Auto repair then and now – what has changed?

What has changed in the world of auto repair? Almost everything. Mostly, the cars have changed. Years gone by, cars were relatively simple. With a little initiative and mechanical inclination, many people were able to work on their own cars. Today, computers dominate the operation of vehicles and the backyard mechanic is in limited supply.

Some have said that this mechanical inclination among Americans was a secret weapon during WWII. Farm boys and hotrodders who went off to war were familiar with working on farm equipment and older cars that required more hands-on attention. When their Jeeps, tanks, airplanes, boats and ships required attention, they didn’t approach the machines nervously unfamiliar with how things work.

Hotrodders were the epitome of the person who isn’t afraid to dive under the hood and change out parts. They weren’t always experts. They made mistakes but they learned from their mistakes. Racetracks and dragstrips the sprung up around the country stood as evidence of their mechanical prowess. But hotrodders weren’t the only ones who didn’t mind getting their hands dirty.

Many a family man changed his car’s oil himself. It was a way of saving money. Some did their own tune-ups. Back ‘then’, basically all you needed to perform a tune-up was a timing light, a gauge to set the gap in the sparkplugs, a gauge to set the gap in the points (in a pinch, you could use a matchbook to set the points and plug gaps – pushing the paper back and forth between the contacts would even clean the contacts a little), and some hand tools. 

Welcome to the 21st Century of auto repair

There are still hotrodders. But the learning curve has changed, as has the cost. Few people change their car’s oil on their own anymore and even fewer do their own tune-ups. It’s just not practical anymore. By design or otherwise, auto manufacturers have largely built the backyard mechanic out of the loop.

You need expensive equipment to perform repairs and maintenance on cars most of the time these days. More than that, you need extensive training.

A qualified auto repair shop, such as Performance Unlimited, doesn’t just hire the best auto repair technicians (a more appropriate name with the high-tech vehicles they work on these days), but they also require substantial and ongoing additional training.

An auto repair technician who wants to work with the better shops has to certify and recertify in different areas of auto repair expertise on a regular basis. And a shop that doesn’t stay on top of the curve won’t stay in business long.

The additional training is focused on changes and advancements in vehicles. The 4-stroke engine is still the primary power plant in cars today. But everything has changed around it.