AutoPuzzles - The Internet's Museum of Rare Cars!
Automobiles => General Automotive => Topic started by: all-car-brands.com on September 03, 2013, 01:25:41 PM
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The most complete car encyclopedia book series , with more than 10.000 car brands and 50.000 car models.
How it all started.
Although, during the communist era, the car information had very limited sources, which were resumed in my country to a single car magazine, a yearly book and few collectible car photos from "Turbo" chewing gum, i was very attracted by this as a hobby and soon, after 1989 and the fell of the "iron curtain", i had instant access to a lot of information sources, but despite this, none of them pleased me, because i could not find a complete car encyclopedia book.
So i thought: "hey, the only way i can have that book is if i do it myself...", so in 1991 i have started working for it, dedicating around 6 hours per day, almost every day, sometimes even more. Soon i found out that some rules had to be set, in order to make it correctly and started taking it seriously. When most of the data was collected, forum various sources (directly from car manufacturers, an attic literally fool of books, magazines, brochures, etc, internet, museums, etc) i worked even more, reaching around 12 hours / day, in the last 5 years, when i sorted out all the information and photos gathered, getting it ready.
Not long ago, i have tried to upload it on an website, but i was not pleased with the uploading process and soon, decided instead to go for the old fashioned printed version.
The database
My database, contains today, more than 10.000 car brands and 50.000 car models. If for the number of car brands, i can be pretty accurate, as they are more than 10.000, the number of models is just an estimation, as i have stopped numbering them long time ago. I have said more than 50.000 car models as this is an estimation related to the total number of brands in the database and the number of car models/brand from the first volume. On another mathematical calculation made before, (taking in consideration the size of the database, and some other factors) i had 120.000 car models, so only the time will tell as i do not intend to start numbering them. This would be a very big waste of my time.
The book series:
As everything is ready, i have just started the book series, called "The most complete car encyclopedia".
There are some important guidelines that need to be mentioned.
-All the brands and models were included in the book, only if i had at least an official or semi-official information of it
- The encyclopedia is organized, presenting all the car brands in alphabetical order, not the companies that build the cars
- The car models of a manufacturer are structured in 4 categories: series production models (including kit-cars); concepts and prototypes, race cars (official or semi-official ones; including single-seater racers as Formula One, Formula 3000 or Indy Car) and coachbuilt.
-All the models from each category are arranged in chronological order and each generation of a model is treated separately
-Each car model has a complete photo gallery with interior, exterior and special models. There is also a description text with history facts, which can vary from 3 to 50 rows, depending on the information available or car's importance. There are also the car's specification mentioned, sometimes in the text (for the ones with one or two engines, transmissions, etc) or sometimes in a separate location, just near the text.
- Every car model is listed under the brand it was sold. It does not matter the company that manufactured it.
-Car replicas are included, only if they are (were) build (built), under different brand and model name from the original car.
-The cars made by small manufacturers, which are based on series production models from other car brands, are listed only if there are brand and model name differences and only if the car was changed in a way that it can be considered a different model.
- The only situation when a two brand names are listed together, is when they are virtually the same brand, with the same lineup or model chronology and the brand names were used only for different markets, as in the case of VAZ and LADA
-and so on. There are many other rules, which can be found on the introduction of each volume and will also be published on the website.
About the volumes of the series:
This book series will be published in volumes. Making a calculation with the number of files used in the first volume and the number of files in the rest of the database, there will probably be around 50 volumes, more or less. I cannot be 100 % accurate, as i do not know precisely how the information will fit on paper.
All the volumes will keep, their design, layout, size and format, making it a desirable book collection.
Although the database is complete and almost ready to print, the volumes will be released with a pace of a new volume, each every two or three months, both because technical and financial issues. I still have to verify some of the photos for the copyright, make some addnotations; my collaborator has to transform the photos and texts from my database, into "ready to print" format. After all that is solved, there still have to pass, around 20 days from placing the order to the printing company i work with, to the day i receive the finished product. I would probably be able to release all the volumes, if i would have half a million dollars, which is not the case for me. This release plan, makes it also more easier for the financial effort of the buyer.
The price of a volume will be 120 USD, including worldwide free expedited shipping.
For collectors, there will be a 25% collector's discount, which will work from the second volume, like this:
-Each volume has inserted a "25 % discount voucher", which can be used only when purchasing the next volume. So the first volume has inserted a discount voucher for the second one.
-The discount voucher, has a unique 10 digit code, which must be kept secret, because it can be used only once.
So, the price for the next volumes, will drop for a collector, to 30 USD/volume. If we look to the release rate of a volume, each 2 or 3 months, there will be a collector cost of 30 - 40 USD/month, which is not much.
PS: in the next post, i will start talking about the first volume of the book series, which has already been released and add some photos of the printed volume.
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The first volume of the book, has just been released.
It covers all the brands starting with numbers and also all the car brands from AA to AL, as well as their models, structured for each brand in the four categories mentioned before:
-series production
-concepts and prototpyes
-race cars
-coachbuilt
Volume specifications:
Language: English
Format: letter Size (A4)
Cover: hardcover
Interior: full color
Car brands: 362
Car models: 1353
The first volume is already available for120 USD, including FREE worldwide expedited shipping and includes the "25% Collector's discount voucher", which can be used when purchasing the next volume, reducing the price to 90 USD, including FREE worldwide expedited shipping.
You can see many photos in the attachment of this post and the following one.
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More photos:
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Even more photos:
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holy cow! that,s a wonderful project that your doing. Im very impressed with this project,I have a couple of questions,will you be putting in obscure cars as well,or does that fall under prototypes and concept cars? also will the series include home-built cars to?I would like to know if you can get a copy of volume1 at your local bookstores? you are right,your project will be the greatest books ever done on automobiles, thank you!
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holy cow! that,s a wonderful project that your doing. Im very impressed with this project,I have a couple of questions,will you be putting in obscure cars as well,or does that fall under prototypes and concept cars? also will the series include home-built cars to?I would like to know if you can get a copy of volume1 at your local bookstores? you are right,your project will be the greatest books ever done on automobiles, thank you!
Thanks !
Yes, the book series includes any obscure or home built car i could find and it has photo, only if i obtained copyright permission for it, as many of the cars from that category do not have press photos.
Regarding the categories they fit in, it depends if it was built as a demonstrator, s an attempt for a series production or it was built to be sold.
The first volume is already available and can be purchased directly for me. I have already sold a good number of copies. If you want one, just send me an e-mail at allcarbrands@yahoo.com
My online store, is still under construction and it will probably be ready in a week or so.
Regarding other sellers, i am already talking with a few and still looking for resellers as there will be a discount for bulk purchases but i am not looking hard for them as i intend to sell this book, mostly directly from my online store, with FREE worldwide expedited shipping.
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I'd like to know if book #2 will be published in a couple of months nevertheless or if you have to wait for #1 to reach a precise amount of copies.
I'm sure once you'll have a steady number of copies sold, you will be able to keep selling that number because I don't think anybody will stop a collection and find himself with an interrupted encyclopedia but I don't think you are going to proceed and invest your money in such a huge opera if it's not self-sustained.
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I'd like to know if book #2 will be published in a couple of months nevertheless or if you have to wait for #1 to reach a precise amount of copies.
I'm sure once you'll have a steady number of copies sold, you will be able to keep selling that number because I don't think anybody will stop a collection and find himself with an interrupted encyclopedia but I don't think you are going to proceed and invest your money in such a huge opera if it's not self-sustained.
Good question.
I will start getting ready the first volume, as soon as i solve all the problems and get the things straight, like the online store and other small but numerous organizing problems. This is the only time this things are done.
After that, i will take a 3 day break and then start getting the second volume ready to print, so the second volume will have a bigger time gap, than the time you have to wait, for the 3rd, 4th and so on.
The most important thing, is that the time i dedicate now for organizing, which includes all the aspects, including my life, my other income sources, etc, will have a major result, as follows:
With the specified 2 or 3 months per volume, the release of every new volume will not be conditioned at all, by the selling numbers of the released volumes. So there will be absolutely no connection between selling and release dates of the new volumes.
