Could do all sorts with a car engine then - even had my own overalls - but
now the layout of engines look so different I can just work out where the
oil, brake and clutch fluid, windscreen washer liquid and coolant go.
Jean in Poole
It's a plot ! I think they planned it that way so women would continue to be 'helpless' . . . big <g> !
Nah... It's a plot, yes. But one designed to keep *both* sexes under the poverty line... :)
Time was (or so my mechanic tells me), if a light bulb burnt out/malfunctioned, you replaced the *lightbulb*. The cost of labour (if you didn't do it yourself): maybe $5. The cost of the "spare part" (the bulb) ca 35 cents... When I busted one of the backlights (blinker) on my old Toyota and its bulb expired in the process, I had to have the entire "module" replaced on that part of the car's tail. Cost of the spare part? $150 (and be glad, ma'm, you ain't drivin' a Mercedes; them babies cost $600). Cost of labour? $50... It was the most expensive sack of pearl barley I ever popped to the shop for (backed into a low -- below my vision -- piece of railing, in my hurry to get home and start cooking)
When *a* lightbulb -- one of the three illuminating the spedometer dial -- on my new Passat "went"(no fault of mine, this time) so that I couldn't see anything under 40 mph (not a good idea, since all of my evening driving is done in town, in a 25mph limit)? The *entire dashboard panel* had to be changed... I didn't ask how much *that* would have cost had my warranty expired; just counted my blessing it still *was* operative...
And I agree with everyone who has expressed disgust with the New! Improved! Aerodynamic! (Humpty-Dumpty) shape of the modern cars...
In a nearby town (Natural Bridge -- a *very nice* "tourist trap" <g>), there's a museum of old cars. The *really* old ones (horse carriage with horses removed) were darling... Up to about 1930 they still had some class... The newest one in the collection (mid 40ties?) already looks more like a shark than anything else, though it's still has some personality; nothing as bland as the cars which are being produced now (people used to be able to *tell* one car from another by its shape; how many still can?). What puzzles me is this: a couple of years ago, there was this big wave of automotive nostalgia; just about every car maker had one model which was -- supposedly -- harking back to the past. But all of them picked the least interesting moment of the past (a box with tiny, mean-looking windows) as their starting point, and then proceeded to strip it of all individuality, by softening every corner till there were none... Why on earth?
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Tamara P Duvall
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Lexington, Virginia, USA
Formerly of Warsaw, Poland
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