image source: learnedalongthewayblog
In reality, there is really no conflict between “Real Car Guys” and “Tourists”.
One of my favorite blog sites has been “My Jaguar Experience”, which presented a dichotomy of this nature. The story was the experience of trying to daily drive a Series Three Jaguar XJ6. It covered the never-ending series of little problems that resulted in a major breakdown that ended the ownership experience in an unhappy end.
The author placed a lot of blame on himself, which I felt was pretty unfair and unnecessary. He was not a hands-on enthusiast and was not the kind of person who would diagnose a problem and perform the repair himself. He had never made any claims to the contrary.
He broke down the enthusiast community into two camps. The “Real Car Guys” and the “Tourists.”
The real car guy’s motto is: “We can do it!”
That’s the attitude! Image from the web.
The real car guys are those that have quite a bite of mechanical knowledge and experience, and will perform much of their cars needed maintenance and repairs. They also possess the necessary tools and equipment. The real guys also have the proper attitude, which is something like the following: “Any older mechanical device will eventually wear and need repair. This is no big thing. Identify the problem, secure the needed parts, and just fix it. When there are no apparent problems, just keep your eye on probable avenues of future repair.”
When a problem exceeds their level of skill or ability, then they just might perform part of the repair. Remove the transmission and take just that, to a repair specialist, for example. This alone will result in substantial savings.
“If you’re going to be a tourist, be a rich one!” Thurston Howell III image from web.
Tourists, on the other hand, are just visiting the territory you might say. They might mingle with the natives, assume some mannerisms in speech and dress. You would never mistake them for the real thing. So in the automotive hobby, they might even be described as “posers.”
They might have an actual interest or even a preference for vintage or classic cars. They can be quite knowledgeable and well-versed in the enthusiast lingo. Usually, they are not “hands-on” guys. They usually lack the skills or aptitude to turn wrenches on their own machines. Often they will say that they are “all thumbs” or “mechanically challenged” or use some other self-deprecating phrase.
I propose that what most of them lack is the real need to work on their own stuff. The tourist usually has more resources available than the grassroots gearhead. They can easily afford to pay for a shop to handle their repair work, or they choose to save up and budget funds for the inevitable repairs.
If they are not really affluent then they might have to restrict their hobby to a single vintage car. It becomes the focus of their carefully planned expenditures.
On the other hand, if they are really affluent, then they just buy the best example out there. Low mileage, well-preserved, or restored vehicles. They are the ones that pay top dollar for the best cars.
“…the gearhead will often brag about how much work they are putting into their cars.”
Compare that to the typical “real car guy,” sometimes referred to as the “gearhead.” He often acquires a stable of worn and broken down cars with the hope of someday fixing them up. He will often pile way too much on his plate. Oftentimes this gearhead is of the bucks down variety. As a consequence of this, many, if not most, of his projects will never see completion. He might keep several vehicles in service as runners or daily drivers. While a rich guy can boast about how much his project is costing him, the gearhead will often brag about how much work they are putting into their cars.
The low-bucks gearhead knows that the only way that he can own and enjoy “interesting” cars is to buy them in a “challenged” state. The kind that are advertised as projects that need a lot of TLC. As if love alone could ever fix up anything mechanical!
Having a stable of project vehicles reduces the amount of cash available to spend on any specific car. This will make anyone, even someone of average means, behave somewhat like a bucks-down guy. This provides plenty of incentive to do it yourself.
The fact that a “tourist” occasionally finds himself over his head in a certain car does not mean that he is a poser. Unless you are like old Thurston Howell III, where cost is never a consideration, everyone runs into their financial limits. People in both camps have run into that situation.
Most “normal” people have no real interest in buying, maintaining, using, or preserving a vintage car. They may murmur about some car from their high school days. Or wax nostalgic about their buddy’s ’57 Chevy or ’65 Mustang when they see one on the street. But their reality is about having a vehicle that takes all the risk and pain out of daily transportation. Who can blame them? We all have lives to lead. A brand new car, or at least the newest that they can afford, makes the most sense.
The old car enthusiast is an entirely different animal. For some reason, not only does he have an interest in vintage cars, he even wants to own one! Even worse, he actually wants to drive it, sometimes every day! Most older car cars are cheaper than a new model. Most of us low buck enthusiasts depend on massive depreciation to bring desirable cars down to our financial level.
