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Single earner households were more common, mortgage interest rates were above 10% for years, material goods were more expensive. There was no YouTube for learni
by ip26 5y ago
Single earner households were more common, mortgage interest rates were above 10% for years, material goods were more expensive. There was no YouTube for learning home or auto repair. Cars weren't very reliable. Not all roses.
- EVdotIO 5y agoGood luck repairing a car now. They are way more reliable, and way more tolerant to owner neglect, but give me an old BMW 2002 or VW bug and I can repair pretty much everything in those machines with my Haynes manuals. Safety on the other hand is orders of magnitude better today.
- benlivengood 5y agoMost faults on modern cars are still mechanical. OBD scanners or adapters are cheap. YouTube has replaced Haynes/Chilton manuals for instructions.
- EVdotIO 5y agoWell yes, obviously. I was simply expanding on the parents comments that it was difficult to learn to repair your car (or potentially a washing machine). I don't think that's necessarily accurate. Yes, YouTube didn't exist, but it was still possible to get information to rebuild a carburetor and Pep Boys has been around since the 30s. Newer cars are just objectively much more complicated, and when it comes to something like replacing a head gasket, sure it's doable, but yeah I'm going to get somebody else to do that. On the other hand, if it was something like an old flathead, I could feel confident doing that on my own.
- sokoloff 5y agoMost routine maintenance items are still easily DIY-able and there’s likely an enthusiast forum or group to help give some guidance.