Tinkerers and the women who love them.
My dad was a tinkerer. He had a garage at my Nana’s house full of car-rebuilds-in-progress. A rusted Model T adorned the front yard for most of my childhood, but eventually its charm as an impromptu beehive wore off. Yet more cars dotted her property, at least until the neighbors complained. (At which point he buried many of them in the woods.)
A man of many connections in the auto-parts underground, he helped me find my first two cars in the late 1980s/early 90s. The second car, a 1978 International Scout, had seat belts hanging by a thread and wood on the floor in lieu of carpeting, but he knew someone who’d make it pass inspection, wink-wink, so what’s the big deal? (I had never been approached by so many men wearing lumberjack shirts as I was during the six months I drove that hulking beast; something about the prehistoric SUV lured the type of man who brought his own can to spit in while chewing in classes at the junior college. My then-fiance was not amused.)
My father drove his own truck for years without proper brakes and intermittent signal and brake lights, and was genuinely offended when I chose a used car lot rather than his Down East mojo to find my third car. So, in honor of what I assumed was a vanishing breed of man, a Web site was created. There, I fixed it showcases the unique talents of folks who make something from nothing, or merge several nothings into something, often with the help of duct tape, to solve household or transportation problems. For all those people who grew up hearing something like, “Slap a li’l epoxy on there, and she’ll hold!” this site’s for you. Enjoy.
- Everyday_Geekery's blog
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I love it
my husband and one of his friends - both physicists - kept our 1974 Gremlin X running for 20 years with 'spit and bailing wire'. This brought back wonderful memories...thank you!
@LSK49rs
Bailing wire!
*smacks forehead*
Thank you. I knew there was something I heard more often out here (as opposed to in Maine), but I could not for the life of me remember what it was.
I know my dad's endless projects drove my mother and grandmother insane, but I recall them fondly. These days, the chief tinkerer in my life is my husband, who is not a gear head (unless we're talking bike gears.) His tinkering generally takes the form of a wallet made out of an old bike tire inner tube or a "loom" with drinking straws ;)
My dad was a big fan of the toggle switch
My first car musta had 3 installed by him to run everything from the windshield wipers to the heater and...the turn indicators. That was my personal favorite. click click click click.
does anyone remember the AMC
does anyone remember the AMC HORNET that was my first car and i drove it until it didnt want to drive anymore i had to open from the inside that was a real treat.
i remember on a date i took a girl out and shut the door and had to remove my date so i can open the door she didnt believe that the door was broken.
lots of laugh and she was my last date she left me for a 92 toyota newer model. what memories
OH the HORNET!!!!
OMG - I forgot about The Hornet...what a great bunch of cars AMC used to put out...what was the one that looked like a terrarium on wheels?
And Togle Switches!
My dad loved toggle switches too. Anything that could be toggled would soon be...uh...toggled!
my horent was white and
my horent was white and and had a blue and light blue strip along the side of the car. it look like a smaller version of the mail truck and it was two door and with a hatch back.
I dont know why but the best thing about that was the original radio it came with. I could only get am stations and it was so clear i got the mighty 690 from san diego and it was as clear as any close station here.
I also got channels from the bay and this was all AM radio when debbie (the name of my car)went to the great junk yard above us i would be dam if i let the radio go to the yard. I took the radio and it sits and i can still all channels from the south and north.
Too bad my dad couldn't figure out how...
Too bad my dad couldn't figure out how to eliminate the gas fumes that leaked into the car. It was a Datsun 210. All us girls would pile in and those in the back seat were high as kites within minutes.
I also remember a strange choke knob that I was supposed to pull or push or maybe pull n push to prime the carborator (is that how its spelled?)
Whatta car. Road trips. Giggles. Blown head gaskets. Ah. The simple days.