So is there really a conflict (chasm?) between the “tourist” and the “real car guy”? I don’t think so. For one thing, there is actually quite a bit of crossover that takes place between the camps. Many car guys cross over into the tourist camp when conditions change or improve. Old age, physical limitations, and more disposable cash combine to limit the car guys’ direct involvement in the day-to-day wrench turning.
On the other hand, many tourists become quite familiar with their cars and will start to stick a hand under the hood once in a while. Even if they don’t start tearing down their motors, they can become adept at minor repairs; like tune ups, and changing belts and hoses. Little things like changing bulbs and chasing down minor electrical gremlins can make it easier to keep an older car on the road.
Besides, many tourists actually provide the paycheck for a lot of real car guys. A lot of real car guys are in the business of providing services to the tourists. Like the artist/patron relationship, some of the best and most creative builders and restorers rely on that blank check provided by the wealthy patron. It keeps them in business.
So what do I mean when I use the word “poser?”
I used to wear a gold chain, but it was much thinner. image from the web.
Or as they are sometimes referred to as, “gold chainers.” A much harsher term of judgment.
I don’t mean the guy who just recently developed an interest in older cars. Lots of guys couldn’t afford the money or time for a hobby car when they were in the middle of career and family responsibilities. It had been an interest that they had only been able to indulge as they got older.
And it’s not just because the owner is affluent, and can afford to have the work done properly by a shop. Or they can buy those best examples. I think that every enthusiast would choose to buy the best if they could afford it.
I would only refer to a person as a poser if they claimed that they performed the work on a car as something that they did, when they didn’t. Or if they didn’t bother to learn anything about the car that they had built for them.
The other case is when the focus of the car is not on the car itself but on the amount of money spent on it. And they make a point of constantly mentioning the cost of things in an obvious attempt to impress the onlooker.
Like many things in life, it’s not an either/or proposition. The tourist and the real car guy, and even the poser, are all in the same camp. They are all interested in vintage cars, as opposed to the greater car-consuming culture. They are like two ends of a continuum or just facets of the same gemstone. We have much more in common than the differences that separate us.
I think that wherever we currently fall on the continuum, we all got involved with old cars just to have a little fun. As long as the hobby is still primarily fun, we should just enjoy it, and cut our fellow enthusiasts, as well as ourselves, quite a bit of slack.
Interesting proposition. I suppose I’m in the “real car guy” camp mostly by accident. I’ve always loved older cars so when it came time to stretch my razor thin budget to try and buy a car, I figured a classic car with good parts support would just about pencil out in the end. It’s still working fine a year and a half later, though I’ve had my fair share of challenging DIY repairs.
I specifically am not in it to spend time working on it and money upgrading it, though learning new skills was a consideration. It was about the fun and novelty of daily driving a 39 year old car. So while I have done everything DIY, it was about driving, not wrenching.
Our focus should be the car, preserving it for the next owner and the one after that.
Obviously do not drive it in the salt.
Use conventional oil.
If it’s a fast car, enjoy that.
That said, there’s always more money.
There’s not always more time.
Looking back at the hours wasted keeping a useless rich man’s toy running will not be pleasant.
Actually Sam ;
Using fully synthetic oils pretty much stops the engine’s wear cycle wherever it is, handy when you’re broke (I am _not_ “poor”) .
I still have a 196? Honda CM91 Motocycle that was still running well (no smoke !) at 40,000 miles when I lost interest .
Same deal with my VW ~ it has a slight rod knock and i still drive it far and wide and mostly flat footed .
Hopefully in 2025 I’ll tear down a spare engine and get a better crankshaft to use .
Synthetic oils are the best way to go and no, they DO NOT cause wet clutches to slip unless the clutch is already worn out .
-Nate
Put me in the tourist camp then, but then again, my “old” car is really not all that vintage, yet. She’ll finally be 20 years old and eligible for “Historic Tags” in 2027.
While I get much satisfaction in the little bit of wrenching I can do, I am extremely limited in my abilities, and more than freely admit this. As I get older, some of the things I used to do, I take a ‘leave it to the professionals” attitude.
Since I can only afford one hobby car, I’ve chosen to have a car I’ve always had, since just about new (1127 miles at delivery), and keep THAT one. Doing that, there are fewer surprises as I know the old girl’s entire maintenance history.
