Why some people are too stupid to own a car

[tacticalturnip]

@tallyho8 that's a great story.

 

[dodge man]

I was a “known car guy” at work. Have a problem, go talk to me. A young lady in her 20’s came in and said her car wouldn’t start. I went out and looked at it the car was in drive. This was several years ago and I later realized she probably couldn’t take the keys out since she left it in drive so she must have just left it that way.

 

[alexpops]

So ... like any proper mechanic, you popped the hood, reached in and "adjusted" some wires, then you put it in Park, cycled the key & started her right up, thereby cementing your reputation as "the car guy"?

 

[Rockbadchild]

I was a “known car guy” at work. Have a problem, go talk to me. A young lady in her 20’s came in and said her car wouldn’t start. I went out and looked at it the car was in drive. This was several years ago and I later realized she probably couldn’t take the keys out since she left it in drive so she must have just left it that way.

I see that here all the time and they are guys...

 

[Rockbadchild]

Since I spent about half my life in cities, half country, I find it funny when it's always citi folk who don't know how to do things.
Have a number of citi people I know who worked on cars in high school/college and went to engineering school. Know country folk who hurt themselves putting gas in the car.
Matters more if they have good mentors or family to show them how to do things.
I did a head gasket and valve adjustment on one of our lawn tractors and walked my son through all of it. He may never use it, but at least he has seen the "process".

I see a lot of people on this site out doing stuff with their kids, this will help them with getting through life even if they never have to take a motor apart.

I agree with what you are saying and I agree it can go both ways and very good point about the mentors but I don't think you can't dispute that percentage is more common with city folk, its goes with the life style therefore exposure...there is way more people in the cities that don't own a car or even a lawn mower compare to people in the country, therefore it is more common to get these stories from city folks simply less exposure... That's why I have a ''problem'' with the word stupid in the title of this thread. To give a example, even in my experience I grew up 3km away from the closest village, it wasn't even a city, it was a village of only 500 people but yet my friends from the village had way less skills then myself in general as we grew up. Not saying I was or I am today better them all of them but I was better then most of them and have still today more general skills then most of them... I had more chores to do, we had 3 wheelers and snowmobile way before my friends did and more opportunity to use them and when we had something it was old and when something broke we fix it ourself. I spend less time with my friends and more with my dad, we had less supervision. Then with the life style that the country brings being isolated comes with the lack of immediate resources and being closer to nature you get more experience or exposure with hunting and fishing so when something happen we had to delt with it, with what we had so there is a element of problem solving to get through it ... All elements from being a county boy but I can't deny that a big contributor to my knowledge came from the fact that I grew up on a farm and we where less fortunate since I had a stay at home mom and more sibling then all my friends growing up but without that I still believe in general you get more exposure to general repair and maintenance compare to a city folk. Of course any skills can be be learn and you get stupid people in both geographics.

 

[Oaktree]

How old are you, 25?
Do you remember the old school am radios. Or the old am/fm units that you had to slide a big bar" across that changed between them.
The old school speakers that always rattled.
That's why as kids we always went and changed the sound systems in the cars when we got them.
You obviously forget the old 8 tracks that changed tracks mid song or casette eating systems.
Even the cheapest new car sound system beats crap out of the old Tyme crap.
I call bullshit on your statement.

And I call BS in return.
Yeah, modern vehicles have a lot more speakers, and sound marginally better but they've made them needlessly complex and the tuners suck...deaf as a stump. Get 15 miles out of town and you can't pick up anything. They seem to be more interested in cellphone integration than in making a good radio. Let's not blame the lousy sound of AM on the car stereo...it sounded bad everywhere else too.
Never once had a speaker that "rattled" (whatever that means). I used to record my own 8 tracks and cassettes, and never once had it change tracks during a song and as long as you used good quality blanks they rarely ate cassettes. Cheapo ones, yeah.

Crutchfield seems to be doing a good business upgrading factory stereo systems even now.

Not that it matters, but I'm 73.

 

[Dftodd]

And I call BS in return.
Yeah, modern vehicles have a lot more speakers, and sound marginally better but they've made them needlessly complex and the tuners suck...deaf as a stump. Get 15 miles out of town and you can't pick up anything. They seem to be more interested in cellphone integration than in making a good radio. Let's not blame the lousy sound of AM on the car stereo...it sounded bad everywhere else too.
Never once had a speaker that "rattled" (whatever that means). I used to record my own 8 tracks and cassettes, and never once had it change tracks during a song and as long as you used good quality blanks they rarely ate cassettes. Cheapo ones, yeah.

Crutchfield seems to be doing a good business upgrading factory stereo systems even now.

Not that it matters, but I'm 73.

Might be the location your in, surrounding area, etc.... in reference to your radio reception.

I know I have trouble up north in certain states with radio reception. But might have to do with a mountain being in between me and the tower. I've had other stations come in pretty well, but weren't anything I was interested in.

The local radio station I listen to, I've recieved up to 70 or 80 miles away from the tower. By that point I had traveled through multiple towns and cities.

But the area is relatively flat with little interference from those pesky mountains.

 

[5030]

Never turned the radio on in any of my vehicles. Not interested but I do play CD's I like.

 

[kevin37b]

My bicycle ride took me 11 miles down Route 66 to Albuquerque then I would reverse and ride back home. About 6 miles into my ride, I passed a man that had pulled off I-40 onto the off ramp with a flat tire. I notice it because it was the exact same model and color Dodge minivan my mother-in-law owned. Well, I returned from ABQ about :30 min later and the guy was still trying to figure out how to get the spare from under the rear of the van. I stopped to ask if he needed help. "I don't know how to get the spare tire from under the car" says he. "Where is your owner's manual?" Says I. I knew how to get it our because I had read my MIL's manual but, I wasn't going to tell him. He found it and tried to hand it to me. "Look up how to change a flat tire." Says I. When he went to the rear of the van and lifted the hatchback, I got on my bike and left. You think he will read any more of the manual?

 

[dodge man]

When my daughter was about 16 her car wouldn’t start. It was dark out and I had always heard banging the starter would sometimes work. It was front drive and I knew roughly where the starter was. After about 5 minutes of me randomly banging around with a hammer and a look on her face of “this is never going to start” it turned over and started.