Now I'm helping myself

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The non-fiction book series Now I Help Myself by Motorbuch Verlag is one of the most successful series of repair guides for cars and motorcycles. It has been published since 1962 and now has a total circulation of over 10 million. There are now over 200 volumes that mainly deal with vehicle types from small cars to the upper middle class , but also with VW vans. The main authors are Dieter Korp (1921–2015) and Gert Hack . Korp is the editor of many more recent volumes. Volume 1 dealt with the VW 1200, Volume 2 with the Opel Rekord.

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While initially only type-related repair instructions were published, the series was later expanded to include volumes on the following general topics: car electrics, car body, car hi-fi, self-assembly of motorhomes, vintage cars, tractors, quads. The volumes on BMW motorcycles with boxer engines and on Vespa restoration are devoted to two-wheelers. The Vespa band and the Auto-HiFi band are translations from English. Several volumes in the series have been translated into Russian, Croatian and Polish.

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Until around 2005/2006, semi-art printing paper was used, which enables photos to be reproduced well. After that, the volumes got bigger, the envelopes more colorful, the paper and the reproduction of photos deteriorated.

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A similar series published under the title How to do it in Delius Klasing Verlag .

In the German Democratic Republic , the publishing house Technik for the vehicles of the Eastern Bloc published the series How do I help myself , as well as the publishing house transpress I drive a… .

The repair manual series distributed in Germany by Motorbuch Verlag is published by Bucheli Verlag in Zug / Switzerland . This series is aimed at workshops and advanced screwdrivers and omits some topics, such as working on the dashboard and body. On the other hand, more complicated topics that require special tools or the disassembly and assembly of gearboxes are described.

Trivia

The cover sheet of the volume Opel Rekord B / C from August 1965 was used for the cover of the debut album of the band Die Toten Hosen , entitled Opel-Gang .

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