But I truly admire you “Real Car Guys” and love to read your stories here. Jose, Aaron65, David Saunders, DougD, VinceC, and many others here who can really wrench amaze me. Keep up the good work!
The nice thing about the “retro” ‘stangs, which I define as ’05 to ’07, is they have the look of a early Mustang but much of the modern safety and efficiency upgrades to be very practical and pretty simple, with none of the over-the-top computer controlled complexity of the last 10-15 years. The German sohc V6 has considerably more power than the original 289 yet still gets 25-27 on the hi-way. My wife loves her red ’07 convert. and with only 62k miles and in 100% near mint originality it’s now old enough to be pretty distinctive and even draw eyeballs on the road, plus the depreciation curve has bottomed out and it’s even gaining in value. The perfect blend of sorta vintage and low hassle modernity for any kind of car guy or gal.
My “old car” will be twenty years old , come “Jan 1”. As I have to park outdoors, wonder how long it’ll be my ride?
My Mustang is parked outside as well, and I may not be able to brag about its “Original Paint” for much longer. It’s a nice 10-15 footer at this point, but that distance is growing sadly.
I may have to have the old girl reshot (or wrapped). For now, I’ve got a few other issues to deal with like the HVAC system being stuck on defrost.
” I’ve got a few other issues to deal with like the HVAC system being stuck on defrost.”
– I went through this in my ‘new’ car, a 2001 Ford Ranger and it turned out the HVAC system is all controlled by vacuum .
So, I spent a day or three poking around under the hood and wound up replacing quite a few little pieces of vacuum hose and a few molded hoses I was able to get via the local dealer .
Nice fresh 40* air is wonderful as is heat though I rarely use that .
Mustangs are, IMO, pretty cool cars and well worth the small effort & $ to keep them up .
-Nate
Interesting, I guess I’m a “real car guy” but sometimes I’d rather not be. Somehow I am compelled to do these things, old machinery and laborious tasks call to me and I have a hard time refusing. I was talking to a young lady at work about cars and she said “I should really fix my own can, I am a mechanical engineer after all” but I told her “Yeah, but you have to enjoy the work, and have the tools, space and time. If you don’t have all those things don’t do it.”
As I age I farm out difficult or heavy tasks to the professionals, but finding someone to work on old stuff is an increasing challenge.
I don’t really like the word “real” used in this context. Reminds me of “real men” do this or that, which I think is BS. Remember Pinocchio was obsessed with becoming “a real boy” because he knew he wasn’t.
I don’t really understand the meaning of the distinction made.
A bit as if one wanted to make the classification as a “foodie” dependent on whether someone swings the wooden spoon themselves or “just” goes to the restaurant.
All the more irritating as the existence of smooth transitions is acknowledged in the article itself.
I think that your last paragraph, where you state that there’s a continuum between the two categories you create, is really spot on. As I’ve gotten older, I realize that pretty much everything in human experience is on a spectrum or continuum. Where one or one thing falls on its spectrum is what makes one thing different from another. And difference – as maddening as it can sometimes feel – is a fact of life. That’s my take at least.
You raise a number of good points as well about why some car-afficionados (I’ll use that term to cover both the “car guys” and the “tourists” end of the spectrum) wind up at different places on the continuum. I think that there IS something to whether one’s brain is wired in such a way to understand basic mechanical systems (really, simple machines…you don’t know how many folks simply cannot really grasp how a pulley or inclined plane works) work. And whether one has that ability/wiring is a gateway to how far they might get from the car guy to tourist end of the spectrum. And so on and so forth.
Good food for thought here, Jose.
Oh, and I’ll just mention – in case Thurston Howell III were ever to be asking me – that if he knew just a bit more or took a bit more interest in the details about yachting (an activity he clearly enjoyed), he MIGHT have done a bit better than winding up with Gilligan and the Skipper as the operators of his three hour tour…his three hour tour…
Well, the weather did start getting rough…
I think I have mostly straddled the line between “car guy” and “tourist”. Is there an advanced tourist or a car guy lite? I have never had an engine or other major system apart, but I am passable at diagnosis and am not afraid to wrench on more basic stuff. Like DougD,I have done less wrenching with age. In general I hate repairing a daily driver but enjoy fixing a car kept as a plaything.
