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How To Keep Your Volkswagen Alive, 30th Anniversary Ed (Paperback)

by John Muir (Author), Tosh Gregg (Author)

4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (119 customer reviews)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description
When How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive was first published in 1969, launching John Muir Publications, it was affectionately adopted by VW enthusiasts, and John Muir found himself regarded as the "sage" of air-cooled VWs. As one reader put it, "This book is a philosophy lesson disguised as a repair manual." With clear instructions on how to fix absolutely everything in an air-cooled VW, it covers all models built through 1978, including the Bug, Beetle, Karmann Ghia, Bus, Camper, and more than 20 other vehicles. Full of funny stories, philosophical ponderings, and Peter Aschwanden's easy-to-understand illustrations, this special anniversary edition includes readers' accounts of how the book made them laugh out loud while they fixed their VWs and saved money.

About the Author
John Muir, mechanic, author, and the publisher, wrote the original How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive in 1969. He died in 1977. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

Paperback: 467 pages
Publisher: Avalon Travel Pub; 30th Annv edition (June 1999)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1562614800
ISBN-13: 978-1562614805
Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.5 x 1 inches
Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds

Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (119 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #649,503 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Look Inside This Book

Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index

Citations (learn more)

20 books cite this book:

Volkswagen: Beetles, Buses and Beyond by James M. Flammang on 4 pages
Bug: The Strange Mutations Of The World's Most Famous Automobile by Phil Patton on page 116, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
Bug: The Strange Mutations of the World's Most Famous Automobile by Phil Patton on page 116, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
Writing and Designing Manuals, Third Edition by Patricia A. Robinson on page 33, and Back Matter
The People's Guide to Mexico (Peoples Guide to Mexico) by Carl Franz in Front Matter, and page 519

See all 20 books citing this book

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	87% buy the item featured on this page: How To Keep Your Volkswagen Alive, 30th Anniversary Ed 4.7 out of 5 stars (119)
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	3% buy Volkswagen Vanagon Official Factory Repair Manual 1980-1991 Including Diesel Syncro and Camper 3.9 out of 5 stars (20) $62.97
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Customer Reviews

119 Reviews

5 star:		(95)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

Average Customer Review

4.7 out of 5 stars (119 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent repair manual! Buy it if you like your VW!, November 26, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive : A Manual of Step-By-Step Procedures for the Complete Idiot (Paperback)

Commonly referred to as the "Idiot Manual" or the "Muir Book" among VW fanatics. It covers all air cooled VW models. It is a book that I love and cherish! It is different than any other auto manual you've ever see. It is aimed at the complete idiot! It has NO pictures and only hand drawings and illustrations. This makes all illustrations very clear because it leaves out all the extraneous stuff that photos include. It has lots of text but this is a good thing. John Muir is an old hippie that loved his VW's. He instills this love in all his readers as well. This book's strong point is teaching this love of your car as well as teaching you the ongoing maintenance. I feel the tune-up and maintenance portion of this book is better than the other books. The other big plus of this book is that it's just plain fun to read. I've read it cover to cover a few times. It's that entertaining! The only weak part of this book is for serious (professional) mechanic's who want a technical manual for ALL parts of the bus. for example, here is an actual quote from the book. "The trans (transaxle) overhaul is not in this book. Not only can't you do it but we won't either." I don't mind that one bit! I couldn't do it so I appreciate them telling me. It covers the basic maintenance and repair (99% of anything you will need done on your car/bus) in a clearer, step by step, way than any other book. If I had to have only one repair book, this would be it, without question.

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19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A must have for all aircooled VW owners, November 15, 1999

By A Customer

John Muir is regarded as the expert in the field as far as aircooled VW's. This book is extremely easy to read. It makes capable mechanics out of "compleat idiot"s with its easy going style.

For a complete collection, buy the VW service manual by Robert Bentley to complement the Muir book. With these two references, available through amazon.com, you have everything you need to perform any and all repairs on your aircooled VW.

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39 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Essential if flawed -- great introduction to aircooled VWs, August 2, 2000

By	Gordon M. Wagner (Suburbia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I've had three or four copies of this book over the years. If you buy it, take your book to the printer and get them to trim off the binding and three-hole-drill it for you. Keep it in a binder. The book is an excellent introduction to aircooled VWs, but it is slightly flawed and has a bias towards OLDER VWs... I have a '76 bus and the margins are full of notes correcting slight inaccuracies... such as today, I needed to replace my brake light switches, the book says "remove splash pan," I did that... sure didn't see any master cylinder revealed. Damn. 100 degree heat today. DEFINITELY get a Bentley shop manual reprint AND READ AND COMPARE BOTH OF THEM... get a parallax that'll help you figure out what to do. The tone of the Idiot Book is perfect, however, it's a truly empowering experience to realize that you can work on your own vehicle -- keep it running forever. It's a heck of a change from the "disposable car" attitude today. [...] You really need this book. There's nothing like it.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Good "Fixing Your Bug For Idiots" Guide
This is the 19th edition of a repair book that was originally written in 1969. Some of Muir's phrases are a little dated: Intro "Its Karma depends on your desire to make and keep... Read more

Published 28 days ago by Chris Smith

5.0 out of 5 stars Kev's VW
The product was good. It was purchased for my son and he loved it and said it was most informative.

Published 1 month ago by Sheila M. Cragin

4.0 out of 5 stars Not read it in years, still remember most of it.
I had 3 beetles when I was a kid, this book came in the trunk of the first one. Like he instructed I read it cover to cover. Read more

Published 3 months ago by Dennis Altman

5.0 out of 5 stars Best VW repair book ever!
I owned a copy of this book many, many years ago and now that my son just got a VW Bug, knew I had to track down another copy! Read more

Published 4 months ago by Carol G

5.0 out of 5 stars How to keep your VW alive.
Wow, This book looked like NEW, but was much less than new and was shipped FAST! Awesome book! A MUST HAVE for ANY air-cooled VW owner. Read more

Published 5 months ago by M. Phipps

5.0 out of 5 stars VW Repair Book - JWW
My son bought a 1979 VW MiniBus to work on. I bought this as a gift for him. It was well received.

Published 6 months ago by Jeffrey W. Wildman

5.0 out of 5 stars A MUST for all air cooled Volkswagen owners
If you have (or plan to buy) an air cooled VW this is your book. It makes everything very easy. Illustrations are great and it's all very clear and simple. Read more

Published 8 months ago by R. H. NINOU

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a fine book....
This is a really good book if you are into doing your own VW repairs (most owners of old VW's pretty much need to be somewhat mechanically inclined and this book will definately... Read more

Published 9 months ago by B A DUR

5.0 out of 5 stars best beetle book by far!
I highly, highly, highly recommend this book. Everything is written in easy to understand language and is easy to follow. Read more

Published 9 months ago by cmp1313

4.0 out of 5 stars Great book for dummies like me!
What can I tell about a book in 19th edition? Excellent organization, very useful information, great writing style. Read more

Published 11 months ago by Marco Lazarini

› See all 119 customer reviews...

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