I took my 1968 Imperial Crown Convertible to a tire shop for the least exotic reason imaginable: new tires. The tires still had plenty of tread, but they had aged out. I told the service representative that the lug nuts on the driver’s side were left-hand thread. The lugs were even marked with high-contrast white “L”s. Somewhere between the front counter and the lift, that information disappeared. A technician put a powerful impact gun on the left-side lug nuts and went the wrong way. Several wheel studs lost the argument.
A routine tire change had just become a specialty repair on a low-production Imperial, with now-obsolete Budd front disc brakes and parts support that makes a ’60s Mustang owner look spoiled. Like many of us, I chose a car connected with my past. For better or worse, the first car I ever worked on was a used 1968 Imperial convertible my dad bought. Decades later, I own one; a presentable 20-footer that I do my best to keep going.
Back to the wheel studs, AI didn’t spin a single wrench. What it did was give me a realistic playbook: what needed to come off, what was impossible to replace if I broke it, and whether I should tackle it in my garage or pass the headache to a shop. On an old car, that information can be the difference between a manageable repair and a very expensive one.
Why A Wheel-Stud Job Became an Imperial Problem
The more I looked into the job, the less it resembled replacing a few wheel studs on an ordinary car.
At the front, a 1968 Imperial uses an unusual Budd fixed-caliper disc-brake system. Those parts are scarce, which changes the risk calculation immediately. Pressing through the rotor, bearing cups, seal land, or the wrong part of the flange can turn a damaged stud into a damaged hub. Hammering the studs out or pulling new ones into place with a lug nut and an impact wrench may be common—but common is not the same as wise when the replacement part is very hard to find and expensive.
At the rear, the drum slips off, but properly supporting the axle flange for pressing brings the axle shaft into the job. Then the axle seal, gaskets, bearing condition, retainer torque, and adjustable axle-shaft end play enter the conversation. Suddenly, the five-dollar-looking stud has introduced itself to most of the left rear corner of the car.
This little disaster illustrates several larger problems that are making the old-car hobby harder for ordinary owners to afford.
Why the Old-Car Hobby Is Getting Harder to Afford
The car purchase price gets the attention, but ownership affordability is the real test. Several forces have converged against the ordinary hobbyist:
Labor has become the expensive part. Back in the day, parts were often expensive and labor relatively cheap. Now it has largely flipped. Many mass-market tools and service parts—especially those shared by several models—are affordable, but shop time is not. A two- or three-hour repair can easily produce a $500 bill before anything rare breaks.
Old-car knowledge has become specialty knowledge. Mechanics once encountered carburetors, breaker points, drum brakes, and adjustable wheel bearings every day. Now even a very good general mechanic may rarely see them. Much of the knowledge survives in shop manuals, technical bulletins, club newsletters, old forum posts, and the memories of a shrinking number of specialists.
Rare parts are expensive—and they make mistakes expensive. Imperial never sold in anything approaching Cadillac volume, and it receives little attention from reproduction-parts manufacturers compared with Mustangs, Camaros, and popular muscle cars. It did not help that big Imperials became demolition-derby favorites. Many Imperial-specific parts are now scarce, used, or unavailable. An Imperial can still be shockingly cheap to buy -and surprisingly expensive to repair.
The specialty-service network is thinning out. In Burlington, Vermont the old-car community is very small, with much of the visible activity centered on muscle cars, hot rods, and sports cars. I know of only one shop that specializes in older cars, and much of its work falls into those categories as well. Over more than 20 years, my experience has been that older American cars outside those popular categories are often lumped together -and dismissed as “land barges,” regardless of rarity, design, or historical importance. Like any generalization, there are exceptions—but it is the pattern I have encountered most often. In addition to a lack of specialized mechanics, shops have an additional economic reason to not even accept old cars: If one fragile part breaks during repair, the car may occupy a lift while the unobtainable replacement part is found, and a repair ends up tying up a shop spot.
The mechanic is only the first link in the chain. Keeping an old car going may require a machine shop, carburetor rebuilder, radiator shop, caliper rebuilder, instrument repairer, chrome plater, or upholsterer who understands original construction. The shop that repaired my Imperial’s radiator primarily works on farm and construction equipment radiators! The specialists who remain are fewer, and genuine expertise increasingly commands specialist prices.
The hobby is competing for household money. Rising housing, insurance, food, and other expenses leave less discretionary income for hobbies like old cars.
