Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2008 21:27:21 -0400
Reply-To: craig cowan <phishman068@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: craig cowan <phishman068@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Are Today's Young People Mechanical Nitwits?
In-Reply-To: <02f001c8fe73$66dc8000$0b00a8c0@mike2d93581d7f>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
I drove a mid 70's diesel rabbit that was quiet, comfortable, and plenty
powerful enough. The owner claimed an average of near 65mpg......i just
chose to disregard some of his potential imbelishments. Those 1.6NA's, when
in good working order, not a million miles with an Injection pump in need of
rebuildng and a complete lack of exhaust or motor mounts are not terrible
engines.
The problem is our society has gone to the idea of "Fast and Furious". Now a
4 cylinder should be 160hp, and "36" is reserved for Low end garden
tractors.....
But if you build it right, it's sufficient.
-Craig
'85Westy
'80 Vanagon Convertible
On Thu, Aug 14, 2008 at 9:08 PM, Mike <mbucchino@charter.net> wrote:
> The 70's Rabbit that got 50mpg or more wasn't a gas one; it was a
> stripped, excruciatingly-slow, noisy, vibrating diesel one.
> The bare-bones, 'relatively-slow', standard gas ones got about 32 mpg;
> about the same that the high-tech, heavier, faster, fully-loaded ones do
> now. It seems to me that you're 'remembering' things as better than they
> really were.
>
> Mike B.
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "craig cowan" <phishman068@GMAIL.COM>
> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
> Sent: Thursday, August 14, 2008 6:01 PM
> Subject: Re: Are Today's Young People Mechanical Nitwits?
>
>
> Well i feel like chiming in...... as a young person.
>>
>> I have to both agree with your guys, and disagree. It seems the general
>> decision here so far has been that young people as a whole have lost the
>> bulk of their mechanical knownhow that used to be passed down, and that
>> as
>> a result cars have been built without being adventagous to the established
>> principle of fixing your own car. Well these are both valid points, and
>> there is a great deal of truth in this argument, but at the same time i
>> feel
>> the need to disagree.
>>
>> When i was 16 i purchased my vanagon, i couldn't drive a stick (heck i
>> couldn't drive.), i was recovering from a severe car crash (and not well),
>> and i had essentially no money. I was of course, unemployed (unable to
>> work), and i must say, the bus was a WRECK. Well I've come a long way, and
>> my bus is very happy now. I've rebuilt the engine, the coolings system,
>> the
>> brakes, the clutch system, and a whole slue of various other bits here and
>> there (Not to mention adding a full westfalia interior). I've learned
>> alot,
>> but not necessarily from any one person....
>> I've had help from many local vanagon friends and i can't thank them
>> enough
>> for the lessons they've helped me with.....but i don't feel i couldn't
>> have
>> done it without any one person....
>> I think that's the problem with the whole conversation we're having;
>> Everyone has ONE person to thank for all their mechanical skills. Well i'm
>> sorry, that's just not true. We as humans are curious creatures with an
>> internal desire to act, and as such I feel it's only human nature to make
>> a
>> decision to get something done. While the decision has become
>> subconciously
>> imbedded in today's youths (and quite a few generations older than me i
>> might add!) that acting can be as simple as "Taking it to the
>> professionals". We still have the desire to accomplish, and you'd be
>> suprised just how much any young person really does know about mechanics
>> just from observation, but the sociological impact of "disposable" is what
>> has resulted in the problem we face. I had a professor that once said
>> "There
>> is No 'Away'. Show me where 'Away' is. You cannot throw anything away, as
>> it's always SOMEWHERE". Well here is where the problem begins... Every
>> aspect of the way the world lives today (Not just the youth) perpetuates
>> the
>> idea of "AWAY". We drink water out of disposable bottles, we replace
>> computers and cell phones every few years as a new generation progresses,
>> and Cars have some kind of "wear limit" that no one can quite define. You
>> would not believe how many people twice or 3 times my age have come up to
>> me
>> when talking about cars and said something along the lines of "ya, but it
>> has 90K miles on it....its getting up there" or "Ya, but it has 190K miles
>> on it.....". My answer to them is and always will be "SO?" Does it say
>> somewhere that it WILL stop at 100K miles? Why do you reallly want to
>> replace it anyway? There's nothing wrong with it, it's not even out dated,
>> it has all the features of the newest vehicles.....if you want to throw
>> your
>> money away fine, but untill it give s you problems, that's when it's worn
>> out.