I became a ‘car guy’ out of necessity – if I wanted to go places in the already-well-used ’71 Vega Dad gave me for my first car, I had to work on it. A lot. But I also got the bug for modding, and the car eventually got a Buick 3.8l swap.
A few vehicles later, I drove a ’71 VW Campmobile (gutted the interior) for eight years, followed by a ’64 Beetle for the next six, both of which required constant maintenance and sometimes major repair work.
After starting my own business, I decided it was needful to have a vehicle I could count on to start every time, and the ’64 was succeeded by an ’00 New Beetle TDI, which moved me more into the ‘tourist’ camp, although I’ve continued to do my own maintenance and non-major repair work.
Drove the NB over twelve years, and I’ve had a string of ‘purchased new” vehicles since. Now that I’m retired, I’m finally “working” (albeit sporadically) on my two early-60’s Beetle projects. I’d call that more of a ‘hobbiest’ category…
SWEET Ed ! .
Far less rust than my Bug too =8-) .
-Nate
I worked as a mechanic for more than 30 years, I’m also a farmer. I’ve always run old trucks and equipment they were cheap and could fix them. i.e. in the late ’80s my daily was a ’49 Chevy pickup which I replaced with a ’68 Chevy pickup, moved up 20 years but still 20 years behind the times. We pulled a stock trailer with a ’79 K10 until 5 years ago when it started to get unreliable. Fixing it was not the issue, being broke down on a hot July day with a finished steer was. So I bought a leftover ’18 RAM 2500, strong truck pulls/ carries anything you can put on, but I hate all the bells and whistles, poor visibility, crappy HVAC and if anything happens It’s dead in the water. I miss the K10 and cuolda/shoulda rebuilt it front to back but that was more time than I could spare. For the 3K we put on the RAM in a year it will finish us out (I’m 68) and the new ones only get worse. I don’t know if driving a new truck that I let someone else change oil on changes my status but I’m still a Getter’ Done gearhead 99.9% of the rest of the time.
Can you post a link to the blog?
Clearly I have been on the real car guy end of the continuum since I was 16. Started changing oil and doing tune ups and then progressed down the line to major repairs and body work. All self taught. At 71 I still have not reached the stage where I am too tired. In fact one could say my work effort has accelerated as I tackle more. In fact I have been internally debating with myself on acquiring car #12, an 83, for the last 2 months.
I’m on these terms a former Car Guy. From my teens through to my early thirties parts availability and price together with wrenchabilty (is this a new word?) were almost as important as the purchase price of a given car. Life and children intervened so modern boring cars that required dealer maintenance became necessary ( curse you diagnostic electronics) equally here in Cornwall not all houses have a garage let alone a driveway. Changing brake discs and wheel bearings on a busyish street in the rain is not my most treasured memory. Now I am in a position to get a fun car again I’ve gone full tourist , just put the deposit down on an ’03 T 230 Celica. I’m happy to do the minor maintenance but I’ve been lucky enough to find a good independent garage that specialises in older Japanese cars. Never had the money to be a poseur. Enjoyed reading this article, provocative in an entertaining way.
With all my waffling I realised I didn’t mention what the easily wrenchable cars were so in chronological-ish order:
Citroen Dyane – great to work on, cheap parts
Peugeot 404 – good to work on, parts OKish
VW Type 2 – parts good, banged my head a lot working in the engine cupboard.
2 x Citroen 2CVs – see Citroen Dyane
VW Beatle – good parts, just as well it went wrong a lot.
Humber Sceptre – bit of a mixed bag, got plenty of parts with it but retail unobtainable.
Land-rover Series 2a great parts availability, bad for a journey.
Triumph Herald convertible – rusted while you looked at it, good parts availability.
Triumph Dolomite – met an unfortunate end.
Great article. At first, I was thinking that I am a poser for sure. But then I got to the end of your article and realized that I’m more of the tourist. That is now since I don’t have the space or tools like I did back in the mid-west. Heck, back there when I built my new home in 2001, a must was my man-cave garage. It had in floor heat, washer/dryer, wash sink, stereo system and the crown jewel was my 9,000 pound Rotary hoist. Back then I did have proper shops do the big stuff, but I did the small stuff.
Now today I’m in southern California and can barely afford to live here let alone have a man-cave garage. I have two 80’s vintage Cadillac’s that are quite low miles and clean. Other than detailing them, everything else must be done at a qualified shop. But thankfully, we all (tourist, posers and real car people) can and do have a great relationship.
