Re: Welding...then on the other hand

["Nick Koleszar" <npk@domain.elided>]

on the other hand, we have our dicks.

The Alfas stay, the tools stay and, most importantly, the masturbation (be
it mental, physical or spiritual) most definitely stays!

Sorry Biba, but some of us actually enjoy what we're doing with our cars.
Figure that one out!

I dunno, maybe I'm odd but for some reason I find that my life is endlessly
enriched by anything which provides personal satisfaction, like doing a job
well. And you know what? Yea! Working on my Alfas does that for me.

Here's what happens:

1. I actually know that my car has been worked on properly.
2. It's cheaper.
3. I don't have to pay somebody else.
4. I don't have to let somebody else break the car for me.
5. I don't have to let somebody else rip me off.
6. I feel good!

These days, even being a cheque-book mechanic is no guarantee that my Alfas
will be in any fit state. In fact, given what I've seen of most so-called
Alfa specialists, the reverse tends to be true.

The cost of using a good Alfa mechanic may be substantially cheaper in the
USA but in the UK, I can furnish my garage with all the tools I need, even
if I'm only going to use them once or twice, learn what I need to know
(except, perhaps, some particularly old-school complex metal forming skills)
AND work on my cars for less than it would likely cost to pay somebody else
to do it for me. That's assuming they're not going to break something, miss
something, do something wrong or just rip me off. And with time and
experience comes the ability to know when to give it to somebody else to do.

At the very least, when the time finally comes for me to say "gee, these
cars are a waste of time and my
wife/girlfriend/boyfriend/mistress/goldfish/drinking buddies/political
campaign/whatever deserve more of my time and energy", I will atleast know
if my mechanic knows what he/she/it is doing and whether I'm being ripped
off.

Here endeth the lesson.

Nick Koleszar   koleszar@domain.elided
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1971 Alfa Romeo Giulia Super 2.0
1990 Alfa Romeo 75 3.0 QV
1993 Mini
1990-ish Rotax 125cc/Gbox kart
1926 Amilcar C6 (I wish....)
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