Excellent! Love the history through cars and their social effects. I wrote my thesis on urban/suburban environmental history so this is super cool to read, plus the labor aspect. I can't imagine how alienating it has to be to be squeezed by the bullshit imperatives of the market. Even if techs have the skills, like everyone under neoliberalism, they're gonna be treated like dogshit and asked to make compromises that are shortcuts and/or morally wrong.
My first car (at age 14) was a 1949 Pontiac Straight eight. I lived through the age of muscle cars and speed, then the age of pollution control and fuel economy. Because of my own economic situation, I drove small cars when everyone wanted big powerful ones, and big ones when everyone wanted small efficient ones! My all-time favorite was the SAAB 96 V4. I studied Auto Tech but couldn't find a job after graduation because everyone wanted 5 years (professional) experience but no one wanted to give it, so I went on and became an Industrial Arts teacher. I didn't get back into Auto Tech until the 1980's, when the business had about run out of techs and was hiring anyone who could turn a wrench under a shade tree. (Stayed in it for over 18 years, then left for a job as a school janitor which paid better and had decent benefits). The worst part was flat rate. I hated Fords, but to their credit Ford did try several times to dump flat rate, but the dealers wouldn't allow it. Finally I moved to a small used car shop where I got straight pay for prepping cars and didn't usually have to deal with customers. Stayed there 12 years. Other than flat rate which is basically piece-work, the second biggest problem was warranty work. One time I had to tear the whole interior including dash out of a new car to find a short and splice it. It took 9 hours or so. Generous Motors paid me 15 minutes. No one wanted to get warranty work. The third biggest problem was diagnosis. Our diagnostician spent an entire week trying to solve a driveability problem on a Caddy, it turned out to be a bad diode in the trunk pulldown! Crappy cheap computers in cars that couldn't self-diagnose problems, expensive proprietary diagnosis systems, and excess complexity made diagnosis all the more difficult. I am glad I got out of the field before the Can-Bus systems became common.
Nowadays I no longer have a car and have to borrow one. But the US is a LOOONG way from dumping the automobile. Outside cities there is simply no way to get around if you don't have a car. Old folks like me are particularly affected. Senior transportation is limited. Uber, taxis, etc. seldom get you where you need to be at the time you need to be there (and doctors don't wait). Busses, if available at all, run maybe once a day. I suppose if cars become autonomous enough, the time would come when you could order up a car to come to your house at a certain time, run you to an appointment, wait, and bring you home, then go back to where it came from or on to the next customer. I don't expect to live long enough to see that, though! And I doubt things are going to hold together long enough for it to ever happen.
Wow. A great article. The ‘56 bel air V8 was our family car (those days when not every single person needed a car) that i was very happy to learn on.
You guys are doing a great service (pun intended) by writing about this. Thanks
Excellent! Love the history through cars and their social effects. I wrote my thesis on urban/suburban environmental history so this is super cool to read, plus the labor aspect. I can't imagine how alienating it has to be to be squeezed by the bullshit imperatives of the market. Even if techs have the skills, like everyone under neoliberalism, they're gonna be treated like dogshit and asked to make compromises that are shortcuts and/or morally wrong.
My first car (at age 14) was a 1949 Pontiac Straight eight. I lived through the age of muscle cars and speed, then the age of pollution control and fuel economy. Because of my own economic situation, I drove small cars when everyone wanted big powerful ones, and big ones when everyone wanted small efficient ones! My all-time favorite was the SAAB 96 V4. I studied Auto Tech but couldn't find a job after graduation because everyone wanted 5 years (professional) experience but no one wanted to give it, so I went on and became an Industrial Arts teacher. I didn't get back into Auto Tech until the 1980's, when the business had about run out of techs and was hiring anyone who could turn a wrench under a shade tree. (Stayed in it for over 18 years, then left for a job as a school janitor which paid better and had decent benefits). The worst part was flat rate. I hated Fords, but to their credit Ford did try several times to dump flat rate, but the dealers wouldn't allow it. Finally I moved to a small used car shop where I got straight pay for prepping cars and didn't usually have to deal with customers. Stayed there 12 years. Other than flat rate which is basically piece-work, the second biggest problem was warranty work. One time I had to tear the whole interior including dash out of a new car to find a short and splice it. It took 9 hours or so. Generous Motors paid me 15 minutes. No one wanted to get warranty work. The third biggest problem was diagnosis. Our diagnostician spent an entire week trying to solve a driveability problem on a Caddy, it turned out to be a bad diode in the trunk pulldown! Crappy cheap computers in cars that couldn't self-diagnose problems, expensive proprietary diagnosis systems, and excess complexity made diagnosis all the more difficult. I am glad I got out of the field before the Can-Bus systems became common.
Nowadays I no longer have a car and have to borrow one. But the US is a LOOONG way from dumping the automobile. Outside cities there is simply no way to get around if you don't have a car. Old folks like me are particularly affected. Senior transportation is limited. Uber, taxis, etc. seldom get you where you need to be at the time you need to be there (and doctors don't wait). Busses, if available at all, run maybe once a day. I suppose if cars become autonomous enough, the time would come when you could order up a car to come to your house at a certain time, run you to an appointment, wait, and bring you home, then go back to where it came from or on to the next customer. I don't expect to live long enough to see that, though! And I doubt things are going to hold together long enough for it to ever happen.
Lots of good history in here!