Hanging parts for car repairs in old-time Phoenix


I was talking to some friends of mine about automotive repairs today, and the subject of diagnostics was discussed. One of my friends, who had been a mechanic for Chevrolet, was in favor of the value of diagnostics, which includes not only hooking up a modern car to a computer, but also includes having someone with a high level of expertise look at the problem. My other friend, who gives more of a layman's point of view, asked, "Why do they charge for that?", and sees no value to it at all. And I can see both points of view.

If you're like me, you've done most car repairs by doing your best guess at what's wrong, going to the auto parts store, buying a part, attaching it, standing back, and hoping that it fixes the problem. If it doesn't, you go back, buy another part, and so on. Auto parts stores do a brisk business in this, and even offer simple diagnostics, and lend tools. This is called "hanging parts."

Hanging parts as a technique for car repairs is as old as cars. In fact, in old-time Phoenix, my best guess is that it would only be men who had very little self-respect who actually went to a mechanic and paid them to diagnose a problem, and fix it. And yes, I mean men, as in not women, as old-time cars were very unreliable, and a driver was expected to do repairs as needed, all of the tiime. There was a popular song "He'd Have to Get Under – Get Out and Get Under (to Fix Up His Automobile)" in 1913 that expressed what driving a car was like. This has dramatically changed in the 21st Century, and you can expect a modern car to give you many miles of service without a breakdown.

And speaking for myself, I always enjoyed hanging parts on my cars, which I did up through my twenties (once I got into my thirties it had lost its entertainment value for me), and it's still very popular today.


Hanging parts on cars can be a lot of fun, and can give a lot of entertainment value. I like to imagine men in old-time Phoenix talking to their friends about what might be wrong with their car, and going to an auto parts place, or even a junk yard. Men can spend quite a lot of quality time together hanging parts on cars, and if the first part doesn't fix it, that just means that they get to spend more time, hanging another part. And if that doesn't fix it, so on and so on. And no one is to blame, not the person hanging the parts, not the friend, not even the parts store.

I kind of feel sorry for men who have never had the enjoyment of spending a whole weekend hanging parts on their car. It gets you out into the fresh air (sometimes a little too fresh, if it's January in Phoenix, and sometimes a little too hot, if it's August), teaches you about the price of car parts, and where to get them cheaper, and when to use new versus used, and original equipment versus non-original. And where it gets really fun is NOS (New Old Stock). If you know that one, you've done some repairs on old cars!

What's that? Your car won't start! Let's go get a new battery! That didn't fix it? How about a starter! Yes, we can go to the junkyard! I have all weekend!
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