Vintage MC mechanic video

[e3steve]

Has some Dream stuff included...

http://www.motormavens.com/2011/03/vide ... -mechanic/

Now, there's a passionate guy who walks the walk! Thanks for posting the link, Den.

[brewsky]

The video makes some excellent points!

My nephew, with a handful of computer degrees flying around the world teaching current technology, has finally figured out he needs to learn how to "fix stuff" at age 40!

My son, who can guide a missile thru the upper left hand pane of a window on the third story of a building 2000 miles away can't change a flat tire.

Neither had any mechanical interest at all growing up, but are now finally beginning to see the value.

So, maybe there is hope!

They both laugh at me however, when I try to re-set my watch back to daylight savings time!

[cyclon36]

It's a cool video. I agree the skill set is slowly dying off, but I don't see it disappearing. There's always someone who's interested in those things. Modern society makes computers and the like the new toys for kids so I can see how wrenching on things doesn't have the same appeal it use to. However, as people grow up, I think they learn to appreciate those things more. I think Do The Ton is a good example of that as well. There are a lot of young kids on there that are learning as they go and are more interested in ever in building bikes, especially old ones. They learn from each other online and come up with unique ideas. The rest of the skills come with practice.

I do custom automotive interiors. Upholstery for the most part. There are maybe two or three schools left that teach the art. The shops are dying off slowly as the owners retire and no new blood is there to take over. I had to teach myself the skills and am only doing it now because I was talked into starting my own business. Although the will to learn the skill is gone from the masses, there are more and more people doing things themselves that want to know more. I see new talent pop up all over the place from just learning on their own. It dies off most of the time because the lack of greater interest or realization that it's hard to make your own business with a hands on skill. However, the interest is there.

The biggest killer for these skills is mass production in China. We've become a throw away society and just about anything you want is available online or in the store. The value of a quality item is just not recognized. However, the growing trend for the current generation is being more and more unique or individualized. you can't get that with off the shelf items no matter how many color combos there are. This need is what's going to bring back custom work and skilled trades. Probably not to the extent that there use to be, but it's a good sign.

[conbs]

There is another victim in the demise of craftsmanship.

A kid that becomes an engineer without learing how to repair even a bicycle is going to miss some pretty important design issues. Almost every time I work on a modern vehicle, I end up cussing the guy(s) who designed it. Surely it would not have been made that way if they were the ones who would be required to fix it when it broke.

I used to think it was intentional on the part of the manufacturers - a way to get your vehicle back into the the dealer's shop. But, then I recognized that there are a lot of recalls which the manufacturers certainly wouldn't want. Now I am convinced that it is just the engineer(s) not having the kind of experience and knowledge that the guy in the video illustrates.

This will have consequences for American made items. We are still a very productive culture. But, we will never produce throw away items at the cost of third world countries. If there is no craftsmanship in them either, who will want to buy them? That is a bad future for US manufacturing and we will all suffer for it.

[Snakeoil]

Well, it's not that they do not know any better. Believe me, most engineers I know, including me, wrench on a lot of stuff and are pretty handy guys, both young and old. I think you'd be surprised if you walked around the paddock at a race track and asked how engineering types were racing that day. Same goes for cars.

Things are not designed for ease of maintenance. They are designed for ease of manufacture. The lower the cost to manufacture, the money money goes to the bottom line. You don't see the price dropping when the find a cheaper way to make something, do you.

Maintenance once it leaves the factory is very low on the priority list. This includes cars, appliances, even things as big as power plants, for which routine maintenance is not only required, but often specified in detail by the OEM.

Where the country will suffer is in the ranks of the working class, which was the middle class when I was a kid. They were the people that built America and learned how to make stuff work because they did it for a living. Now, we build a lot of stuff with robots, or we don't build it at all, and many of the things we build are computer controlled and a shade tree guy with a box of Craftsman tools is not equipped to fix it like he was when we had points and springs and such controlling our engines. So, I would say that the number of do-it-yourselfers is going to diminish both because hands on type jobs will diminish and the techology required will only get more sophisticated.

On the other hand, today's kids can make a a modern bike or boy racer Japanese sedan go like the wind with all kinds of digital add-ons and changes. When a little 4-banger can outrun a big block, that says something. Plus, they handle well. I'd challenge a flange head nuts and bolts hobby mechanic from my generation to tackle a modern car hot rod project. I'm willing to bet he would not know where to begin. Those with gray hair that saw the value of technology learned the new techology and used it to their advantage. Those that didn't stopped winning races. It's all relative. You either keep up with technology or fall behind.

I think hobbyist mechanics and such will always exist. I started taking my toys apart when I was just a tot. That had nothing to do with my job or what was out in the world. It was what was in my genes. I suspect it's that way for everyone. Exposure to new things might spark a sleeping passion and that often comes at work. But with today's ease of information exchange. I suspect the spark generators are everywhere.

Personally, I just hate to see our industrial base erode because I think it makes us strong and less dependent on others. I think it also keeps us stronger than the rest. Our market can make them rich. I would prefer our market make us rich. They say protectionist theories don't work anymore. Well, I would agree given that it's a tad late to start. Corporations drove the factory jobs out of the use in search of cheap labor. It was also cheaper to build a new modern plant in a 3rd world country than update an existing plant in the US. Couple that with crippling union demands and taxes and it's easy to understand why the factories are no longer here. Leon Hess had a refinery in Texas. It was a new, modern facility and Hess was becoming one of the big players. Leon started his business selling home heating oil door to door in NJ. That 1930's oil truck toy Hess sells every Christmas is a model of Leon's first truck. That truck still exists and has a reserved parking spot at their HQ in St. Croix. Anyway, the labor in Leon's TX refinery talked about unionizing. Leon had lived with the strong unions in NJ and knew what kind of havoc they could bring to a company. He told them flat out, if you unionize, I'll take my refinery elsewhere. Of course the workers thought it was all talk and they proceeded. Leon picked up his refinery and moved it to St. Croix. All that remained in TX were pipe stubs sticking out of the ground. That's one example.

