I must have been out of my mind to attempt a historical novel of such great magnitude, having no prior aptitude for writing, or even a normal command of the English language!

                I soon found, after collecting anything Auto Mag that I continued to come up with more questions than answers.  I traveled around the Western half of the country consulting with long time friends of Harry’s, family members, or past employees.  I racked up about 30,000 road miles plus another 20,000 air miles to speak with all of these folks.  It seemed that I was spending a gazillion dollars, and I hadn’t even put one word to paper!  I immediately became aware that the growing collection was also costing another gazillion dollars, but necessary to own since I was going to do my own photography for the novel.

You’ll now begin to understand why so much energy needed to be expended, and why the book has become so voluminous and expensive to produce.  To keep my monetary exposure to a bare minimum, without adversely affecting the books physical quality, I have self published.  The 3D cover print, the quality of the front and back cover along with the hand done calligraphy added greatly to my continued outlay of cash.

                Now consider the cost of two sided heavy weight photo paper in large format, 11 X 17 inches, and the outrageous cost of ink cartridges!  What about my time, I still went to work every day in order to earn a living.  Some of my website readers have complained that the writing of my book was taking too long a time to complete.  Well Volume 1 will be completed and for sale by the summer of 2010!  Look forward to it with due anticipation because the “Book” will be a jim-dandy.  It will dispel lots of misinformation promulgated over the years and will clarify flawed and downright incorrect statements made by other authors.

And lastly, it will contain lots of fun and educational information never before seen in print.

You’ve been asking for it, now here it comes!

Hi ya all,

                Greetings from the inner sanctum.  If Halloween is around the corner, can Thanksgiving be far behind!

                I’m strenuously working on Chapter One of my “Book”.

                The cover material has been purchased and cut to size, the embossing was just completed, the 3D insert is yet to be finalized, and the back cover material will be purchased next week and cut to size.  All binder punch work will shortly be completed, the cover acetate is already punched and the spiral binding material is in hand!

                The photography is 75% finished and the chapter one layout is progressing well.

                At the time of this writing, it looks like in 2-3 months; the Chapter one project will be complete!  Hallelujah.

                Now on to this month’s presentation of the Auto Mag’s diverse group of extractors.  Note all of the color variation which evidentially occurred during heat treatment.   There are also a lot of substantial shape changes; I suspect some of the parts are from the XP era.  I’ll work on that identification for the “Book”!  A long time collector called me one day last month and offered this nine item collection to me for sale.  The price was right, and I scarfed them up!  If any of you could help me identify any XPs, I will make it worth your while!

Enjoy

I remain your hard working servant,

Bert M.