The "Motors Manual" was a very popular book with auto shops, and generally covered all the US cars for about 10 years back from the year you got yours. My recollection is that my first copy was ca. 1950, and would have had the specifics wanted here; but since I also had kids with delusions of being "mechinically inclined" it no longer exists.

There were a couple of independent publishers who produced books for individual "models" and everybody had one of them; but the typical one of these was about 350 pages of "boiler plate" that never changed from one model to another, with only about 23 pages more or less specific to the particular car for which you got your copy. One ca. 1965 "aftermarket" manual I got had the same pictures and text in the boilerplate as some I looked at (and didn't bother to get) around 1998. The "changeables" were generally in about 20 pages (or fewer), usually at the back of the book, and that's where you might find the "clearances and torques."

The manufacturers' manuals were pretty good, and very specific up until about 1970(?) when they (at least GM) "outsourced" the printing, although I can't comment on what ones before about 1950 looked like.

When the manufacturers started hiring outsiders rather than publishing them in-house, instead of one manual for basic service and one for overhaul, to get a "full set" you had to (probably still do) get one for scheduled services, one for engine and drive train, one for electrical, one for emissions, one for body and trim, and often a separate one for ventilating and air conditioning - and in some cases there are/were "supplements" available (at extra cost) for less common "options."

The full set of manuals would cost you at least as much as adding the "surround sound stereo AM/FM radio with CD player and digital clock and coffee maker" to your new car in place of the "basic" AM/FM that was standard equipment.

The three "basic volumes" for my 1995 GM were about $95, as I recall. I've actually used about four pages that had info that was helpful, but I'm unlikely ever to do any engine/tranny rebuild since you have to saw the frame apart to pull the engine and cut in a different place to yank the tranny out. (I'd have to get a welder to put it back together.)

John