It all started when a friend of a friend needed female volunteers for a trial Car 101 class. He had recently opened a garage where people can rent space and his tools and fix their cars… for much cheaper than taking it to a mechanic. Since not everyone knows how to fix their own car, he also wanted to have classes. Naturally, I thought that this class had been made just for me and my car ignorance.
Here are some highlights:
The first thing the “teacher” asked us was what we do when something goes wrong with our car. Unanimous answer: call a boy (husband, father, brother, etc.)
Next we learned that cars are very complex entities, much like the human body. Go with me on this. It makes sense, I promise.
--The frame of the car is like its skeleton. It holds everything up in a supportive fashion.
--The engine of the car takes gas and air and makes energy, allowing the car to do fancy things like move. This process is similar to how our bodies take food and turns it into energy.
--The transmission of the car is akin to muscles in the body. In the same way that muscles help the body to move around, the transmission helps transmit energy from the engine to the wheels. Try moving your body without muscles… or try moving your car without a transmission (or very steep hill).
--The suspension in your car absorbs motion through springs, tires, and struts when we go over bumps and hills. This is just like how our tendons and ligaments help us absorb motion/stop moving when we run, jump or fall.
--The electrical system is like the car’s brain. What good are the crazy intricate parts without a mastermind behind them?
I hope that makes as much sense in writing as it does in my head.
That’s pretty much all that I took away from the lecture portion of the class. You have to remember that I knew NOTHING prior to setting foot in that garage. Thus, this was a lot of information to take in. However, we quickly moved on to the participatory part, which was handy because I tend to learn by doing.
Ok. You might want to sit down for this (although, I don’t know many people that read blogs on their computer while standing, but I digress). I, knower of nothing car related, can now change a tire without asking a male person. You have my permission to be impressed. It’s really not as hard as I thought it would be. I will go into further detail about how to do this (in case, you don’t know and want to know, like I did) in a later post.
I hope you’re still sitting down. If not, heads up; you might want to be. I, knower of nothing car related except how to successfully change a tire while being supervised by other knowers, can now change her own oil. I’m less confident in my abilities on this one because if you do it wrong, there are more serious consequences. But if there was ever a pop quiz on oil changing or if someone dared me to do it or if I lived in a world without Jiffy Lubes (what a sad place that would be)… I could totally do it!
This is intense progress, people.
Top 5 things I learned in Car 101:
1. I really did know nothing about cars before I took this class. Wow.
2. If it leaks, it’s broken.
3. Changing your own oil, while it can give you a sense of accomplishment, is much more inconvenient than taking it to Jiffy Lube.
4. Every car is different. It’s a conspiracy to make you feel stupid.
5. Chassis (rhymes with Lassie) is a really fun word to say.
I definitely felt like taking this class was a productive use of 3 hours.
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