How many mechs here? Poll

[John]

How many of us/you are or have been a mechanic, as a profession?
I have been getting paid to twist a wrench on airline ground support equipment since '77.

[John]

How 'bout...

After you do the poll, you give a little description of what you work on?

[GNEPIG]

.. i have been a motorcycle mechanic since 96. the pay is not great but the experiance is priceless
but sometimes
i wish i was still a drywall hanger, the pay was way better and i was the boss
.. after working on everyone elses sh!t all day every day it's hard to go out in the garage and work on my own bikes.
i guess it would be the same if i worked in an icecream shop.
..i wonder if it would be the same if i worked at a t!tty bar?!
but i love t!tties, i wont make that hobby into my job.
hmmmm, but just what experiances would one have working at a t!tty bar?. or maybe a gynecologist

[madbiker]

What do you consider a mech, because I'm a mechanic in my trade as a carpenter?
Ralph

[Hobbit]

Mech

I worked with my Dad (REO truck mechanic) when I was a kid. Then I got and Associate degree in Automotive Technology and worked as a SAAB tech for quite a few years. Then I started teaching auto mech at the high school and college level, while working in an import shop evenings.
For the last 20 years I have been a Technical Trainer for Mercedes-Benz of North America. I still get to work with cars, but not exactly on them.

[prometheus578]

Built and raced stock cars for a few years. Spent a few years in the Mechanized Infantry... does that count? (Why walk when you can ride... Why fight when you can hide) That wasn't abusive enough for my body, so I decided to punish myself further in the Light Infantry.
Retired, went to Motorcycle/small engine school... and here I are.
Working at a Ye Olde Kawasaki Shoppe.

[webbcraft2150]

Usta wrench on boats. I have gotten use to haveing all the skin on my knuckles and all my finger nails the same color . So now what do I do, wrench on my own bike and boat!! At least I don't have a service manager breathing down my neck.

[TopCatGr58]

I'm just a shadetree mechanic, had 1 semester of auto shop in highschool, then cut my teeth on my old 69 firebird, learning how to do basic tuneups, and minor repairs, and then more major repairs, into a complete engine rebuild, also helped friend rebuild a 4 cyl. Nissan, another friends Dodge V-8, and the topend big bore kit on my XS11, plus other little things!

[Ken Talbot]

My formal qualifications also amount to one semester of power mechanics in junior high school, and that was 35 or so years ago. As a career public servant, wrenching has always been a sideline, but I've managed to pick one or two things over the years....

[lsippell]

I worked off and on, when I was younger, as an auto mechanic but ended up as an auto body tech. Then I got a wild hair and decided to be an airframe and power plant tech. Three years later, with a new mechanics certificate and a FCC General Radiotelephone Certificate (spent 1 of the 3 years in avionics classes) I went to work as a Rig Electrician on an offshore oil rig. The money was a H--L of a lot better than any I could earn as a aircraft mechanic. And I only worked 2 weeks on with 2 weeks off.

Now, all I 'mechanic' on is my XJ, my oldest boys Virago and our Subaru.

Louis.

[graybird78]

learned to wrench with my dad.one of the very few things he taught me.have been wrenching full time for the last 15 yrs. work in a full service gas station. you name it we have probrably worked on it. we do it all.just today did a clutch on a subaru, and a heater box on a ford explorer. o what fun!

[xswilly]

I've been a toolmaker/machinist for 28 years
grew up in the country, working on my own cars and truck & bikes

does that qualify?

[jetmechmarty]

Do I need to elaborate?

(Heavy jet transports)

[DiverRay]

My dad and grandfather were both mechanics. I went to Arizona Automotive Institute in the early '70's. I worked at gas stations and a transmission shop. When I got out of the army in '75, I worked as a truck driver, and as a parts person. I worked for a Yamaha dealer in late '78 and '79. I did a LOT of work on my own XS1100 at the time.
I now work in the electronics industry, but I supported myself and my son as a mechanic for two years while "unemployed" after the Telco meltdown cost me my field seervice engineer job.
Ray

[Glarusguy]

not a tech but...

I was a service manager/writer for a little while. When things got slow I would turn wrenches too. Webb...Try having the owner breathing down yer neck. Fortunately we all got along. I just couldn't handle being behind a desk all day. Now I get to haul a Nascar car around for show, and work on it when things break. Professional mechanic really just means you get paid for doing it.