Original Copy of 1960 A.I.M.

[Joe M.]

Where are the original AIMs located? The copy I have from Mid America (purchased in the early 1990s) is poor quality. Is there one source of crisp clean copies of the AIMs, specifically 1960?

I purchased a new one last year from a vendor at Kissimmee (not the NCRS), but when I removed the shrink wrap (when I got home) the 11x17 pages had been reduced to 8-1/2 x 11 and worthless.

[Ian G.]

Re: Original Copy of 1960 A.I.M.

All the ones I've seen are the same.. photocopies of photocopies and 8 1/2 by 11.

[Joe M.]

Re: Original Copy of 1960 A.I.M.

I should hang on to my tattered copy with 11x17 pages. It is not worn out yet.

[Loren L.]

Re: Original Copy of 1960 A.I.M.

I'm surprised that your copy of Mid-America was low quality - the ones I've purchased from Mike are four steps ahead of what NCRS has provided. I'd contact Mid-America and just ask about the quality and if the answer is to your satisfaction, order another.

[Joe M.]

Re: Original Copy of 1960 A.I.M.

I did not say it was low quality. I am trying to see greater details on the face of the fan clutch shown in the 1960 AIM. I can see that the mounting plate is slotted; unlike the later fan clutches installed after Jan. 1, 1960. What I can see of the front of the fan clutch (drawn in June of 1959 looks like the 1959 Chevy passenger car fan clutch. The coil spring was held in place and adjustments made with a bakelite attachment. I may be seeing something that is not there, but it does not looks to be more than just the coiled spring which was visible on the 1961 AIM.

[Loren L.]

Re: Original Copy of 1960 A.I.M.

Well, then you are violating the first rule of AIMs - the graphics are NOT to be used as validations. Often times, the drawing itself is lifted from another drawing for a totally different purpose because the parts are shown in the correct order and location.

[Joe M.]

Re: Original Copy of 1960 A.I.M.

I thought that might be the case. Someone may have delivered a passenger car fan clutch to the illustrator and asked that it be drawn for the AIM and that part never was installed on a 1960 Corvette. I have identified two fan clutches on 1959 Corvettes and neither have the bakelite piece on the front and so it doesn't stand to reason that the 1960 Corvettes would have had the unit with bakelite installed a few months later.

[Terry M.]

Re: Original Copy of 1960 A.I.M.

Just as Loren has said, and said it quite well. Those who produced and used the AIMs were not concerned with the finer details of the part. They were mostly focused on the part number. The installer placed the correct part number (most of the time) on the car -- if that part had a coil spring or a flat plate was not (as we say at work) within his pay grade. Mostly he was concerned with: Do I put a locking washer here of a flat washer or no washer? If the AIM shows a hex head fastener and your car has a Phillips -- if you think that part of the car has not been molested it is likely the AIM drawing simply is not accurate. However, it is prudent to verify with other unmolested Corvettes built around the time of yours before assUming the AIM is either right or wrong.

[John H.]

Re: Original Copy of 1960 A.I.M.

My wife was a technical illustrator and graphic line artist at GM for many years (back in the days when people drew those things), and she created hundreds (maybe thousands) of A.I.M. illustrations. Many of them were cut-and-pasted from multiple small pieces of vellum, then photographed for the published sheet, and many common parts were done from standard templates, not necessarily representative of the precise production part. They were "assembly aids", not Engineering drawings. It's amazing to see the amount of work that went into a technical illustration of that era - sketch on paper, then pencil on vellum, then final inked version on vellum for reproduction. She was cleaning out some old files last week, and we spent several hours going through lots of her ink-on-vellum original illustrations. Today it's all done by computer-manipulating 3-D CAD files; an isometric illustration that took two or three days to do manually back in the day on a drawing board now takes about two hours on the tube.

[Terry M.]

Re: Original Copy of 1960 A.I.M.

Back when I started engineering school (I never got very far. Starting was all I did.) the first three semesters consisted of Drafting courses. We learned to make pencil lines of different widths, the proper techniques for showing dimensions on a drawing, and finely we progressed to isometric projections from which one could take measurements from the different views shown on the drawing. In those days if one didn't get past those courses, you didn't get to the rest of the engineering classes. I think there was even more than three semesters (since I never got to ink), but that was the limit of my adventures in engineering college.

I think of those days when I pass the CAD/CAM lab at college. I keep meaning to stop in, but another part of me doesn't want to know.

[Kenneth B.]

Re: Original Copy of 1960 A.I.M.

Back when I started engineering school (I never got very far. Starting was all I did.) the first three semesters consisted of Drafting courses. We learned to make pencil lines of different widths, the proper techniques for showing dimensions on a drawing, and finely we progressed to isometric projections from which one could take measurements from the different views shown on the drawing. In those days if one didn't get past those courses, you didn't get to the rest of the engineering classes. I think there was even more than three semesters (since I never got to ink), but that was the limit of my adventures in engineering college.

I think of those days when I pass the CAD/CAM lab at college. I keep meaning to stop in, but another part of me doesn't want to know.

Just think that everything was made from those 2-D drawings. We took 2-D prints & turned them into 3-D wood patterns & then metal ones for casting. I remember I was making a intake manifold for IH & the engineer ask how I could make a 3-d wood part from a 2-D print. I said you either add wood till it looks like the print or start with a big block of wood & take away everything that doesn't look like the print. we had 11 wood men & 2 draftsmen. When I sold to my partner we had NO wood men & 6 cad kids with 20 big CNC'S.

[John H.]

Re: Original Copy of 1960 A.I.M.

Just think that everything was made from those 2-D drawings. We took 2-D prints & turned them into 3-D wood patterns & then metal ones for casting. I remember I was making a intake manifold for IH & the engineer ask how I could make a 3-d wood part from a 2-D print. I said you either add wood till it looks like the print or start with a big block of wood & take away everything that doesn't look like the print. we had 11 wood men & 2 draftsmen. When I sold to my partner we had NO wood men & 6 cad kids with 20 big CNC'S.

Ken -

When I was at Chevrolet Engineering in the 60's, the Engineering Shops had a small army of wood model-makers and pattern makers; I'd be surprised if there are more than one or two still there, only because they haven't decided to retire yet.

[Kenneth B.]

Re: Original Copy of 1960 A.I.M.

Ken -

When I was at Chevrolet Engineering in the 60's, the Engineering Shops had a small army of wood model-makers and pattern makers; I'd be surprised if there are more than one or two still there, only because they haven't decided to retire yet.

JOHN
How many draftsmen were there. I remember IH had at least 30 people on the drawing boards. I guess there are no more clay models & templets for the body panels. I would like to see the cad/cam people duplicate the fins & lines of the 50'S cars. LOL

[John H.]

Re: Original Copy of 1960 A.I.M.

JOHN
How many draftsmen were there. I remember IH had at least 30 people on the drawing boards. I guess there are no more clay models & templets for the body panels. I would like to see the cad/cam people duplicate the fins & lines of the 50'S cars. LOL

Ken -

Chevrolet had three drafting rooms, each about half the size of a football field; Fisher Body (right next door) had eight or nine, each about the size of a full football field (including Die Engineering). When we built the new Chrysler Technology Center in 1990, one of the criteria was to have NO drawing boards - just tubes, and an occasional table to roll out supplier drawings.