Precisely the reason I kept my 98 Cobra and didn’t buy that Ferrari 308 I was having Magnum PI fantasies about. The car was a well known MX queen coupled by the fact the dealer was not a Ferrari dealer and it’s MX records were not available, and all of a sudden my Rome Michigan All American girl looked better than that hot Italian.Originally Posted by OlongJohnson
I'd rather work on a 308 than anything post 360. When step #1 of damn near every service is "split the car in half" you know you're in for a bad time.
I guess we've had somewhat different experiences in the industry. I've certainly seen everything you're talking about, but it's been an occasional thing from crappy shops, shops working on vehicles out of their lane, or shade tree mechanics. But I have something in common with those locksmiths you're talking about - I left the industry when the performance shop I was working for started doubling down on poor management practices, and I couldn't stand it. The GM of the shop and I butted heads all the time. It was basically a reality show waiting for a camera crew. But when he started robbing Peter to pay Paul with customer build funds I just couldn't stay there. That same shop got sued into oblivion a few years later for breach of contract, and over a vehicle that was still being built when I was there, no less.
From all my friends in the industry, I can tell you that a lot of independent shops are exactly where those P-car indie shops are - all it takes is one botched job to ruin workflow and put them out of business. So they do good work and take care of their customers when things go wrong. One of the things I do miss about that industry is seeing how happy folks were when I'd make things right. No BS, no exceptions, just make it right. It's sad that so many people see that as such a rare thing but it wasn't rare for me.
The primary point of all this really is that cars that need more services and more complicated services provide are more expensive to maintain, and when there's much more expense there's more opportunity for fraud, so ultimately most consumers probably care about how easy it is to work on their cars, even if they don't articulate it or understand it quite that way.
On medical billing - my Father's been working on medical billing and medical databases for basically his whole career, starting in the late 70's using a now-ancient programming language once known as 'MUMPS'. The stories I've heard would astonish most folks but would probably not surprise you. But that's enough P-F Thread Drift(tm) for the car thread.
Speaking of cars - you mentioned getting a P-car. Congrats! Also.... where's the pics??!!
Anyone who has worked with their hands for more than 30 minutes should understand that there's two factors to manual labor:
1) how long it takes
2) how hard it takes
(there's actually others, like do I have the right tool, do I need help, etc. but those are also kind of subsets of the first two, and often more personal than the first two)
Just because an oil change on car A takes an hour and also takes an hour on car B (even assuming the shop charge/profit and hourly employee pay are the same) doesn't mean someone is going to want to do both equally. if car B also means contortions, bashed knuckles, fragile lift points on the car, etc. then people are just not going to like doing that oil change. Does that matter to the buyer? IDK, that's your issue for you to figure out. But it doesn't change the fact that it matters to the guy doing the work.
As a consumer, the reason it matters to me is that car B may have less qualified people available, and also more prone to getting pushed to the back of the line, and also the potential to have less care applied as frustration and annoyance levels increase.
Factor in a labor economy that's currently being controlled by the minions, and all of that just gets worse. A mechanic that flat refused to work on car B 3 years ago might have been fired. Today, he'll probably get a raise just for showing up to work sober*, even if he's 2 hours late and leaves an hour early.
*which isn't a knock on mechanics. we're having the same problem in construction, from "skilled labor" to "ditch diggers" to execs.
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At the other end of the performance spectrum….
There’s a new Model A block with modern features: pressurized oiling, 5 main bearings, etc. https://burtzblock.com/block-kit/
With those problems solved.... it's ready for modern engine management and a turbo!(yes, I'm insane)
I don't own a Model A, and I don't really want a Model A, but that's literally the first thing I thought when I clicked through the link and...I kind of want a Model A now.With those problems solved.... it's ready for modern engine management and a turbo!
I saw an article about the Burtz block in the Experimental Aircraft Association magazine. There are a few old homebuilt airplane designs (Peitenpol, for one)that used a Model A engine because it was cheap and the torque curve lets it swing a big prop without a gearbox. You need that because it’s not exactly lightweight….
They’re also working on a “high-compression” 6.5:1 head. Zowie!
Gotta love gearheads being gearheads. :-)
SCoT blower!With those problems solved.... it's ready for modern engine management and a turbo!
One of the things on my “lottery list” is a Track-T/1920s Indy style build. That motor would be aces! The cat’s pajamas! 23 skidoo!
I wouldn’t say the average consumer doesn’t care how hard it is to work on. I’d say they’re unaware/uninformed until the estimate shows up. They don’t know what they don’t know to use an overused phrase.
You know who really doesn’t GAF about how hard something is to work on? Marketing, accounting and engineering. I’ve seen it too many times across 25 years and 3 different industries.
Nothing so needs reforming as other people's habits - Mark Twain
Tact is the knack of making a point without making an enemy / Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
A couple of decades ago I worked in the auto industry and had some opportunities to work with prototype vehicles. I was told that one of the ways engine compartments were laid out was by who got their mock-up parts in the buck first. Which is how on one car there was an oil line running over the exhaust manifold. Or where you had to drop the front subframe to swap the alternator….
But those guys had their own problems. Some exec would come down and say “I think the nose should be shorter”, and the engineers would have to cram all the bits into a smaller space.
I’d like to think engine compartment design is better now with solid modeling and 3D printing, but it still comes down to priorities. Serviceability will probably never win out over cost to manufacture.
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