Auto Mechanics: Technology and Expertise in Twentieth-Century America (Studies in Industry and Society)

I highly recommend this book! I couldn't put it down. I manage a small group of computer techs and I tell you I got alot of great customer service information out of this book that I never expected. Just really glad that the author decided to write this. There is a core group of us cars guys that are really glad you did. Has a smooth chronological history with insights into society and the roles surrounding early car owners and their mechanics. Excellent.

The automotive mechanic and the role they play in our auto-owning lives is given a thorough review here. Sometimes revered, sometimes reviled, the technicians/mechanics that work on our cars and keep us rolling have had a fascinating ride thru history... all revealed in this book!

Great history on the field of auto mechanics

Obviously lots of research went into this book. Well written and presented.

"American History," "World History"--these were required courses in high school and even early college. I remember the titles, but none of the details they covered. Early on, I decided that politicians, generals, and CEOs were basically boring, but their behavior was all that history courses covered. I always wondered what the real people, the little people, were doing while those bothersome dominant personalities were posturing and fighting. As I've aged, I've discovered that good history has been written--on subjects akin to my own lifestyle and my own interests. Auto Mechanics, is, I believe an excellent example. I bought the book as a gift for my stepson, a self-styled auto buff and one of the few members of the X-generation (they hate the word yuppies) that can still crawl under a car and loosen a drain plug--or change a starter for that matter. And he can get as excited over a ratty old Jeep as a brand new Z. He and I avoid talking economics or politics, but we connect over cars. When the book arrived, I casually inspected it to make sure I wasn't sending something completely inappropriate. I finished reading it three evenings later, and it arrived late for his birthday, perhaps looking not quite new. In a sense, a big chunk of it was a history of me. I'm not a mechanic by trade. I spent my employed years as a wildlife biologist. But my first car, acquired at age 16, was a 1940 Ford woody that didn't run. I think we paid $10 for it, or maybe the guy paid us $10 to haul it away, I can't remember. I spent a summer in the uncooled Phoenix auto shop of an older cousin rebuilding the engine, and from that day forward, I could never quite envision owning a car that one simply drove. If I didn't work on a vehicle as much as I drove it; if I didn't know its innards intimately, I felt both insecure and guilty on the road. I still do. In Auto Mechanics, I learned that such was the norm of the first couple of generations of drivers. Initially, only the wealthy could own cars, and their carriage men converted to chauffeurs. Auto shops were nonexistent, so the chauffeurs maintained vehicles, just as they had previously fed, groomed and shod horses. If they broke down on the road, they sought the local blacksmith, who gradually found himself fabricating car parts instead of setting horseshoes. Not until the advent of the Model T, followed quickly by World War I, did a cadre of car owners and mechanics arise in middle class America. The army had quickly adopted motorized vehicles in the war, and men who could work on them were almost non-existent. Many young men who entered the service as cowboys, farmers, or clerks, mustered out as trained mechanics. From that time until, perhaps, the 1980s, owning a car entailed some ability to fix it and was a symbol of manlihood. Auto Mechanics brings us through many stages of car repair, including the role of women and difficulties they've faced in entering the trade. It ends in modern shops where knowledge of electronics and computers is more important than the ability to listen to an engine and run simple tests. And it ventures predictions regarding where the automobile may be headed. As in any good history, covering essential details makes reading a little tedious at times. But don't let that deter you. If you happen to love cars, this book will tell you, better than any thing I've read, how we came to our present full and frenetic roadways. And even if you aren't a car buff, this is an interesting piece of real World History.

Automobile mechanics, or "technicians," to use the current preferred term, are indispensable to modern society; deprived of the work they do, much of the world would literally come to a halt in short order. Yet for all their importance, mechanics have received little scholarly attention. But with Auto Mechanics we finally have a well-researched, comprehensive, and clearly written history of this important occupation. Kevin Borg approaches his subject chronologically, beginning with the largely ad hoc efforts of individuals of varying backgrounds to acquire the skills necessary to repair and maintain the first horseless carriages. At first, quite a lot of repair and maintenance work was performed by the emerging occupational group of professional chauffeurs, but independent mechanics were soon needed to serve legions of new motorists as the automobile rapidly diffused in the United States. To meet this need, a variety of institutions, ranging from proprietary schools to the YMCA, engaged in the training of auto mechanics, but by the 1930s automotive shop programs organized by public school systems had become the major source of trained auto mechanics. These programs were only partially successful, as the diagnostic and repairing skills of mechanics were uneven at best. No less important, from their inception these programs channeled many young men with perceived academic deficiencies into an occupation that was deemed suitable for their limited talents. By the 1970s the rapid and widespread introduction of electronic engine controls and other complex technologies mandated by stringent emissions regulations promised to turn "grease monkeys" into bonafide technicians. This was not a completely new development; as early as the 1920s automobile dealers were using elaborate testing devices in order to lend a "scientific" aura to automotive diagnostics. Yet as Borg shows, these devices did little to elevate the status of mechanics, as they were primarily used by manufacturers and dealers to provide an "objective" basis for pain-inducing repair estimates. Decades later, electronic components had become essential features of a new generation of automobiles. While they brought with them the potential to upgrade the public image of mechanics, much of their impact was dissipated as the rising consumer movement drew sharp attention to the collective deficiencies of the auto repair industry. All too often, mechanics were indicted for being unscrupulous, incompetent, or both. As Borg concludes, the intellectual demands on mechanics have increased in recent years, but the low regard for and distrust of mechanics remains much as it always has been. With the publication of Auto Mechanics, an essential occupational group has received the formal history it has long deserved. If the overarching theme of the book is the mismatch between the importance of auto mechanics and their public image, its readers will have gained a better understanding of how this unfortunate situation has come to pass.

My Grandfather had a "garage" around the era of WW II. This book offers interesting insights on what that would have been like back in the day.