Haynes: The First 40 Years - 1960 to the New Millennium 1859604188, 9781859604182

Citation preview

The first 40 years yn Com cat-mal-\Waaalii(svalalelan

Jeff Clew Foreword by John Haynes, OBE

The Haynes Manual is one of the bestknown products in the world. It is just 40 years since the foundations were laid for the Haynes Publishing Group, and in this year of the new millennium it is timely to look back on how the company and its publications have evolved to earn the worldwide recognition they enjoy today. The story begins in 1954 when John Haynes, then at a boarding school in Kent, built himself an Austin Seven

‘special’, gaining sufficient experience to write and publish a small book about it which proved an instant success. From these tentative steps in producing an instructional publication based on practical and personal experience, he expanded his hobby into a part-time book publishing and mail order bookselling business. This led to the formation of J. H. Haynes & Co Ltd on 18 May 1960. This book outlines how John Haynes forsook a career in the Royal Air Force to devote more time to his publishing business and how it became firmly established, outgrowing several premises in the South Somerset area, until eventually moving its headquarters to a former milk-processing factory in Sparkford. The acquisition of a number of traditional book publishing imprints took the company into other areas of publishing before it went public in 1979. Meanwhile, a very successful operation had been started on the west coast of America, and this has since developed and expanded to become the leading supplier of motor vehicle manuals in the USA. The unique Haynes formula of stripping, rebuilding, photographing and describing cars and motorcycles, and what is involved in maintaining them, as the basis for manuals is therefore now followed in both the UK and the USA. The Group also operates in Australia, Sweden and France, and has a sales network around

the world. The full story of Haynes Publishing has not always been plain sailing. There have been setbacks over the years, not least the effects of the recession at the end of the 1980s, but how the company has overcome these problems and the

Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2022 with funding from Kahle/Austin Foundation

https://archive.org/details/haynesfirst40yea0000clew

Haynes The first 40 years

960 to the new millennium

The very beginning. John Haynes with his 1954 Austin Seven Special, taken with a Brownie box camera.

Haynes The first 40 years

1960 to the new millennium

Jeff Clew

Haynes Publishing

Dedication To my dear wife Annette for all her good work and encouragement over the years, those members of staff, past and present, helped to secure the success and growth

advice, hard and also to all who have of the Group.

Fohn H. Haynes

© Jeff Clew and

J. H.

Haynes & Co. Ltd, 2000

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. First edition published 1985 as Haynes: The First 25 Years This edition published 2000 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 1 85960 418 8 Library of Congress catalog card no. 99-80189

Published by Haynes Publishing, Sparkford, NrYeovil, Somerset BA22 7JJ, England.

Tel. 01963 442030 Fax 01963 440001 Int. tel. +44 1963 442030 Fax +44 1963 440001 E-mail: [email protected] Web site: www.haynes.co.uk Haynes North America, Inc., 861 Lawrence Drive, Newbury Park, California 91320, USA Printed and bound in England by J. H. Haynes & Co. Ltd, Sparkford

Contents

POUL

PALICII@REG

the

tes he

ee

0.4

Poteword by Jonni, Haynes; OBE.

= eee

8

.........-..+++-+0--

9

ain Gale Ws ere Ske eR

Employees and associates, past and present

Spee eee Te

eee eta soe ne is Introduction and acknowledgements)... Poo CU eveal etts dato hevel Vee See meres oats aerate eres RACY cate eric RCs 92245 ie

ea

ay

6

ee

ete

es

ee

ee

ee

ee es

2

One

13

OS

DE

ASTAOV EOS PATRIOT!

3

Acquisition and expansion: successes and disasters ...........Consolidation and growth at Sparkford .........-.-..-..+--

4

5 Geen

Sparkford, Los Angeles and where? ..... 2... 465s eeeseeeSOperanOMe oocyst Man a aeeri + oe Sys Say oe om ne The Paynes story: Colour,

To 8 One 10>

11

«5c.

6 Ae nee Sie oe

DE

nes

Index

35 43

66 70 81

es ce se 106 er se ne public...

4 “enoneIIE pte ei sis.) 1

ana

4 Ao n2ac 4 the

ae drive

Gras

Vives

Las

2

and

Tne

parki

Orc

oii

+

.

Painice

~COUDIKS,

ZQjOIMN,

cee

iM

>

eettense ss alama Witte F-2i0oneg

2H

Tce

OTignt

norm , DOT

Wilt

Lie

WOICS,

cds¢ and acrmes CYRE s1Ges 2ne 2ciOss

Te\4 Le