On Thursday, 5 March 2020 16:33:45 UTC, Rod Speed wrote:
"whisky-dave" wrote in message


When I took the engine out of a Fiat 850 at 15 years old it was just
more of the basic things I had learned from cycles and other machines
and the good old HBOL. ;-)

We never had a car,

We always did and I am a lot older than you.

So, I bet some have had cars longer than even you.


my dad had a bike.

Neither of my parents did.

he had a moped and later 3 mobility scooters



I rember thje days when kit cars were really popular, yuo could even build
a boat via the daily mirror.

So why don't people do this sort of thing anymore,

Very viable used cars are much cheaper now in real terms

What are real terms next year my borough are becoming one of those low
emmision zones so yuo won;t be able to drive most old cars, and if you do you'll get fined.

and some do still build and refurbish boats including my
next door neighbour who is now on his third, a ****ing
great thing that is moored in sydney harbour.

even a canal boat mooring fees can be £100s a month.

Another
mate of mine has another which is as big as is towable
on the roads and thats his third now too.

There are rich peole in London that can afford to spend £50k on a dolls house.
There was a kid 6 to 8 years old who's dad had her ipad gold plated
at a cost of £3k because she had been good.


purhaps there;s just too many retrictions.

No one really triesd to build their own computer even from a kit.

Some did initially.

I added the stuff for a disc drive and 16K extra RAM.


Whilst I find that sort of diagnostics quite interesting (as I'm into
electronics and 'computers' as well etc), it's not quite the same as
getting your hands dirty, especially a successful engine related job.

Could you fix a modern car engine like you could have 40 years ago ?

Much easier now given the OBD2 thing that usually
tells you what sensor has died and costs not even $5.
And much easier to get the replacement part from
ebay or gumtree from those who have ended up
with a write off due to an accident or when the car
no longer makes any sense to keep repairing.

Really thats not what I've heard, it;s been years since I've seen people
repairing their cars on the road side, most don;t even clean them when they can get them cleamed for a fiver.


A mate of mine has sold all the bits of any value from
a Hyundai Grandeur, one of three that he bought used
off ebay and produced 2 viable cars from which he has
now sold because he has moved on to Merc 180s etc.

OK if you have the space and time.
Be difficult if you lived in one of the blocks near me as they have NO parking for even one car let alone 2 or 3.




His #1 son is a very decent mechanic and makes a decent
living buying Mercs which have a fault on ebay etc, fixing
the fault and flogging them for twice what he paid for
them using new parts bought for peanuts from china etc.

Well there;s always a few but it's not mainstream and it;s hardly DIY if yuo're doing it as a job for profit.

As you should know brain surgery isn't a DIY thing but people do do it.

Just because someone does something it doesn't make it DIY.

I order for 6 groups of 5 studenst, another 3 teams of studetns and 5 groups of varying numbers and 20 or so individual students, but I don;t class it as DIY ordering.


That is why most of the latest developments are furnished 1 2 & 3 bed
flats
and offered for as 'little as £150k part ownership.
You aren't really allowed to knock down a dividing wall in a block of
flats
or do much DIY to the property without breaking the T&Cs and you have to
pay
around £50 pcm or more for someone to change the lightbulbs in the
corridors

Bull**** you do.

It's true look it up, under maintenance, cleaning and other services
that are supplied and yuo have to pay for.




and look after the comunial garden.

All this started long Coronavirus, Brexit or the discovery of global
warming
so no of those can be blamed.
But some of us should have seen it coming.

But nothing could have been done about it
while ever huge numbers of immigrants
were allowed to pour into the country,

from the EU, due to free movement of people.