This is the absolute truth. Modern cars are stupid. Many are made so that you have to remove the intake manifold to get to: the starter, the plugs, the coils, sensors, etc. And some of them you can't check the transmission fluid, and now some of them you can't check the oil level.
What a bunch of bs.
Cars started getting stupid in the 60s when they started cramming them full of smog paraphernalia.
ReplyDeleteA frikken F150 costs more than we paid for 11.5 acres with a house twenty years ago in East Texas. The RAV 4? Nope, no dipstick for the transmission. At least it's not a stupid Constant Velocity. A tranny rebuild? Nope. Not on CVTs. They require a swap. Buy a rebuilt ..
ReplyDeleteIn 1970 I tanked my Powerglide in the 62 chevy. I saw it coming, saved up 100$$$, got a junkyard tranny,for about forty bucks, coasted into a shop around 1:00, talked to the mechanics. Told them I had to go to work, my dad doesn't know I screeds the transmission up,and I Really needed it when I got off. I left them with what was left of the 100$$ and it was waiting when I got off work.
Who knows What That would cost today??
In the early Eighties I bought a G60 Nissan Patrol, a mid-wheelbase heavy-duty civilian version of a light truck patrol 4WD that the Japs built for the Indian Army. The light duty version was tougher than anything on the market today.
ReplyDeleteThe HD version had Jap copies of a Chev truck engine from the Fifties and Chev truck tbe rebuilt in ttransmission and final drive (3-speed box with straight-cut gear on 1st.). It was primitive, but literally bulletproof (think where it was built to serve, the NW Frontier!). All components could be rebuilt in the field by uneducated men with few tools, as I can verify, having to do it myself.
The vehicle was made fit for it's intended purpose, probably with over-production sold in Australia and Asia, where it's less than civilised nature was welcomed in certain circles, but no modern car maker would build something like that today as they'd go broke because people wouldn't have to replace their transport every few years.
Damn autocorrect, I hate it. Vern, one day I will find out how to kill it.
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