One of the big factors (or maybe just excuses) for me has been workspace. Our current house has a sloped driveway barely big enough for my Tacoma, let alone the van. So work on those, even brakes and oil changes, has to be fairly quick as we have enough neighborhood kids on bikes and a couple of blind people so sticking out into the sidewalk is uncool. I’m pretty fit but not very flexible, nor young, so crawling underneath or reaching way in from above are getting less appealing every time I do it. Fortunately with a fleet that’s all less than ten years old (mostly) it’s mostly fluids and filters at this point.
My one older vehicle is my 1999 Ducati which I seem to work on more than ride; not that it’s unreliable, it’s just that I’ve pretty much quit riding. Physically it’s easy to work on, but access to carbs, fuel filter, valve adjustments (almost unobtainable shims) requires a lot of disassembly and I don’t find it very rewarding.
With just two of us we don’t really need four vehicles and I’ve thought of thinning the herd and maybe getting a fun older vehicle which I’d use more than the motorcycle. Then I come to my senses and hop on my bicycle. On those, I do all the work. I currently have three and always think about +1 more. So, yeah, I guess I’m a tourist.
I talked to the owner of this ’66 Chevy Impala just yesterday at our local Walmart; he said he “ran down there on a test drive to see if he had set the timing right.” He used a 12v test light to do it. He said the 283 with the two-speed Powerglide ran great.
Approved static timing method.
Yep ;
Those older American engines liked right about 10 degrees BTDC .
I see nice dynamic inductive timing lights for sale $5 all the time .
I used to gather them up thinking other gearheads would want them but no .
-Nate
Well, I see the picture didn’t make the trip. I’ll try one more time to post the picture of the guy’s ’66 Impala. Spectrum is currently installing the fiber feeder line down our street … it will be a happy day when we can tell AT&T what they can do with their p-poor internet.
I definitely think I would like my next experience to be as a tourist. There’s a satisfying feeling doing things myself once they are done and I take pride in being able to fix things. But if I know something has to be repaired it brings upon a feeling of dismay knowing that I am going to get dirty, sore, likely frustrated and possibly mildly annoyed about the costs of parts.
I skip over the needs work section of Kijiji now. I think I would just hand over the money for something less depressing.
I do like looking after the Honda 125 motorcycle. Adjusting its chain and the like. Nothing is heavy or rusty or expensive or badly designed. Makes me connected to the design and it means I can get some tools out. But not all the tools out.
Agreed +1
+1 as well.
I think that this is the point that JPC is making in the comments above about hating to have to repair a daily driver.
As I have aged, I have been fortunate to have a bit more latitude in terms of being able to decide whether or not to have to repair a dd myself; and for that I am thankful, because having to put something back on the road that needs to be on the road NOW is not something that I’ve ever enjoyed. I did it anyway when there was no choice (including opening engines and all of the fun associated with that). Now I am quite happy to have the choice of letting someone else do that.
I guess at different life stages I’ve been on all of the various parts of the spectrum, from repairing DIY as a necessity in my 20s and 30s to intensive involvement age 35 to 60, to doing almost nothing myself now at age 74. Even though I was a shade-tree vintage car and m/c mechanic and “dealer” for almost 50 years, and have owned around 350 domestic and import cars, many were bought to quick flip with with almost nothing done to them, to teh other extreme: engine swaps or teardowns (the most complex being a complete SAAB Turbo engine/trans rebuild), major body work, or other significant repairs.
Always preferring big full-size US (Mopar or GM) V8 rear-drivers for 20 years of daily family transportation from around 1980 to 2000, the cars were older (always about ’70 to ’79 Mopars, Olds or Buick sedans or wagons) but simple and easy to keep going at very minimal cost, but you can’t buy those kinds of cars anymore at non-hobbiest prices and they’re too old to be practical to use daily as daily drivers in any event.
Now for transport we buy new-ish Japanese suvs and pay others to fix them, as well as any work that the 2 vintage cars require(well, one being more of a quasi-vintage Mustang), after so many years of doing so I just don’t really enjoy working on cars anymore, just too little energy and motivation, even oil changes are more than I want to do these days. I’d rather read CC!
