For someone who has does not yet have a lot of automotive
knowledge and is looking for an overview and description
of the various systems, Haynes is the best choice IMHO.
They are cheap and locally available. I bought my last
one at NAPA.
The points already made about Haynes manuals lumping too
many model years/variants in one book are well taken.
I have a Haynes for each of my three American vehicles,
and they are of little use for exactly this reason.
This is not the case with the Spitfire manual. There
are few differences between models/years, and nothing
terribly "hi tech", so it's possible to cover all in
one book without omitting too many details.
There are actually two Haynes Spitfire Manuals. Although
they have the same part number (113), they are very
different books. It's worth having both.
The "early" (grey cover) version was produced in the UK
when these cars were still in production. It has better
coverage of the early cars, but the photographs are rather
poor quality. Hard & soft cover versions of this book
might be found in used books stores.
The "later" (blue cover) version was probably produced
in the US, and is more similar to other Haynes "based on
a complete teardown and re-assembly" editions. The
photos are much clearer, but entirely different subject
matter than the earlier book.
Later, when you need the details like torque specs etc.,
the Bentley or Factory repair manual will be nice to have.
I still use both the Haynes and Bentley books that I
bought when my Spitfire was new.
--
LBC'ing U,
Bob (& Spitfires)
[digest mode]
http://home.att.net/~stan.part
[...]
> I believe I am looking for plenty of drawings, photographs, and an overview
> of the different systems on the car. I do not need very technical
> information like the torque for bolts, etc.
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