I've worn many hats in my life, some with titles a bit more lofty, but these days when someone asks what I do I just say "Mechanic". Depending on who's asking reactions can run from admiration to condemnation. My home's garage is on a street with a fair amount of foot traffic, school, bus stop, nice grass median for dog walking. Sometimes I work with the doors open, sometimes closed depending on my mood and the job at hand. So the other day the doors are open, I'm under my rod screwing around when a nicely dressed middle aged man walks by, peering in as most do. No big deal. About 20 minutes later he walks by in the other direction, this time I'm standing there, filthy, with a tire in my hand. And he's REALLY looking in. So I walk outside and say "Something I can help you with?" He says "Oh, I'm sorry, I just always notice you on my walks, working in your shop with such vigor. You obviously love what you do. I admire it so much, I just wish I had the talent to do what you do. I wish I had an old car and the ability to fix it up. It seems so satisfying, so relaxing, just you and your automobile". I laughed and replied jokingly "Well I wish I was a doctor". He laughed, and then he replied "I AM a doctor!". He went on to describe his day filled with dealing with patients problems, then going home at night and carrying those problems with him to bed. It was a great conversation, and needles to say I felt quite uplifted as I headed back into my shop, tire still in hand. He put his hand out to shake mine as we parted, I said my hands are dirty, he said he didn't care and shook mine anyway. One final note: I am blessed, as I have read many of you are, with a wife who is totally satisfied with what I do, proud and secure in knowing that I can easily fix just about any automotive or household problem that crops up.
yeah my missus thinks I'm weird because I actually enjoy going to work.... well most days. and other people I know don't understand how I can spend all week working on cars and then go home and spend all weekend in the shed working on cars to relax.
I have been a mechanic ( heavy duty equipment) for 32 years. I have always been proud of what I do, and I cringe every time I hear the word "technician". I will go to my grave as a mechanic and never give in.
It is a neat trade, I have had many people envy us and admire us as mechanics. We are really blessed when we have a wife who is appreciative of us. I enjoy the hanging out with car people so much, talking about nothing much except cars. I like your story.
My first time in the life of a mechanic came sometime in the late 1940s, maybe squeaking into 1950, when my dad and neighbor did a valve job on his 1939 Chevy and started treating me as a gofer. Go for this and go for that. They taught me what and why of the tools used and then some stuff in the engine. Those lessons would spark an interest in dirt, grease and banged up knuckles that lasted all my life. Hot rods galore during the school years until joining the Air Force -- to keep away from what the draft board wanted me for. Asking the recruiter if I could be a rocket ship mechanic he laughed and asked why, so I told him that the mechanics working on and sitting on the of an F-86, at a nearby air base, it was so interesting I stopped to talk several times. After 30 years in the Air Force and working through colleges I became an engineer and off to be a real engineer I go, on to Link Aviation and Eastern Airlines flight simulator field, yeah a real mechanics dream. With only 12 years to go I hired on with the stinking Federal government and worked on a 20-meter radio telescope a real mechanics dream, then retired in 2001. Now, after 12 years of retirement the urge to get dirty, greasy and hurt still sparks interest, but it hurts too much and autos have grown up into tricky machines that my patience ran out with them. Reading this forum really does this old fart's heart good to see people are still at it. Keep up the good work......
I started with my and our big brothers in the garage, then worked as an aircraft mechanic in the USN, My brother got me a job in a VW shop. I got married in 74 and started working as a heavy equipment mechanic ( a little help from my father-in-law) worked at this for 32 yrs, loved it and hated it at the same time. I still mechanic out of my shop at home only on a smaller scale. Have had many peoplpe say they wished they could do what i do. lucky for me I guess. Lee
Blowby, you're not only a happy mechanic but an accomplished essayist. Your note was discerning. Thanks for the perspective. I hope you and your pedantic doctor cultivate that friendship.
Great story. I used to have a lawyer that thought the same way. Thought I was a god because I could fix a car. I agree with the "technician" comment. I think dealers started calling them technicians so they could charge more.
Great story, I love this trade and love going to work in the morning. Not every job is always enjoyable and not every day a good one but I think that will ring true with any trade or profesion. I am proud to be an Automotive Technician. A "parts changer" as Willbe stated, I am far from. This trade has changed drasticly in the almost twenty years I have been doing this. I am constantly taking upgrading courses each month. A lot of the time the first tool I reach for on a job is a Scan tool or a labscope. You need a large understanding of how the computer operating systems work on each different make and model to be able to properly diagnois and repair a problem on a modern automobile. This is where I believe the term Automotive Tech has originated from, not to raise charge out rates, it also helps to squash the general publics horibble image of our trade. Dont get me wrong, I generaly spend as much time diagnoising emissions failures and driveability on older carburated hot rods , muscle cars, VWs and british cars. As well as repairing anything that is related to an automobile. But after all that, my most relaxing part of the day is after I put the kids to bed, I get to go out into the garage and work on my own car.