PS:
I know this is hard to believe, but with very carefully planned income vs expenses, it is possible, with this 2/3 months gap per volume. The sale success of the volumes, will only help me in pushing the time gap of the volumes, to even more close one. The one specified from the beginning is the one i can support, as a personal long term investment, without calculating the sale success.
This was very carefully planned, so the financial situation to be close to the release plan, dictated by the technical issues, like getting it ready to print.
P PS:
I suppose you are interested in a brand from the second volume. Are you an Audi, Aston Martin or AMC fan?
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I know I will want every future volume,along with anyone else buying these volumes,I,ve seen your posted pictures etc,it truly is a beautiful project as well as idea,it,ll be no doubt the most complete car encyclopedia ever published hands down as you,ve stated in the beginning. thank you for your time.
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I know I will want every future volume,along with anyone else buying these volumes,I,ve seen your posted pictures etc,it truly is a beautiful project as well as idea,it,ll be no doubt the most complete car encyclopedia ever published hands down as you,ve stated in the beginning. thank you for your time.
Thank you again for your appreciation. The only thing i can do to really thank you, is working even harder.
So, here it is the progress. Below is a photo from the online store.
Don't mind the picture with that car, it is used just for testing.
PS: The website is offline for now, it will be back online, within 5 days or so.
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I'd like to know if book #2 will be published in a couple of months nevertheless or if you have to wait for #1 to reach a precise amount of copies.
I'm sure once you'll have a steady number of copies sold, you will be able to keep selling that number because I don't think anybody will stop a collection and find himself with an interrupted encyclopedia but I don't think you are going to proceed and invest your money in such a huge opera if it's not self-sustained.
Good question.
I will start getting ready the first volume, as soon as i solve all the problems and get the things straight, like the online store and other small but numerous organizing problems. This is the only time this things are done.
After that, i will take a 3 day break and then start getting the second volume ready to print, so the second volume will have a bigger time gap, than the time you have to wait, for the 3rd, 4th and so on.
The most important thing, is that the time i dedicate now for organizing, which includes all the aspects, including my life, my other income sources, etc, will have a major result, as follows:
With the specified 2 or 3 months per volume, the release of every new volume will not be conditioned at all, by the selling numbers of the released volumes. So there will be absolutely no connection between selling and release dates of the new volumes.
PS:
I know this is hard to believe, but with very carefully planned income vs expenses, it is possible, with this 2/3 months gap per volume. The sale success of the volumes, will only help me in pushing the time gap of the volumes, to even more close one. The one specified from the beginning is the one i can support, as a personal long term investment, without calculating the sale success.
This was very carefully planned, so the financial situation to be close to the release plan, dictated by the technical issues, like getting it ready to print.
P PS:
I suppose you are interested in a brand from the second volume. Are you an Audi, Aston Martin or AMC fan?
I'm not interested in the 2nd book, I'm interested in the whole opera.
If you had all the 50\70 books ready and you were start selling them one by one, I'll be your 1st customer.
What blocks me is the way the work is proceeding. We already discussed that and I'd like to read other opininons too.
I think I can afford a monthly of 30USD, and sure I will for your books...but I really can't start spending money with the fear that, let's say in 5 years, while I'm reading about Lancia on my book #30, for any reason you stop publishing them.
Your commitment to your lifetime project is remarkable, but obviously not enough if you consider what is beyond your willing.
I also told you that I'd feel more confortable if you at least could give a sort of insurance about: a digital version of your opera to sell in case the print version will not be available. I read about your concern about digital copies (they can be copied and your work must be protected) and I also prefer printed books...but in the previous example, If I knew that I can always have a pdf of the missing 20\40 books to complete the opera myself, I'd feel less frustrated.
And of course, I'd like to know if they are going to be 50 or 70 books, since the difference means about 3\5 years!
All those issues can be fixed if you had the chance to prepare all the books, dividing the material and present a plan of the opera, like it works for every encyclopedia I bought so far.
As I said many times my interest is to have your encyclopedia and I know I'll have it sooner or later...
I'd rather buy it monthly now than in 2025 (or later) at an astronomical price (and quite outdated).
I'd like to be clear about: I really like your book and I'd love to buy them all. They are the most complete encyclopedia I ever found so far and they can't miss in my collection.
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I'd like to know if book #2 will be published in a couple of months nevertheless or if you have to wait for #1 to reach a precise amount of copies.
I'm sure once you'll have a steady number of copies sold, you will be able to keep selling that number because I don't think anybody will stop a collection and find himself with an interrupted encyclopedia but I don't think you are going to proceed and invest your money in such a huge opera if it's not self-sustained.
Good question.
I will start getting ready the first volume, as soon as i solve all the problems and get the things straight, like the online store and other small but numerous organizing problems. This is the only time this things are done.
After that, i will take a 3 day break and then start getting the second volume ready to print, so the second volume will have a bigger time gap, than the time you have to wait, for the 3rd, 4th and so on.
The most important thing, is that the time i dedicate now for organizing, which includes all the aspects, including my life, my other income sources, etc, will have a major result, as follows:
With the specified 2 or 3 months per volume, the release of every new volume will not be conditioned at all, by the selling numbers of the released volumes. So there will be absolutely no connection between selling and release dates of the new volumes.
PS:
I know this is hard to believe, but with very carefully planned income vs expenses, it is possible, with this 2/3 months gap per volume. The sale success of the volumes, will only help me in pushing the time gap of the volumes, to even more close one. The one specified from the beginning is the one i can support, as a personal long term investment, without calculating the sale success.
This was very carefully planned, so the financial situation to be close to the release plan, dictated by the technical issues, like getting it ready to print.
P PS:
I suppose you are interested in a brand from the second volume. Are you an Audi, Aston Martin or AMC fan?
I'm not interested in the 2nd book, I'm interested in the whole opera.
If you had all the 50\70 books ready and you were start selling them one by one, I'll be your 1st customer.
What blocks me is the way the work is proceeding. We already discussed that and I'd like to read other opininons too.
I think I can afford a monthly of 30USD, and sure I will for your books...but I really can't start spending money with the fear that, let's say in 5 years, while I'm reading about Lancia on my book #30, for any reason you stop publishing them.
Your commitment to your lifetime project is remarkable, but obviously not enough if you consider what is beyond your willing.
I also told you that I'd feel more confortable if you at least could give a sort of insurance about: a digital version of your opera to sell in case the print version will not be available. I read about your concern about digital copies (they can be copied and your work must be protected) and I also prefer printed books...but in the previous example, If I knew that I can always have a pdf of the missing 20\40 books to complete the opera myself, I'd feel less frustrated.
And of course, I'd like to know if they are going to be 50 or 70 books, since the difference means about 3\5 years!
All those issues can be fixed if you had the chance to prepare all the books, dividing the material and present a plan of the opera, like it works for every encyclopedia I bought so far.
As I said many times my interest is to have your encyclopedia and I know I'll have it sooner or later...
I'd rather buy it monthly now than in 2025 (or later) at an astronomical price (and quite outdated).
I'd like to be clear about: I really like your book and I'd love to buy them all. They are the most complete encyclopedia I ever found so far and they can't miss in my collection.
Thank you again for your appreciation.
I'm sorry if that offended you, know i understand what you meant by that. I just supposed you are an Audi fan or something and can't wait to see the second volume.
Regarding an exact release plan, i am working on that, but can't be to precise right now. This will be announced sometime at the beginning of the next year. I have my actual release pace and i need to see if i can speed it up a little. I also need to release the second and third volume, to have the exact number of volumes of the whole series. To be able to set the exact number, i need to obtain some information. There are a lot of different factors, besides the number of files in the database or in a letter so i can not be precise after a single volume, need two more so i can make better calculations, regarding the number of volumes. After the third volume, an exact plan will be presented, with release dates and what letters from alphabet will be covered by each volume.
