Originally published at: You Can Build It Yourself...But Should You? - Golioth
I’m a car guy…well sort of; more of a gearhead than someone who obsesses over the luxury amenities or posh and circumstances of the high-end brands. My fondest memories from childhood are of working in the garage with my dad on whatever clunker he had recently brought home and was determined to get running again. At 10 years old I was spending my free time wedged under a car changing oil and checking grease fittings. At 16, I rebuilt the engine in my first car – a 1970 Ford Maverick with a straight 6 250 and 250,000 miles on it. What I loved then about working on cars, what I’ve always loved, was the feeling I got every time I took something broken down, sometimes well beyond operational, and brought it back to life, as good or better than it was. The beauty of the modern automobile (pre-electrification) is the simplicity and elegance of interchangeable parts, shoutout to Henry Ford! Is your oil plug stripped? Get a new one! Brake pads worn down, exhaust manifold cracked, head gasket blown? Just break ‘em down, rip ‘em out, and replace them with a new part as good or even better than what was there originally. These days I’m rarely under the hood of a car. Not because I can’t be, or because I don’t love it, but because there are other things in my life that I love more. Spending time with my family, being outdoors, volunteering, solving hard problems at the office, all of these things are simply more important to me now than the time I spend in the garage. It’s a simple question of utility – every…
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