Retirement Budget: Car Expense

[HFWR]

Give me an old car with a recognizable engine, and I could work on it. Just don't want to...

However, these new cars might as well have a nucular reactor under the hood...

 

[FinanceDude]

um...yes I do or so i've been told...LOL

but i also forgot to mention i was a small engine and auto mechanic during summers putting myself thru college. i was a "girl mechanic" who learned by watching the guys and not being afraid to get greasy. and still am a DIY mechanic for minor stuff to some extent. save myself a TON of money over the years.

if you ask me to get any kind of tool, 9/10 times i can do it. without the fluttering eyelashes.

Girl mechanics are hot.......... I used to date a girl who helped build engines for her father's dirt track racing team......she looked VERY NICE in overalls.................

 

[ziggy29]

Girl mechanics are hot..........

Woman mechanics are hotter...and more legal.

 

[freebird5825]

LMAO - good stuff.

i never got that far into heavy duty mechanics. i worked for Sears Roebuck. took a correspondence course at their expense and got trained by their master mechanic on site. my mom always taught me to be independent, and being a starving college student driving beater cars, DIY was a natural. plus mechanic's pay with weekends free was far better than waiting tables. my customers were always happy once they got over the shock of having a "girl" work on their lawnmowers/chainsaws/cars.

that was one of the best jobs i ever had.

 

[freebird5825]

Give me an old car with a recognizable engine, and I could work on it. Just don't want to...

However, these new cars might as well have a nucular reactor under the hood...

new cars - i call it "a bowl of spaghetti" under the hood. car manuf do that on purpose. either that or the automotive engineer had a hangover that day the engine compartment was designed.

 

[travelover]

new cars - i call it "a bowl of spaghetti" under the hood. car manuf do that on purpose. either that or the automotive engineer had a hangover that day the engine compartment was designed.

I worked in the business. Under hood packaging is like sausage making. No one is totally in charge, every engineer wants to make their wires / vacuum lines / hoses as short as possible to save cost, yadda yadda yadda

 

[freebird5825]

I worked in the business. Under hood packaging is like sausage making. No one is totally in charge, every engineer wants to make their wires / vacuum lines / hoses as short as possible to save cost, yadda yadda yadda

sausage making - good one and on target!

oops, were you one of those automotive engineers? <freebird slinks under the rug>
just kidding.

i am (was) an electronics engineer for 25 years. what is a feral engineer?

 

[Walt34]

Wow, you weren't exaggerating about that accident! What gruesome photos.

It didn't look that bad to me. The passenger compartment stayed intact although I'm sure it scared the daylights out of the driver.

Sure it totaled the car but they're a lot cheaper than a week in ICU. Not to mention the pain involved.

 

[travelover]

.............. what is a feral engineer?

–adjective

1.existing in a natural state, as animals or plants; not domesticated or cultivated; wild.

2.having reverted to the wild state, as from domestication: a pack of feral dogs roaming the woods.

 

[W2R]

It didn't look that bad to me. The passenger compartment stayed intact although I'm sure it scared the daylights out of the driver.

Sure it totaled the car but they're a lot cheaper than a week in ICU. Not to mention the pain involved.

Well, you've probably seen a lot of accidents in your occupation (if my recollection is correct, you are/were in law enforcement of some kind?). To me, it looked awful! If the driver was uninjured, then I am really glad about that.

 

[freebird5825]

–adjective

1.existing in a natural state, as animals or plants; not domesticated or cultivated; wild.

2.having reverted to the wild state, as from domestication: a pack of feral dogs roaming the woods.

ok, i'd heard of feral cats. wanted to be sure i understood.
so how does one go from the rigor of engineering to becoming "feral"?
i ask cuz i'm periodically having trouble adjusting to FIRE. April 1, 2007 was my voluntary FIRE date.

 

[kombat]

To me, it looked awful! If the driver was uninjured, then I am really glad about that.

She had some mild whiplash, but made a full recovery. Her neck still bothers her a little sometimes, but all-in-all, she's fine. She was terribly startled when it happened though. I just wanted to throttle the kid who hit her. Honestly, I have no idea how the kid could've been so stupid. It was a flat, straight, dry stretch of road on a crystal-clear morning (as you can see in the photos), and she was stopped behind a HUGE YELLOW SCHOOL BUS, WITH ITS LIGHTS FLASHING! How do you not see that

 

[W2R]

Pretty amazing! Maybe he was a new driver and got his foot tangled up in the accelerator somehow. At any rate, I am glad she is OK. I had whiplash once, and it's no fun but in my case it did eventually go away.