The Imperial Studs Became A Research Project
I gave ChatGPT the exact vehicle information and problem. I asked it to search factory service information first, then parts books and technical bulletins, recognized Imperial sources, vendor specifications, and finally forums.
It assembled a working procedure, identified danger areas, found candidate replacement studs, and produced a list of bearings, seals, gaskets, cotter pins, and other parts that might be needed if disassembly revealed damage. It also identified the tools required and gave me enough information to make a serious decision about doing the work myself instead of simply assuming that a shop had to do it.
The tool-cost comparison was revealing. A hydraulic shop press can be bought for under $200. Add the other specialty tools I did not already own and my incremental cost to do the job myself would have been roughly $300. I could buy the press, use it once, donate it to a high-school car program if I did not have room to keep it, and still be well below the eventual shop bill.
And even though the tire store had accepted responsibility for damaging the studs and was willing to pay for the repair, I seriously considered doing the job myself anyway. Why?
Cost is only one part of the calculation. Every time I hand an uncommon old car to someone else I expose it to another set of risks. Over the years I have had the car come back twice with unrelated damage, including once with the paint scratched, and another with a side molding dented. On something as uncommon as the Imperial, avoiding a new problem can be worth spending extra money and my time on a repair.
This time, however, the time cost was too high. Vermont gives us only a limited classic-car season before snow and road salt put these cars away. I could have learned the job, bought the tools, worked slowly, and probably had the satisfaction of doing it myself. That would mean spending the rest of the driving season with the Imperial on jack stands and finishing sometime in the spring. I chose the shop for this one.
That, to me, is another way AI helps. It does not always persuade me to do a repair myself. Sometimes it gives me enough information to decide intelligently that I should not.
Before the car went in, I used AI to identify and locate the parts that might be required and bought them in advance, keeping the uncertain ones returnable. I also condensed the research into a mechanic’s tip sheet with the Imperial-specific danger areas, specifications, and issues I thought worth flagging. The goal was not to teach a professional mechanic how to use a press. It was to spare them some of the archaeology required to figure out an uncommon 1968 Imperial before they begin the actual work.
The repair was completed successfully, as far as I can tell. Every driver-side stud was replaced, converting the entire left side to conventional right-hand threads. The passenger side was already right-hand thread, so all four wheels now work the same way. The shop charged $725, and the tire store accepted responsibility and paid the bill.
None of the seals, bearings, or gaskets I had bought as possible contingencies were used. I cannot tell you whether that means they were simply unnecessary once the car came apart or whether the shop took a shorter route through the job. Because another shop was paying the bill, I also had no practical way to know how much time the mechanic was willing to spend on precautions and contingencies I had identified.
I also cannot confidently tell you that the mechanic read my tip sheet closely. I will note that the tip sheet specified the 65 ft-lb wheel-nut torque. As I was leaving, the mechanic told me that after a few miles I should re-torque the wheels to the “current 100 ft-lbs.” That exchange left me with the distinct impression that at least one part of the sheet had not made it from paper to wrench.
Oddly, that does not make me think the preparation was wasted. The sheet gave me a way to know what questions to ask, what parts of the car were vulnerable, and when advice I received did not match the information I had gathered. It also signaled that I knew the car, had done my homework, and was likely to notice if something did not add up. I cannot know whether that changed how carefully the mechanic approached the job, but on a rare car I would rather send that signal than not. AI input may help a mechanic. But it can’t make the mechanic read information.
Where AI Actually Helps the Vintage Car Owner
My Imperial experience points to uses that extend beyond one set of damaged studs:
Diagnose before buying parts. AI can turn a vague symptom into a test sequence and identify what measurement separates one likely cause from another. That is cheaper than firing the parts cannon.
Build a complete repair plan. It can assemble the procedure, parts, consumables, tools, specifications, dependencies, safety issues, and “while you are in there” items before the car is apart and immobile.
Find parts and interchange possibilities. For an uncommon car, the right question is often not “Where can I buy Imperial part X?” but “Was this bearing, seal, or internal component used somewhere else?”
Make the do-it-yourself decision more rational. AI can compare tool purchases, rental, outside labor, time, and risk. In my case, it showed me that the home repair was financially realistic—but that losing most of Vermont’s driving season was not.
Make professional work more informed. A concise packet with the exact configuration, relevant manual pages, likely parts, unusual danger areas, and unresolved questions can reduce the amount of rediscovery required on an unfamiliar car. Even if a mechanic does not absorb all of it, the owner goes into the conversation better prepared.
