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Comment by throw1234651234 | Hacker News Reader

I am in the same boat as you - you can't even cut an exhaust pipe off without specialized tools - getting a wheel on something even without any suspension components seem next to impossible.

Maybe I am just mad because swapping out shocks and springs would take me several weekends with full tools and a jack.

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Skepticism is definitely warranted, but the car in question is a Citroen 2CV which is basically the French equivalent of a Volkswagen Beetle. It's pretty much the minimum viable product of automobiles and quite amenable to DIY. Honestly, all the supply chain shocks of recent times have turned me into one of those old greybeards who waxes nostalgic for cars like this (except for their safety records).

If you haven't seen the Mythbusters episode, you may want to track it down. IIRC they also limited themselves to a reasonable selection of tools on hand, they didn't assume they had their full shop.

There are various unusual things about this particular car that make it at least hover on the edge of plausibility, rather than being a completely absurd idea as it would be for most models. As the article said, they did fail, but it's not too hard to believe they could have figured something out that would have at least been faster than walking if they had a bit more time (and by that I mean a few more hours, not a few more weeks). The Mythbusters did a lot of interesting things but where a normal scientist is driven mercilessly by grants, the Mythbusters were always driven mercilessly by TV production schedules.

Working on a (relatively modern) Japanese car after only having dealt with ‘60s and 70’s British vehicles was a revelation. Standardised sizes and parts that actually fitted together. So great.

That's my experience of going from a German car to a Honda. I can take the Honda apart with a screw driver and a 6-19 wrench set and very little else. I required one hex wrench when taking off the whole front of the car.

German cars tend to have a bunch of hex and star wrench requirements, in addition to specialized tools for certain parts.

On the other hand, older cars did mostly have way more space in the engine bay.

Space and Hondas: I took some skin off my right hand and fingers the last time I replaced a headlight on one--I had to get in behind the gravel shield.

My father used to tell a story of changing a water pump in his car when he was wearing a tuxedo--and not messing it up. Good luck doing that these days!

What car was it?

No idea, but I believe that was back in the 40s.

That's one reason why I drive a pickup truck, they're easier to work on than cars since there's more space everywhere, even on the smaller old trucks.

Definitely in older trucks.

Is this true in new trucks? Half the time it seems maintenance begins with removing the cab and removing the truck from the engine.

They're still a lot better than cars. In trucks you usually need to pull the cab for convenience. In cars you often need to drop the engine in order to do the repair at all. Some things (like a rear valve cover on a transverse v6) often don't have clearance to come off.

Realistically it doesn't really matter because it's easier to optimize for not breaking shit or fixing it before is strands you.

Miatas are pretty underrated in that regard - on the 1st gen (~1990) you can reach about everything without taking anything else of. Jobs that would take days (or hours in shop setting) to do on other cars take under 30 mins on the Miata. Notable examples are starter and brake booster - they are "right there", with a ton of space. You can't even get to the spark plugs easily on a lot of cars these days. (heh, "these days", now I sound old)

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