Regarding the insurance, i cannot give a PDF file, as i intend to keep the curiosity about the book. There are quite a lot number of cars, found in very old books, that i did not see anywhere on the internet, so i need to keep the buyers curious. Any information from the volumes not released, will be kept secret until release date.
Regarding the fortunate events and the fact that this car encyclopedia needs to be finished as it is very important for the car history, i know i have a big responsibility on my shoulders, now that i have announced to have it finished. So there are few members of my family, that know everything needed to know, in the case something bad happens to me ;) . I did not set this up as a special request from people i got in touch with, discussing on forums. This was established few time ago, as i think for long term, especially since i am a father.
PS:
Setting all the volumes in the ready to print stage (transferring the photos and information into a print friendly format) , with a faster rate then specified before, is a bigger investment as the collaborators that do that, need to be payed. This can be helped by the sales also.
But, as i have said before, after releasing the third volume, i can present that release plan, specifying also what letters from alphabet will be covered by each volumes. I need to have three volumes, so i can have a precise estimation of pages/a specific number of files. You cannot have a precise average number from one or two volumes.
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I was not offended at all...it's not that bad to be an Audi or Aston Martin fan ;D
I read now that there are some changes and things are developing quickly since we started to exchange emails last week.
About the pdf, I was not thinking at your books in that format, of course...I like the idea of discover these makers in each book and a list released before will spoil the fun...I was thinking at something to sell (at a reduced price) only in case you will not be able to end the encyclopedia as planned and only to premit the collector to finish the opera himself: a file to complete the opera that is useless if you do not have the starting piece of it...but you already answer that now.
I support you in this task, I really want to see it done and of course I'll be glad to help your further volumes dedicated to updates and missed makers.
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Now i understand. Something like an e-book which is printer friendly.
Well, if from some unfortunate event i will stop. Let's say i will earn 10 million USD at the lottery and i will not be addicted to this anymore, although i think i will still be, but you never know, until you face literally the situation...
So if some event happens, i will keep that in mind as an option. :)
But again, i am 99.99 % sure, that it will not be the case.
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when the volumes do start coming out every 2-3 months ,will there be enough of each volume, incase somebody couldn,t purchase a given volume right off,as they come out,?because not everyone,s financial situation is the same? I hope you don,t mind the question.what it boils down to is everyones very excited about this project-books. Thank You for your time.
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when the volumes do start coming out every 2-3 months ,will there be enough of each volume, incase somebody couldn,t purchase a given volume right off,as they come out,?because not everyone,s financial situation is the same? I hope you don,t mind the question.what it boils down to is everyones very excited about this project-books. Thank You for your time.
Yes, i think there are enough volumes printed and if there is demand, i will print some more.
I do not mind any question. That's why i'm here, to get in contact with car enthusiasts and receive feedback about my work.
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I was also curious will you also include cars that only had a sketch or drawing,but was never built,for an example the 1962 rascal concept car by Tom Karen?
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I was also curious will you also include cars that only had a sketch or drawing,but was never built,for an example the 1962 rascal concept car by Tom Karen?
No.
The cars that were only a sketch or mock-up models will not be included. All the other car categories left aside, will be in another books i'm working on. ;) The hardest part of this book, is the copyright of the photos, as these were not the objects of press releases.
All the information i have got on that type of models, have been redirected in another database, because "The most complete car encyclopedia" is the book of all the cars that have been built.
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getting back to the question about financial situations,anyone can purchase any given volume ,when they can afford?
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getting back to the question about financial situations,anyone can purchase any given volume ,when they can afford?
Of course.
All the volumes will be available on the website. I can hardly wait for the day, when i will see all the volumes listed in my store... :D
The only thing to be kept in mind is the rule of the 25% discount voucher code.
The code received in the first volume can be used only for the second volume, the code in the second volume can be used only for the third volume, the code in the third volume can be used only for the fourth volume and so on.
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Pay Pal account active.
Until website will be online, PayPal payment can be done, with PayPal e-mail payment service.
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I must agree that this is a very astonishing project! I think I might jump in and try to collect the whole issue, although that will surely demand some periodical spending. Congratulations on this great achievement!
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I must agree that this is a very astonishing project! I think I might jump in and try to collect the whole issue, although that will surely demand some periodical spending. Congratulations on this great achievement!
Thank you for the appreciation.
I agree that it demands some spending. That's why i introduced the 25% collector's discount to make it more desirable. So a collector will need around 30 to 40 USD/month, to collect the whole book series.
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Your project is really great, I've never seen something similar, and congratulation for your hard work! :)
...but... :-\
I have a few doubts about this project...
First: you said you classified the cars using their brand... but how do you do for cars like the so-called etceterini? I'm thinking about a lot of anonimous home-built "Fiat" with a lot of different bodies, (but also chassis, engine and other parts), and similar car without a name...
Second: It's only my humble opinion, but I don't think it's a good idea to merge all the cars you have in a single book... why? Because I think it would be a big confusion of names, without any sense... why don't you cut this big work in sections? If I am interested in unknown italian car makers from the 20s should I pay thousands of euros for the whole encyclopedia? I would have much preferred an encyclopedia for italian makers, an encyclopedia for german coachbuilder, an encyclopedia for american tuners etc... maybe it doesn't sound as "The most complete car encyclopedia" but in this way I think you left out a lot of possible customers which cannot afford it...
Third: One book every 2-3 months means that I buy the last one after a few years... and in a few years how many new brands/makers/models would be born?? It would be an anachronistic book...
Fourth: I like complete book... and this is not a complete book for sure... it is indeed the "most complete"... but (and I don't blame you for that, it's not a possible project) this is surely far from "the (unlikely) complete car encyclopedia"...
Personally I don't like the so called "complete" books, cause they are always incomplete, and I think this is a project that should stay on a database, not on a book... but obviously you cannot earn money from an internet project... and you cannot do such a project without money... :-\
So... I wouldn't buy it... I cannot afford it and if a could I think I would spend my money in more "specific" books (or in an old car...)... but I think that if you are creating your big dream, this is great!! And you do it as you want to do it...
Congratulations!!
PS - Sorry for my bad english...
PS2 - Do you include also pre-1886 "cars" with steam or electric engine??
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Your project is really great, I've never seen something similar, and congratulation for your hard work! :)
...but... :-\
I have a few doubts about this project...
First: you said you classified the cars using their brand... but how do you do for cars like the so-called etceterini? I'm thinking about a lot of anonimous home-built "Fiat" with a lot of different bodies, (but also chassis, engine and other parts), and similar car without a name...
Second: It's only my humble opinion, but I don't think it's a good idea to merge all the cars you have in a single book... why? Because I think it would be a big confusion of names, without any sense... why don't you cut this big work in sections? If I am interested in unknown italian car makers from the 20s should I pay thousands of euros for the whole encyclopedia? I would have much preferred an encyclopedia for italian makers, an encyclopedia for german coachbuilder, an encyclopedia for american tuners etc... maybe it doesn't sound as "The most complete car encyclopedia" but in this way I think you left out a lot of possible customers which cannot afford it...
Third: One book every 2-3 months means that I buy the last one after a few years... and in a few years how many new brands/makers/models would be born?? It would be an anachronistic book...
Fourth: I like complete book... and this is not a complete book for sure... it is indeed the "most complete"... but (and I don't blame you for that, it's not a possible project) this is surely far from "the (unlikely) complete car encyclopedia"...
Personally I don't like the so called "complete" books, cause they are always incomplete, and I think this is a project that should stay on a database, not on a book... but obviously you cannot earn money from an internet project... and you cannot do such a project without money... :-\
So... I wouldn't buy it... I cannot afford it and if a could I think I would spend my money in more "specific" books (or in an old car...)... but I think that if you are creating your big dream, this is great!! And you do it as you want to do it...
Congratulations!!
PS - Sorry for my bad english...
PS2 - Do you include also pre-1886 "cars" with steam or electric engine??
First of all, thank you for your good wishes and appreciation.
Don't worry about your English, i'm surprised mostly by your post, which i found very well balanced. You express very good personal point of views but in the same time, you are able to see my personal aspects too.
