One of my first memories is rebuilding a car engine with my father and older brother. I don´t remember what kind of car it was, or how old I was. I remember that we had a lot of parts left over and that my father was more worried than my brother, probably because it was dads car. It took us a week but it worked when we were done and that´s what mattered.

My name is Charlie Vetter and I am here to help you understand that collection of steel, plastic and rubber in your garage that you call a car. I have made a living out of a toolbox for over 30 years. Throughout my life, I have worked as a mechanic, a machinist, a mechanical engineer and currently as a design engineer. I have repaired, manufactured, engineered and designed every type of vechicle from skateboards to fighter jets. Including a gig working on concept cars in the California design studios of Dodge Chrysler Motors now also known as Daimler Chrysler.

I can help you find the right car for you. How to buy it once you do. How to maintain it to keep it new, and how to get rid of it once your through. I can teach you to drive it like you stole it and then go around a turn before you roll it.

Seriously...

One of the largest investments that we make is buying a car but it doesn´t end there. We need to maintain it, clean it, fix it and some of us even feel the need to modify it. Usually before it´s even paid for we start the entire process over with a new one. People spend a large portion of their life earnings on various vechicles. Yet most people don´t know what the lights on their dash mean.

I hope to make this a little bit different because in this series of articles I will demistify the automobile for you, take it apart and then put it all back together. I make a every effort to explain how it all works in an easy to understand manner. I have a lifetime of experience repairing, racing and testing cars and car products and like everyone else; I have bought and sold more cars than I can remember.

I will also include tips on safety and maintenance plus how to drive defensively and safely. If you have specific questions for me, I will try to answer as many as I can, if enough people ask the same question it will probably spawn a new article.

Please understand that due to the complexity of todays cars it is nearly impossible to accurately diagnose your car based solely on the symptoms that you are describing to me in an email. The best that I can do is to give you a range of possibilites or things that need to be checked. I do not work for a car manufacturer or sell cars or car products. I also do not work in a garage and I don´t own a shop of my own. So no, you cannot bring your car over...

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