have you noticed

Dont worry fellas, history repeats itself. After everything really sucks, some company will come along and there slogan will be "quite giveing idiots your money twice, we only hire experienced people that care". Not mention that were getting rid of jobs all the time while the popuation is going up. People gotta do something. eventually even this phone thing will die out. Kids will get sick of there parents allways playing with the phone and will want to do something different. Now that i think of it didnt comunist russia warn us of these problems? Its happening, people are greedy lazy and stupid. But we are artificially rich so thats cool.

 

I'm not railing against Wal Mart, just our mentality. I do and have always shopped locally, my little parts guy does everything he can to get me the best price, and when he can't, I know he tries, he knows I try to keep him in business, AND, he knows who I am and what I do when I walk in the door, so does his staff.
How many here try to keep the same philosophy? Buy local, so that the car guy kid has a place to work, buy gas at a full serve, so kids have jobs like we did, drag neighbourhood kids into your shop and teach them. They'll be better people.[/QUOTE]


As much as i can. But the guys that work at the good places are older than me.

 

Its mainly just a throw away and buy another society now. 99% Of grown men 35 and under can't even change a tire on their car. The guys that were born from 1985 on will never be able to say I had a car like that years ago because they will all be scrapped or just gone.

 

By the way....being a board about traditional stuff, wouldn't buying from your local parts guy be traditional, especially cause thats how its always been done? Its up to you to educate others, even parts guys, about our passions, take them for a ride in your rod or custom, take the local kids for a ride, show them what cars were like back then, I promise, you'll notice the difference. I do it all the time, matter of fact, I just took my doctor (70 ish guy), for a ride, said it was something he'd never done. Now he has a little insight into my lifestyle. It was good.

 

I think it's more of a business trend than a social trend - companies have all latched onto the idea that specialized knowledge does not matter (because, after all, it's all just "widgets" right?) AND at the same time have taken a keen interest in paying as little as possible. The result is people who don't know about cars selling car parts based on what the computer tells them to pull from the shelves.

Heck, most of the major car companies are run by people who are not really car guys in any true sense of the word. They are "businessmen" not car guys. GM gradually fell for the "widget" myth starting in the 1970s and boy, it shows doesn't it??

Ask most business professors at my university and they will tell you with a straight face that any executive can run any company regardless of the product. Widgets.

 

I worked as a service writer in a dealership for about 6 months a few years ago. I was amazed at the fact that the majority of the "shop" guys were not car guys. There were a handful between the writers, techs, and parts guys. For most of them though, it was just a job.
My Father in law owned and worked in a body shop for about 40 years. It was started by his dad back in the 50's. He HATES cars! "I work on those things all f@#$in' day, why would I want to be around them when I'm not at work!". That seemed to be the thoughts of most of the guys in the shop I worked at.
My Dad was a car guy as a teenager (still is). He went to trade school to be a mechanic. He got done with school, and never worked a day in his life as a mechanic. He realized that he enjoyed working on cars as a hobby, but didn't want to do it the rest of his life.
It was tough for me being a "car guy" to be a service writer, and having to try to sell unknowledgeable people what I thought were "overpriced" easy repairs with a clean conscience. It was a way to "sales" driven position for me.

 

I have noticed. To most its just a job.

I work in an automotive restoration parts supply business, have for 15 years. I've had co coworkers who were into cars, but mostly the low riders, or modern stuff. Most of my co workers could care less about cars. Most don't know the difference between a wing nut or a lug nut. I guess thats why I get most of the customers forwarded to me, I "speak old car" as my fellow workers call it.

As for working on my old rigs? I find it harder to go home and work on my projects, because I've been staring at the same stuff all day. But I force myself to occasionally and realize how much I love it.

 

"ive worked in alot of car related places gas stations (the old style where we worked on cars), new and used car dealerships , junkyard, garages , and i currently work for aplace that sells body parts ( non hamb cars) and what i have found which REALLY surprises me is how few car guys worked in those places where i am now i am the only one who even remotly cares about cars other then how to get to work

have you noticed this?"

Because it's boring.

Try to do good work in a garage or any car related job and see what thanks you get. None. You do the same dirty boring work over and over and damn you if you take an interest in your work or try to do a good job. Nobody wants that, the shop can't make any money on good work and the customer doesn't know the difference, doesn't give a damn, and wouldn't pay 2 cents if they did. All anybody wants is the car to move off the lot under its own power as quickly and cheaply as possible.

If you are smart you will quit and go do something else that pays better and doesn't wreck your body. Then go do car stuff nights and weekends but only so long as it's FUN.

 

My buddy has had a body shop for about 25 years. He has no interest in hobby cars of any type. Drives around in a new Chevy pickup and a Ford Taurus wagon.

My former boss was a "car guy" with a stable full of European exotics and rare American muscle cars. Didn't know the first thing about working on any of them.

 

well , being older than dirt , working on my car is all i know . been doing it since 1958 . had 3 cars when i was like 13 . worked on all of them to learn . i like doing it myself so i know whats been done & how . if i cut a corner , i know i did it .
i now belong to a "A" club & no one works on there cars ! i have worked on many for them . the new cars are a computer tech & r&r parts . cant buy rebuild kits hardly anymore , only replacement units .
no offense , but i read this forum off & on . i am puzzled by the "school me" threads & especially the "what would you do" with my car . i see in my mind what i would like it to look like , then try it . not always as i thought it would be !! but i do safe before pretty . functional is my goal . i like my car & sorry if you dont . but im here to please myself & to be myself . i like socializing , but do not depend on others for my ideas . i just like peeps ! soon as they open their mouth , you know if they are real car guys !!
cars are my way of life ! my only car is a '31 ford coupe , and i do drive it everywhere , year around ! love it & enjoy working on it myself .................