I will take your questions one by one:
1.Here it depends. Some of them can be found in the coachbuilt section of the car manufacturer, some of them under a separate name. There are a lot of rules i used, because although many people do not realize, but things are complicated either sorting way you choose.
In general, around the category you specified there are: coachbuilt models (which are listed to the coachbuilt section of a car manufacturer), cars built with parts from a specific car company (which are listed separately under their own name -if there is one, if not the person who built it- only if they can be identified as a different model from the donor car and some series production cars, slightly modified at home, which generally can not be found in this book (not to be understood that coachbuilt models are not included) as for this type of cars is very hard to use the photos (copyright) and there are probably millions of them, but there are also important exceptions in the book. At this last ones am referring especially to the home-tuned cars, with some little body mods.
2.It is absolutely impossible to merge all the cars in a single book. It would probably be the world's biggest book ever published and you would need a ladder to climb, so you can open the front cover. There will probably be 20.000 pages, from my estimation. I wonder how that would look like ????
Regarding the fact that you are interested in a section of the book only, and some other type of sorting and ordering the information, i can only tell you that it is very subjective, but also very understandable (please don't take this personally or offensive). I had more than 10 other different demands like the following:
-many people wished for this type of sorting as they wanted to see all the cars of a brand one by one and watch the evolution through time of a single model, or by what model it was replaced
-some wanted all the models to be sorted in chronological order
-some wanted separate books for each car categories
-etc
In conclusion there is no way to satisfy the wishes of everyone (or should i better say needs, since it is a product), because many times they contradict each other in sorting rules. So it's practically impossible.
Regarding the sorting by countries...i had it sorted that way, in the very early stage, lot of time ago, but moved to alphabetical because some factors:
-there are brands that moved their headquarters through time. I'll give you an example here, nut first of all i have to mention that this is a brand and model encyclopedia, not one of the car companies.
Example: AC brand, started in UK, moved it's production to Malta, now they are thinking to UK again. In the same time, cars under same AC brand are built not only by AC Cars Limited but also by AC Cars Gullwing, from Germany (a different company but cars are built under same brand).
The best example for an multinational Ac car is this: AC 378 GT Zagato and i'll quote myself "The car is designed by Zagato, built in South Africa by Hi-Tech Automotive, for the Gullwing Gmbh company, which had licensed the AC brand name, from AC Cars Limited. :o (this is head hurting)
Also, what do you do with Ford, there are different or same models built all over the world. I'll give you an example. The Sierra was built in Europe, but there was built in South Africa a V8 powered version, in order to register a race car in the local championship, as there was a number of series production copies imposed. So ordering by country would have been hard and cause many problems.
So i have chosen the one that satisfy the most as you can not satisfy all, which is also the logical way for an encyclopedia. Because after lecturing it, the most common thing to use it for is to find information about a specific model. So you search the brand in the index, go to page, category and then find the model, very fast.
3. I know it's volumes are spread in time and some new cars and brands will appear, but that is inevitable. Generally when people comment on that, they do not realize one important thing: this has not been done before, it will have more than 20.000 pages (the most complete made before had, as far as i know, had around 1000 pages or so), nobody can do that in a year. There are financial issues and i will probably need 50 guys to lay the info on paper and lots and lots of other problems.
For the new models, after the book, there will be book of updates, released yearly.
Regarding cutting out some cars from it, that will never happen...
Nice to see you observed that i said "The most complete". I can not pretend it is complete, if a single car is missing, which probably is.
Regarding the success, i can only tell you this. There are a lot of customers already, which want to buy the whole series, even if they have the money or not and there are also quite a few, that would buy them all on spot, if they were released. One of them calculated that if he stops smoking, he would be able to buy it with no extra expense. I even used that idea and expressed it on forums before. ;)
Some guys requested that the book to be delivered elsewhere not at home, mentioning that the wife do not need to know about it's cost or about the book.
So it all depends on various factors.
Thank you for the questions. I will answer any question, until starting volume two....
PS: Yes, they are also in the book.
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PS:
I f anything goes as planned, the website will be ready Monday night, or the day after. :)
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The more I read it, the more I like it.
You used the same guidelines I have in my project and if someone is going to do something like that, he'll see that is the best way possible for the reasons you wrote.
There is a crucial guideline I used in my work and I'd like to know how did you deal with that: I'm talking about sources.
I have 2 different, parallel projects:
1. an Access file where I have listed all the makers plus all the models and 2. a collection of folders with all the pictures, webpages, docs I find online.
The 1st is the official one, the one I compile using only (mostly) reliable sources: magazines, books, encyclopedias and similar.
The 2nd is the 'extension' of the 1st...a tool to keep it updated with the latest releases and to keep note of the obscure cars featured only online, for example, at Autopuzzles.
I use the material from the 2nd project also to buy books and look for sources: I bought a book about New Zealand racing cars because some of them were featured here on AP but in none of my books...now I can move them from my project #2 to my project #1.
Back to your book, now.
I saw all your 1st volume, page by page on your facebook page and for example, you listed there 5 selfbuilt russian cars, Aelita, Agidel, Alezonik, Almaz & Altaj.
None of them is in my 1st list because they are not featured in any book, etc.
All of them are in my 2nd work because they can be found in Arunas excellent website....but there are more of them in other sites too..and they are not in your book.
Obviously you can't have them all (I'm trying too but adding Arunas's 355 to the nearly 200 I found in other 2 sites I have the strong feeling I'm still far from that!) but how can you decide what's in and what's out?
You listed racing cars too and that's a landslide of makers: I started to buy books about the rarest ones but for each 1 I add in my list, there are 10 left in my database!
There are excellent websites about race cars, for example the well known one about the Formula 3 cars, but Adams, Aikens and Alfa-Dana are not in your book.
Of course I'm not asking you to reveal your sources but I'd like to know how you decide what's there and what is not.
I'm sure it will be written on your book, but according to what I saw of your 1st book my guess is that you used books but also websites.
I can't figure out how you decide what is reliable for your book (AllCarIndex, for example) and what it's not (or what you simply decided to ignore).
...and now you can see why I'm so interested in your work:
try to imagine how many makers I can move from my p.#2 to my beloved index #1 using your books as a reference!
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The more I read it, the more I like it.
You used the same guidelines I have in my project and if someone is going to do something like that, he'll see that is the best way possible for the reasons you wrote.
There is a crucial guideline I used in my work and I'd like to know how did you deal with that: I'm talking about sources.
I have 2 different, parallel projects:
1. an Access file where I have listed all the makers plus all the models and 2. a collection of folders with all the pictures, webpages, docs I find online.
The 1st is the official one, the one I compile using only (mostly) reliable sources: magazines, books, encyclopedias and similar.
The 2nd is the 'extension' of the 1st...a tool to keep it updated with the latest releases and to keep note of the obscure cars featured only online, for example, at Autopuzzles.
I use the material from the 2nd project also to buy books and look for sources: I bought a book about New Zealand racing cars because some of them were featured here on AP but in none of my books...now I can move them from my project #2 to my project #1.
Back to your book, now.
I saw all your 1st volume, page by page on your facebook page and for example, you listed there 5 selfbuilt russian cars, Aelita, Agidel, Alezonik, Almaz & Altaj.
None of them is in my 1st list because they are not featured in any book, etc.
All of them are in my 2nd work because they can be found in Arunas excellent website....but there are more of them in other sites too..and they are not in your book.
Obviously you can't have them all (I'm trying too but adding Arunas's 355 to the nearly 200 I found in other 2 sites I have the strong feeling I'm still far from that!) but how can you decide what's in and what's out?
You listed racing cars too and that's a landslide of makers: I started to buy books about the rarest ones but for each 1 I add in my list, there are 10 left in my database!
There are excellent websites about race cars, for example the well known one about the Formula 3 cars, but Adams, Aikens and Alfa-Dana are not in your book.
Of course I'm not asking you to reveal your sources but I'd like to know how you decide what's there and what is not.