I’d add in respect to jograd’s comment, I do still like doing occasional light work on my remaining motorcycles: ’71 Kawasaki A7 350, ’73 Honda CL125, and 1942 Harley WLA (pic). Easy to get at stuff compared to cars.
I find these kind of distinctions infuriating. I’m reminded of a more-than-usually insufferable Brock Yates column in Car and Driver in the ’90s that was a lengthy list of different skills and abilities that one must have to be a REAL enthusiast, which I’m tempted to dig up for the specific purpose of mockery. I don’t remember how many points were on Yates’ list (it was at least 20, as I recall), but by his standards, I didn’t qualify as a “REAL enthusiast.”
Thank you for pointing this out! Not everyone has a garage, for one — in this city, I’m fortunate just to have an off-street parking place, and the rental agreement explicitly forbids car repair on the premises! Not everyone has the money for tools, or a level place to put a car up on jackstands. Not everyone has two reliable arms, two reliable legs, and (ouch) a reliable back, and even if they do now, they might not later.
Is it desirable to be able to do your own wrenching to at least some extent? Sure. Is it feasible for everyone? Nope. The idea that it does or should represent some kind of True Fan vs. Poser class divide is ludicrous, and it offends me on a personal level.
As a case in point, the late Roger Huntington, one of the most technically knowledgeable automotive writers of the fifties and sixties, was paraplegic; he could not drive, and I don’t know how much wrenching he was physically able to do. Characterizing him as a “tourist” and not a “real car guy” would be extremely silly.
Thank you for saying this as it spared me from having to do it.
As I was reading your article, Jose, my gut reaction was to posit a third category: Realist. Not so much to create a dimension-busting three-sided continuum (though the contrary part of me would be quite happy to do that!), but to acknowledge that there are people who actually do recognize their limitations, and are equally happy twirling their own wrenches when they can (basic service work, tune up, valve adjustment, carby rebuild), and calling in the cavalry when it’s beyond their depth (auto trans rebuild). And who don’t pretend they did it themselves.
But you kind of covered this in the end. While there are extremes, I suspect many of us are somewhere in this middle ground.
I grew up with plenty of head knowledge from books but no mechanical experience. I married into a family of farm mechanics and engineers who serviced their own vehicles and were happy to take on mine, show me around and explain how things were done. Once work took me out of the city, I reverted to paying to have it done, as I lacked the facilities and had gained the distraction of two young children who always wanted to know what Daddy was doing when he was home. Also, the increasing blackboxification of modern cars required more knowledge and diagnostic tools than I possessed, and I lacked the inclination to take this on board.
I work on my old heaps out of necessity and because no current mechanics will touch them…
The intent of this post wasn’t to be one of those “checklist” articles that various magazines used to run. It wasn’t meant to be used as a tool to categorize yourself, and determine your rank in the “hobby.” As I mentioned, the question was posed by the author of a Jaguar blog, that I knew from my time on the Jaguar Forums. He produced a very fine blog, but unfortunately, after a very traumatic episode with trolls, he changed his blog to invitation only access. For some reason I wasn’t invited!
I kind of avoid that whole “quien es mas macho?” (remember the old SNL skit?) kind of discussion. My belief, and stated position is that everyone that likes cars, any type of cars, should do it on the level that is appropriate and comfortable for them. I don’t think that anyone has to prove anything to anyone. I do my own thing and expect everyone else to do the same. I’m certainly not standing in judgement of any enthusiast.
Obviously, I’m not some kind of expert, or professional writer. I’m just examining where I am currently, especially as I get older (I just turned 70), and my relationship with the hobby is changing.
I used to be an avid motorcyclist and rode for over 35 years, everyday, everywhere. But physical issues have made that too hazardous, and I haven’t been on a bike for over fifteen years. Unfortunately, I’ll never go back to riding.
Likewise, I did a lot of heavy duty wrenching in the past, but I can’t say that I still want to do that. I just spent several days under my ’96 Mustang replacing the oxygen sensors. I just don’t enjoy crawling under a car on jack stands, getting greasy, and finally cramming my hands into an extremely tight spot to complete the right front sensor. I paid the price for this with aches and pains that lasted for over a week. Now, I’ve got to replace the water pump on my Riviera, which should be a bit easier. If I didn’t do a lot of work myself, I could never afford to have so many cars. Moving on, I’ll probably be cutting down the size of my stable, less cars equals less work.
