Last week, our lunchtime session under the old tree raised a very interesting topic: is it easier or more difficult to fix a car these days compared with 30 years ago, when engines were controlled by simple mechanical devices like carburettors and distributors?
Hennie said it was a lot easier in the old days. The major components of most cars were similar; it was easy to understand how they worked; and you could take them apart and determine if they were worn or broken. Modern electronic components are usually a mystery. They work well today and fail tomorrow for no reason. Fault tracing requires a lot of knowledge and expensive test equipment, and the parts are hyper-expensive, so you cannot just replace and hope they work.
August, our young mechanic, disagreed. He said that, these days, being a good mechanic does require more training and frequent updates, but you can get most of it from the Internet. You don’t have to beg the boss to send you on a training course. This means that an ambitious mechanic can really stand out.