I'm sure it will be written on your book, but according to what I saw of your 1st book my guess is that you used books but also websites.
I can't figure out how you decide what is reliable for your book (AllCarIndex, for example) and what it's not (or what you simply decided to ignore).
...and now you can see why I'm so interested in your work:
try to imagine how many makers I can move from my p.#2 to my beloved index #1 using your books as I reference!
I'm sorry i have to give shorter answers but i work on the website.
So:
Yes, that is the best way to do that.
About that cars, i have an official source. My father had subscriptions to different Russian magazines, as i live in the ex-comunist block. I had a lot of scans for that cars. One of the magazines was the Soviet Union (nice magazine by the way) and some others, including car magazines, which i specially requested my father to subscript to. This happened before 1989, when i was a little kid. There were also a lot of russian books.
Alfa-Dana and Adams are in the book. As i mentioned in an e-mail sent to you, because of the large number of photos, not all the pages loaded on that facebook gallery, as it gave me some error for some of them.
In the race car area, i can admit, that i may have skipped a few, but not many. It's almost impossible to be complete there.
For western people, was very hard to get informations like this, behind the Iron Curtain.
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PS:
I tried to avoid as much as possible to find information in other car encyclopedias or websites, since i have founded errors everywhere. I preferred to take it from scratch.
Doing this, there is the risk i skipped something, but there is no risk to have inside the book, incorrect information.
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You are right, the Alfa Dana is there!
It's a relief to read that you have valid sources or at least you are not just picking from selected websites.
Once again with your replies you are proving the hard work behind it!
PS:
I tried to avoid as much as possible to find information in other car encyclopedias or websites, since i have founded errors everywhere. I preferred to take it from scratch.
Right, but how can you do that?
Sometimes old magazines are a good way, beside that if you do not have access to a huge library with ancient books, you can only rely on those!
For example I put all the Beaulieu in my index but I also try to get as much of the books that are reported there as source for that encyclopedia...
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You are right, the Alfa Dana is there!
It's a relief to read that you have valid sources or at least you are not just picking from selected websites.
Once again with your replies you are proving the hard work behind it!
Thanks.
You have no idea how words like yours sound, after all this time i have worked and many acquaintances that heard me talking about the project, looked to me with a weird face. :hah:
However i have destroyed a lot of brochures and books, when i cut and filed what i was only interested in (used the xerox when the two sides were needed), especially until i got my hands on the first scanner, so i did not have to do that anymore. I still feel bad for destroying them, but i think they died for a good cause.
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You are right, the Alfa Dana is there!
It's a relief to read that you have valid sources or at least you are not just picking from selected websites.
Once again with your replies you are proving the hard work behind it!
PS:
I tried to avoid as much as possible to find information in other car encyclopedias or websites, since i have founded errors everywhere. I preferred to take it from scratch.
Right, but how can you do that?
Sometimes old magazines are a good way, beside that if you do not have access to a huge library with ancient books, you can only rely on those!
For example I put all the Beaulieu in my index but I also try to get as much of the books that are reported there as source for that encyclopedia...
I have spent a fortune for acquisition, that's for sure. The encyclopedia books, were used only to find what i have missed and only in the last years. Then from the missed ones, i have selected the information and started to find official or semi-official sources by myself. Mostly i took as a more trust worthy book, a very old one, instead of new ones.
You can trust more a book from 1930's for the cars of the 1930's than a car book from 2000.
For some of the old books, i have asked the owner that was selling it or had it, to buy a xerox copy, because they were expensive.
PS: Don't understand it wrong, not all the car brands and cars were found by myself, but most of them. The others were completed from other car encyclopedia only as possible ones, so i made a folder with their name and some guidelines and started searching for my own information.
E-bay and friends of mine, that flee Romania to work in USA and Western Europe, were very helpful.
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After all this being said, you probably see know, that more than 50% of my non-sleeping time and a lot of cash was dedicated to this and you can see why i am so determined to publish all the books and nothing, no matter how hard will stop me from doing that.
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I will describe you a day of my life, which repeats forever and i do not get bored.
I wake up early, get my kid ready for kindergarten, run back home, read the newsletter from car companies media sites, extract the new relevant things, than work, than i go to take him, stay 30 min in the park, get back home, play with him, eat, stay with him with my laptop near, while playing, he goes to sleep in afternoon, i work, then he wakes up, we play and stay near him with my laptop, go out and play, sometime with a book with me, than get back home, he plays on PS3 i work, then eat, then he watches cartoons before nighttime while i stay with my laptop near him, then after he sleeps i work until late at night.
This is the only way it can be done and i never get bored, i enjoy being near him and every bit of car info. :)
I also have to do work around the house, but that can be done easily if you are well organized.
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First of all, congratulations by your work!
Second, I´ll be one of the buyers of your collection!!
Third, I have a lot of pictures of Brazilian specialist cars, I´ll send you a PM with my blog address, feel free to use them as you wish in your book.
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First of all, congratulations by your work!
Second, I´ll be one of the buyers of your collection!!
Third, I have a lot of pictures of Brazilian specialist cars, I´ll send you a PM with my blog address, feel free to use them as you wish in your book.
Thank you for the first point.
For the second, i knew all this work will finally pay off.
Third, thank you for support. It's very good, especially when it's about rare pics and their copyright.
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:)
Thanks for the reply!!
I hope your project will be succesfull!
... and if you have found mistery Alfa Romeo 1900, 2000 or 2600... let me know... http://www.autopuzzles.com/forum/index.php?topic=24686.0 ;)
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:)
Thanks for the reply!!
I hope your project will be succesfull!
... and if you have found mistery Alfa Romeo 1900, 2000 or 2600... let me know... http://www.autopuzzles.com/forum/index.php?topic=24686.0 ;)
Nice project too, just looked into it.
I'll try and see if i can help you out when times allows me.
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This seems more like an extended Q&A with a bookseller. Isn't a book review a paragraph or more that reviews and critiques a book created by somebody else?
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It all started here:
http://www.autopuzzles.com/forum/index.php?topic=20859.msg290282#new
I suggested to use this space because it was a real book now and no more a project.
I thought it was an interesting subject for a discussion and I think the opportunity do that with the ideator\writer\publisher\dealer of it was more than interesting.
I do not have it and can't make a review of it.
It can be moved into a more appropriate section if this is not the one. :D
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would you ever consider doing a separate volume housing every possible car,like obscure,home-builts,in other words every car ever built,like a automobile registry?
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would you ever consider doing a separate volume housing every possible car,like obscure,home-builts,in other words every car ever built,like a automobile registry?
I'm not sure i completely understand your request:
You mean, a simple register, with all the car brands and all the cars, that will include all the names and building years ??
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Yes,similar to or maybe like,the automobile manufacturers worldwide registry by marian suman-hreblay.his registry claims to have 10,700 for the listing of cars,but I know there are many more ,because at least 650 cars are not listed there ,I bet if you did do one it would very complete or nearly so.
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Yes,similar to or maybe like,the automobile manufacturers worldwide registry by marian suman-hreblay.his registry claims to have 10,700 for the listing of cars,but I know there are many more ,because at least 650 cars are not listed there ,I bet if you did do one it would very complete or nearly so.
It';s a good idea.
This would help me also to have the exact number of ca brands and models in the database, but this needs some time. I must see if i have that time.
I will give you a precise answer later.
PS:
In a day or two i will be back with some updates, as the website will be finished.
It's possible, i will have some other good news....
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Here is the news i talked about:
1.
Regarding the fact that there are many buyers who cannot afford the hardcover full color series, i have made a decision and there will also be available a lower priced edition, paperback and black&white interior. This will cost around 35 to 40 USD/volume, including FREE shipping (shipping cost is half of the price, to be precise)
2
There is also a modification in the strategy of the hardcover full color series.
Considering these facts:
-a low priced version
-my intention to keep the 120 USD price, steady for all the volumes
-shipping cost /volume, which adds to each volume
-intention to lower the number of volumes
I have decided to drop the 25% collector discount, but keeping the cost of the whole series, in the same value with the discount. To do this, each volume (except the first, which has been printed) will have a minimum of 400 pages.
