I still enjoy both. But, now I only work on my own vehicles. I am incapable of doing it for a living any more. Sometimes, even working on my own is a stretch. I have multiple sclerosis..... a degenerative nerve disease. My right side just doesn't work as well as it once did. I can still do most things, but, not for very long, and if it requires both hands, I need another warm body. It is most certainly an adjustment, but, I have been dealing with it for five years now... so, I am pretty much as comfortable as one can get with it.

And VW, paying for it doesn't count either.

 

A lot of the folks in the industry that's occupied the last 30 years of my life would be pathetic lonely autoerotic dorks even if electrification had never happened... they just wouldn't have an internet from which to acquire pitchers of nekkid people.

That's why I have never, not even when I was in the military, hung out with my cow-orkers.

 

Don't be so jealous.

 

I will say this about learning how to work on cars:

1. You learn the most when you do something and it breaks your car/truck. I learned by putting on high compression heads and a monster cam on my SBC. THe bottom end was not good enough to handle it (ran hot a couple times, and ran it without oil....oil sender line to gauge hit the headers and leaked oil during a road trip). And I blew up the rear end on a launch. I basically junked the car and lost about 8K worth of work/parts.

2. If you do try to make a car/truck a hot rod and performance monster...you will break something. If you wanna play, expect to pay!!!

3. It is pretty hard to mess something up if you are FIXING/REPLACING something mechanical since there are many forums, DIYs and manuals (Haynes/CHiltons) to use.

4. YOu will be limited by tools most of the time, not ability. But there are exceptions. I would not be able to completely rebuild a tranny even if I had every tool. Those require special skills learned at specialized schools. But, there are some things that your average DUY guy can do with transmissions.

5. Don't be afraid, but always plan it will take you an extra day or two. Especially if it is your only means of transportation. I have a motorcycle as alternate trans (actually i drive that for transportation as much as I can). Hence why I have only put 7K on my truck since Jan 2009 (Includes mileage moving from california to arkansas).

6. Start small, build confidence and your toolbox. And BE A PACK RAT. you never know when you will need something, so have a box/foot locker that is dedicated to leftover/spare parts.