I used the same approach when my Imperial developed a charging-system problem. Starting with the actual hardware and factory procedure, AI helped me organize tests that separated the alternator, regulator, wiring, and grounds instead of suggesting that I replace parts until the multimeter behaved. Again, the savings came from reducing uncertainty.
There are other uses that did not come up in this story. I bought the Imperial before AI became a common consumer tool. Today AI can help develop a model-specific pre-purchase checklist that flags common rust areas, missing trim, impossible-to-find parts, and incorrect components. The least expensive repair is often the car you knew not to buy.
The Machine Also Lies
Here is the part every AI enthusiast should admit plainly: AI can be spectacularly wrong, and it often delivers the wrong answer in the tone of a factory engineer who just consulted with Walter P. Chrysler.
The first AI-generated version of my stud procedure was not ready to hand to a mechanic. I then instructed ChatGPT to act as a skeptical technical auditor. It had to review the procedure against the source hierarchy, search for contradictions, and identify anything unsupported or potentially damaging. It found seven errors or materially misleading points in its own earlier work, including putting one step in a sequence that could expose a bearing to metal debris, contradicting itself about where the hub could safely be supported, and identifying the wrong rear-axle component during reassembly.
That did not prove AI was useless. It proved that AI must be managed. I now follow a few rules:
- Identify the exact car, hardware, production variation, and previous modifications.
- Demand sources and page references for part numbers, specifications, and safety-critical steps.
- Require AI to separate verified facts, assumptions, conflicts, and unknowns.
- Ask it to attack its own answer and explain how it could be wrong.
- Compare the answer with the physical car, original parts, factory literature, and a mechanic or marque specialist before acting on anything that can hurt someone or destroy a scarce component.
Checking one AI system against another—ChatGPT against Gemini or Claude, for example—can expose disagreements. But it is not foolproof. Three chatbots can repeat the same bad webpage just as confidently as one. A paid AI subscription may provide better tools and deeper research, but it does not purchase immunity from nonsense.
Good AI research also takes time. Manuals must be found or uploaded, citations checked, part numbers confirmed, and the final procedure read critically. But I would rather spend an evening finding a contradiction on a screen than a month looking for an Imperial hub damaged by a beautifully formatted mistake.
AI has not made my Imperial cheap. It cannot make chrome plating, bodywork, upholstery, storage, or an unobtainable casting inexpensive. It cannot feel a rough bearing, see hidden rust, or take responsibility for the result. It will never replace experienced mechanics and owners who know when something does not look or feel right.
What I like about AI is that it makes some repairs practical for me that would not have been practical before. I still participate in Imperial-owner groups and talk with other owners. That remains valuable. Those communities are not being replaced.
What AI adds is reach. It can bring into my preparation the voices of experts who are not active on today’s forums, people whose old posts and technical writing are still online, and even experts who are no longer with us. It can find the service bulletin I did not know existed, connect it to the factory manual, compare it with a parts book and years of owner discussion, and put that accumulated knowledge in front of me when I am deciding what to do in my garage.
That may be its most important contribution to the old-car hobby. The knowledge needed to maintain these cars has not all disappeared; much of it has simply become fragmented, buried, and hard to find. AI can help bring it back within reach.
If the hobby becomes limited to wealthy collectors and people with professional-level mechanical skills and fully equipped shops, it will lose much of what made it interesting -at least for me. Used skeptically, AI gives more of us a chance to remain in the garage and keep uncommon cars on the road. In the end, AI didn’t just show me a roughly $300 path to doing myself a repair that cost $725 at a shop. It showed me what scarce parts were at risk and gave me enough information to weigh the money, the risk, and the limited Vermont driving season for myself. AI will not turn the wrench. But it may cut the bill—and, perhaps more importantly, give an old-car owner options that would not realistically have existed before.
Sidebar: The Imperial Behind the Story
Car: 1968 Imperial Crown Convertible
Engine: 440-cubic-inch Chrysler V8
Transmission: Three-speed TorqueFlite automatic
Seating: Six passengers
Production: 474 convertibles
Historical distinction: Final year of the Imperial convertible
Introduced in 1926 as Chrysler’s flagship luxury model, Imperial became a separate marque within Chrysler Corporation in 1955, positioned directly against Cadillac and Lincoln. That original separate-marque run continued through 1975. The name later returned on a 1981–83 personal-luxury coupe and again on the 1990–93 Chrysler Imperial sedan.
