Who's Going To Give You The Damn Manual?

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

When I saw the TTAC alias “ gimmeamanual” the first time, I thought the guy wanted a stick. Today, I received an email from someone called JustGiveMeTheDamnManual. Again, I thought he must despise the automatic, and must want a stick shift real bad. Then, I visited his website.

According to the email from TTAC reader Jay Pisty, his website Justgivemethedamnmalnual.com has “a little over 2,000 owner’s manuals online.” The fruits of Jay’s manual labor will be more plentiful down the road: “I don’t have everything yet but I am working on it,” Jay says.

If you are one of the many used car buys that did not find the damn manual in the glove box, this site is worth a visit. It will give you PDFs of owner’s manuals from Acura all the way to Volvo.

Just be a little careful. What looks like a navigation menu at the bottom is cleverly packaged advertising that leads you to less useful parts of the Internet. Also, I was not allowed to investigate the site further. At the top, it clearly states: “No registration, no B.S.”

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • Syke Syke on Jun 11, 2013

    Was very greatful to the site when I bought my Solstice two months ago. For as often as I dig thru the manual, a .pdf file is just fine.

  • Waftable Torque Waftable Torque on Jun 11, 2013

    The Internet is full of free stuff, as long as you're willing to play dangerous. I go to zasshiko dot com for the latest Japanese magazines, but they try to bait you into downloading trojans along the way. Men's Club and Men's Ex finally become available in iBooks a month ago, so legitimate distribution is finally catching up with organized crime.

  • How is anyone supposed to have a hand dedicated to the shifter when they need it for their smartphone, their makeup, their iPad, their newspaper or their girlfriend/wife's leg?

    • Ptschett Ptschett on Jun 12, 2013

      Stickshifts, safety belts, bucket seats have all got to go...

  • Jimbob457 Jimbob457 on Jun 13, 2013

    Had to pay $200 for an owner's manual for the wife's Porsche 996. Good on 'um for providing this service. Paid $2-3 grand under market for a good looking and sounding but under-maintained example. After three years it has been about a wash - extra (deferred) maintenance versus lower initial cost. I think (with a newly installed proper IMS bearing) the little beast is now about up to snuff and good for another five years as a daily driver with just ordinary maintenance. Almost comically over-engineered, these things are f**king amazing as a used car. Top end new was 172 mph, maybe just a meager 160-65 mph now.

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