I've always suspected the plot to lessen our feelings of manhood for the sake of profit. I'm referring to the ability that we of the older generation had to fix our own cars. I have fond memories of my '51 Chevy Deluxe Business Sedan awaiting the touch of my experimental yet knowledgeable hands tearing away at it's innards. It began with oil changes and lubes and worked up to tuneups and the placement of a Hearst Shifter with a Hamm's Beer can Shift knob. I actually painted the entire car with 43 cans of flat black spray cans. I coat hangered on the tail pipe and muffler and learned of a wonderful product called Stop Leak for the radiator, I heard it could fill a hole in the Hoover Dam but evidently not a Chevy Deluxe thus I installed a radiator. One of my biggest thrills was a gift of a timing light and plug gapper from the boys at the Shell Station on the corner. These opportunities abound no more with the advent of computerized systems. It may not have meant much to other's but there was a feeling of pride in being less dependent on other's and the look on my dad's face when his wallet wasn't involved.
Ames High Little Cyclones Take on the Fort Dodge Dodgers in Fort Dodge on Friday Night and on 1430 KASI, Pre Game at 7:15p