Heard this uttered on one of those 'reality' car shows the other day and it hit a chord with me.
"Changing your own oil is the gateway drug to becoming a gearhead."
I can vividly remember sliding under my first car, a recently purchased '65 Econoline van, intending to change the engine oil.
Eureka, said I. I found the oil drain plug. For my Dad, fixing a car meant getting out his checkbook, so I think I grabbed a Crescent wrench and slid back under the Econo.
But wait...... what's THAT? Another drain plug?
OH!! I see, one is for the transmission, one is for the engine.
One guess which one I HAD intended to remove?
That was my first ever attempt at any automotive maintenance but the task was completed and my fate was sealed.
It was some years later, when I diagnosed, found and replaced a failed 5¢ cotter pin holding one of the three fingers in the Econo's non-op pressure plate that I began to trust in my mechanical skills.
But I think that small victory with the oil change was the starting point on an interest that has brought many good times and friends over the years.
Gearhead?
Yea, that works for me.
Work for you?
Larry
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