Driving Means Freedom

[Kamaji]

Driving Means Freedom

Rising expenses and regulatory hurdles limit Americans' mobility.

J.D. TUCCILLE
FROM THE MAY 2022 ISSUE of Reason Magazine

When I started driving, my folks planted me behind the wheel of a nearly unbreakable late-'70s Jeep Wagoneer. "The tank" got me to work, rock concerts, and parties. It got me through snowstorms that stranded lesser vehicles on the roadside. In a pinch, it could fit me, 10 of my friends, and a keg of beer in relative comfort (at least for the keg).

I miss the tank. Unlike our newer SUV, it would have barely suffered a scratch when my 16-year-old son hit a signpost. But I'm glad my kid, even without the tank to learn in, has taken to life behind the wheel and the freedom that comes with driving.

His experience, to say nothing of my own, is becoming less common. In 1981, the year I turned 16, 1.7 million Americans my age were licensed to drive. In 2019, the latest year for which the Federal Highway Administration has data, just over 1 million 16-year-olds had licenses. During the same period, the country's population rose by roughly 100 million. Justin Fox described the situation succinctly in a 2020 Bloomberg News column: In 1984, nearly half of America's 16-year-olds could drive legally; as of 2018, a quarter could.

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Source:  https://reason.com/2022/04/19/lifestyle-driving-means-freedom/

[Smokin Joe]

With freedom comes responsibility, not to mention expenses.

Perhaps the average 16 year-old in the days of helicopter parents and cell phones isn't considered ready by their parents.

We had the advantage of fewer distractions in the vehicle.

[Kamaji]

With freedom comes responsibility, not to mention expenses.

Perhaps the average 16 year-old in the days of helicopter parents and cell phones isn't considered ready by their parents.

We had the advantage of fewer distractions in the vehicle.

Expenses back then were manageable; today, they are not.  I bought my first car for $500, and did all my own tune-ups and repairs with a set of old tools I scrounged up.  My biggest expense was a strobed timing light, for which I believe I paid $20.  That was 1984, and the car was a 1971 Plymouth Scamp (i.e., 13 y.o.).  If I did that today, the car would be something from 2009, and would cost several thousand dollars.  For cars of that vintage or newer, everything is computer-controlled, not mechanical, which means that I would have to buy the standard plug-in diagnostic tool for several hundred dollars as well. 

[Smokin Joe]

Expenses back then were manageable; today, they are not.  I bought my first car for $500, and did all my own tune-ups and repairs with a set of old tools I scrounged up.  My biggest expense was a strobed timing light, for which I believe I paid $20.  That was 1984, and the car was a 1971 Plymouth Scamp (i.e., 13 y.o.).  If I did that today, the car would be something from 2009, and would cost several thousand dollars.  For cars of that vintage or newer, everything is computer-controlled, not mechanical, which means that I would have to buy the standard plug-in diagnostic tool for several hundred dollars as well.

You can get an OBDII reader for under a hundred, but on the high end, the sky is the limit (Snap-On diagnostic computer with the right chips can run upwards of ten grand).
I started with a '63 Galaxie 500 I bought for $300, well used, in 1979, and spend a couple of hundred on tools and Chilton's manuals... (I had been given a '70 Dodge Coronet as a graduation present, but it got hit 5 times in 8 months when I was in grad school--the last hit totaled it.) That year I had some carb problems, and when I read the itemized bill, swore I would never get soaked like that again.

I stopped at the model block (20th century) of related GM vehicles I have because they just kept getting more complex (five of ten total vehicles, but the GMs are the daily drivers.).
It seems like there is no  shortage of things to put right, but most are minor chores and I 'know a guy' if I get stumped...

Over the years I have built a couple of engines (An FE block 390 and a Small Block Chevy 350), but I still have trouble tracking down electrical bugaboos like the gauges on my '87 Dodge Pickup. (Probably a bad ground, but I am waiting for nicer weather to fix them--too much snow at the moment.) Besides, I can listen to the lifters, smell hot antifreeze, and check the oil regularly...so I can still drive it. I just like having the gauges.

You get more brave, more educated, (and more tools), if you keep going, though. Just pick a model block and learn all you can about it.

[Kamaji]

It's not like it used to be, and that's not the fault of the current generation.

[rustynail]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhYt212HIlQ

[roamer_1]

It's not like it used to be, and that's not the fault of the current generation.

Sorta, but not sorta.
I just bought a 85 1T 4x4 dually dumping flatbed Chevy for 500 bucks. Blown motor and needs tires... And probably the usual suspects besides. But it's pre-computer and pretty easy to get on the road again... The only real bummer being the extra tires and if the hydraulics are in bad repair (good bet they are not)

But you can still do alright. Mostly - and I mean this - Mostly the current generation is not encouraged to do it on their own and live through the hard knocks that ARE actual knowledge.

In my day, I hardly knew anyone who didn't fix what they own. Even in town. Not anymore. most kids are too clueless to even start. Now that's ignorance, and that's fixable. But a 20yr old male that doesn't even know how to put a disc brake repair on his car is woefully unprepared, not to mention harder things.

Heck even in tech in this high tech world - How many 18 yr olds do you know that can rub and reformat their computer - I can tell you it is damn few.