The 1968 car combines shared Chrysler C-body engineering with Imperial-specific body and hardware. Its unusual Budd front disc brakes, originally left-hand-thread driver-side wheel studs, low production, limited reproduction support, and nearly six decades of previous repairs make it an ideal test of what AI can—and cannot—contribute to old-car ownership.
A fascinating read. I hope that AI (and good fortune!) will keep your splendid car on the road for many more years.
David, thanks much. I definitely can use the “good fortune” part as I’m planning to replace the power steering pump and hoses to get rid of endless leaks…and I’m going to try to do it myself!
I’ve tried using A.I. for cross-referencing an automatic transmission that would fit my Suzuki, months ago and for locating a 7 mm reamer needed for knurling valve guides. What was interesting during the more recent search is how A.I. re-arranged my question into its own style of search sentence structure. It did indeed find the reamer. While searching, I could see the reamer brands popping up, taking note for an eventual conventional search, if A.I. were to err. Given that high-quality domestic-made and Japanese reamers were only avilable on a business to business basis here, one was found in neighboring Switzerland, giving me reasonable access to a person to person purchase. When A.I. couldn’t guarantee a tool’s country of origin, it was honest enough to tell me that it was the selling company who claimed that this was the country of manufacture.
Getting back to the automatic transmission I was attempting to match up, A.I. couldn’t say it didn’t know. But perhaps, after months of data collection, actual information might have been fed into its data bank, if A.I. could have gained internal Suzuki document sight. If so, there is hope of using A.I. as a cross-reference table, overriding Suzuki mechanic’s and scrapyard employee’s personal knowledge banks and for cross-referencing all manufacturers’ shared components
Fabulous car.
I’ll acknowledge that it is more hassle, but the LH studs are one of the reasons I’ve left my ’65 Chrysler at home and just taken the wheels to the tire shop.
If you are not aware, “For C Bodies Only” does have an Imperial section with some pretty knowledgeable folks.
Dan, Having gone through this, I agree that your approach is the best; It eliminates the risk to other parts of the car.
Pat’s Mustang’s wheels may not have been left-lugged so the damage wasn’t as destructive, but it was pretty stupid. The Ford had plastic wheel covers (RIP dog-dishes, sigh), including pretend lug nuts. When she got it back TWO of the plastic nut-jokes had been ripped out. The foole had broken one and then put the wrench on another and broken it, too. I wonder if he ever figured it out or if someone else had to stop him.
Sammy, years ago that shop mistake would have struck me as extremely exceptional/unusual. Now not so much! I hope a replacement/reproduction hubcap was found.
Congratulations on a successful repair. Now you have to mark all the studs with R in case it falls into the hands of a mechanic who is knowledgeable about Mopar LH studs.
This, and the ageing out of the old guys who enjoy old cars is why this hobby is in serious decline. I live in a city of a half million people, and there’s nobody locally who can work on my aircooled VW. There are a couple of specialist shops over an hour away but they are expensive and fully booked.
Doug, good point -thanks! I’ll mark them all. BTW, I worked on air-cooled VW’s when young and love them. Great cars that are fun to boot. I watch the youtube channel Mustie1 and enjoy the most when he resurrects what appears to be a hopeless VW engine.
Beautiful car! Pity about the damage – not surprising the mechanic was not aware of the reverse thread, but the lack of communication between service writer and him was disastrous..
AI can definitely be a big help in scouring the web for information, provided it is properly reviewed after. I find it sometimes reports answers using sources about model years different from the one requested, being too eager to answer. But I have no doubt it will be each day more important as overall knowledge about old cars disappears from the larger population
The distance between the service writer and the mechanic can be a real problem. Most shops probably won’t let you talk directly to the mechanic, with a late model car that usually isn’t a problem.But with an antique car, it is. There are lots of things that a knowledgeable owner can advise a mechanic about. Since the service writer probably doesn’t have a deep knowledge of auto mechanics, a lot of things can get lost in the translation. Boy, do I miss my old shop where I could speak directly with the mechanic. I won’t bring my collector car to a tire shop, like you, I’ll just bring the wheels, why can’t those guys use a torque wrench in the wheel lugs?
when my old car needed tires I decided to take the wheels off and take them to the tire shop in the trunk of my daily car, there was no way i wanted them busting a front wheel stud on my ’68 Toronado with discs, to much work taking apart that front end.
This is what I do as well after a tire shop broke all the studs off my Triumph Spitfire. It is a pain but worth it.
The ’68 Toronado is a beautiful car -congrats. Going forward I too will take the wheels to the shop -not the car!
