YesA59

I recently purchased an original 1956 - 1957 AIM on ebay. The original AIM has much sharper images, words and numbers than the reproductions currently being sold. I scanned in the original AIM, and posted two different versions of the download on my website:

1. Computer version. The Computer Version features the original AIM as it appears - including foldout pages. This version is not suitable for printing on 8 x 11.5 paper. This is a high quality scan showing all of the detail on the original - and you can use the ZOOM feature in adobe acrobat to blow up the size of each page on your computer screen. You can also use the SEARCH feature in adobe acrobat to search for words and part numbers. The search engine is about 95% accurate. The computer version is a 170MB file. You can also download each individual section of the AIM (word and number search function works here too). Each separate file is approximately 5MB in size.

2. Printer Version. The Print Version features all 8.5 x 11 inch pages at 200dpi - suitable for printing. The full Printer Version is 300MB (broken into 3 groupings). Folded pages in the original were scanned into two pages. No word search capability in these files. You can also download each individual section of the AIM - each separate file is approximately 10MB in size.


Russ

OldDog58Vette

Thanks Russ

DZAUTO

Excellent!

cbernhardt

Russ:
That sounds like a lot of work. Did you have to type in all the text information in order to be able to make the search function work? I would like to download it but I am still on dial up and to retrieve a 175 MEG file would probably take me a few weeks.

A few years ago I thought about doing something similar with a '62 AIM except I was going to make it an HTML document so that you could just click on an index item (i.e. bumpers) and the proper page would appear.

I just wonder if there are any copyright infringement issues in reproducing these documents? I have two AIM's. The one from Mid America has a copyright statement while the one from Michealis Products does not. The Mid America copy has a statement reading "Reprinted courtesy General Motors Division" and Mid America Design logos on each page. The Michealis copy has Chevrolet Bowtie and the General Motors Corporation logos on the individual pages. Does the original GM document have any copyright notices?

Charles

YesA59

Charles-

There were no copyright notices on my originial AIM, which is why I felt comfortable scanning and putting it on the internet. GM apparently did not copyright materials intended for internal use in the 1950s from what I have seen. I suspect GM started to copyright more stuff as the years passed.

I'm not surprised that Mid-America and some other asked GM first - they probably have to worry about getting cross-wise with GM. And they wanted to sell the reproduction AIM's at a profit.

Here is what I did to digitize the AIM's:

1. Scan each page on an 8.5 x 11 basis (a foldout required 2 pages)

2. Use Photoshop to reattach the foldouts (making one wide page) and brighten up the pages.

3. Use an OCR program (Readiris) to convert the words and numbers into readable text (very labor intensive - I had to highlight almost all the words and numbers to get the program to work right)

4. Use Adobe Acrobat Professional to put everything together.

This took a bit more time that I originally estimated. But, on the brighter side, I can now re-assemble a 57 Corvette blindfolded.

Russ

jim lockwood

And given your recent acquisition, this may prove to be a handy skill to have.

:-)

Jim

JohnFromVentura

Russ:
Thank you so much for sharing these. Anyone with a 56-57 knows that the commonly available AIM "sucks". Your files are so clear ... I want to thank you for all 56-57 owners for this great piece of un-selfish work!!!
John

DZAUTO

But-------but-------but, mine is already put together. So, do I need to take it apart and put it back together by the book?????

john neas

Does anyone have a 56 AIM? (as it was at the end of 56 production)
Regards

Tyler Townsley

Borrow a laptop and look for a wireless hot spot and download. Or the next time you travel take a laptop as most have a wireless of hard connection. Also could go to the library and download it and copy to a CD.

Tyler

YesA59

I suspect there are no AIMs left reflecting late 56 cars.

The instructions to the AIM's stated:

"This manual has been designed to expedite furnishing the latest information to the user. It is imperative, therefore, that additions and revisions be inserted in their proper places and that superseded sheets be removed and destroyed."

I think the 56-57 AIM was first issued in late 1955. Chevrolet would then update the AIM as changes were made. Per the instructions, the revised sheets would be inserted into the AIM, and the outdated sheets would be tossed. That's what happened in my AIM. I bet that's what happened in all or almost all of the other AIMs as well.

Russ

Hitch

Russ that is AWESOME!!! I don't have a 57 but I wish that someone would do this for the 66. Kudos for taking the time to complete this project. Dave

billyhi

The link seems dead. Is there somewhere else we can find it? Maybe someone could email it to me?

Thanks,
Billy

decarmine

Link is dead because a lot of stuff may have happened in the intervening SEVEN years...

jim lockwood

Russ's web page is still functional. Click the link below and scroll down once the page loads:

http://www.earlycorvettes.com/

billyhi

Perfect! Thank you. Despite the intervening years, it looks like the AIM hasn't changed much.

I love Russ' site. Apparently he and I are virtually neighbors, so I'll have to reach out to him directly.

Thanks again,
Billy

jim lockwood

You are welcome.

Russ is a really good guy with lots of enthusiasm for the early Vettes. His '53 is a real time capsule yet he drives it everywhere. Recently, for example, he drove it from one side of the state to the other (up here in the Sierra) just to show it at our annual car show.

Jim