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Which of the two Noland Adams "Restoration & Technical Guide" books are more valuable these days?
Vol.1 for 53-52, or Vol.2 for 63-67?
I understand both volumes are out of print, so only used copies are available. I've seen listings for both on eBay and it seems Vol.1 seems to bring more money. Is there a reason for this? Did they print fewer copies of Vol.1? There's one now on there for about $700 (leather bound, signed by Mr. Adams, etc.) Run of the mill copies seem to go for well over $100.
I'm looking to get Vol. 2 as I own a '67. However, I do have a copy of Vol. 1 and might want to sell it to get Vol. 2, or trade for a copy.
How much is a reasonable/fair price to pay for Vol.2?
What if always wonder is why don't the make these books anymore? If there is money to be made, why hasn't someone purchased the rights to re-manufacture it?
I'm actually surprised you don't see a bunch of Chinese knockoffs.
There would have to be a fairly big demand to launch into a new round of printing a large hardbound book - considered to be just a coffee table book by most of the public. Also Noland's name and works have been purloined nefariously from what I understand and that may play into it as well.
The Chinese main thrust seems to be in high-tech, low-barrier-to-entry, large profit usurping of intellectual property.
Last edited by Frankie the Fink; 08-29-2015 at 06:48 AM.
It's all about the size of the print run. The demand for Noland's books is not high enough to justify a new printing. On the other hand his books do hold value because there is some demand.
I have the same issue with my books. The demand is just high enough that folks can get good money for them but not high enough to justify a reprinting.
Actually the entire book market is very soft right now. I'm selling off a lot of my personal books and I'm not getting very much for them. I would suggest that Nolan's books are really undervalued at $45.00.
You should also look for a series of small books that Noland did.
These never sold well but they're great books. Amazon usually has them for under $15.00 each. That's a tremendous bargain.
Just in case you're younger than most of us you have to understand that Noland was one of the key individuals to get the Corvette restoration thing going in the correct direction. He was there in the very beginning. He set the standards.
It's all about the size of the print run. The demand for Noland's books is not high enough to justify a new printing. On the other hand his books do hold value because there is some demand.
I have the same issue with my books. The demand is just high enough that folks can get good money for them but not high enough to justify a reprinting.
Actually the entire book market is very soft right now. I'm selling off a lot of my personal books and I'm not getting very much for them. I would suggest that Nolan's books are really undervalued at $45.00.
These never sold well but they're great books. Amazon usually has them for under $15.00 each. That's a tremendous bargain.
Just in case you're younger than most of us you have to understand that Noland was one of the key individuals to get the Corvette restoration thing going in the correct direction. He was there in the very beginning. He set the standards.
Richard Newton
Hi Richard,
Thanks for the info on Noland Adam's books. I'll check out the series of small books he wrote. Did he do any of his small books on the Sting Ray series? The only ones I see appear to pertain to the solid axle era.
Being an author myself (I wrote a horticulture book which was reprinted twice) I know what a labor of love writing a book can be. The money hardly makes up for the amount of time it takes to get a book to print.
I have a copy of your book "How to Restore and Modify Your Corvette, 1968-1982" which I bought when I was looking to buy a '70-'72. But then I came across my '67 and bought it instead.
Cheers,
Alex
Last edited by vettebuyer6369; 09-02-2015 at 01:55 PM.
Reason: removed sales activity from General area, NSV
I've found the Adams' books sale prices to be pretty entertaining, as both volumes have occasionally shot up in price, amidst reports that it was out of print forever and will never be produced again. I've actually sold a couple of by copies for silly money when people were panicking and then bought them again when the prices came back to normal. Both always seem to become available again after awhile. Not sure what's going on there.
I would dearly love to see both Volumes come out in "second editions" or revised or something to reflect all the updates and clarifications and additional info that has developed since these books first came out. Talk about a "bible." It's a testament to NA that they have held up in usefulness all this time, but wouldn't a second edition of each be amazing?
I have heard all sorts of stories about legal and copyright issues with these books, so it could be complicated. I wrote my first criminology college textbook in 1996 and I desperately wanted to do a revision/second edition for years and the publisher insisted it wasn't worth the extra $ to produce one, as the title continued to sell. They wouldn't go from hard cover to soft, either. I eventually had to just do a complete re-write with a lot of new material, re-title the work and simply sell it as a brand new product to get it published in 2012.
Maybe this could be the route for Noland, to simply produce a completely new work, maybe sell it to a different publisher?
Stranger things have happened. I don't expect to see it though.
I hadn't heard anything about copyright issues.
I do know that a lot of the images he used are no longer available. The same with my Sting Ray book. When Noland and I wrote our books we used the GM Archive.
GM then decided to use a contractor instead of their own employees. Not all of the images made it to the new contractor. Then the new contractor started charging us for photos. The interesting thing was magazines got the very same images for free. Oh well.
Don't hold your breath. Noland is in his 80s and isn't in the best of health.
In addition to which, he spent 8 years doing the C1 book and 7 more years doing the C2 book, and had no interest at all when the publisher subsequently asked him to do a C3 book. As with many other things, we're fortunate to have what we have, as that's all we're going to get.
In addition to which, he spent 8 years doing the C1 book and 7 more years doing the C2 book, and had no interest at all when the publisher subsequently asked him to do a C3 book.
Early '80s, right after the C2 book came out, Noland sported a T-shirt which read "No I'm not writing another book" His bride, Mary, wore a T-shirt which read "No he's not writing another book".
I'm not sure everybody appreciates the work that went into the C1/C2 books. The amount of research done is astounding. Particularly the VIN-speciiic details of actual cars... I don't refer to them all that much anymore but each time I do I get a whole new respect for what it took to produce those volumes...
08-28-2015, 08:14 PM
Noland Adams 53-62 and 63-67 restoration books