1967 Chrysler Imperial Crown Coupe – Jay Leno’s Garage. Jay has a pristine Imperial that was owned by a top flight old time movie producer that was bought new and kept it until he was 93. He loved the car and bought “two of everything” replacement parts just in case. He sought out Jay as the buyer because he loved the car so much.
Jay likes to help people out and maybe his mechanic can give you tips if not parts. As for the tires, I suspect that if your didn’t do highway speeds for long distances they would have been fine. It seems there are expiration dates on everything for a reason and I suppose tires age far differently depending on climate and how the car is stored. I suspect if your 1968 Imperial becomes a burden for you, Jay would be a great prospect – he loves to pamper great cars like yours.
Davis, thanks -I’ve seen that video. Leno’s ’67 is likely one of the cleanest remaining. I suspect that with his own shop and team of restorers, he has an easier time with repairs….
#1 : I hope the repair is solid and you’re happy with it .
Finding a competent much less honest Mechanic is getting harder daily it seems .
Truth in that the older guys and their knowledge is disappearing, I’m only 70 yet I’ve been the how to information source for old vehicles for many decades now .
I don’t know enough about computers to do the important steps you mentioned, more’s the pity .
Your Imperial is GLORIOUS ! . thank you for sharing it with us .
-Nate
Thanks Nate! RE “Finding a competent much less honest Mechanic is getting harder daily,” that’s turned out to be my experience. I have two shops that I trust: But both will only do basic service items on the Imperial -no repairs (and who can blame them when an old car repair can so easily balloon when dealing with 50+ year-old parts.)
Never thought of using AI as you have. For some reason, I have thought of AI as a modern tool suited only for solving modern problems. Typical “old guy” thought pattern I guess. Anyway, thanks for some AI good tips. Next time I encounter a problem that requires a lot of research into obscure sources of information, I’ll be silently thanking you for the insights.
Thanks Rob -good luck and may you not “encounter a problem that requires a lot of research into obscure sources of information” for many years!
Excellent guide to the changing nature of vintage car repair, maintenance, and finding suitable parts and service. Artificial intelligence, here as elsewhere, is an amazing technology but not without flaws to watch out for.
Your Imperial looks great BTW. The 67-68 models are amongst my favorites from that marque.
Bill, excellent overview of how to intelligently and productively use AI. The Cliff Notes is that AI is a fantastic tool if used critically and carefully…just like any tool. Unfortunately, the widely-held public take on these tools is that they are answer machines. That’s a problem.
Jeff, good point RE sometimes folks placing too much blind faith in AI. There may come a time that they don’t make mistakes -but then I’ll worry that they are too smart and will take our cars for themselves 🙂
Wow, what a nightmare! My 1958 Cadillac and 1962 Imperial both had the left-handed threads on one side. I made sure any mechanic working on the car knew about that. I often write down specific things on paper and hand it to them.
Whatever car service I can do myself I do. I avoid letting a mechanic work on my cars whenever possible. They don’t know about all the little “quirks” to be mindful of–and it’s just too much to explain everything. Luckily I have a good mechanic and a tire shop within walking distance.
I find that “professionals” sometimes don’t listen and don’t like being “lectured to”. I was having new front steps and railing put in, and I said to the workman, “Um, I think those spindles are upside down!” He got indignant–“Let ME do the work, okay?” But then he realized the spindles WERE upside down, and he sheepishly corrected his mistake.
Here’s my new porch steps and railing, with genuine 19th century architectural salvage newel posts–and yes, the spindles are right side up!
Stephen, first, great cars -congrats. RE ” ‘professionals’ sometimes don’t listen and don’t like being ‘lectured to’, I’ve come across this too and wish I had a solution. I like to believe that a skilled and confident mechanic will not take personally an owner sharing obscure useful info that the mechanic has no reason to have learned. But as you correctly note, that’s not the way that it’s always heard. Glad the spindles are on right!
Ugh, what a sinking feeling. The only time I take an old car in to a shop is for tires (sometimes), and since the bays are partially outdoors, I stand with the car and try my best not to give the techs “advice” unless they ask or they’re obviously about to break something. Luckily, they don’t seem to mind, as they’re usually happy to work on something a little different; not to mention, the torque specs in their computer don’t always match the service manuals.
Aaron, good approach. I’m leaning that way more and more.