Sorry for the rant,
regards,
Rob

regards,
Rob



regards,
Rob

[conbs]

Rob, you make some good points, but....

If so many engineers wrench on a lot of stuff then they know how increasingly frustrating it is to maintain or repair anything made in the last couple of decades. Why have they allowed maintenance and repair to become such a low priority? I would rather buy American. But, if you have ever worked on a Bosch washer or dryer, you have seen how easy they are to take apart and put back together again. Ease should make things cheaper and faster to assemble in manufacturing.

Just as the erosion of our manufacturing base has made America less strong and more dependent on others, when an average guy can't fix the things he owns, he is less strong and more dependent on others. Does it really have to be that way? I don't think so. Sure there is knowledge that has to be gained and those who don't gain it will fall behind. But that has almost nothing to do with much of what is designed these days.

Look how long it took to standardize the plugs for charging our cell phones. While some blame can be placed on "management' decisions, its engineers who know about the importance of standardizing things like those plugs. The federal government is not good at much, but it was the FCC that finally said "enough is enough" and required a standard plug.

Perhaps you and I will just have to agree to disagree, but I think The Greatest Generation had something that we as a culture have lost. Its not the technology that they didn't have. Call it Yankee Ingenuity or devotion to their country or whatever. They paid better attention to the greater good and our loss of that will be bad for us all.

'Nuff said.

[Snakeoil]

I don't disagree with you Conbs. And if the engineers had the final say so, a lot of what you speak about would be different. But the engineers do not have the final say so. They do with regards to safety, reliability and such, but the business sets the priorities or what are commonly referred to as Critical to Quality items and every one on the list is in order of priority. The businesses will talk very altruisticly to customers about having their needs come first. But the bottom line drives all decisions. And if they can build a car that assembles most of the key components outside the car and then the entire assembly slips into place and is secured with a half dozen robot placed fasteners, you can bet your bippy that's how they'll build it and the fact that you have to tear out half the stuff under the hood to get to the spark plugs is of no consequence to them. Warranty issues are paid for in the price of the car so it's money already set aside. You paid for the warranty when you bought the car.

As for American ingenuity, the bunker busting bomb, which was thought up about 15 miles from where I live is American ingenuity at it's finest.

Like I said, not having hands on jobs in the US will contribute to more people not having a job based experience to help them with fixing things around the house. But, if the American spirit is still alive, and in spite of our materialistic ways, I prefer to think it is, the folks that want to know how to do stuff, will do stuff on their own. To rely on employers, the government or others to teach us what we can learn on our own with a little initiative is what I think is rotting this country from within. Our parents sucked it up and figured it out. I'm not sure a lot of our generation did or does that and same goes for the new generation. But you still cannot stereotype and I know a lot of sharp, enthusiatic kids that get it done on their own with no help from others, except maybe their peers. They just do it over the net instead of face to face like we did. But we all use the net to learn more and get help as well. So good for them to have this tool available from the time they could pick up a wrench.

As for complicated washing machines, you have apparently never worked on a Whirlpool. You take about 4 screws out and the entire shroud comes off and you can get to anything you want. I know because I have both the dryer and washer and done stuff on both. Made in the USA. But I would still be willing to bet that, that particular maintenance plus was driven by ease of assembly in the factory.

I think another reason less people may be fixing their own stuff is because we have less free time than we used to. I see families with several children running around 7 days a week taking them to dance, karate, soccer, etc.. Plus since everyone needs the latest and fanciest car, 4x4, flat screen, etc., many work more than one job to pay for all the "stuff". In my entire life, my Dad bought one new car, a 1960 Impala. He never bought a new car after that. When I was a kid you did not have half the stuff to do kids have today. And you also could walk or ride your bike to what you could do without fear of some whacko snatching you for a love toy.

I do not like relying on others to make our weapons. M16s made by FN in Belgium is not a good idea. I was upset when Beretta got the standard side arm order. But they built a plant in Maryland so I guess I'm okay with that. But I'm not sure the next war will involve a lot of rifles and pistols. And I know the Predator is made here.

There is not enough bandwidth to hit on all the similarities and differences between these times and previous times and which are good, which are bad and which will turn out to be of little consequence. American ingenuity developed the computer which put many paper industries in the US out of business. Digital books will soon kill the printing industry. I see toilet paper advertised with no cardboard roll in the center. There goes a few more jobs. I'm sure you could subsitute products and jobs that no longer exist from the early 1900's here with little effort and nobody from our generation would give a hoot. You cannot stop time nor change. You can fight it, but you'll never win. You can complain about it, but you are wasting your energy that could be better spent taking advantage of it or making it better. It's a proven fact that as humans we all stop somewhere in time during out lives. Some continue to grow, adapt and enjoy as the world around them changes. Others resist and resent the change and are left behind to grumble about it with the others that have stopped in time. Each to his own, I say. Who is to say which is right or wrong. I prefer to move forward with the changing times as best I can. But I can respect somebody who likes things they way they were. Sure I miss the good old days. But I cannot bring them back. So I figure I'm going to enjoy the daylights of the days present and future because they's all the days we gots anyway.

regards,
Rob