INTRODUCTION
After twelve years’ experience with the automobile, I find that only one-third of the present-day owners understand the mechanical operation, care and proper upkeep of their cars; the other two-thirds know little or nothing of their cars, and are unable to locate or detect trouble, or make the slightest adjustment necessary to remedy it. This fact remains as the chief cause of the present high depreciation in cars, and the loss of millions of dollars annually to automobile owners.
After two years of observation and close investigation, I find the vast majority of the present owners are eager to acquire mechanical knowledge, but they have not accomplished their aim, chiefly because the available books to attain that end are too technical, dry, and overdescriptive for the average owner and beginner in mechanics.
The automobile is not an individually constructed piece of machinery, but a combination of individual inventions, each adapted to a functional purpose, which is necessary to the harmony of successful operation. A great many of these mechanical achievements are of delicate construction, and very apt to get out of adjustment. This, however, is not always the case, as grease, dirt and foreign matter with which the various parts come in contact often prevent them from operating properly.
Therefore a little common knowledge of operation and a little care will enable an owner to operate his car successfully, thereby avoiding unnecessary trouble, damage and expense.
One of the chief aims of the writer is to make this book interesting and thorough, in order to hold the reader until he understands the entire contents, after which he should be able to make any necessary repairs and adjustments, or to hold a position as automobile mechanic.
In order to accomplish the foregoing and prevent a student from becoming discouraged we use functional principle as the base for explanation whenever possible.
The instructions set forth in this book are not taken merely from theory, but have been put into successful operation by the writer, who for several years sold cars in outlying districts where garage facilities were limited, and where it was necessary to make a mechanic of every purchaser in order to sustain the high reputation of the car sold. Later on his plan of instructions was used in an automobile school where he was chief instructor, and still later they were developed into a note system which he used in establishing an automobile school in the city of Toledo, Ohio.
The students turned out by this school were very efficient and successful, and finished the course in less than one-half the time usually required for the average automobile course.
This book was written during the twenty months that the writer spent in the U. S. Army, from the note system used in his automobile school.
F. B. S.