Tom Wilson?

[clockworkbox]

I use his book and it is probably the most recommended VW engine rebuild manual but does anyone know anything about the man who wrote it?
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'69 Beetle (pieces)
Learning the hard way is still learning...

[KTPhil]

Hmmm... no biography at the start/end of the book? Usually there is a blurb about the author...
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Current Fleet:
- '71 Fastback
- '69 Westfalia
Retired:
- '67 Beetle
- '65 Beetle (x2)
- '65 Bus
- '71 Squareback

[clockworkbox]

Nope, I can't find any info on him but Tom Wilson is a fairly common name. I do not think he wrote a book on how to rebuild VW engines and then switched to writing war novels as Amazon suggests but I could be wrong.
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'69 Beetle (pieces)
Learning the hard way is still learning...

[baldessariclan]

I think he wrote several engine rebuilding books back in the day — seem to remember seeing a lot of them back in the 80’s and/or 90’s (although I could be wrong on that).
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1971 Standard Beetle — fairly stock / driver

baldessariclan -- often in error, never in doubt...

[clockworkbox]

[finster]

could this be the guy?...is an engine builder in the kit plane world but says he's spent 3+ decades in auto journalism
https://www.kitplanes.com/rear-cockpit-27/
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"we're here on Earth to fart around" kurt vonnegut

nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect...

[clockworkbox]

[clockworkbox]

Yep, he is the guy. I emailed him and here is his response:

"Yes, that was a far younger version of me that wrote "Air Cooled VW" as it was often referred to around HPBooks.

Thank you for the kind words, and I'm very pleased it has been of help. It's the whole point of grinding out those 80,000 word tomes.

All said, however, I must give credit to the guys who helped me. I'm the last guy who's a VW expert, but If listened to those who knew what they were doing, took the photos and put it in some sense of order without getting the information too fouled up (there are something like six known mistakes in the book, one of which is a stud size in a spec box and most of the others aren't too horrible, more like different opinions).

Thank you again for writing. Positive feedback is rather rare in this line of work!
tw"
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'69 Beetle (pieces)
Learning the hard way is still learning...

[APPLEGREENVW]

[finster]

that's a nice, and very modest, reply from an obvious enthusiast. he rightly hints that sometimes 'those that know' aren't necessarily the best at offering clear instruction.
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"we're here on Earth to fart around" kurt vonnegut

nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect...

[Zundfolge1432]

Rarely mentioned but this book is also an interchange manual showing you which parts are interchangeable like making a stroker 40 hp using a 69mm crank and 83mm P/C and the necessary machine work. Not that anyone would but it’s nice to know.

[cdennisg]

Been using the Tom Wilson book since the early 90's to build engines. Never once have I had an issue with a stock build using the red book as a reference. Cool to know that he's still around and willing to correspond about the book.
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You can't spell sausage without "USA"!

[Abscate]

Sent him a thank you for his tome this morning.

Ive been abroad for 5 weeks moving operations to escape tariffs, and I finally make it home this weekend. Miss all you guys, and Xevin
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