I'm sure all of you have vivid memories of your very first car. Mine
was a monstrous dark blue '48 Ford 4-door sedan with a flathead V8. My
dad agreed to let me buy it on the condition I would be responsible for
all repairs, maintenance and running costs. One of my first repair jobs
was installing a muffler I had bought at Pep Boys for about $6.
Actually, I thought the car sounded neat the way it was, but my dad
insisted. It was a satisfying accomplishment because I'd never
attempted a car repair that complicated before and the results were so
dramatic.
I also remember my first flat tire. I struggled for hours breaking
loose the bead between the tire and the rim, prying the lip free with
tire irons and screwdrivers, patching the tube, then reversing the
process only to have to go through the whole rigamarole again because it
never dawned on me that an innertube could have more than one hole in it
at a time. But I was a quick study and figured out right off that the
buck (or maybe it was 50 cents) that it cost to have someone else do
this job was money well spent.
Since then I've always had someone else fix my flat tires, but in recent
years the need hasn't come up very often. Probably this is because I
can afford to keep newer, better quality tires on my cars now and to
improved technology. In fact, until last weekend it had been many years
since I had had a tire repaired. But last Saturday morning I discovered
that one of the rear tires on my daughter's VW had a large nail in it
and was completely flat. So, off I went to a nearby Chevron station
(one of the few stations in the area that still does tire repairs) flat
in hand. Well, in trunk, anyway. The attendant had time to do the job
right away so I decided to wait. This was the first time in years I'd
actually watched someone repair a tire. It took about five minutes.
The attendant inflated the tire, threaded a rubber plug into a large
sewing needle like tool, pushed it into the hole and then withdrew the
tool. After fully inflating the tire (I had trouble convincing the
attendant I really wanted 42psi) and a quick leak check I had my tire
back. That part was okay, and I guess I already had a vague notion of
the procedure. The part that really surprised me was the $12 charge.
The last time I'd had a tire repaired it had cost about $5-$6.
Let's see, the dollar it cost to repair my old Ford tire would have
bought about 4 gallons of gas at a discount station (the only place I
bought gas then). At today's discount prices $12 would buy 11+ gallons.
After watching this guy repair my tire, I'm convinced that even I could
have handled this job with little difficulty. Guess maybe it's time to
revisit this issue.
Roland
|