Private garages commonly have some equipment for making minor adjustments and small repairs, and chauffeurs are expected to keep their automobiles in good running order. Public garages, which in many cases are maintained in connection with automobile sales agencies, often employ several general repair men, and sometimes employ starting, lighting, and ignition specialists.
The repair shops are established principally for the purpose of repairing and rebuilding all types of cars with their parts and accessories. They offer a large field of employment for repairmen and experts.
Service stations, often referred to as oil and gasoline filling stations, include shops where special types of work are done. They may be classified as battery, speedometer, ignition, starting and lighting, and tire-service stations. Many men, if they have been trained, find employment in these places.
Chauffeurs and truck drivers find employment in both private and public service—chauffeurs in driving taxicabs and private pleasure automobiles; and drivers in the operation of light and heavy delivery trucks for retail and wholesale houses, and also in hauling materials for road and building construction, farm produce, and manufactured products.
Automobile plants and garages employ men as testers in the working out of new cars, and for the purpose of locating and determining trouble when a car is not working properly.
Finally, men with a knowledge of automobiles, parts, accessories, and equipment can find employment as salesmen in garages, sales agencies, and retail and wholesale stores.
PLAN No. 1152. AUTOMOBILE REPAIR-SHOP WORK
The Occupation
Repair-shop work consists in overhauling, adjusting, and repairing all types of motor cars and their parts. In the small garages where only a few men, often only one, are employed the mechanic must handle all kinds of work. Some large garages, as has been noted, employ specialists, and in many localities there are service and repair shops maintained especially for this work.
Oxy-acetylene welding, a trade separate and apart from repair work, which is used to a very large extent in the repairing and building up of broken castings and forgings in automobile repair shops, is taken up in another monograph.