Young guys, where did you learn mechanics

i learn most fom my dad and the old guys that i hangout with at the car shows

 

Some trial, lots of error

While my father did a little work on cars in his younger years, everything I know I picked up on my own, reading books, and asking questions. I would love to find an old-timer to apprentice under and learn more fabrication skills.

 

I AM TRYING TO SAVE THE AUTO CLASSES IN OUR COUNTY!!!! I teach a middle school engineering class and I am trying to get them to grow the auto program again.

I learned because I was just like a little lost puppy at a shop in college that never left. eventually they started giving me jobs and some money. Did that for 4 wonderful years.

 

greybeard here...just peeking in on your thread and am impressed guys! Just keep on doing what you're doing...gleaning info from whoever has made it work...NO ONE is born knowing anything and we gotta learn from somewhere or someone(many someones)....I do believe that a mechanical aptitude does run in some veins just as some are blessed with musical abilities or etc....but practice makes perfect also...This is an interesting thread and something I hadn't really thought about as our age group learned on simpler and cheaper machines

 

from my own mistakes, and not from others.

...on my first car, a 67 mustang, bought it as junior in HS (lots of paper route $$$$)
as a senior i could take autoshop and that made a difference, access to a lift!!!


dad helped too, he was a manager at a gas station and was a 'greaser', so it seemed to flow naturally.

my son (7) is now in the garage with me.
being my grease monkey, he has his own tools.

 

Fixing my own cars that I had to buy and insure for myself ever since I got my license. Never could afford to have a shop fix my stuff so I had do it. Body work, chassis work, engine builds, etc. All trial and error, help from some friends and good old down and dirty wrenching. Nothing like changing engines and transmissions outside in the middle of a western NY winter so you can get to school or work the next day. Six hour tranny job under a '86 Camaro in a 10 degree snow storm was fun! Also a lot of junkyard time. Who else doesn't go to the Pick n Pull just for fun or to see what treasures you can find?

Josh Quick
Quick Speed Shop

 

started out changing oil at a porsche/ audi shop. moved up to changing spark plugs and air filters and so on.

 

i'm going to a auto mechanics school right now. just got through steerin and suspension, brakes, and intro and this semester im in heat n ac, electrical 1, n engines 1. after i get my associates im goin to mcpherson in kansas for auto restoration. the more and more i learn about new cars the more i want to restore. they sure as hell dont make em like they used to. i also worked at a chrysler stealership for all of 6 months, but i learned alot. i also helped restore a 50's imperial there. i am going to still try and enlist, but i promised my ball and chain i'd wait till she's done with school. also learned from writeups and wherever i can, by mostly whoever i can.

 

Channell TNN when it was shade tree mechanic got me started back when

 

Im learning as I build my car now. They closed the auto shop for computer lab at my HS 2 years before I started there. My dad knows a little, but mainly simple maintenance (like washing the car every weekend), my mom thinks all old cars are death traps. I pretty much only have my own motivation and a few good friends that I rely on.

 

Mostly my dad and good old trial and error. Plus the old gearhead mechanic at my work. Manuals and the hamb have helped out a ton though. - DD

 

I tend to be the youngest in my crowd almost every time i'm in a shop (and the only female). My best friends are guys that are 40-70somethin' years old. They've taught me a lot of theory and given me a lot of resources. I've learned to be a good "worker" and really listen to my "supervisor"..... when i was a really little girl, my dad usually didn't let me help, i just hung around in the garage until he would let me help with something that him and my brother couldn't do on their own. (even though i didn't get to always help, i still watched very carefully) After that, all I ever dated was car boys. So i soaked up as much information from them as I could. Now I pretty much just make a phone call before i do most jobs and ask if there's anything extra that I need to know before I dig into this project.

I'm really persistent, and i've got a lot more time than money. I'll keep doing it myslef. I've been at it for ten years now, i'm 25 currently, my first car was a restoration of a 77 camaro when i was 15 in high school. i worked on it with my dad and brother after school and on weekends....
(my taste has gotten much better since then... lol)
xoxo

 

i teach at a high school.... ALL THE KIDS ARE DRAMA... HAHA... i don't think they need to teach that..... teeeheeeeee


just glad you didn't say to cut the art program. i have my kids drawing cars!

 

started out for a while by myself, and as my dad noticed what i was doin, he joined in and started teaching me more (because he actually got to go to auto shop).
Also, reading alot of magazines and books helped, alot!

