Jeff Danziger for March 26, 2021

“I have seen the future, and it works”…

How do you make Kilowatts bark like a Hemi? They only whineeeeee!

I kind of had the same thought when I would compare the engine on my 1930 Model A Ford with the modern engine in my Tacoma. Open the hood of the Model A, and you see… AN ENGINE! Right out there in the open, distributor and spark plugs on top, easily accessible, as are all other parts of the engine. Open the hood of the Tacoma, and all I see is a big flat piece of plastic that covers EVERYTHING surrounded by plumbing.

Gone are the days when you could play with the ignition and gas peddle to get a car to start. Now you push a button and hope it works.

Before the son gets to retire there will still be gas-operated vehicles to repair, plus he’ll be breathing much better than his father.

The old slant six was great – but technology moves on. The tailpipe has gotta go.

I miss turning the crankshaft by hand.

Speaking of worthless…

Interesting example of the Dunning-Kruger effect was found on Google:

What is an example of the Dunning-Kruger effect?

An obvious example people have been using lately to describe the Dunning-Kruger effect is President Donald Trump, whose confidence and bluster never wavers, despite his weak interest in and understanding of policy matters.

Republicans are the Dunning-Kruger Party.

Wait a minute… those capacitors might still have some use…

I don’t have any pity. In IT, I pretty much have to update my education and skills every 3-5 years or I risk becoming obsolete and not being marketable. Stop treating the future like a foreign country you don’t have a passport for.

It’s not as if all of the internal combustion engine powered vehicles will suddenly disappear overnight… and EVs still have suspension and accessory systems that need maintenance… and if you’re smart enough to be able to successfully work on conventional vehicles you are smart enough to be able to work on EVs…

If that’s your concern, why not bring back the horse and buggy?

Going the way of the dodo

Why don’t you show a woman commiserating to her daughter about washboards and hand cranked wringers for laundry? Oh, yeah, because women don’t equate their genitals with machines…

Quit your whining and build something better.

Don’t worry, son, the science haters will always want their dinosaur guzzling rigs.

I wonder what Henry Payne would say about Jeff doing a car-toon?

This is life. In my early years, I was an expert on IBM 360 / 370 systems, and made a good living out of it. Now, all that information I had in my head is only good for a cup of coffee at Starbucks, and only if I throw in a few dollars.

I can’t wait!

Dang, and JUST as when I sunk my life savings into a buggy whip factory……….

I would disagree. People will have ICE vehicles for at least another 30 years and will be ever more desperate to keep them working.

a) Internal combustion engines aren’t going away overnight, and there will likely be a strong collectors market for years, if not decades.

b) Occupations and industries come and go all the time. Where is all the lamentation for the loss of buggy-whip manufacturing jobs? Why is the corner mechanic any more precious than the village blacksmith?

c) If Junior were smart, he’d be learning all he can about electric vehicle technology now, to stave off his own obsolescence.

Such a Rube Goldberg!

Good

“Get a horse!”

No, wait…

“Get a Mustang!”

No, wait….

“Get a Tesla!”

Jeff, I think your time has come.

Well…not everything. Now where is my diagnostic computer?

I get somewhat annoyed when people, even jet mechanics, tell me that the shadetree mechanic can no longer work on todays automobile. The principles are still the same, some are just controlled more accurately with sensors and regulating systems.

Any Rush fans remember the lyrics to “Red Barchetta”?

I had to repair cars out of necessity, as I couldn’t afford a mechanic and could barely afford a vehicle. I won’t miss the cuts, burns, and filthy mess of the combustion car, the stench of gas and diesel, and how oil contributed to the ecological and climate disasters of the planet. Not to mention the head splitting noise when the muffler fell off. Good riddance.

As long as it gets me to the supermarket and back . . .

i really need to stop reading the comments…

They will be around for a long, long time, if in much smaller numbers. It’s hard to find a good mechanic to work on older cars, but they are out there – and make really good money because of their expertise.

I strongly suspect that internal combustion engines will prove to be very durable and, in the end, replace electric ones in over-the-road applications. Unless we allow the rich to make us go extinct, of course.

There’s still a need for the ICE. We don’t have the electrical grid and infrastructure to support electric vehicles outside of major population centers, but think of the potential jobs created for the buildout.

That’s a hackneyed version of the “Back in MY day …” trope. This exact same editorial cartoon could have been drawn with the father harnessing mules to a thresher. How many of today’s kids know how to care for livestock or are the least bit interested in doing so? Remember when you could repair your TV or radio by replacing vacuum tubes? Technology changes, tools change, but the father/son dynamic is the same.

Odds are that the son wasn’t all that interested in tappet clearances anyway, and frankly, if the father’s truck was manufactured in this century, he shouldn’t be messing with them unless he owns a slew of very specialized digital tools.

If you are under 40, the odds are you will own an electric car at some point.

I remember the day I got my first Miata, and realized I now had the dream MGB – it ALWAYS started, very seldom needed maintenance (other than oil change and checking fluids and tires), and handled just like my old ‘B did. As a masochist I did enjoy my Jag, Healy, Triumph’s and MG’s as they were fun to work on (dead simple), but always tried to have a second car that just ran…

People with money lease, and take a tax deduction.

The good thing is that all that knowledge is already starting to be worth something again. There will always be work (and well paid such) for a good mechanic who can take care of the rare and valuable ICE cars that will be kept for many years. Todays so-called “mechanics” are already only attaching diagnostic equipment that tells them what part to replace – they rarely fix things.

Not worthless – it will still be valuable for the next 20 years