I worked as a Chrysler service advisor in 2004-2005 and even then, there was only one tech in the shop who knew anything about carburetors. We still had a fair number come in, and that one tech did them all. He was also the only tech in the shop capable of doing front and read ends. He’d
often have fifteen hours on his daily ticket, while less skilled techs struggled to get four.
Canucknucklehead, your experience puts in perspective! Twenty years ago and it was already an issue….
Mopars had those LH threads until about 1970.
Bill I live in Colchester (Malletts Bay) part of the year (Denver the rest), family from VT and used to live year round in Charlotte and Shelburne. Have quite a few connections in the vintage community there (I’ve owned about 25 Mopars 1937 to 1979), and a friend who was former Service Manager at a C-P dealer who also owns the super low mile gold ’67 that was on the cover of Hemmings Classic Car some years ago, super guy on this vintage of early unit-body Imperial. If you wish feel free to reach out at: firesweep “at” verizon “dot” net I’ll be happy to help if I can.
Vermont Proud in Denver.
Randerson
Randerson, Small world -I too am in Colchester, near Malletts Bay (off Williams Road)! Thanks too for the email address; I sent you an email to get your take on the shops based on your long experience.
Nice Imperial; we’ve got to keep ’em running with every tool we can find … AI is a fantastic tool for those of us who keep and maintain old cars … I have three old Mopar’s … a ’65 Newport, a ’70 Plymouth Sport Fury GT, and a ’79 Dodge St. Regis … I have already “consulted” Gemini with specific issues on my cars.
Rand, thanks! Nice group of cars. The ’65 Newport is one of my favorite designs. What trim do you have? It’s my favorite era of Elwood Engel design. Congrats.
I have used AI to diagnose a loose chain sound at 2,000 RPM that has plagued my 1991 Miata for three years. The problem was correctly diagnosed — the Power Plant Frame had not been aligned properly when the transmission was rebuilt. My mistake was taking the alignment specs that AI provided and assumed they were correct. I know better than to fully trust AI, but I did in this instance, and they were off. Another AI search located the correct specs from the Mazda factory service manual, and now I’m just waiting for a friend to have time to take a look at it and align it properly.
I’ll echo the other comments: your Imperial is magnificent!
gdwriter. Thanks! Glad you caught the AI error about the Miata.
Been using AI myself to research jobs on my old VWs. As you say, it helps to have enough basic knowledge to tell when the computer is wrong, but the overall view it gives you is great,. You can also click on the references it gives to go into the secific sites or articles it pulled from.
Labor costs here in the Boston area average about $135/hour, so doing it yourself is the only way to make it viable to drive these old cars daily. There are some jobs I have to pay for though due to limitations in my abilities or tool kit. Then one must find a person who knows old air cooled VeeDubs and their various quirks and has the specialty tools to carry out certain jobs like T2 balljoint replacement. The special tool required for this, a tube with two upstanding parts, costs between $500 and 700(!) on ebay.
Nothing like modern cars though: to change the rear brake pads on our Maserati in the UK a special computer program is needed to wind the adjusters in. Only franchised dealers have this (our local specialist is not allowed) and it recently meant a 3 hour round trip plus waiting time and a big bill just to have this pretty easy job done…
Huey, thanks. Great post. Thanks for sharing it.
Gorgeous rare mopar. Tech was an idiot…!!!
You mean this Tech, Tom? 🙂
Tom, thanks. I’ve had very mixed results at best with that shop. When I was short on time, I had them replace the valve cover gaskets because they were leaking. Result: they both leaked -and so badly the car didn’t pass inspection! But they have a monopoly, and there are enough deep pocket customers willing to pay for the mechanic’s learning curve, and willing to pay for re-work from mistakes, that they do OK as a business.
Thanks for a well thought out and presented article.
Thanks José!
Thank you for this example. Their is great power in AI and you highlighted a point from the good old days of my first computer science class in 1978. An early lesson in programming (asking the computer a question Mr Kean said) was GIGO -Garbage In -Garbage Out.
This has been my challenge using AI, asking the question in the best way to get the best result and honing it down. It ain’t so easy, but as you’ve pointed out the results can be extremely useful for someone who knows the subject matter under question.
Cang, good points -definitely true about GIGO…
If you want the tech who is actually working on the car to have some piece of information, no matter what it is, you need to leave a “love letter” taped to the steering wheel. It doesn’t hurt to leave a box of donuts on the seat too.
For something like the LH lug nuts I would remove the hubcaps, leave them at home and use a bit of masking tape on the wheel to note the LH threads, if you can’t just take the wheels and tires in loose.