I started in 1965 working part time after school. Then I did my apprenticeship and went on to a long carreer. Finally ended teaching it at Trade School. They called me in to do Engines Electrical and Fuels which are my specialties. Also have held an Automotive Master Machinsts ticket. Now I am retired but work in my shop on my stuff every weekday. Never regretted it and took all the extra training I could get. Tis nice to "KNOW" what is going on while all the "experts" are balbbing away without a clue of how things actually work. More and more I just smile and go about what I am doing.They wont believe you anyway so why bother. Always amazed me that folks think it is about working with your hands as in you dont have a brain. The fact is it is a lot of brainwork before you put hands on. I told my doctor once when he got a bit uppity that he had it easy. Only 2 models, 4 colours and no techincal changes in 7000 years. Also mentioned that in my job when I am wrong I get to right it for nothing 0$$$$$$. Therefore I try not to be wrong. Not a concept he was familiar with to say the least. Don
Having gone through some mystery ailment the last couple years (thankfully almost gone) and a barrage of doctors/tests, I hear you loud and clear. "Sorry, we don't know what's wrong, that'll be $10K." On the bright side they have to work in sterile environments and drive Mercedes's, we get to work in dirty shops and drive hot rods!
Started working on cars at 11 with the help and mentoring of my Grandfather. much to the chagrin of my pediatrician father. Got a job in my uncles gas station at 14 and loved the whole thing. Buying tools, talking to customers, pumping gas and checking oil (full service don't you know). Graduated highschool and went to college (dads idea). After three semesters of pre-med I quit and came back to wrench'in. Worked for other people (some good ,some bad) learned body work and collected the Hot Wheels I played with as a kid in full size. Now after raising three daughters and having a successfull business for 18 years I'm getting around to those hotwheels. Only regret is that I didn't get a degree of some sort as this would allow me to teach at the local High school auto shop. Other than that it has been a charmed life and very fullfilling. As my daughters tell there friends, "My dad can fix anything but a broken heart".
I am not much into the mechanical side of things, but I get by. For me the love and passion is in metal shaping and fabricating. I grew up in a home where blue-collar was a dirty word. Had to take academic subjects at school - but I bailed on the whole college deal and have been doing my own thing working with my hands in various fields ever since. Would never want it any other way. Read "Shop Class as Soulcraft" by Matthew B. Crawford for an intellectual's view of why doing this kind of work is so rewarding and fulfilling...
As a "Mechanic' my career went from mechanical repair to diagnostician (a parts replacer who only replaces the right part), to advising people on how to do it best. I do enjoy the mechanical work better. But having doe both I respect what the good technicians do. They are easy to tell from parts replacers, there are not many parts on their RO's. People say can you believe I needed a PCM, EGR Valve, Delta Pressure Feedback Sensor and an EGR Tube. I say no I can't. With a parts replacer it's just the last part you needed. And we had those in the old days, Battery > Starter >Alternator> Belts>Battery Cable. So from replacing brake linings, servicing a CV Joint drive shaft, grinding valves, to trouble charts, Strategy Based Diagnostics, Idle Reduction and Drag Reduction (moved up to the big guys) I have always been proud to be a Mechanic, WE keep the roads and America rolling!
I started out right out of hi school wanting to be a mechanic. Went to work at the local Cadillac dealer and they sent me to GM training school, which I loved! Unfortunately GM training school wouldn't get you a draft deferment in 1969, and I got drafted. When I returned things had changed, and I got my old job back, but only part time, as things were very slow. I ended up leaving Cadillac and going to work at a foundry to make 40 hrs., and a little more money per hour. Always planned to go back when things picked up, but got into the electrical apprenticeship, and my dreams of making a living as a mechanic went bye-bye. Looking back it was probably best. Not working on cars for a living made working on them after work a lot more fun! If I'd been doing it all day long, I'm not sure I'd have been as motivated to do it every night and weekend like I did.
Doctors & Attorneys / one practicing medicine & one practicing law by definition. If we the mechainics -body men Etc. claimed that..... we would be unemployed !
Mechanics...............sorry for the error in spelling,perhaps I should practice writting more often.
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