It's been said many times that one can never finish reading the 'good book', and indeed that is true both with the old and new testament.
Now another "'good book" for Studebaker gear heads is the factory labor guide, utilized within the service department at Studebaker dealers, along with the true "bible" of the automotive trade....the Chilton labor guide.
I laugh because over the many years I have referred to the Stude guide, and felt that it is just not a realistic representation of what they say the line mechanic can do in the allotted time. Because the labor was based on new cars, and not vehicles with much use, indeed Chilton would publish two times for each operation, factory time, and Chilton time......which was based on written and phone interviews with service managers, and actual line mechanics.......and let me tell you for customer paid labor if the dealer charged factory and not Chilton time the service dept would cease being a cash cow for the ownership.
For over 25 years I sold the entire Chilton line of repair manuals, years before the pc, and I will say that over 95% of new car dealers purchased the labor guides......which was a good thing because the majority of insurance companies knew that the "Chilton" was the holy grail of labor reality.
I had competitors in the field, Motor, and Mitchell.......mostly Motor......all had good and bad points..........but Chilton was the last word on labor, with no exception. Shop owners used to beech about wiring diagrams.....and indeed Motor and Mitchell used to re-draw the factory schematics......to save on the royalty fees..........Chilton on the other hand copied exactly what the factory gave them and then bound the information in very large volumes., and yes paid to provide that needed service.
I still have a Chilton labor guide from 1965 in my book collection........I could spend years reading that thing~!
PS...Forget Chilton today...company has been sold many times, and is just a name with lots of non-accurate information:-(
Now another "'good book" for Studebaker gear heads is the factory labor guide, utilized within the service department at Studebaker dealers, along with the true "bible" of the automotive trade....the Chilton labor guide.
I laugh because over the many years I have referred to the Stude guide, and felt that it is just not a realistic representation of what they say the line mechanic can do in the allotted time. Because the labor was based on new cars, and not vehicles with much use, indeed Chilton would publish two times for each operation, factory time, and Chilton time......which was based on written and phone interviews with service managers, and actual line mechanics.......and let me tell you for customer paid labor if the dealer charged factory and not Chilton time the service dept would cease being a cash cow for the ownership.
For over 25 years I sold the entire Chilton line of repair manuals, years before the pc, and I will say that over 95% of new car dealers purchased the labor guides......which was a good thing because the majority of insurance companies knew that the "Chilton" was the holy grail of labor reality.
I had competitors in the field, Motor, and Mitchell.......mostly Motor......all had good and bad points..........but Chilton was the last word on labor, with no exception. Shop owners used to beech about wiring diagrams.....and indeed Motor and Mitchell used to re-draw the factory schematics......to save on the royalty fees..........Chilton on the other hand copied exactly what the factory gave them and then bound the information in very large volumes., and yes paid to provide that needed service.
I still have a Chilton labor guide from 1965 in my book collection........I could spend years reading that thing~!
PS...Forget Chilton today...company has been sold many times, and is just a name with lots of non-accurate information:-(
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