Evening star., 1926-05-02
No. I4S: Sizing Up Service.

Smith has reached a point where
| he is SO busy using his car he has
very little time to tinker with 1t Tor
! his own enlightenment and enter
tainment. especially when the weather
Is not suitable for such work. 1t has
come as rather a shock to him to
discover however, that even when
he places the car in other hands 1t
still is necessary for him to play a
very important role.
Briefly, his new function is that of
sizing up service, judging the me-
chanic one has engaged to repair the
car. Smith has found that there are
mechanics, and mechanics. He is
now hard at work on d system of
avoiding trouble by choosing the
right person for certain types of serY-
ice.
II is an important discovery on his
part. because il shows him plainly
that one repaiIer. no matter how
skillful.. cannot possibly be right in
every instance. Every one tends to
specialize. One man is clever at
grinding valves, another at electrical
work. One is "a good diagnostician
while another may be poor at detect
ing trouble but quite skillful remedy
ing ii after it has been pointed out
to him.
Smith has no favorite repairman.
81 have at least a half dozen good
men on my list" he says. II make
the decision as to which one should
be consulted when | am in trouble" :"
Smith Gives Explanation.
Recently 7 asked smith how he got
on to the fact that it is essential to
avoid placing the car entirely in the
hands of any one repairer. His eX.
planation was interesting
Il have always noticed that repair
ers tend to get into rutS." he said.
That is because they work on the
same cars day in and day out, and
often on the same kind of jobs. Me-
chanics are apt to become possessed
of some one idea, particularly if it is
something they have worked out after
long thought and much work on an
other car. I've had them advise me
to take the spring covers off the car,
and just the other day one told me
the noise in my clutch was due to
a loose flywheel. / can't afford to
have such workmen get me into trou-
bic.
IF | want to get a. line on a me-
chanic | first try to determine whether
L
am puzzled over queer noises in the
car, or its strange behavior, | want
some one to work the whole problem
out mentally before touching a tool.
But when it is obvious to any one
that something needs fixing l so to
the worker type.
Just how good the worker is l soon
can tell by starting him with a fairly
simple job. If | thought there was
something requiring attention in the
transmission / might try my man on,
say. putting new bushings in the
spring shackles and, TO make sure
that he could do tricky work as well.
might get him to check over the
timing and readjust the breaker
points. If he made good on this !
would not hesitate to try him on the
transmission job"
A Test of Mechanics.
At this point, / happened to think
of a recent experience of my own. a
problem in trying to find a mechanic
who could solve a problem.
II had been hearing an odd noise in
the clutch" | told Smith. 1T wasn't
anything ] would worry about If
had some assurance that 1t didn't fore
tell a breakdown. My purpose in con-
sulting a repairer was TO get his angle
on il.
HE assured me that the trouble was
quite serious and that I should have
the clutch looked at Immediately. My
impression was that he was more
eager to get a job than to serve me,
and my suspicious were quickly
proved to be justified when I over
heard his advice to another motorist
who had come TO the service station
because the brakes had failed follow.
ing a car wash.
The mechanic told the owner that