Don't forget Strippers I quit when my first and last experience with a computer car in 1982 involved coolant being pushed up a wire to the computer. The factory techs couldn't fix it but a "mechanic" who was good at actual diagnosis did. It all started with a leaking temp sender and the techs had replaced nearly everything on the car but the wiring harness. After a few checks I told them wiring is what it had to be, everything else had been replaced. Inspection revealed that the weatherpac connecters had contained the coolant enough to force it through the wires clear to the computer creating an electrical leak and a faulty signal. A new harness and 3 hours and the Olds was good as new. Not that that was all that great. GM tech school in new Orleans in 1982. I went back to heavy equipment as a mechanic/welder.
I went to Technical College in '91 for Auto Body. "Collisoin Repair Technology". Nobody but the guidance councilors called it that, so we know it happened pre-'91. When will they change it from "Body Shop" to "Automobile Rehabilitation Center?"
Who really cares about the mechanic vs. tech debate? What I want to know is when did "whores" become "prostitutes"? Talk about a boner murderer. "Get your ass in the car you prostitute!"... just doesn't have the ring to it...
i still call myself a painter because when i tell people that i am an auto refinish technician that look at me funny and say what is that?
yup right here was the turning point and I have 24 GM diplomas to prove it .......it was sad to see it happen and know if you didn't keep up you were gone.
Back in the day when the most complicated pieces of test equipment you needed were a voltmeter and a test light, one of the best flathead Ford mechanics I ever knew couldn't read or write, but he could build a flathead and make it run sweet. Likewise with Y-blocks. Those days are no more.
short answer...... they became techs when they realised they could get paid more by changing their title.
agreed mid '80's, electronics changed doignostic methods remember "tune-up's" yeah we don't do tune up's any more, I still laugh when a service writer writes up a ticket that says tune up, some of my older customers still think tune up fixes everything, now we have to call it scheduled maintence or full service (this doesn't fix any thing)
I prefer dysphemisms to euphemisms related to job titles...you know.. Plumber euphemism = Water Supply Technician Plumber dysphemism = Turd Herder
The Jalopy Journal
