I am wondering if you can call yourself a car guy but you do not wrench yourself? i consider myself a car guy and i think i have enough knuckle scars to prove it lol. I just dont think you are a car guy if you dont wrench on your car yourself? or do i mix it up with a Hot roder? lol, so lets say i am a hot rod guy lol. anyways to many guys bring there cars to shops for really minor work that you ( as a men) should be able to tackle yourself with basic tools. especially when it comes to classic cars where there is no computer equipment needed i do not think ther eis a excuse to not have ever done your own oil change, top off fluids or even fix a leaking valve cover gasket yourself. I agree that there is different level of skills and available tooling ( i think tools is always a great investment) as well as motivation to learn things, but i find more and more topics where i possibly over estimate skills of guys in car forums, since they obviously have issues with very basic things and so i wanted to see if i am the only one having this opinion or am i a di*k? PS: i am by no means perfect, and there is car things i can simply not do, (skills /tools) but i come from a humble/ and not rich background in order to have a car i had to work hard and safe $ for a bucket that i fixed myself ( i figured it out) and i still have this feeling inside, ( it was a VW MK1 piece of crab, it became a fast MF) i have never had a car payment in my life, i never owned a new car, and i am not "poor" by no means, but i cant wrap my brain around a monthly payment to own something but real estate.
I say a car guy rather work on his ride and turn a wrench before watching a sporting event on tv.... Now I do have the TV in Garage while working on a car but it's usually an auction that I have saved on the DVR to watch. I'm a car guy / gearhead
I understand your question, and point of view, and it is hard to not sound like a dbag so here goes. Just my opinion....If you pay to get your air filter, oil, or spark plugs changed and there's nothing physically or geographically/housing wise preventing you from doing as such yourself.....well.....I guess you could call yourself a "car enthusiast".
If you would rather cruise around in a nice car, especially a special interest type like an old muscle car or a classic, whatever or would rather go to a car show, drag race than anything else. That would make you a car guy, whether you work on them or not. IMHO Bob H.
Personally I don't necessarily enjoy wrenching as a whole, I do it because it's cheaper and like to know how MY car works. Sure it's satisfying when it works out and it bonds you to a car like nothing else will, but there are a ton of car guys and girls that enjoy cars for what they do, not how to fix them. Jay Leno is a car guy and can probably rebuild a motor if he wanted but why do that when you can pay someone to do it not even give a second thought? I enjoy working on MY car. I gag at the thought of working on a 1999 Kia. If I had a ton of disposable income there are very few things I would be doing myself. Car guy or car enthusiast does not equal grease monkey or gearhead. Someone who collects every car magazine and knows every detail but doesn't even own a car could be considered a "car guy" it's too vague.
I’m over 60 my days of laying under a car on a cold floor pulling trannys are over Last moter swap ten years ago Guess I have to give up my car guy man card I’m at the point I just like to drive them Btw the female has never laid under car , or hardly turned a wrench thou can always get the right tool I say I need And she has had muscle cars for 45 years since she was 16 so you want to tell her she’s not a car gal? Seems like a judgemental opinion
Well I see it a little differently. If you are are say 40 or under your first car probably had fuel injection and modern electronics. Most cars after 1988 or 1989 were FI. How did you learn about points and carbs? You might swap plugs once or twice ever in a newer car. I grew up in the 70s and 80s on a farm so I had no choice. I think there are plenty of people that love cars but have no practical experience with older vehicles. I'm not saying you can't learn but not everyone has the practical experience to make it easy to get started. And they don't have a broad set of practical experiences required to tackle projects. As an example, I see some of the logic people apply to electrical issues here and and on other sites and then realize.."oh this person doesn't grasp the basic principles of electricity." That doesn't make them less interested or knowledgeable about other parts of car ownership, it just makes them a poor choice for stereo installs
If you have a certain age i absolutely understand that you dont want to get that dirty anymore.. but here counts "been there done that." Jay leno... common we talking real life people... I for myself have much more fun building my cars than driving them or maintaining. The build is where the fun is but I also hot rod everything. I built a 69 nova to oem specs for a auction it was so hard to not ditch the whole oem.parts and throw speed parts on it. And as said, especially old cars.. I like to know my cars.
