Whose Knowledge Is It, Anyway?

[Rowdy]

Sorry to hear about the attack. I greatly enjoy your site and if at any time I post something you want to use on it, just let me know. I will be glad to share it. Rod

[Mitch Bunkin in PA]

The people replying to this post are probably just the "tip of the iceberg" and represent a much larger number who value your information & really appreciate the time & effort you put into it.

[Bruce Lancaster]

Vince's site and the others mentioned above, especially Marco, are the results of lifetime experience, including detailed and knowledgable observation of original cars and parts and much knucle-banging on cars, and many years of intensive research into difficult-to-locate original resources guided by the questions our cars raise.
I have some appreciation of this, as I have been hunting '32 literature since the early sixties and know how valuable every new scrap of information is and how hard it is to build a solid wall of information from a collection of fragments.
This is scholarly research, archaeology, and detective work combined and is difficult and grueling work.
Half the questions on here come from people who haven't bothered even to buy a repro owner's manual...they think information comes from asking random strangers online and that Ford parts are something you just order from Mac's...if offered an answer backed up all the way to the original blueprint by 20 years of reaearch and a different answer from Andrews, many are not capable of even understanding the nature of the difference.

[Benson]

Vince,

Thanks very much for your website and all the info.

Please add me as another of the positive reactions to all the work that you and others have done on your personal websites!

[HoarseWhisperer]

Big thumbs up on Vince's website!

[james hitchcock]

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Well Vince,
You should now thank that person who posted the attack. He gave you a nice dose of publicity and I hadn't heard of your site until this post. I will definitely check it out, sounds like a lot good info. I was told by another member a while back to not give these attackers the satisfaction of knowing they got to you. I think all here on Ford Barn take what they say with a grain of salt.
James.

[Glenn C.]

If the only information obtainable was from the owners manual and the Service Bullitens, I do not think there would be a Model A hobby. Keep up the good work on your website Vince. We continue to need the help and info.

[Bruce Lancaster]

On the old Ford barn, any search of old posts was very, very inefficient...my search technique was to simply make a wildly general search ("distributor", for instance) and pick out the posts by Marco and Vince. Bang. Trustworthy, detailed, and usually beautifully illustrated information on a platter.

[Tacoma Bob]

Vince, Keep on keepin on Buddy. You are one of many that have taken the time and effort to compile storehouses of knowledge and wisdom and are willing to share it. I have been hanging around these "A" sites for close to nine years now and there defiantly is a select group on the top shelf. What I have noticed is every now and then somebody decides they need to mow another person down and claim themselves as the new deity. Most of us can spot the smoke and mirrors.

[thebanjoman]

Unless you are infringing on copyrights, intellectual property issues, reprinting without proper consent, or claiming the information as your own without giving proper credit, or charging for said information then you are merely providing an additional resource of information on the 'Information Superhighway".

So you gather information, so does Google..

Opinions are like backsides.. Everybody's got one.. And often they stink.

[FL&WVMIKE]

forever4 ..........................
For goodness sake, just ignore any negative comments that you might get.
If you would get an abundance of them, that would be the time to worry. I don't think that has been the case.
Keep up the good work !
MIKE

[zzlegend]

Hey Vince. I dont know where you get your info. nor do i care. That thought never entered my mind. I only know that i can go to your site which i do quite often, and leave with a little more knowledge. Your close up pictures is what i find the most interesting. Keep up the good work and information. Mark.

[Kevin in NJ]

A big chunk of this hobby is putting existing information in a form that it is useful.

Everyone is lucky that some of us do not charge for the information. How many times have you bought prints from the Ford Archives or used information from prints bought from the Ford Archives. I have bought NOS and repro parts just to be able to compare them and share the results.

There are a few guys that have spend a large amount of money and time pulling prints from the archives. It is just the goodness of their hearts that this info is shared at no cost.

Now all we need are a bunch of open minds willing to learn.

[Frank Nemo]

These assassin's seem to delight in hiding behind their anonymity to tear down well meaning contributors. The only thing they prove is their own cowardice and stupidity!

Vince, in reading the replies on this thread you can see you have a lot of friends on Ford Barn who appreciate your many contributions to our hobby. Thank you very much.

