Glad PCA has the Index to Up-Fixin on the pca.org website, but
if they are the ones who printed it in the first place, why is it not
available as a .pdf download or as a searchable web database?

Glad I bought a good set on eBay! Didn't mind Vol 1 was missing:
no 914 that early on...

Paul

PCA is giving away their stock of Up Fixin' (+ $25 S&H). I have a set on order. I believe it's only missing a couple volumes.

Skip

I ordered the free set literally minutes after originally reading in Pano that they were giving them away. I'm only missing Volume VI. I'm glad I did it when I did. My dad ordered his free set and he was missing 2 or 3 volumes....

A much better deal than when they were selling them.

When I was growing up, I about wore out Volume IV and V (1972-1980). I'm glad Dad got new ones to replace the ones I wore out.

The on-line index is really helpful. (I wish there was a downloadable index).

Are they still available from PCA? I don't remember seeing that they were being given away.

As far as I know, they are still available. You need to call them with your membership number and a credit card. They were $25 shipping for the sets they have remaining. The "sets" they have left are missing at least 2 volumes.

If someone is not a pca member, I have an extra set (missing volumes VI and one other I think). I'll ship it for the $25 that I gave PCA for them.

I was glad to get Volumes II through XI on eBay but the point remains: if this is a PCA publication and they have all of the copyrights for the material, it should be available digitally. For instance, the recent question about how big can the 1.8 motor go is nicely addressed in an article on page 38 of Volume XI covering all of the 914 motors. Options retaining the concours look are discussed as well as carbs and other "non-original" changes. And a word search of a .pdf volume would be great, in addition to looking through the list of article titles provided on the PCA website.

Reason I mention it now is the fact that I joined the club last night. Membership papers take 2-3 weeks so...if you see me gripe about this in the future, remind me to shut up and take it the source!

Paul

My thoughts are:

These books were done prior to the digital age.

Converting these to searchable PDF documents would take considerable work due to the fact that the originals were not digital to begin with. OCR may help, but it would be a big job.

My opinion is that demand for these compilations of Tech articles from old Panoramas has diminished to the point that they are giving them away, so why spend the time/money/effort to converting these to electronic documents.

I have no affiliation with PCA other than I am a member. These are just my opinions. These books used to sell for quite a bit if I remember correctly.



just my $0.02

In the predigital days, they were worth their weight in gold if you wanted good technical information on the cars. It was much quicker and easier to look something up in UpFixin than search through all your old Panoramas.

I still have my set of UpFixins, and will keep them. I also have a complete set of Panoramas back to the early 70s, and don't know what to do with them. I rarely have a desire to see where some region had their annual picnic in 1979, or how Porsche has introduced some new color treatment for the new model 924, etc.