Maybe I am just becoming an old fart, but I was thinking about this lately.
My father had a 1972 Chevrolet pickup and he drove it until the engine seized up at about 200,000 miles. I can remember even as a kid helping to change the oil, spark plugs, the alternator, the battery, U-joints, brakes, changing tires, and doing other repairs that were pretty simple. I could sit right in the engine compartment. There was room for two engines under that hood.
The old tractors were simple and could be started by spinning a flywheel or using a hand crank. When they said you could fix machinery with some baling wire, that was pretty much true.
Now trucks and tractors have to have computers and electronics and you have to be a mechanical engineer to repair machinery. The manufacturers have made them complicated so we have to pay someone with the right computer to do the repairs. A few years back I went to change the spark plugs on a little pickup truck and couldn't even see where the spark plugs were. There was no room to work on anything.
New trucks have power windows. I don't need that. My arm works. They have GPS. I know where I am going so I do not need a computer to tell me where to turn. There are electric motors and seat warmers and satellite radios, and you name it in trucks and tractors these days. I saw a report on TV where some guy with a computer and Internet access showed how he could shut down a car running down the highway through the onboard computer.
Does any manufacturer make a truck with no or little electronics, no computer, and a standard transmission? Oh, and a trailer hitch would be nice.
Or are you going to tell me yes, Chevrolet made them in 1972?
My father had a 1972 Chevrolet pickup and he drove it until the engine seized up at about 200,000 miles. I can remember even as a kid helping to change the oil, spark plugs, the alternator, the battery, U-joints, brakes, changing tires, and doing other repairs that were pretty simple. I could sit right in the engine compartment. There was room for two engines under that hood.
The old tractors were simple and could be started by spinning a flywheel or using a hand crank. When they said you could fix machinery with some baling wire, that was pretty much true.
Now trucks and tractors have to have computers and electronics and you have to be a mechanical engineer to repair machinery. The manufacturers have made them complicated so we have to pay someone with the right computer to do the repairs. A few years back I went to change the spark plugs on a little pickup truck and couldn't even see where the spark plugs were. There was no room to work on anything.
New trucks have power windows. I don't need that. My arm works. They have GPS. I know where I am going so I do not need a computer to tell me where to turn. There are electric motors and seat warmers and satellite radios, and you name it in trucks and tractors these days. I saw a report on TV where some guy with a computer and Internet access showed how he could shut down a car running down the highway through the onboard computer.
Does any manufacturer make a truck with no or little electronics, no computer, and a standard transmission? Oh, and a trailer hitch would be nice.
Or are you going to tell me yes, Chevrolet made them in 1972?
