Just ordered mine. Looks like some good reading!

There are a lot of people I do not know.

Who are Kevin Shaw and Mike Wilkins?

..... I have read it cover to cover and it more than delivers. .....

I find it ODD that one of the authors of the book started this thread in this manner. Is this Mike talking in the third person, or is there an inside joke somewhere?



I sure hope so!!

Lets collect alot of proper info from the web and from hard working smart fellas, re word a bit of it and chum the waters and collect the cash.

I'm curious if or how this topic will be addressed in the book and how it will be handled: https://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/ubbt...tml#Post1706879

Yes I am one of the authors and yes I thought it would be fun to see just how long it would take the Moparts crowd to start bashing a book that hasn't even been seen or read by them. Lets see ... less than a few days.

The book is a step by step "How to" book. It has some articles from many professional shops, like Restorations by Rick, Jefferson Bryant of Red Dirt Rods, and several others shops who are credited in the book. It also has step by step pictures from many of the more than 25 cars I have personally restored as a regular guy doing all the work including paint, body work, and mechanical instead of using a professional mega dollar shop and just writing a check. Then the cars were shown from O.E level to local shows and won 1st at the Mopar Nationals or AACA Grand National Senior awards including several Best of Shows. Most of those cars are either in magazines or in books.

Yes it does have some information that I made sure to document here like the air grabber thread. Why wouldn't I come here just like I have every day since it was the Dallas board. Over the years I have shared information and I have learned information, that is for sure. AND I also referenced Moparts as one of the BEST places to come on the web for Mopar enthusiasts.

Writing this book took over three years using information gathered from the past 45 years. The money we were paid to write it may have equaled $.50 an hour when all was said and done. It has been a labor of love to help the average motor head to buy, research, disassemble, restore, assemble, and enjoy or show their car.

So if you buy the book and you think it is not worth the $29.95 then come here and complain. But to dis it before you even read it... well boys I guess it is a free country.

If you want to see Kevin Shaw's work just go to years of back issues of Mopar Muscle and currently here on Moparts in the Directly Connected Magazine section.

The problem I see with any restoration guide is that , what may be true for Lynch Rd on April 12th 1969 , may not be true for Hamtramck on May 4th 1970 . Assembly line procedures differed from plant to plant , and from day to day in some cases. The correct way to detail a particular part or sub assembly for a 1970 Windsor Ontario Canada built car may be diffrent than the way they did it in Los Angeles, or St. Louis . And they way they did it in January , could be diffrent than the way it was done in May .
Their will never be a "restoration guide" that can be used 100 % .
Your best way to go is to research cars built at the same plant , during the same time period . You have to look at original unrestored survivors , or OE Gold quality restos from guys like Roger Gibson etc . A P/S bracket for a saginaw pump and a federal pump may be detailed diffrently . Their are Soooo many variables to consider when attempting to restore a car correctly. You just about have to do your research specifically on that car, from that plant , that week , and heavily document YOUR car as you dissassemble it , and replicate what you have found (assuming it is an unmolested example)
Just my opinion.

Greg