Actually, there are places kids can learn this stuff, even in the plasticised,
netified, home of instant gratification, the Silicon Valley. DeAnza College
has an Auto Tech program, and has had one for over 30 years. They may not be
learning "old world" skills like babbit metal bearings and lead filled body
seams, but they do learn bodywork, paint, suspension, brakes, engine rebuilds,
etc. Once a year they go out and tear up their largest parking lot in an
autocross that is held as a benefit for the Auto Tech club. Talk about a
self-serving interest! At least locally, I think the kind of teenage tinkering
you talk about has migrated to the parking lots with rubber cones. Autocrossing
is pretty huge around these parts.
Drag racing has never really gone away in the US. There are still illegal
street
races. Sears Point raceway offers the "Sport Drags" every Wednesday night where
kids can get their jollies in a legal and much safer fashion. They also get to
test themselves against Smokey Bear. The CHP sometimes shows up just to show
them how hard it is to outrun a cop!
Tombread@aol.com wrote:
>
> In my opinion the relative disinterest in working on cars and the lack of
> development in mechanical skills is largely due to the complexity of
> contemporary cars. When I was a teenager as the earth was cooling, most high
> schools had hot rod clubs where kids gathered to to do bodywork and tinker
> with engines. The science and mechanicals weren't so difficult to understand
> and the average kid could get into the game...and get hooked, and develop
> those important skills that now are disappearing. I could actually do
> something that made a difference with my '50 Stude. I cannot with my
> daughter's '97 Mustang.
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