Backyard Mechanic

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Backyard Mechanic
by Bob Moore © 2019

I’m a guy of the ‘60’s and ‘70’s, a Ford man, or a Holden or two
we didn’t bother with garages, if the car broke, we knew what to do
We only needed a spanner, a shifter would fit all the nuts
another one for the sparkplugs, and enough room to get at the guts

Two screwdrivers, a straight and a phillips, 
a hammer, in case things were stuck,
a few timely swear words to use on the way, 
time to start now, so wish me good luck

We could fix the transmission, or gearbox, change the tail shaft
or even the diff, we didn’t care if the cars in the air,
we’d crawl under, without wondering “if”

Clean out the carby, so the float would now work,
change all the plugs and the points, check the alt, and the dizzy
the air cleaner too, then you can grease all the joints,

Blowing smoke, then change the head gasket, 
a squeal in the brakes, check the shoes, 
you can change the brake fluid, and hope that will do it, 
glad we didn’t end up on the news

we knew that half of the things that we did
a real mechanic would not try to do,
they were smart and they said, those things would not work, 
but not knowing, they worked fine for you

Those days are gone now forever, the cars talk with data and files
Just diagnostics, and computerised, and not a mechanic for miles

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