Back when almost all gas stations were full serve, I had an attendant
attempt to fill up the radiator of my Renault Dauphine with gas. I had
another guy at an oil change place put washer fluid in the coolant
overflow behind the license plate door on my vanagon. Good thing I was
watching. Can you imagine the head corrosion?

Jim

On Thu, Aug 14, 2008 at 1:05 PM, Scott Daniel - Turbovans
<scottdaniel@turbovans.com> wrote:
> you might also appreciate that when vanagons first came out,
> a few gas station attendants flipped open the license plate door at the
> back.........
> ( since many cars of the era had their gas cap back there )
> And when they saw a cap and filler neck, they  put gasoline into engine .
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "John Rodgers" <inua@CHARTER.NET>
> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
> Sent: Thursday, August 14, 2008 10:07 AM
> Subject: Re: Are Today's Young People Mechanical Nitwits?
>
>
>> Congrats on your daughter's derring-do in the mechanical world!
>>
>> I can't tell you how many times the guys at the various auto
>> quick-service places have asked me where the engine was in my van.
>>
>> I never ceased to be amazed.
>>
>> John Rodgers
>> 88 GL Driver
>>
>> Jim Arnott wrote:
>>>
>>> Warning!!! Proud papa alert.... and NVC
>>>
>>> My eldest dau, 27, came home from visiting friends the other night. Walks
>>> into the house and asks me, "Do you ALWAYS get hurt when you're
>>> working on
>>> cars?" I respond that mechanical things frequently demand blood
>>> sacrifice.
>>> She goes on to comment that when she was putting the front suspension
>>> back
>>> together on her friend's Mitsu, she pinched her hand. Did papa proud!
>>>
>>> Want to give your kids a clue?  Make their first car a Beetle. Give
>>> them a
>>> Muir Bible. Help them maintain it but don't do it FOR them. Worked for
>>> me.
>>>
>>> So no, they're not all clueless. But the vast majority are. Of the 20-30
>>> kids that float through my home, there are about three that could show me
>>> where to check the oil on their rig.  Those three could also change said
>>> oil. The rest? I'd have to show them not just how, but THAT the hood
>>> opened.
>>> Id10ts.
>>>
>>> Jim
>>>
>>>
>