The book delivery service from my first volume, is placed in the 1 to 2 kg category. The first 314 pages volume has 1,264 kg so a 4-500 pages book will have the same shipping cost as the first volume, but the number of volumes is dropping by 25 to 30%, making the book series even more affordable than with the 300 pages and 25% discount.
I'm sorry, i was not able to anticipate this solution from the beginning as i had no idea what the book weight will precisely be.
PS: The ones who already bought the first volume, will keep the 25% Discount, even if the minimum number of pages per volumes has been raised. i think this is correct to do, as they bought the book, knowing there is a 25% discount.
I'll be back in around two days, when the website is finished, with photos and exact price of the low-priced version of the book.
P PS: I have felt like a "killer", destroying people's dreams, who do not afford the color series and just imagined how thy felt, so that's why i decided to have two version of the books with two price ranges.
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I have got good news:
Any Autopuzzles member will receive a 10% discount when ordering here !!!
So the new prices are:
108 USD for the Hardcover, full color interior
36 USD for paperback, black&white interior
Both products are available with FREE worldwide expedited shipping.
Below are some photos of the paperback, black&white interior version of the book series.
PS: I'm loosing my patience with the website, but this does not depend on me :(
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Website fully functional: http://all-car-brands.com/
Work on Volume II will begin on 1st October and will be available in December.
In October, 3 new books will be published from a new surprise series. ;)
In 2014 will be published 6 new volumes and big number of books from the new series.
Regarding the shipping times:
-between 1 and 2 weeks for European countries
-between 2 to 3 weeks for the rest of the world
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Update
Publishing plan for 2013:
The most complete car encyclopedia - Volumes I and II
The most complete car encyclopedia - Tuner series - Volume I
Car brand dedicated encyclopedia:
Alfa-Romeo car encyclopedia
Abarth car encyclopedia
Acura car enyclopedia
Audi car encyclopedia
Aston-Martin car encyclopedia
Austin car encyclopedia
AMC car encyclopedia
PS: I'm looking for resellers.
The main advantage for a reseller is that the delivery time is much lower and the only condition is to sell them at the recommended price.
The resellers will be written on the resellers page, by country, with shipping times for their country, with a link to their online store, e-bay store or amazon store or other local sale websites.
E-mail me for further information. (allcarbrands@yahoo.com)
Of course, there is an important discount.
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You are not only going to complete the most heavy and detailed encyclopedia of the history, but actually you are planning 2 versions of it PLUS some dozens more about singolar makers! :faint:
And how many volumes (more or less) will it take the 'Tuner series'?
Is your day divided into 24 hours too? ;D
Keep this topic updated, please, I'd like to follow your work! :thumbsup:
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As many of you know I wanted to do this project but was unable to gather people to do it. Now we have a person doing what I dreamed about.
I have already bought the first volume. As a person wanting to do this project I carefully looked at the book and I must say that this encyclopedia once it's complete will be the ultimate reference on this subject that ever existed far surpassing the beaulieu encyclopedia. Granted many people would say that he is crazy for doing this encyclopedia that it will never be complete, maybe so but at least he is doing it and I give him all the credit in the world. The book itself I must say is the best book on subject that I have ever seen. Good solid pictures and structure it maybe expensive for the color version but the beaulieu encyclopedia was hundreds of dollars with less info on the subject. I would recommend this book 1000 percent.
I have been in contact with the author on a daily basis. I have been helping him with contributions on info that I have in my books and websites and no else's info that was sent to me. Two people who are crazy enough to do this project might get it to be the most comprehensive book on the subject. Also he is creating a tuner's encyclopedia as a supplement to the car encyclopedia. I have also been told that he is planning a coachbuilders encyclopedia which is another world in it's self. Also I have been helping him sell the book in the US. I have it on amazon for him because where he lives he can't open an amazon so I am helping him in that regard also in contributions comparing what I have with what he has to make sure we have as much as we can. If you have any further questions please don't hesitate to PM me.
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You are not only going to complete the most heavy and detailed encyclopedia of the history, but actually you are planning 2 versions of it PLUS some dozens more about singolar makers! :faint:
And how many volumes (more or less) will it take the 'Tuner series'?
Is your day divided into 24 hours too? ;D
Keep this topic updated, please, I'd like to follow your work! :thumbsup:
First of all, i use every single second i have on my work. I will probably walk in the chair position soon ;)
For the ones that do not know, i am a single father and i also have to do housework, except cooking, where my mother helps me. Not that i do not know, but i will loose a lot of time there...
By the way, my kid helped me with some photo editing, although he is only 5 years old. He saw me working and he requested (almost beg me) to do that so i gave him the photos and tell him what to do, in the program he does his drawings. For him it was fun, as he already done that with Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck photos and he is crazy about cars.
The brand oriented books are not at all time consuming, the information is the same, i just have to tell the guy that makes the books layout to extract the pages and make a new cover, give it a new ISBN and that's it.
This series will be published as it was requested by some Alfa-Romeo forums and clubs. For me it is ok to do them, as i have already paid the money on the layout design of the pages and sell books to the ones that are not so passionate about a car history but like the brand of the car they own.
Regarding the tuner series, the database for it was mostly done, i just need to look for the missing models and few tuners. and of course write the texts, as they are not written yet. But here i took a different description approach, which is less time consuming and appropriate for the Tuner Series, but can't be used in the regular car encyclopedia.
There are two major factors that are giving me energy for working more and more:
1. As i work harder, the more i like it as i learn more and more about cars.
2. Each book sold, motivates me more and more to work even harder on my project
The only thing that slows me down, is marketing which i hope will be finished this month. I will make contracts with some retailers, beginning with Romania and i still have not chosen the one yet...
EDIT:
Sorry, i forgot to mention.
The Tuner series will have a volume for each letter and the price will vary from one volume to another, depending on the size and of course average delivery cost, depending on the book's weight. There might be some lettters that will go together in a single volume.
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Special Thanks to M. Rosenberg both for helping and Amazon.
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PS:
I just hope my collaborator which makes the layout will keep up the pace...
It is a a lot of work for him too.
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Special offer only for AutoPuzzles members: 20 USD FREE shopping ticket
Any forum member who buys the first hardcover volume of "The most complete car encyclopedia" until the end of October, besides the 10% discount can choose for free products from the online store, with total value of maximum 20 USD.
The products prices are listed with free shipping and the free ones, will be shipped only in the same package with the first volume.
Brochures, used books and magazines, car memorabilia: http://all-car-brands.com/ (http://all-car-brands.com/)
PS: I'm sorry if there are not so many products yet but i do not have spare time this month to add more products as i have to work on the next volume and the Tuner Series..
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Important notice and good news for European customers, who will pay less, because of lower shipping cost.
Payment and delivery policy has been changed.
Until now, the shipping charges has been included in the price of each item. The shipping cost was calculated as an weighted arithmetic average, between European and non-European customers.
Starting today, the prices are listed without shipping cost. The shipping cost can be seen here: http://all-car-brands.com/payment-and-delivery (http://all-car-brands.com/payment-and-delivery)
So, in conclusion:
The Harcdover, full color version costs 99 USD
shipping to Europe: 11 USD
shipping outside Europe: 31 USD
The Sofcover, black&white version costs 29 USD.
shipping to Europe: 8 USD
shipping outside Europe: 18 USD
One of the other factors was that this method was requested by some brochures customers, who did not want to pay shipping twice, for two different items, in the same weight category.
The 10 % discount for Autopuzzles members is calculated to the Price without shipping.
PS:The special offer, until the end of the month still stands, with a single notice.
For buying the Hardcover volume, until the end of this month, you can pick FREE products in value of 15 USD, instead of 20, because now the prices to all items are lower than before, without the actual shipping cost.
As before, shipping will not be charged for the products in value of 15 USD.
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Some news.
1. Work on the Volume II of "The most complete car encyclopedia" is gaining pages and is on schedule.
2. As the second volume is on schedule, work on the first volume of the "Tuner series" of "The most complete car encyclopedia has begun.