 

Self tought from when I was 13 er 14.. Tore apart a 3 horse Briggs and Stratton motor and put it back together an' got her goin'.. I learned on the chevy V8's when I got my first early Camaro in '77 (at 17) I finally got certified in '86 in engine rebuilding, brakes and tune-ups. I scored 100% on both engine rebuilding and brakes tests and 97% on the tune-up test. What helped me the most was I did read alot of car magazines and books and then along comes the internet. So much free info out there folks. Just pick a topic.. Read and learn!!

 

My Dad, he's been there to Teach/Criticize me on everything and everything for the automobile. For a while there was more criticizing then teaching, but thats not his fault.

 

started by holding the troubble light for dad and went from there to the first cast off lawn tractor he got it for me to ride around on that I learned to put used oil in it every time I used it then went to a honda sl 70 and a few old snomobiles all the while helping dad with everything. I always loved tearing down a motor to see what is inside, then geting all then nice clean parts back from the machine shop and puting them all back together. then driving junk thruough high school traring them up and keepin them on the road i stiil miss the 83 ranger i also went thru the Ford ASSET program

 

My dad and a Chiltons manual for whatever car I had at the time. The old man used to swear by them.

 

Partly from my grandpa and partly from the "school of hard nocks"

 

My dad had a repair shop when I was a kid. I didn't have much interest in cars then. I did like the girly picture calenders he had on the walls. When I got my first car, he helped me swap motors. He had tools, so I started by doing stuff. Tearing up a transmission and not having wheels is a big motivator. I got away from it for many years while I worked a white collar job. Friends got me back into it and I watched and listened to them. These car forums are great for gathering ideas and info.

 

I'm not young but I learned my mechanics from my High School in 1974-75. Then went directly to a small shop where my brother worked and learned as I went. Then went on up to the Chevrolet dealerships, Cadillac dealerships, independent shops and so on. Now days they have colleges like the one in Colorado but hell, I was already wrenching by then and making money. There were no automotive colleges. I sure hate to see the high schools drop auto mechanics classes.

 

Just been learning from friends and the old trial and error method. Bought a service manual for my truck and have done all the work that has needed to be done so far with it. Still have a lot to learn which leads me to this and other message boards to help learn more and avoid others mistakes while making my own. Truck has run everyday since I got it going a few months ago so its worked so far....until the next problem.

 

And hmm hmmm, young girls??

I learned by asking a lot of "damned" questions to my dad...he finally broke down and taught me a bare minimum when I dragged a Nova out of a field and stuck in the parking lot of his store. Mostly I learned from part time jobs in parts and do-it-yourself stores where I had access to manuals and people that actually cared enough to tell me when I was doing or saying something stupid. Having the Nova was my education, it was the first time I installed an engine, did brakes, et al...as long as you have something old that breaks frequently, you are pushed to learn. Having friends, or in my case, a boyfriend, that knows about cars helped a lot too when there were things I was unsure about.

It comes down to seek and you shall find.

 

Even though my Grandpa and Dad where mechanics I learned alot from my Auto Teacher He had the patience that Dad didn't. I now teach Automotive Mechanics at the High school level and despite what you here There are still tons of young kids that eat and breath cars and trucks like we did. Schools need to realize that programs like this keep alot of kids in school long enough to graduate who otherwise may have dropped out.

 

grew up without my dad just my mom and 3 sisters
also no auto shop
my mom said i allways just loved cars and also just plain liked taking stuff apart to see how it worked(my nick mane as a kid was mcguyver) i guess i was allways riggin somthing up
i bought my first car when i was 14 and just tor into it and never looked back if i f**ked something up take it apart and keep trying till it works.

 

Started with riding mowers, then go karts, motorcycles, then it really kicked off when I got into dirt track racing at 12, that's right, 12 and racing roundy rounders! Started building race engines at 15 and had allot of fun with it, got out of the sport by 19 when I went to school for Automotive Technology so I could have the paper. Worked on farms, in salvage yards, several shops, now doing my own thing, should be up and running really good by summer.

 

My dad..... started out holding the flashlight...graduated to pumping the pedal when bleeding breaks and then holding and handing wrenches....then he let me under the hood with him......been wrench ever since

 

my old man.

 

As a pup I was my dad's flashlite holder, as I got older I was his helper. I had a vocational automotive class in highschool. After highschool I went to Arapahoe Community College and got a degree in automotive tech. I went to work for Chrysler and they sent me for classes every couple of months. I have worked along side of some great guy's over the years and have learned alot from them as well. Now I am a heavy equipment mechanic and am still learning. You never stop learning when vehicles evolve every day.

 

My first several cars were pieces of shit.....I had to figure out how to keep them running.