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On Wed, 25 Aug 2004, Aaron Clow wrote: > What did people do back in the 60s and 70s with these > cars when something like this happened to just your > regular driver and they didn't know what was wrong From historical documents I've read (I think they're old enough to call them historical), the requirements to operate a motor vehicle have change drastically over the past century. I once read through a ca. 1920s automobile operation and repair handbook. In that book, it was not considered out of the ordinary for a driver to be equipped (in supplies and knowledge) to pull over to the side of the road and replace a faulty intake or exhaust valve. Certainly by the 1950s, this would have been out of the question. My 1963 Beetle's glove-box owner's manual shows how to disassemble the car's fuel pump to access and clean the filter. While I'm sure that most 1963 Beetle owners would have taken their car to the dealer for such service, it was still considered reasonable to include this in the glove box owner's manual. By the late 1960s, pump filter service was no longer included in the owner's manual. Meanwhile, a concept car shown by Volvo this year has no driver- openable hood: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3528757.stm The technology also exists for cars to travel down the highway without driver input via tracking of sensors in the roadway. (Ok, I don't see this really happening, but it's been tested.) Insurance companies are considering pay-as-you-go billing via a black box that records how you operate the vehicle and where you drive (via gps). So, while I don't know first-hand what the expectations *of* and *from* drivers were in the 1960s, I'm sure they were a lot different from today's. Also, while we gain a little bit through improvements in technology (better tires, better voltage regulators, better oil), we lose ground since our Type IIIs are now all over 30 years old and most have seen many miles. Happy driving! -Greg ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~ Shameless link for search engines: http://listarchive.type3.org ~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~