>>
>> Our society of disposability and "AWAY" is what i feel really has resulted
>> in the modular and "high tech" vehicles of today. Try convincing most
>> people
>> of that though..... They all feel we've made such huge leaps foward in
>> transportation technology....but i will always present the following
>> argument:
>> In the '70's VW made a small 2 door hatchback vehicle that was affordable
>> and utilitarian, marketed to the masses as "The Rabbit" that got 50mpg (or
>> more). In 2008 VW is producing a small 2 door hatchback vehicle that is
>> ment
>> to be affordable and marketed to the masses, but would struggle to get
>> 30mpg. WOW. What a technelogical advancement towards practicality!!!!
>> (yes,
>> i know the holes in this argument, "They're not the same vehicle" Etc)
>>
>> It's simple enough for me to say truthfully that there is more than just
>> hope for the youth of today. Last year a girl i barely knew, through a
>> mutual friend, contacted me and said she'd like to thank me for getting
>> her
>> interested in vintage VW's. She hung out in my bus once, and decided to
>> pursue her dream of buying a beetle! So at that point we became better
>> friends, and i've been helping her to mechanically master her '74
>> autostick
>> superbeetle.....HELP. I don't teach. I won't even do it for her unless
>> she's
>> WAY off, but i show up, tell her to "just replace the front brake
>> cylinder",
>> and provide tools. When she's goign to mess up, sometimes i let her. We
>> can
>> fix it later...
>> We've had a great summer of working on the beetle, and shes' doing alot of
>> the work on her own now. Remember what i said way up there about
>> confidence
>> being the problem? Once the decision has been made (as decision making
>> creatures) that progress must be made, it's just a matter of providing the
>> tools to do it......the knowledge will come in "doing". We cannot just
>> give
>> up on these youth. Where do you expect them to learn? You're just throwing
>> your knowledge "AWAY" (But remember, there is no Away. So someone, will
>> pick
>> up on it).
>>
>> I firmly believe that when the world gets struck by whatever it will be
>> struck by, and the framework of our society is broken down, there will
>> only
>> be a few people such as myself that will be able not just to remember and
>> reinvent the wheel, but to find a practical application for it again and
>> continue to develop it. This is and always will be my intention. To be
>> able
>> to fix the world when it breaks.
>>
>> -Craig
>> '85GL (Now WESTY)
>> Younger than my bus....
>>
>> On Thu, Aug 14, 2008 at 5:12 PM, Allan Streib <streib@cs.indiana.edu>
>> wrote:
>>
>> "Don Hanson" <dhanson@GORGE.NET> said:
>>>
>>> > Young people today (especially in the USA) don't need look very closely
>>> at
>>> > life to know that those who do stuff with their hands, as in "the >
>>> Trades"
>>> > are now mostly living below poverty level.
>>> > Remember those professions? "Tradesmen"? You know, Carpenters,
>>> > Electricians, Plumbers, Mechanics, Painters..etc?. Not "Happening" any
>>> > more. Learning how to do something like fix a car or hang a door...That
>>> is
>>> > considered a waste of time and beneath a "real person"..All the trades
>>> seem
>>> > to be handled by the illegals now, because they are jobs "Americans"
>>> won't
>>> > do any more (for the money that's being paid, anyways)
>>>
>>> Um, you live in a different universe than I do. Some of the most
>>> well-to-do people I know are electricians and plumbers. I'm talking
>>> six-figure income, lavish homes, and working when they want to, for the
>>> most part. Well above my income as a software developer. If any of my
>>> kids don't want to go to college, I'd definitely steer them to
>>> electrical or plumbing vocational training. These professions are not
>>> going anywhere soon.
>>>
>>> Allan
>>>
>>>
>
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