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Problem children

Alpine 1789

SAOCA President
Diamond Level Sponsor
In another thread (http://forum.sunbeamalpine.org/index.php?threads/oil-pressure-gauge-seal.28549/page-2#post-202106), Jim Jordan posted:

...took my Mickey Mouse watch apart in first grade and it was sent home in an envelope.

I didn't want to hijack his thread, so I decided to start a new one here. I was like Jim as a child and took everything I could apart. Clocks were one of my favorites, but I was also big on transistor radios. I would frequently pretend or find some reason why I thought things were broken, so I could rationalize my destruction as an attempted repair. And, of course, if anything did actually break then it immediately went under my "knife." (I was fortunate in that my father was a small appliance distributor, so no one got too upset over my destruction.) Everyone always said "Jimmy is going to be an engineer" but I didn't know what an engineer was and assumed they thought I was going to drive a train. I didn't understand the connection but driving a train seemed pretty cool so I didn't question it. I have often wondered if my life would have been different if someone had told me what an engineer did.

Anyway, reading Jim's comment made me wonder how many of us are like that. Did you take things apart too?
 

Alpine 1789

SAOCA President
Diamond Level Sponsor
Sadly, where wasn't a lot of demand for them when I graduated college in 1974. So I stayed in school for another 10 years and then spent my career in Marketing Research. And, moved from taking clocks apart to taking Alpines apart. But, I also learned to put them back together. And, with the help of this club, I'm still learning!
 

mikephillips

Donation Time
I got the first Alpine at near 17 back in 74. In a small rural environment I had to learn my own repairs since the local mechanics would just laugh at me when I asked about stuff. Found in the process of it I didn't find it hard to understand or to figure out fixes. Granted there were a fair share of bodges in those days due to not having the net to find parts/advice as well as teenage cash flow. But now here over 45 years later, I do everything that doesn't require a machine shop. Maybe not to a professional shop standard, but I can say I did it myself.
 

Mike O'D

Gold Level Sponsor
I loved taking things apart and fixing them as a kid, and still do. I did become an engineer. I design burners, heat exchangers and other components for the gas appliance industry. I get to play with fire for a living - what could be better than that!
 

Fergusonic

Donation Time
As a child I would always take apart my toys to see what made them tick and not be able to put them back together again. My parents would ask about how the toy was apart..... I would always reply, "It just fell apart" ! And then came cars.
 

Bill Blue

Platinum Level Sponsor
As a kid I pretty much left things toys and such be. My big thing was to make things, and as I got older, improve how things work. Its amazing how little I've changed over seven decades. I think most of us are that way, we just rechannel our interests.

I wish I had gained the ability to make things look good, but it is not to be. But then if I could rebuild/improve stuff and make it look good, you would probably confuse me with Toyanvil.
 

Alpine 1789

SAOCA President
Diamond Level Sponsor
Remember Mr. Machine? My younger brother got one for Christmas c1961. He would have been about 5 at the time; I was 9. I told him they were meant to be taken apart and promptly (i.e. Christmas morning) dismantled it, never to get it back together. He still hasn’t forgiven me, even though I bought him a new one for Christmas in 1978 when he was 22. They’d changed the design by then and the case was riveted together. No more dismantling by older brothers!
 

MikeH

Diamond Level Sponsor
Started out with Erector Sets and putting things together. Then I started taking everything apart. I took my bicycle apart including the coaster brake rear hub. Those brakes never did work again. One thing I regret taking apart was part of a scope from a tank. My grandfather had it from WWII. I think it was part of a range finder. Then I got a Cushman motor scooter and took it apart and put it back together. Also took wind up clocks apart.
 

Aladin Sane

Diamond Level Sponsor
I also always took thing apart. I did go on to become a chemical engineer. In high school, I was very good and science and math. I asked a councilor what I could do with that. I was told I could be an engineer. I asked which ones were paid the most. I was told chemical, and I never looked back.

In addition to working on cars, I am an amature watch maker. I have "made" a number of my own wristwatches. How I build a watch is similar to how some of us build cars. I take parts and put them all together and enjoy a unique finished project.

When I interview young engineers for a job, I always ask if they took everything apart as a child. If not, the interview is pretty much done.
 

Alpine 1789

SAOCA President
Diamond Level Sponsor
I love the video. Maybe that is why no one encouraged me.

I always thought the problem with being an engineer was that you had to know that is what you wanted to do when you started college. I had no idea and was a liberal arts - later psychology - major. Plus, as I recall, there was a glut of engineers in 1970 when I started. I remember hearing stories on the news about engineers driving cabs and couldn't imagine why anyone would want to train for a career with no job prospects upon graduation. Of course, that completely changed by the time I graduated college, but what does an 18 year old know?

I took a course in psychological testing my junior year and one of the tests we reviewed was an engineering aptitude test. There were about 50 students in the class and we all took the test. I had the highest score in the class, It is a shame I was never given that test in high school but I have no complaints about my chosen career and now I get to work on cars and hang out with engineers here! So, it all worked out in the end.
 
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