Garth Libre
Active Member
- Joined
- Apr 20, 2021
- Messages
- 128
- Reaction score
- 110
- Points
- 43
- Location
- Tennessee
- Vehicle Year
- 2010
- Make / Model
- Ford Ranger
- Transmission
- Manual
My uncle was a mechanical genius even as a child. He built his own radios as a boy, eventually became a mechanical engineer who helped design missile guidance systems to win WWII. When you went to his house he had a half dozen cuckoo clocks he restored on display. He even had a working pinball machine and an HO railroad set that measured about 10 x 30 in the basement. It had banks of switch tracks and it astonished all the relatives at Thanksgiving. He eventually rose to be the Vice President of General Dynamics, an aerospace company based in New Jersey.
When I grew up in Manhattan, the best I could do was to have a small railroad set with 4 switch tracks. I did however do all the work on my bicycles and refinished a couple of old wooden bookcases. I rebuilt my first engine on an old MGB the first year I got my drivers license, but my economic situation being what it was I could only earn a two year Associate college degree while working days. I wanted to become a mechanical engineer but I struggled with advanced math, like calculus, and chemistry was a bore to me. Eventually, I did pass the test to build the Apache helicopter for Teledyne Ryan in San Diego, but I never took the job because I had previously agreed to give Hyatt hotels a two week notice where I worked as a wine steward. By that time, they had offered the job to someone else farther down the list of exam scores. When you snooze you lose they told me. Without an advanced college degree I always had to take lesser jobs than my famous uncle. I finished my career doing spot checks on taxi cabs and school buses as a transportation officer in Miami's Dade County.
I wish my uncle could have seen how self taught I managed to rewire a house or two, do basic plumbing jobs and spectacular landscaping with the aid of my Kubota tractor. We even have a four thousand gallon waterfall fish pond, fully landscaped that my wife and I designed. My uncle would be proud. Working with your hands is a skill sorely lacking in most people who drive around thinking that "modern cars are too complex to work on". What a bunch of b.s. ! In many ways, these old Ford Rangers are easier to work on. You'll never have to rebuild a carburetor, or set points, and nowadays the finicky rear drum brakes have all but disappeared, but I'll leave automatic transmission work to the bravest amongst us. Clutches and pressure plates are tricky enough. Sometimes, it makes sense to let someone else do the work. My wife was a trained carpenter in Germany, but she's too busy to do that kind of work now. She did just help me lay a bamboo floor in the upstairs guest room yesterday. Those German high standard they are so famous for left her busy looking for some "flubs" in the baseboards I covered up with a little caulk. It will never be seen - no one will ever know. I bet there are even a few flubs being passed over today at Teledyne Ryan.
When I grew up in Manhattan, the best I could do was to have a small railroad set with 4 switch tracks. I did however do all the work on my bicycles and refinished a couple of old wooden bookcases. I rebuilt my first engine on an old MGB the first year I got my drivers license, but my economic situation being what it was I could only earn a two year Associate college degree while working days. I wanted to become a mechanical engineer but I struggled with advanced math, like calculus, and chemistry was a bore to me. Eventually, I did pass the test to build the Apache helicopter for Teledyne Ryan in San Diego, but I never took the job because I had previously agreed to give Hyatt hotels a two week notice where I worked as a wine steward. By that time, they had offered the job to someone else farther down the list of exam scores. When you snooze you lose they told me. Without an advanced college degree I always had to take lesser jobs than my famous uncle. I finished my career doing spot checks on taxi cabs and school buses as a transportation officer in Miami's Dade County.
I wish my uncle could have seen how self taught I managed to rewire a house or two, do basic plumbing jobs and spectacular landscaping with the aid of my Kubota tractor. We even have a four thousand gallon waterfall fish pond, fully landscaped that my wife and I designed. My uncle would be proud. Working with your hands is a skill sorely lacking in most people who drive around thinking that "modern cars are too complex to work on". What a bunch of b.s. ! In many ways, these old Ford Rangers are easier to work on. You'll never have to rebuild a carburetor, or set points, and nowadays the finicky rear drum brakes have all but disappeared, but I'll leave automatic transmission work to the bravest amongst us. Clutches and pressure plates are tricky enough. Sometimes, it makes sense to let someone else do the work. My wife was a trained carpenter in Germany, but she's too busy to do that kind of work now. She did just help me lay a bamboo floor in the upstairs guest room yesterday. Those German high standard they are so famous for left her busy looking for some "flubs" in the baseboards I covered up with a little caulk. It will never be seen - no one will ever know. I bet there are even a few flubs being passed over today at Teledyne Ryan.