Anyway, I’m glad to see that my contribution has produced some discussion. I hope that the forum can enjoy these posts in the spirit that they are produced.
Oopps must have been a car guy, currently fixing problems with German electronics on my French car, yes I have to do it myself $150 ph says so, but Citroens are actually easy to fix if something fails, and helpfully the personal speed limiter and cruise system uses the same components as DAF trucks, so the parts are out there.
My other car recently got a rebuilt engine not by me lack of specialized tools like block boring crank grinding and block/head skimming equipment are well outside my tool kit., I yeaked it out and reassembled it from a shortblock and reinstalled the results all my NOS parts have been used up now, but the number of spares I’ll need has been greatly reduced, yes I farm stuff out, having access to a free machine shop ended decades ago, but after a series of field find Hillman engines in my previous classic this one was done right once,
That was very interesting reading.
I will try to describe ME because I am very interesting to ME.
I don’t think I fit iwell nto any category, but I’m definitely tourist-adjacent.
I have basic tools, basic DIY skills, and usually don’t venture too far out of my comfort zone.
I have some curiosity but not a lot.
I don’t really enjoy working on cars but I seem to have a decent diagnostic ability and good instincts.
I’ve rarely spent money on something in error.
I have a “good eye” for details but am not a perfectionist.
I think I have excellent dexterity in my hands which has always been a plus for fixin’.
I have never attempted anything too intricate like an automatic transmisssion but usually if I can take something apart I can find the problem and put it all back together.
But I don’t enjoy it. It feels like work to me and I’m always glad when it’s over.
I’m kind of lazy but if I commit I see it through no matter what.
I mostly like driving cars and looking at them, and of course reading and learning through others like at this site.
Where do I fit in to all of this?
I think this is more of a dichotomy in some areas than others. A blogger elsewhere was talking about hot rodders and declared anyone not doing actual work on a hot rod is a poseur. I agree because the foundation is doing it yourself. In the main car hobby, tourist to car guy is more of a continuum between pays people to do everything and does everything themself. I’m tolerant of people who pay for work if they have enthusiasm and knowledge, I’m far less tolerant of people who buy a classic for looks but neither know nor care anything about it beyond market value.
Personally I’m on a continuum too. I like working on things so some machines are self maintained and some aren’t. My daily driver is “the one good car” so it gets service by the dealer. The beater truck, the motorcycles and the bicycles are all on me although I confess taking the truck to Jiffy lube because I don’t want tot deal with the horizontal oil filter
I’ve been pondering this since I read it early this morning. I think I qualify as a “real car guy” given I don’t shy away from pretty much anything mechanical having to do with my own cars, but on the flip side I feel I am probably a tourist with “true” classics with carbs and points as my experiences are very very limited given my age and real world exposure. Yet at the same time I’ve been into cars well before I even had a drivers lisence, let alone a car I owned so this is a really interesting thought experiment for me.
At the end of the day I find I do probably harbor some prejudices toward tourists, yet at the same time I want them to know what I know in the moments I find myself rolling my eyes. We’re all different, I’m the type who will take apart a flatscreen TV to see if I can fix it to no avail, but that certainly doesn’t make me a “ real TV guy” at best it just makes me Spicoli in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being a supposed “tourist” as I think even the most die harded of us secretly probably are. For me, really, arrogance vs humble is probably the true dividing line and that is a trait in “true car guys” and “tourists” alike. Never think you know it all because one day you’ll inevitably realize you don’t. I’ve certainly been wrong and humbled before in matters.
When it comes to cars the only place I really harbor any sort of judgement is those only really interested in the flip/investment and those in the custom part of the hobby who have others build their custom car. I’m sorry but even if it was your vision I see it as the builder’s realization, not yours. It’s the very reason to date I cannot watch the show Overhaulin’… if a family member ever actually put my car in someone else’s hands I’d be upset, I don’t care who it is or how neglected the car was by me, it’s not really MYcar when I got it back, it’s Chip Foose’s.
Having rebuild many engines, a few trannys, front ends, etc, I think I qualify in the first sense.
On the other hand, I knew a guy, wouldn’t quite call him a coworker, but same employer, and we got to talking. This was 20 years ago now, at least. He spoke of how he restored his 70’s MB 450SE. Redid the front end. I said, oh, ball joints, control arms, but left the alignment to someone else? Reply, oh no, I paid someone to do that. He said he rebuild the engine, I said oh, rings and bearings or bored with new pistons etc. He said, oh, I don’t know, I paid someone to do that. Interior, same thing. Etc.
