Haynes Manuals

Over the latter half of the 20th century Haynes Owners Workshop manuals have become an automotive institution. The books can be traced back to one man John Haynes who as a schoolboy built an Austin Seven Special and created a small booklet documenting it. A few years later he established a company and produced the first recognisable Owners Workshop Manual in 1965 for the Austin Healey Frogeye Sprite. His company J. H. Haynes & Co. Ltd then went from strength to strength building up the series of car manuals into a publishing empire.

The series became incredibly successful for its simple description of a careful strip down and rebuild of a vehicle, and illustrating each task with text and photographs. The manuals from the 70s to early 90s became iconic and collectible for their cover design. The covers featured a strong grid system, solid typography, elaborate cutaway drawings by Terry Davey and a bold colour background that varied from manual to manual. Easily recognisable on their own and a spectrum of colour when put together.

Terry Davey worked at Haynes from 1972-1991 and during that time he produced over 400 cutaways for the covers that became iconic in their own right, they are now available to buy as a collection. His retirement coincided with a decision to modernise the look of the manuals, with less detailed cutaways, and then a couple of years later they began to be produced in colour. A real shame.