Forward Thinking

I get it, I really do. I'm an engineer and sometimes I'm guilty of it myself. You're in a rush, you just want it to work, maybe it's a prototype and you'll fix it in the final version. But it never happens. The final version is just the prototype with a liberal coating of Spackle.

Life would be so much easier if people planned their products to be maintainable. That's all I want. Nothing dramatic. Just spend a little time up front so when things don't go quite right your customers have a chance to figure it out.

For instance, don't follow the lead of the 2000 Monte Carlo SS. Lifting the engine to change a spark plug? Did Chevy not think a spark plug would need to be replaced? Odd, it's listed in the manual as regular maintenance.

I'll admit that my current context isn't nearly as egregious as that. I am dealing with a car that's 35 years old. And it's British. And it was built in a factory made famous for labor strife. But things shouldn't be this hard. I shouldn't have to spend an hour (plus a trip to Sears for tools) to remount one interior door handle.

On the plus side, I did take it out for a very short spin and it's quite nice.

(A little online research shows that the MC SS isn't alone in requiring major work to get at all the plugs. What is this world coming to?)