Both books will be launched in December. i will be back with more information but the one below is the only photo shown, until the release date.
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Front cover of the second volume.
Work on pages is on schedule and there will be around 400 pages for this one, as promised.
PS: The logo was changed, because the previous one could not be copyrighted.
As letter A is for sure one of the biggest in number of brands and models, there will be three volumes for it.
AM to AZ is scheduled for February 2013 as my intention is to move the release pace to a new volume, each two months.
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The release of the second volume has been delayed for the second half of January, as i had some important personal problems to solve.
Sorry for the inconvenience.
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The second volume will be send to print on Monday.
I have just signed in for the Romanian Auto Show in October, where i will go with 6 volumes.
http://timetv.ro/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Salonul-Auto-Bucuresti-SAB.jpg (http://timetv.ro/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Salonul-Auto-Bucuresti-SAB.jpg)
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Very good news!
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Thanks.
The other volumes will be released sooner.
I will start working on the third in about 10 days and hope it will be released in late March.
I'm sorry for the delay of the second volume, but i had to help my dad, he had very big health problems, he was more important than the book.
I'm looking forward to attend other European car shows in 2015.
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I hope that your father stay better soon, I´m in the same situation with my father
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I hope that your father stay better soon, I´m in the same situation with my father
We got over the critical point, quite a few time ago. However the recovery was long and demanding a lot of attention.
I wish to your father a good health and fast recovery
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Since i took a small break until Monday, i used the time to make a quick count of the database content.
The result is just crazy: More than 20.000 car brands and 100.000 models. :o
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I understand you have a softcover,black&white version? I,ve always thought there had to be at least 20,000 car brands,I mean look at all the little known home-built car,s for an example and so on. you have a great project going,and amazing energy,keep it up.take care.
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Indeed!
A lot of car enthusiasts are waiting for this incredible work to be done!
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I understand you have a softcover,black&white version? I,ve always thought there had to be at least 20,000 car brands,I mean look at all the little known home-built car,s for an example and so on. you have a great project going,and amazing energy,keep it up.take care.
Many thanks.
I did this renumbering, since there are more than 1000 car brands in the first three volumes so i figured out that my estimation was off. An there are way more than 20.000.
I will never abandon it and will go until the end, so anyone who can afford it and will buy it can have a complete car encyclopedia.
Yes, there is a low cost version. It is 29 USD (but you have to pay 26 USD for it, as you are a member of autopuzzles) plus shipping (8 USD in EU countries, 18 USD for the rest of the world).
In order to pay 26 USD, give me a message here, don't buy it directly from website.
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Indeed!
A lot of car enthusiasts are waiting for this incredible work to be done!
More good news.
I will start on third volume on Monday and if no more personal problems occur, it will be available late in March.
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Great...have you managed to define how many books they will be?
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Great...have you managed to define how many books they will be?
75 +/- 1
This is my last calculation and quite precise.
I kind of stopped thinking of planning and anything else. The sales are giving me enough income to be self employed so i have a single direction now: full speed ahead and release the volumes faster and faster.
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That's huge...congratulations for your work!
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I have a story which i don't know if i have told you before.
Around two years ago, i'm not exactly sure about the date, i almost lost the entire database.
I had it only in my laptop hard drive, and it was soon broken, because of so many files written. Thankfully, one of my friends from the PC service, managed to extract it from the hard with just few files missing (less than 100) using a Windows on a CD as the laptop was not running the programs anymore. It took quite a lot of time to retrieve everything on an external drive, but finally it was done. Since then i use only external drives, two of them, one for periodical backup and i'm thinking seriously about buying a third one.
I was so scared, almost lost a good part of my lifetime.
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That's huge...congratulations for your work!
Thanks. You are kind of a milestone of it as you drove me here.
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just out of curiousity, are you in touch with Robert Jablonski?
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just out of curiousity, are you in touch with Robert Jablonski?
I have no idea who he is and what he does.
You just made me curious> I googled it but found nothing related to automobiles. ::)
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just out of curiousity, are you in touch with Robert Jablonski?
PS: This is a single person project, with daily work since adolescence and lots of dedication.
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Robert is of Polish origin, living in Berlin, Germany. He's doing what you're doing - but focusing only on the last 20 years or so. His Samochody Swiata catalogs are really, really, really comprehensive - focusing on one year. I believe two (or maybe three) editions were published in English. He's always touring the world, visiting autoshows and gathering info
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Robert is of Polish origin, living in Berlin, Germany. He's doing what you're doing - but focusing only on the last 20 years or so. His Samochody Swiata catalogs are really, really, really comprehensive - focusing on one year. I believe two (or maybe three) editions were published in English. He's always touring the world, visiting autoshows and gathering info
Nice to hear that, there are people who live the same dream.
We are doing same work, but a little bit different. Since he is doing only late years he is probably putting more attention into each model. I try to have all the cars ever, because if this is not done now, over 50 years it will be hard to do it, almost impossible as lots of info will be lost in time so i cannot have tons of info of each model.
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sometimes he puts in lotsa tech details, but in case of obscure chinese cars there's only short info. He's not the easiest person to deal with, but he's very knowledgeable
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sometimes he puts in lotsa tech details, but in case of obscure chinese cars there's only short info. He's not the easiest person to deal with, but he's very knowledgeable
It's always hard with the Chinese ones. Even if you want to write more...
Not to mention, most of Chinese manufacturers do not have a media website.
So there is no newsletter coming from them to me, it's hard to keep track of them, so i have to check them periodically and there are now few hundreds active automobile manufacturers, most of them building small crappy cars, but there are few which i kind of like a little. Just a little.
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The package from the printing company will be received today.
Autopuzzlers remember that you have a 10% discount.
Special offer for Autopuzzles members:
Vol I + II full color 150 USD +Shipping (only 2 sets)
Vol I + II black&white 45 USD + shipping (only 2 sets)
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Volume II, full color and b&w
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Regarding the huge number of current Chinese car manufacturers, i did some research and the number will probably be lower soon. Their market share is shrinking lately and export is still low.
I think they are just experiencing a modern version of the early American times, when there were a lot of car manufacturers but soon there were just GM, Ford, Chrysler and AMC.
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The package from the printing company will be received today.
Autopuzzlers remember that you have a 10% discount.
Special offer for Autopuzzles members:
Vol I + II full color 150 USD +Shipping (only 2 sets)
Vol I + II black&white 45 USD + shipping (only 2 sets)
This is a one time offer, not to be found later in other volumes...
It will be available only until the end of February !
The reason of this offer: I am a big admirer of this forum !
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Hello,Im also very excited about your project,Im looking forward to these encyclopedia,s.I,ve got a question,what happen,s If somewhere along the project,you come across a car you forgot to include,such as a rare self-built car or a just found one-off,lets say 1950 for an example? hope you don,t mind the question,s
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That will probably happen, that's what i have said "The most complete..." and not "The complete...".
By the way, i do not mind at all, just interacting with people i can get it right.
There are two solutions for two problems, one of them is the one you have mentioned.
So:
-regarding the car brands and models skipped there will be a special book at the end, with that ones, with the page and volume where it should to be, specified. This will probably be offered for free for the ones who bought the entire series.
-regarding the new brand and models that occur until the last volume is published, there will be a complementary book for the first edition, with all the new cars and brands that occured after the publishing time, which will be offered in parallel with a new edition.
PS: Thanks for the interest. I am glad to answer all the questions, so do not hesitate to ask anything, don't bother how awkward it may sound.
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sometimes he puts in lotsa tech details, but in case of obscure chinese cars there's only short info. He's not the easiest person to deal with, but he's very knowledgeable
I totally agree about this! His knowledge is extraordinary, especially on small cars and Chinese cars which are crazy!
I was very happy to prepare information about 120+ USA small marques for Samochody Swiata 2010 which, unfortunately was never released in English, only in Polish. I am a little bit disappointed with this last edition, but it was a great experience in such project! Not all of them have been added to the catalog so what's missing will be added to www.allcarindex.com sooner or later.