 

I'm with you TrollSt...

You couldn't have summed it up much better!

I buy American when I can and support American Manufacturing, I buy local when I can and support small businesses with sympathetic values, And stiil I get taken sometimes by crusty old timers that; by virtue of their illustrious background / don't give a damn about customer service...

All I can do is vote with my dollar, and if the whole shithouse is goin up in a blaze of glory, I'm roasting hot dogs!

 

I'm never surprised. I see and interact with two types of car people. The ones who like old cars and enjoy working on them and the car guys who lack the skill, but have a nice down payment and a car note and enjoy their car.

The old car guy enjoys tinkering and fixing the old girl up. He enjoys, to a degree, the dirt, grease and scrapped knuckles that come from maintaining his pride and joy. He enjoys the history. The Americana of the old car. He can tell you about every bolt and nut and knows where they go. He knows how fast it is because he built it. He can tell if somethings wrong at the first new "twitch" she makes. Then, he fixes it. He tunes by ear. He takes pride in knowing that no one in his area has a car like his. It can't be bought, it has to be built.

The new car guy, MAY change his oil and keeps his car nice and shiney. He knows which asile at the parts store has the wax and tire shine. He enjoys the warranty and will take it back to the dealer, if it makes a strange noise. He enjoys his factory muscle car and can recite the factory inflated horsepower in a heartbeat. He may not know what makes it work, but it makes him feel good that he can hop in and go as he pleases. Deep inside, he hates that the house wife at the end of his block, drives a Hemi Challenger just like his. But his has Flow Masters, so at least it sounds bad ass.

There's the differences I've noticed. I respect both, but can only relate to the former.

 

The younger people live in a different world than we did, and I think many of you are somewhat surprised that most of them don't think like we did. I don't know if this makes any sense, but to put it in perspective, in 1964 I owned a 32 Ford hot rod for a short time. That was an old car to us back then. In similar terms, that would be the same as owning a 1980 something today. It's no wonder they don't get into it.

 

My dad was a mechanic his whole like, worked at new car dealers, had his own shop, etc, but is NOT a car guy, its a living to him. His cars at home were crap. I said one day "if I had your skill I would have the coolest hot rod ever" he said "I work on cars all day, dont want to work on cars when I get home"...

~ regarding Home Depot (etc) ~ when I ask the "plumbing guy" a question, he picks up the box off the shelf and starts reading the instructions, looking for the answer.....geezzzz I could do that myself !!! (and usually do to save time)

 

My father in-law owned 3 NAPA stores and the only thing worse than a ignorant counter person is a store full of ignorant customers and having to deal with them on a daily basis.....seems like 75% of the country cant tell you the engine size in their mini vans or even measure the windsheild wipers.. But...God bless them, these are the guys that help the mechanics and others in the automotive biz, buy homes educate their children and retire with some money in the bank...

 

I too have noticed it when shopping for auto parts. I found that my local O'reilly auto parts store had quite a few knowledgeable guys that would bend over backwards to help me find stuff. Next thing I knew the manager offered me a job as an assistant manager. He likes to hire people who are first customers because he says it helps create a knowledgeable team. We have a guy big into imports, and another guy that has built a lot of cool older cars up and now helps a local drift team, My manager has done lots of older repair and building engines up, another guy builds race cars and races in his free time, and a guy who once lived out of his car, and learned all he knows because he had to practically learn on the fly of how to fix things when your car is your home. we have a couple people who also are not super knowledgeable about some things, but know more then most and are never afraid to ask for a second opinion. I wish more auto parts stores would take this type of approach to finding counter men. it has made a great team of guys that not only we all get along great, but are able to actually help someone when they have strange questions or need automotive advice.

 

Just my $.02, but as a dealer mechanic I gotta say that are times when I absolutely "hate" cars...
<O</O
Don't get me wrong, cars have been my life as long as I can remember. But there are some days when dealing with idiot customers, clueless service writers, shady salesmen, warranty red tape, shop politics, computers, miles of wiring, plastic parts, non-rebuild able components, and soul less tuper ware cars for 10 hours a day 6 days a week, makes you wanna give up.... <O</O
<O</O

I know quite a few car guys that have lost the passion after working in this industry too long, and I can understand why. Thank the car gods I found the HAMB, or I'd probably be in the same boat...<O</O<O</O

 

I think a lot of it has to do with money discouraging people. A guy working a full time job just out of high school can't afford to go out and buy a brand new Mustang or Camaro at $30K a pop generally. The wages and the dollar just don't go that far anymore, and there aren't too many high school kids that can fix up an old car, much less drive one because of the high cost of gas and, well, everything.

I was in high school from 94-98. I had a '68 Cougar XR7 as my first car and I can remember getting a almost a quarter tank of gas for $5-6 and worked 20 hours a week after school and weekends for $5.75. I had more money in my pocket then than I do now and I make a hell of a lot more.

 

When we were kids we could put in high rises, cams and roller chains.
10/10 for more bearing meat and a secret weapon clutch.
Now all they can do is a vinyl wrap and idiot wagon wheel 22's.
Its "progress".

 

I work in a large dealership and I can count on one hand how many car guys are in the whole facility.