A bit later he quit before he got fired. Reason? For doing nothing. If you didn’t get dirty, you probably didn’t do the job.
I guess I fall on the real car guy end of the spectrum, but it has more to do with my mechanical abilities and an enjoyment of keeping old things running. I also loathe depreciation, and prefer to have someone else take the hit. My daily is a 1999 Ford Ranger, picked it up at the last dealership I worked in for $600 in 2006. It’s essentially a modern Model T, and while the 2.5 won’t win any races, it will do exactly what it needs to do. My lawn tractor is a 25 year old Craftsman, just replaced the single cylinder Briggs with a v-twin last summer. My primary snowblower is an almost 60 year old 7hp Ariens, I bought several Tecumseh H70 motors to have when the need arises, as parts for these have become scarce. The lift in my garage is a Line-O-Tronics (from the ’70s, company later purchased by Snap-On) that I got for free from what had been at one time an AMC dealership. The hydraulic piston was leaking, no parts available, so I researched hydraulic seals, measured the mating surfaces, emailed a couple of seal manufacturers, and with their help chose a seal that would do the job. Similar story regarding the major appliances in the home, the heating system (replaced the boiler assembly on that rather than replacing the entire boiler). I have the tools and the skills, and the time, so to me it makes sense to save money whenever I can.
ExFordTech :
Can you tell me how to bleed the ABS brakes on my 2001 Ford Ranger ? .
I was in dense rush hour traffic in downtown L.A. tonight when the brakes decided to pack it in .
I have the rebuilt calipers coming in tomorrow by noon, I’m not looking forward to driving it all the way across L.A. sans brakes but I must go where my tools, jacks & etc. are .
I’ll prolly hit the road @ 0-Dark:30 and putter along in the slow lane at 35MPH .
Any helpful tips or short cuts will be gratefully accepted .
I love the 2.5L 4 banger in my little trucklet, it’s *just* enough .
-Nate
I’ve got all the tools, but I seem to have run out of patience some years ago.
So I can only really manage the small (or diagnostic) stuff these days.
I am in awe of those who take a pile of s-crap and turn it back into a nice classic in their retirement. Then get bored, so do another…and so on.
But I was never that skilled, anyway.
Guess I’m somewhere between “real car guy” vs “tourist”….I can do some things with the tools I have at hand (Hobo Freight helps greatly)….but there are times when I know I’m beat and will take it to the shop.
Time is also a consideration – I travel for work, sometimes up to 3 weeks a month, and when I’m home I’d rather enjoy time with my wife and family vs underneath the car.
Feels a bit like the “No True Scotsman” fallacy….but as long as someone isn’t a putz or full of puffery…I’m content to just enjoy the car at a show and keep on walking…
A good article ! .
I think I’m more stupid than any of those other nicknames .
I’m lucky (by choice) that I live in Southern California where my rusty and battered survivor 1959 VW DeLuxe Beetle is my #1 driver apart from the sad fact that I cannot leave it parked anywhere I can’t see it due to the kiddies who claim to love old VW’s but don’t enjoy driving them , just stealing them and selling the parts off or dusting their Hot Rods every Friday afternoon for that dangerous and challenging 5 mile drive to the show & shine .
Until recently I too had a yard full of derelicts I saved from the crusher, I gave moat of them away last year .
I really need to figure out how to add pictures .
-Nate
Sailing is my other passion. With boats, we call the “tourists” the “open checkbooks.”
I’m not an open checkbook guy. I have plenty of ‘boat bites’ to prove my allegiance to self annointed yacht maintenance and repair.
If you want to know how to fix something on almost any car, just Google it. I’ve found lots of helpful videos online. Some are very good, some a bit vague or incomplete, but if you watch a few you will get the general idea. I watched them before I switched out the oxygen sensors on my Mustang. I watched a few to give me an idea about the Riviera water pump. I even checked out a couple about changing the water pump on my Flex. The V6 houses the engine inside the engine driven by the timing chain. Now that’s a job that I will probably farm that job out to a professional shop!
I’ve got quite a few Haynes and Chilton repair manuals but they are often even less enlightening than the videos. These online videos are a great resource.