Reflecting on my Recent column- Jun 22, 2010
From the Desk of: Tim Suddard
From the desk of Tim Suddard-
Usually I am always very positive when I write my columns and thankfully, I get a lot of letters about them. While I got some positive comments on my most reason Classic Motorsports column on Restoration Mistakes, I also got a few that chastised me for talking down to readers for doing things wrong and not having compassion for those who don’t have the money to do things right.
I felt pretty bad, as the last thing I wish to do is alienate or talk down to my readers. Heck, the whole reason I got into this business is I didn’t like the way magazine editors always talked down to me when I was a kid.
For that, I sincerely apologize and I will remind my self when I write these columns that I need to remember my roots.
That said, I pulled the front end off the same Edsel that I referenced, in that column and much to my dismay, found bent up ten penny nails, instead of cotter pins, holding the front wheel bearings in place. This is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about. Cotter pins are no harder to get and no more expensive than nails. The kind of person that does this is a butcher and I still wish they would not work on cars. While I apologize for my tone, I still think what I wrote had a lot of validity, and this incident with the nails bears this out.
Comments
- bigwrench wrote: Jun 22, 2010 8:13 p.m.
- There is doing things Cheap, doing this half ass and then doing things Wrong to the point of Harm!!! Playing with machines includes the basic idea you know something about the machine or leave the mechanical part to some one who knows what they are doing because as fun as these toys are, a stupid move can end your fun and maybe your life real fast. Trying to enlighten readers to keep them from bad experiences is a editorial or column job. Thanks Tim.
- GeneO wrote: Jun 22, 2010 11:25 p.m.
- I am with you Tim. One of my biggest irritants is messed up wiring. I once bought a used motorhome that had about three miles of wiring that a PO had used to install a cheap stereo. No terminals had been used to splice wires together. The wires had just been twisted together and wrapped with duct tape. I am surprised he had not had an electrical fire.
- TimS wrote: Jun 23, 2010 7:53 a.m.
- There is messy and cheap, and then there is just downright dangerous. The biggest problem is once you see one thing wrong, then you wonder what else is wrong on a car?
- bigwrench wrote: Jun 26, 2010 10:29 a.m.
- Tear down time!!
- JerryFromLA wrote: Jun 26, 2010 11:35 a.m.
- Tim, don't ever worry about admonishing people over safety and good mechanical practices. You're showing no signs of going all David E. Davis on us. No matter how much we develop our skills mechanically, there is the occasional urge to bend a handy nail because it just takes less time and bother (of course, you'll always come back "later" and re-do it properly. Uh-huh.). So if your column stops one person from doing that or something like it, then it's worth miffing a couple of folks. If everyone agrees with you one hundred percent of the time, it means you have no opinions and your mag is pablum. We know you do have opinions and the mag won't ever be pablum. Frankly, I thought that column was one of your strongest. You give your readership a lot more say about the mag's content than most mags do. However, it's still your mag with your personality so keep doing it the way you see fit. If you reach a point where you don't like or feel strongly about what you write, we won't like it any more than you will. Keep up the good work.