Also, I will suspend myself from any comments regarding this encyclopedia. Some members of thsi forum know well why.
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sometimes he puts in lotsa tech details, but in case of obscure chinese cars there's only short info. He's not the easiest person to deal with, but he's very knowledgeable
I totally agree about this! His knowledge is extraordinary, especially on small cars and Chinese cars which are crazy!
I was very happy to prepare information about 120+ USA small marques for Samochody Swiata 2010 which, unfortunately was never released in English, only in Polish. I am a little bit disappointed with this last edition, but it was a great experience in such project! Not all of them have been added to the catalog so what's missing will be added to www.allcarindex.com sooner or later.
Also, I will suspend myself from any comments regarding this encyclopedia. Some members of thsi forum know well why.
Well, Arunas, we know each other for some time.
Can you be direct and more specific and not throwing with words in the air like that. I think it's really rude.
If you have to say something to a person, say it, don't do what you just did. A person with a strong character always tells things on their name and not speaking on someone's back.
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I understood i am not going to receive an answer.
I'm just curios what is it all about and where did this came from !
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Special offer for Autopuzzles members:
Vol I + II full color 150 USD +Shipping (only 2 sets)
Vol I + II black&white 45 USD + shipping (only 2 sets)
Still available until end of February
I have a damaged first volume, which was the first copy from the print, tested with glue. The glue didn't work so the pages are coming off. After the test the printing company decided to use both glue and binding.
So i offer this volume for FREE for a buyer of the second volume: Vol I (damaged) + Volume II = 100 USD +shipping
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Hello,I was curious when we can see volume 3,and sample pictures,I trust your project is going great, Thank You!
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Hello,I was curious when we can see volume 3,and sample pictures,I trust your project is going great, Thank You!
Well, i am glad you asked.
First of all, thank you for your interest in my project.
The project is still going, for now i just keep my database up to date, adding the new cars, engines, trims and versions to the database and working in a new direction, that has been determined by your feedback.
I have received a huge number of e-mails to make the encyclopedia available in an electronic format, instead of the traditional book series. Right now i am working with computer programmers and a web specialist to see how i can get it accomplished.
There are few important reasons, in this judgment:
1. Cost. It will be more than 10 times cheaper and there will not be any shipping cost.
2. A lot easier to update There is no need to buy an updated version of the books and every new bit of info will fit exactly where it should be (Brand, model, etc)
3. "Time to accomplish" It is a lot faster then getting a book ready to print, so the brands from letter "Z" and their models will be published sooner.
I am not completely sure yet, if it will be available as a download or a subscription website. Will see about this soon it depends mostly of the technical issues.
PS: The buyers from the first two volumes will not have to pay again for the same content.
There will be a special offer for the autopuzzles members.
Few special bonuses will be announced soon.
P PS: I admit, i was old-fashioned, books were my thing. I must change and adapt...
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Hello again, I guess Im old fashion as well, I like books better myself,I hope you don,t abandon the books, you,ll find that there are countless folks out there,that would rather have books too. please keep it going. I thank you sir.
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If there is demand, books will be too available. I will make a poll on the website, i just ordered a blog to be made on it, so i'll make a poll pretty soon.
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NEVER TRUST FLASH MEMORY DRIVES !!!!
Because traditional hard drives have a short life, in my case (few years), because of the huge numbers of files, which are moved, cropped, deleted, added, etc , they are quickly damaged.
So i decided instead to use five flash USB memory stick. I had problems with data loss in Honda, brands starting with letter S and brands starting with LA.
There were two types of of problems:
-completely missing files, in the case of Honda, where the series production folder with 2668 files (298 MB) was completely missing.
-or folders were substituted by unknown file format, like in the other two cases. (LA and S) The file did not have any extension. At properties just said "File type: file"
The second case occurred when computer rebooted and it said "one of your drives needs a consistency check, and the files were substituted". It happened one time without my notice as i did not stay near it when i opened and a second time when i saw the problem.
The first case, the one with Honda, is still unknown how it happened, but no matter how many times i copy it from an older back-up from another 5 batch of flash memory, it is gone after a while.
As a result of this, 99.99 % of the data was recovered from the older back-up.
The car encyclopedia database is back on my PC hard drive and on an external hard drive as a back-up.
PS:
HAPPY EASTER TO YOU ALL !!!
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Happy easter to you!
Fortunately you di not lost your work!
Keep us posted!
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I have good news, better later than never...
"The most complete car encyclopedia " will be available as a subscription website by the end of the month.
The monthly fee, will be very low: 3 USD/month; 15 USD/6 months and 25 USD/year.
As always, Autopuzzlers will receive 3 month bonus for a one year subscription.
Regarding the upload time, i am sure i can upload around 100 models per day so it will probably be completely uploaded in 3 years max. It's a lot easier to upload on an website than laying the information on ready to print pages and also easier to update.
Lots of surprises are also coming:
I am going to include also the tuners in a special section.
There are some special prizes also coming for some of the users. Some that a car addict would greatly appreciate.
I will make a huge effort and will try to upload the complete info of the letter A, until the website is online. That would be more than 1000 car brands and all their models in less than two weeks. The web designer said i will start uploading in database, late this week so 24/7 work time is coming soon... :) (I will put on hold my other two activities for this time).
Just got a new and lot faster PC, that will help me out...
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IMPORTANT UPDATE:
As stated before, The most complete car encyclopedia book series became a website with subscription as many people have requested.
So website is online: http://www.all-car-brands.com/ (http://www.all-car-brands.com/)
- several tweaks and modifications will be made in the next month but the website and car database will be available as well as the paid accounts.
- there are around 1.000 cars uploaded on the website and more and more will be added daily, since 1st of September with a pace of 50 to 100 cars per day. Until then few more tweaks will be made on the website.
-for now, until letter A is complete you can choose the brands from the choose category menu. When i will move to letter B, the first page of the car encyclopedia will be changed and you will see all the letters and the brands uploaded listed one under the other n alphabetical order but you can also use the choose category menu
.-s a difference from the book series, the Tuner cars will also be included. However they will be uploaded differently.
I've already uploaded the Abarth and Acura Tuner cars, but since the tuner cars are stored in a different database on my computer, with the Tuner folders in alphabetical order of the tuner, i've found it very time consuming to search each tuner for cars of the brands starting with letter A.
So i will upload the cars from the Tuners in the alphabetical order of the Tuner, each car going into the brand of the original car.
For example: Artisan Spirtis: offers packages for: Honda, Lexus, Mercedes, Nissan and Toyota. These Tuned cars will go to the Honda, Lexus, Mercedes, Nissan and Toyota in the Tuned car category and sometimes in the Race car category.
-the standard database with Series production, race cars, coachbuilt, and prototypes will be uploaded alphabetically, brand by brand, in alphabetical order.
-subscription fees: 3 usd/month; 15 usd/6 months; 25 usd / year
-as we did not find a technical solution, the Autopuzzles members with at least 6 months of activity will receive other kind of special offer: for a year subscription (25 USD) they will receive 20% off. This will work manually as i will send 5 USD refund via PAYPAL account. The request will be made here on the tread, for confirmation purposes of the forum account.
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So for general users:
3 USD/ 1 month
15 USD / 6 moths
25 USD / 12 months
I've added 6 months subscription refund for 6 months also:
Autopuzzles members will receive a refund for:
6 months: 3 USD refund with PayPal after account confirmation here, on this tread
12 months: 5 USD refund with PayPal after account confirmation here, on this tread
ONLINE: http://www.all-car-brands.com/ (http://www.all-car-brands.com/)
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Video - sample preview of "The most complete car encyclopedia"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKJ5fZEf_i8
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Hi,how are you?I just checked out your online project ,fantastic! but will you also do the books as well or stay with the online version? thank you.
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Hello,
Your project look amazing, there isn't any encyclopedia online for cars, just sites with a lot of informations about car brands (http://www.autocarbrands.com/).
Good luck