Auto Mechanics Studies in Industry and Society Philip B. Scranton, Series Editor Published with the assistance of the Hagley Museum and Library Related titles in the series: Mark Aldrich, Safety First: Technology, Labor, and Business in the Building of American Work Safety, 1870–1939 John K. Brown, The Baldwin Locomotive Works, 1831–1915: A Study in American Industrial Practice Thomas R. Heinrich, Ships for the Seven Seas: Philadelphia Shipbuilding in the Age of Industrial Capitalism David Hounshell, From the American System to Mass Production, 1800–1932 The Development of Manufacturing Technology in the United States Thomas A. Kinney, The Carriage Trade: Making Horse-Drawn Vehicles in America Auto Mechanics Technology and Expertise in Twentieth-Century America kevin l. borg The Johns Hopkins University Press Baltimore © 2007 The Johns Hopkins University Press All rights reserved. Published 2007 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper 2 4 6 8 9 7 5 3 1 The Johns Hopkins University Press 2715 North Charles Street Baltimore, Maryland 21218-4363 www.press.jhu.edu Borg, Kevin L. Auto mechanics: technology and expertise in twentieth-century America / Kevin L. Borg. p. cm. — (Studies in industry and society) Developed from author’s dissertation for the Hagley Program in the History of Industrialization, University of Delaware. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-8018-8606-5 (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-8018-8606-6 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Automobile repair shops—United States. 2. Automobile industry and trade— Social aspects—United States. 3. Automobile mechanics—United States. 4. Automobiles—United States—Maintenance and repair. I. Title. TL153.B667 2007 338.4ʹ762928720973—dc22 2006030071 A catalog record for this book is available from the British Library. contents Acknowledgments vii Introduction Technology’s Middle Ground 1 1 The Problem with Chauffeur-Mechanics 13 2 Ad Hoc Mechanics 31 3 Creating New Mechanics 53 4 The Automobile in Public Education 76 5 Tinkering with Sociotechnical Hierarchies 99 6 Suburban Paradox: Maintaining Automobility in the Postwar Decades 115 7 “Check Engine”: Technology of Distrust 138 Conclusion Servants or Savants? Revaluing the Middle Ground 170 Notes 179 Essay on Sources 235 Index 243 Illustrations follow page 98 This page intentionally left blank acknowledgments I must break with the usual academic acknowledgments format and recognize up front the significant contributions of my spouse and partner, Jere Borg. Through- out this book’s decade-long gestation she has been a patient listener and my most reliable editor. She has read and commented on draft upon draft of every section of every chapter—sacrificing time, emotional energy, and sleep beyond what ei- ther of us had anticipated when we began our life journey together. To her I owe a personal and professional debt that I can never repay, though I vow to make the effort for the remainder of my days. Over the course of many years the research presented here has profited from the help of far too many individuals to recount in detail. Some of them stand out, however, and must be thanked publicly. Ron Tobey’s remarkable undergraduate teaching ignited my interest in the history of science and technology and set me on this exciting, if uncertain, path. This book grew out of my graduate studies in the Hagley Program in the History of Industrialization at the University of Delaware. The financial support and intellectual climate of the Hagley Program and the Department of History provided a fertile bed for inquiry and growth. There Arwen Mohun directed my doctoral work and supported my unorthodox research topic from its inception in one of her graduate writing seminars un- til long after her official responsibilities had been fulfilled. She always allowed me enough freedom to pursue my own ideas and sources with just enough “di- recting” to maintain a viable research project. In addition, George Basalla, Reed Gieger, Roger Horowitz, Bill Leslie, John Staudenmaier, and Susan Strasser each read my early research, in whole or in part, and offered valuable suggestions, sources, and literature that enriched my thinking, my research, and my writing. Historian Steve McIntyre contributed doubly to this project. First, by plowing a research path into the auto repair industry through his earlier dissertation on the viii Acknowledgments topic and, second, by sharing his research photocopies, his friendship, and many conversations about auto repair research topics. Phil Scranton has been the most helpful and patient editor I could have hoped for. His initial critique of my earliest work on this topic while I was a young graduate student was transformative, and his fertile mind has been a constant inspiration. His sharp editor’s pen has urged me toward better writing, and his unfailing support has been crucial to bringing this book to completion. My colleagues at James Madison University—David Eh- renpreis, Fletcher Linder, Mark Thomas, and Steve Reich—have also read parts of my research and helped me sharpen my thinking and presentation. Financial and institutional support for this project has come from the Uni- versity of Delaware and the Hagley Museum and Library in the form of a Hagley Fellowship in the History of Industrialization as well as supplemental fellowship and travel funding. A Smithsonian Institution Predoctoral Fellowship supported four months of research in the National Museum of American History’s Trans- portation Collection, Trade Catalog Collection and Archives Center. A Clark Re- search Grant from the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village allowed me to travel to and use that fine collection. The History Department at University of California, Riverside (UCR), my undergraduate alma mater, granted me Visiting Researcher status while I was researching and writing in California. The Interli- brary Loan staffs of UCR’s Rivera Library and James Madison University’s Car- rier Library have graciously and politely fulfilled my requests for old, hard-bound trade journals, obscure auto repair books, and other diverse resources. My home institution, James Madison University, has supported the dissertation-to-book research through an Edna T. Schaeffer Humanist Award. The Society for the History of Technology (SHOT) contributed a much-needed boost to this book project through the SHOT Writing and Publication Workshop at Woods Hole, Massachusetts, in the summer of 2004. There I gained valuable insights into advanced writing for a general audience from professional writers and editors as well as specific critiques and advice on a portion of this book from Tom Jehn, Larry Cohen, Rosalind Williams and fellow participants Gwen Bingle, Vera Can- diani, Maja Fjaestad, Maril Hazlett, Per Hogselius, Anders Houltz, Helen Wat- kins, Matt Wisnioski, Timothy Wolters, and Shana Worthen. This book, while far from perfect, is immensely better due to revisions I made in response to my many critics and supporters. Despite all of this expert guidance and help, flaws remain and are mine alone. Auto Mechanics