Very few people burst out the womb with a wrench in their hand and an in-depth knowledge of the workings of knackered [re: beaten] old cars wedged firmly in their brains. Instead, most of us have to learn to wrench as we grow. But do you remember that first bit of essential maintenance you learned for your car?
Today, we want to hear all about your wrenching origin stories. I doubt many people would have started with something as complex as replacing the apex seals on a Mazda RX-8. Instead, we probably all began the journey with a much simpler task.
Maybe the first thing you learned was how to replace a spark plug. Or perhaps you were taught how to carry out an oil change by a helpful parent or family friend. Whatever the task and no matter how big or small it was, we want to hear all about.
And, most importantly, did it lead you down a wrenching rabbit hole that you’re still lost in to this day?
When I was growing up, I didn’t have a family that was super into fixing up their cars. They would touch up the paintwork if there was a scuff, could replace a tire or a wiper blade, but had a guy they’d take it to for anything more than that.
But still, I remember my dad dragging me out to his peacock blue Volvo to show me how to replace a blown bulb in one of its headlights. Reaching under the hood, he showed me how to access the headlamp and unscrew the faulty bulb. Then, he showed me the damage to it as we compared the replacement with the one we’d taken out.
After that, I watched through the front of the headlamp as he screwed the new bulb into position. And finally, I remember sitting on the wall outside our house to watch him turn on the engine and test it out.
I’m sure a lot of you will have much more exciting tales than that, but for an artsy family in suburban Sheffield, that was pretty much as good as it gets.
So, what have you got? Let us know the first things you learned to fix in your car in the comments section below. We’ll round up some of the top responses in a slideshow tomorrow afternoon.