserved.

    I am not familiar enough with the C2 AIMS to comment about the page size, but the early C3 AIMs (1968 to 1972) are all 8.5 x 11 size. I expect C2s are the same. I have seen a first generation 1957 AIM and I was surprised to see the fold out pages. Until that time I didn't know they came in the "van Dyke" size. I am not sure that term is what GM Drafting called that size, but it is what we in the utility industry called it when our maps were on paper. I believe there is a copy of that first generation 1957 AIM in the NCRS files in Hershey, and a second generation copy at the NCM if someone wants to leg out that one.

    Sorry not to answer your questions, and to ramble on so much – but believe it or not this IS the Readers Digest version.
    Last edited by Terry M.; January 12, 2012, 12:21 PM. Reason: spelling
    Terry

    Comment

    • Donald H.
      Extremely Frequent Poster
      • November 1, 2009
      • 2580

      #3
      Re: AIM Quality of reproductions - Does anyone sell better copies?

      Terry,

      Thanks, I guess I was suprized that the quality of the graphics and details was so much better in the 60AIM than the 66. OH WELL!!!!

      Don
      Don Harris
      Current: 67 convertible Marina Blue L79
      Former: 60 Red/Red, 2x4, 245hp (Regional and National Top Flight 2013), 66 coupe Nassau Blue, L79 (Chapter and Regional Top Flight 2017)

      Comment

      • Dale C.
        Expired
        • October 31, 1999
        • 844

        #4
        Re: AIM Quality of reproductions - Does anyone sell better copies?

        I can speak of an original version of the 68 AIM maintained at a GM corp. headquarters archive library. This set was used just before the transcription to micro fish. It was a typical utility manual and a not so sterling copy that was distributed for various company usages. Maybe I can post a picture using this new format to show its quality.68 AIM.jpgIt is, however, much better quality than the reproduction ones you get today.
        Dale

        Comment

        • John H.
          Beyond Control Poster
          • November 30, 1997
          • 16513

          #5
          Re: AIM Quality of reproductions - Does anyone sell better copies?

          Originally posted by Donald Harris (51003)
          Terry,

          Thanks, I guess I was suprized that the quality of the graphics and details was so much better in the 60AIM than the 66. OH WELL!!!!

          Don
          Don -

          Another alternative is the line-art illustrations in Noland's book - those were taken from the original A.I.M. artwork sheets, and are crisp and clear; other than that, the complete A.I.M. books we have are what they are. Our fellow Ford and Mopar enthusiasts have ZERO, and they'd love to have what we have.

          Comment

          • Michael G.
            Extremely Frequent Poster
            • November 11, 2008
            • 2155

            #6
            Re: AIM Quality of reproductions - Does anyone sell better copies?

            The original artwork on AIMS was in a larger size (11 x 17, I think), but I'm not sure if a copy of the large size existed beyond the drafting room. I drew a few of these in 1979 and the quality was much, much better than what I see on the current small copies. There were micro films of these docs, but who knows what happened to them.

            Comment

            • Donald H.
              Extremely Frequent Poster
              • November 1, 2009
              • 2580

              #7
              Re: AIM Quality of reproductions - Does anyone sell better copies?

              Originally posted by Michael Garver (49693)
              The original artwork on AIMS was in a larger size (11 x 17, I think), but I'm not sure if a copy of the large size existed beyond the drafting room. I drew a few of these in 1979 and the quality was much, much better than what I see on the current small copies. There were micro films of these docs, but who knows what happened to them.
              That was what started my original question. The first 1960 AIM I got was all 8 1/2 x 11 pages and almost not usable due to the reduction and poor copy quality. I did get another one from Corvette Central and it has the full fold-out pages mixed in where they were supposed to be and is a much much better quality copy. I was just wondering if the same thing happened with C2 AIM, i.e. some copy versions better than others. But does not seem to be the case.

              Thanks,

              Don
              Don Harris
              Current: 67 convertible Marina Blue L79
              Former: 60 Red/Red, 2x4, 245hp (Regional and National Top Flight 2013), 66 coupe Nassau Blue, L79 (Chapter and Regional Top Flight 2017)

              Comment

              • Michael G.
                Extremely Frequent Poster
                • November 11, 2008
                • 2155

                #8
                Re: AIM Quality of reproductions - Does anyone sell better copies?

                I have a 63 AIM copied in 1988. It is much clearer than today's copy.

                Comment

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