This morning, I helped a friend of mine (read that as driveing her around mostly) figure out what was wrong with her car... She drives a '63 Ford, with a V8... Its one of those nice things that when you look under the hood, it all makes sence what is going on. There is no way to develop some electronic gremlin, since there aren't any electronics, just basic electrics... My last truck was an '88 with a mess of electronics and fuel injection under the hood... I hated trying to work on that... My current truck is a diesel engine with virtually zero electronics, and not much electrical... That's exactly what I wanted too... I could have gotten a Ford diesel, but they decided on running everything electrically, so there's all sorts of potential gremlins... Cummins has it right, my engine is the same engine they've been building for 30 or 40 years, virtually no change... Why try to make it better when it already works perfectly? I suppose that's human nature... I suppose that's also why I like old cars, and old machinery... They worked then, and they still work now... I tend to doubt that all these new gadgets will last as long... Only time will tell...
Posted by Backstage at May 13, 2004 04:41 PMMy first car had the Dodge 318 engine in it, and it was a dream to work on. I learned most of my mechanic skills on that car, and each newer motor since is less accessible.
Posted by: Ted at May 17, 2004 09:57 AMI suppose I have to admit that the new cars are pretty solid, and don't tend to break down as much, but you're hosed when they do...
Posted by: Tim at May 17, 2004 11:17 AM