Car Work

About two months ago my car started acting up. It wasn't running smoothly and would "miss" every so often. I lived with it for a couple weeks, but realized it was exactly the same symptoms my last Mazda Protege had at about the same mileage. Last time the shop put in new spark plugs, wires, distributor cap, and rotor and it solved the problem. This time, rather than take it to the shop, I rolled it over to my neighbor's garage and we went to work.

First off, my neighbor is awesome. He helps me fix all kinds of things and explains a host of other things. He's one of those guys who knows something about everything. A true renaissance intellectual, something I admire. I digresssssss...

After an hour or so of work and a couple trips to the parts store (the wires I originally bought didn't fit) the car was running great. Hooray!

Then, out of nowhere, a coolant leak developed. Have no fear, neighbor is here! Tonight, after identifying the leak, we cut the existing hose and reattached it. Cost: zero. Wasted parts: zero. So satisfying.

It made me think: This is the first time I've done any real work on my car. I know there are hobbyist out there, but as cars become more computerized, is working on one's car fast becoming a lost art? When we are flying around in hover cars are we going to tell stories to our enraptured grandchildren about how when "we were kids" people fixed their own cars. Anyone out there work on their car or am I just the man?