& Albany County Post - The Altamont Enterprise

The Altamont Enterprise – Thursday, September 27, 2012
Fall Home, Garden and Car Care 5B
… ‘The day of the carburetor is over’ as mechanics hone new skills
of the carburetor is over with.
Everything is electronic. You
have everything from electronic
parking assist to fly-by wire accelerator
pedals.”
Willsey explained that cars like
the new Lexus can parallel park
themselves with the push of a
button. And next year, Cadillac
plans to market a car that can
steer itself with super cruise
control.
Accelerator pedals these days
— not just in high-end cars like
the Lexus or Cadillac but in middle-market
cars like Toyota — no
longer have a hard cable. “It’s all
electronic,” said Willsey.
“I saw the evolution.”
“They’ve converted the car too
much into an electronic beast,”
he said. It used to be, Willsey
explained, there was one wire for
the spark plugs, there was a fuel
supply line, and you turned the
key to start a car.
“Now there are 30 sensors,”
said Willsey. “It has phased out
all the older mechanics” — at
least the ones who haven’t kept
up with the changes.
Mechanics, he said, are learning
all the time, often from each
other. “Nobody knows everything,”
said Willsey. “There’s
always someone that knows more
than you.”
Baldauf and his partner work
with three “technicians,” as he
calls them — one has been with
the business for four years, another
for 10 years, and the third
for 17 years.
Baldauf, a former mechanic
himself, has worked in auto
repairs for 30 years and is now
occupied managing the business
end of things. “You can’t do both,”
he said. While his technicians
frequently get training in the
latest electronic and technical
advances, Baldauf said, he goes
for management training.
“You have to update your
equipment to go along with the
developments,” Baldauf said.
“We can do 95 percent of what’s
out there.”
Part of the reason Advanced
Auto Repair Service can’t handle
the other 5 percent, he said, is
because “dealers have proprietary
interests.” Associations of independent
shops “are always fighting
for more so we can be on the
same playing field,” he said.
Baldauf believes the reason
fewer young people are going into
the auto repair industry is “because
it’s difficult.” He explained,
“It’s labor intensive, and it’s dirty
at times. Other technologies are
easier. If you can make money
in front of a computer screen,
that’s what the latest generation
is interested in. With us, there’s
more than just the screen. There
is interpretation. There is diagnostics.
“I saw the evolution. I started
work in the seventies…The sophistication
has made it easier to
diagnose. You still need a knowledge
of electronics.”
Baldauf also said, “People open
the hood of a car and see how
complicated it looks; that probably
scares them.”
He concluded, “We all want
something better for our kids.
There’s a stigma with auto mechanics.
I’ve called them technicians
for 20 years.”
Willsey, too, attributes the lack
of young mechanics to societal
attitudes. “Our society says, unless
you’ve got a desk job, you’re
no good. They’re kids coming out
of school that think they can’t
be a laborer or a carpenter or a
mechanic…using your hands is
what it comes down to.”
Willsey, though, says that a
good living can be made repairing
cars. “I do all right,” he
concluded.
The Enterprise — Michael Koff
Some tasks are still done the traditional way: Art Frey at Advanced Auto Repair Service reaches up to check a car’s front suspension,
using a bright light and a keen eye.
Guilderland Center
auto ServiCe
Bruce Halsdorf — owner/proprietor
with over 30 years experience
Complete Service on
All Foreign & Domestic Vehicles
• Computerized Tune-Ups
• Complete Brake Service
• Starters & Alternators
• Front End Service
• Fuel Injection Repair
• Exhaust & Mufflers
• Transmission Service
167 Main Street
• Major Engine Service Guilderland Center
Mon.-Fri. 7 a.m.-6 p.m. 861-5657