I grew up with dragsters, machine shops and all sorts of cars all around. Junk cars were, literally, my playground. So, if a guy doesn't touch the car, he is no more a car guy, than a guy who does not touch a girl can call himself a stud. Hate if you want. But I am still correct. I have found all the bolts are tighter when removing, require more torque to tighten, the floor is farther down, and much colder and harder than it used to be, and gravity has increased making it damned near impossible to get up for the tenth time I grabbed the correct wrench that somehow shape shifted into the wrong wrench. (I'm blaming that on 5G and the WiFi..). The parts of the car are sharper, hotter, greasier and much harder than my head, back, knuckles, fingernails remember. Did that much stuff fall into my eyes way back when? But, I hope to be doing it, until the "welfare" check by the good guys in blue, find me with a smile on my face, 'cuz I was still doin' what I love doin'. And when I can't do it no more, I would appreciate some help pushing me under the car, so I can just look at it... Hell. You can even put a 13mm wrench in my hand.
I am learning how to wrench on my old girl. I took her to a mechanic to get the bugs worked out as she wouldn't start. Since then, I change the oil, fix the electricals, fixed the wipers, replaced the rear defogger, replaced the steering wheel, sanded, primered, painted, ... I didn't do the welding as I can't stand loud sounds or lights due to my post concussion syndrome. I do not really consider myself a car guy, but I am trying to learn to be.
i know guys that don’t even have an old car or special interest car that are major car guys. If wrenching is a requirement are there different levels of being a car guy, like Car Guy Sr if they can rebuild an engine, Car guy Jr if they can do general maintenance? Am I more of a car guy if I can fabricate my own parts? Do you get bonus points for each year you are in the hobby? Really can’t believe someone even asked the question.
Seems like a pissing contest to me. You should start with a definition of "car guy" so we know what we are weighing in on. Are you trolling?
I grew up around old cars because my dad was a collector. Of course, when we were kids he was collecting Model Ts and Model As. Most of the cars we are now interested in and own hadn't even been built yet at that point. I love older cars, pretty much all of them. I'm not fiercely brand loyal. I have been restoring them for a living for 46 years now and when I'm not working on a customer's car I am usually working on one of my own. And when I'm not it seems like 90% of the time I am either reading a car book or magazine or watching a car show on TV, and mostly certainly most of that time I am thinking about old cars. It's almost like a disease but I have very few other interests in anything else. And what am I doing right now? It's 5:00am and I'm on a car website I've always been a "do-it-yourselfer" and my outlook has mostly been "Just because I've never done it before doesn't mean I can't", so I dive right in and that's how I have learned much of it. So I guess I consider myself a car guy. But I do have a friend who calls himself "gearhead". He does have a musclecar but other than cleaning and polishing and changing the oil and doing minor work on it he never does any of the major work on it and doesn't even seem to understand most of it. His self proclaimed "Gearhead" title does seem to irritate some of those who know him but the way I see it, not all of us have the same talents so I just let it slide. In fact, if he doesn't really understand how things work then it's probably best he leave the work to someone who does. I believe that just because someone can't do their own work does not necessarily disqualify them from being a car guy. If you love old cars and own an old car, or even if you don't own one, and you take pride in it then why not? There's room for all of us in one way or another.
My buddy is a car guy likes them and had a convertable Olds from 68 he even works as a parts guy at a dealer here. But to wrench on them he doesn't know s***. he can't work on them but does like them. Is he a car Guy well that is the debate lol
I usually find when I'm in a group of any kind, when one member claims another guy shouldn't be there, it's time for the guy making the claim to go....
My greatest love are men who think that since God made them men they automatically have the ability to repair a car. I make a lot of money repairing their mistakes. Does the ability/inability to repair a car make on a car guy, no. Love and passion makes one a car guy.
If you don't wrench on your own car, I think your missing out on literally 1/2 the fun. I have a friend that owns quite a few very desirable, rare muscle cars. He is a wealth of information about every muscle there is. His knowledge is remarkable. Like Mark worman but on all cars. Guy literally cant turn a screw. Go figure.
Im a car guy and always have been.Used to take my toys apart and make new ones from the parts. Learned mechanics on my own starting in the mid 70's fixing mini bikes then later turning my dads Snow Jet into a go kart over the summer. Boy he was mad when the first snow fell and he pulled back the cover on that machine. Now as for the OP's question, Id have to say yes and no. Everyone has to learn/start somewhere. My kid wants to be a wrench but is probably better suited to baking cookies. Ya have it or ya dont. I too get a little disturbed when I see post asking for the most basic info. Specially in today's world of instant answers just a few key strokes away. As I get older there's plenty I just dont want to do anymore. I have all the cool tools and have the means to buy pretty much whatever I dont have. That said there's more and more stuff I simply dont wanna mess with. Case in point... Got this 85 D150 that needs a converter. Got the part, put her up on the lift and looked it over then said nope, dont wanna screw with it and took it to a friends shop. for 250.00 he can deal with it. So IMO there's different levels of "Car Guy"