[california dean]

I was told a story years ago about a hitchhiker picked up by a rough, tough cross county truck driver. The hitchhiker was surprised to see posted on his dash the word "FIDO," assuming it to be a reminder of his favorite pet dog. How could a guy like this have a foo foo type dog and if he did, why would he spell the dog's name in such a diminutive way? Asking the driver about it, the answer was that it stood for "F

[Rowdy]

I have a 1926 Automobile Electrical Blueprint book that I likely could charge for the info in it. To date I have made copies of 11 specific blueprints for people, I have never charged any of them. Very hard info to get ahold of and was lucky enough this was in the bottom of a box of books I bought at an auction over 20 years ago for $1. Rod

[california dean]

Sorry, punched the wrong key.

Stood for FORGET IT, DRIVE ON. Vince, moral of story is, there will always be a few that cause problems. Forget them and move on. FYI, as a result of your post, I visited your site for the first time and thoroughly enjoyed it. Great site and I will be back many times in the future!

[Timothy Kelly]

Vince....

Please keep sharing.....many of us find your information to be very helpful.

Cheers,

Timothy

[ken ct]

Originally Posted by forever4

Well, I just received another personal attack on fordbarn by a person who also took the time to jab my 'Ford Garage' web site as being a collection of "other peoples information and techniques".
I imagine so.

So let me say this about that.

For the most part, everything everyone 'knows' in life (and about old Fords) came from somewhere else. It was all learned along the way on each our journey. Not a lot of it was self-taught or self-discovered in a vacuum by anyone, I imagine. And not a lot of it is a secret.

And even those things that are self-taught or self-discovered are rarely unique to a single individual. Other people have also learned and discovered the very same things on their own, or in collaboration with others. And they shared it. And they taught it. And we all are sometimes (or even often) mistaken. And so it goes.

I have learned a lot from others. My learnings are just my learnings. They may or may not be facts. They may or may not be complete or correct. And they are subject to change as soon as the next best info shows up.

I have never claimed that any of the info on my web site is all my original thinking, or that it is even correct for that matter. But it is my effort to share something I am interested in with other people who may also be interested.

And I have taken the time and expense to put some of my learnings in a public place where it is freely available for others to consider on their own journey.

Agree or disagree, right or wrong, helpful or confusing, it is there for everyone's consideration.
Or not.

Lots of people on fordbarn, and elsewhere, over the years have graciously allowed me to repost their excellent photos, descriptions, and analysis, and I have credited them as best as possible.

The point of the jab was to offend me I suppose, but I'll try not to take it that way.

At least someone is reading it and considering it, to have formed a negative opinion about it.

Vince,i for one appreiacate your web site,its very useful to me on some occations,thank you keep it comming. ken ct.

[Bruce Lancaster]

There isn't anyone left alive with firsthand knowledge of Model A and B engineering and manufacuring changes. Ford's public offerings (parts books, bulletins, change orders, etc.) are not well organized, are not nearly complete enough to support detailed restoration, and in fact had purposes entirely different than ours. Ford was interested in function and to some extent updating...if you had dropped off a thoroughly thrashed 1928 A at a Ford dealer in 1932 and given the dealer a blank check to tear it down and rebuild, what emerged would sure have not been a restoration by modern lights.
ALL our information comes through others now (apologies if there are any 130 year old Ford engineers or plant managers here), and has to be extracted through nearly inaccessible paper and from studying ancient iron. Like Vince, I have been through gathering Ford paper over many years (not sure of the count, but I have '28-32 literature from at least 8 different countries now, ALL of it offering tiny bits of information not otherwise findable), fragments gathered from old non-Ford garage magazines, torn boxes with numbers, and a basement full not of just paper but of a sort of iron library. I have left quarts of blood in ancient rural junkyards over the years, and have lived on Ramen Noodles a few times when I found a unique but wildly expensive bit like a salesman's manual or obsolete bulletin page.
A lot of this stuff is only accessible to normal humans who would buy groceries before buying a service bulletin (the weak, the many, the normal!) through folks like Vince and Marco and the other hardcore researchers on here. I cannot imagine the work they put into getting their knowledge online...I can barely keep such stuff stacked neatly in my basement and don't even know how I would make it usable by the world.
These guys have thousands of dollars in ancient paper, years of contact with other researchers and piles of ancient iron, and they are publishing it for us to read FOR FREE. And people are complaining because their information from the untouchable past came from...gasp!...the PAST?
If you feel like that, go back to your cage full of bad parts and information from imbeciles and fling dung at the tourists.