Hace aproximadamente 15 años mi abuelo tenia una Chevrolet K10 muy parecida a la de la imagen de arriba, recuerdo el mismo azul profundo y la hermosa linea que recorria toda la carroceria, un poco mas baja y golpeada tal vez, pero igual de fuerte y representativa de la marca. Eso es algo que yo no entendia para ese entonces, frases como "ese carro es una bestia" o "nada mejor que carro viejo", yo no lo entendia porque esteticamente no estaba bien cuidada, si, funcionaba bien, pero para ese entonces era muy raro tener algun vehiculo que no lo hiciera, al menos no en el pueblo donde me crié.
About 15 years ago my grandfather had a Chevrolet K10 very similar to the one in the image above, I remember the same deep blue and the beautiful line that ran through the entire body, a little lower and maybe beaten, but just as strong and representative Of the brand. That is something that I did not understand at that time, phrases like "that car is a beast" or "nothing better than an old car", I did not understand it because aesthetically it was not well cared for, yes, it worked well, but by then it was very rare to have a vehicle that does not, at least not in the town where I grew up.
La realidad es que mi conocimiento al respecto era bastante poco, lo mas cercano a desarmar un auto era romper mis carros a control remoto para ver que tenian por dentro, me resultaba bastante interesante ir sacando pieza por pieza y descubrir como funcionaba casa cosa, me pasionaba ver los pequeños sistemas de suspension que tenian e intentaba entender como funcionaba el circuito electrico.
The reality is that my knowledge about it was quite little, the closest thing to disassembling a car was breaking my remote control cars to see what they had inside, it was quite interesting to me to take out piece by piece and discover how each thing worked. I was passionate about seeing the small suspension systems they had and trying to understand how the electrical circuit worked.
El premio de romper todo, era llegar a esto, el corazon de la bestia, un pequeño motor de 9 voltios alimentado por 3 baterias AA, otra cosa que yo no entendia para ese entonces es que esa pequeña caja de engranes, era ni mas ni menos que una caja reductora de velocidad. Mucho menos imaginaba que hoy en dia me iba a apasionar tanto los calculos matematicos que su estudio conlleva, no tenia ni idea de la Fisica aplicada que tenia ante mis ojos, simplemente me resultaba divertido tener el pequeño motor en mi mano y alimentarlo directamente de una de las baterias, me sentia un ingeniero en toda regla.
The prize of breaking everything, was to get to this, the heart of the beast, a small 9-volt motor powered by 3 AA batteries, another thing that I did not understand at that time is that that little gearbox was neither more nor less than a gearbox. Much less did I imagine that today I was going to be so passionate about the mathematical calculations that its study entails, I had no idea of the applied Physics that I had before my eyes, it was simply fun to have the small motor in my hand and feed it directly from a of the batteries, I felt like a full-fledged engineer.
Volviendo a la camioneta del abuelo, poco a poco fuí creciendo y me fueron dando mas responsabilidades, creo que todos empezamos siendo el que debe darse cuenta que el deposito del agua esté lleno, luego somos ascendidos a supervisor de aceite y con los años a ser el que gire la llave mientras el dueño, en este caso mi abuelo, movia cables en el motor de arranque o cambiaba la bateria porque el alternador no estaba cargando la que tenia puesto. Creo que para los simples mortales, cuyo conocimiento de mecanica automotriz es bastante basico, la responsabilidad mas grande que llegamos a tener es cuando nos piden colocar el gato hidraulico para cambiar una neumatico, eso debo admitir que aun hoy en dia con carros modernos que literalmente tienen una flecha que dice "apoyarlo aqui", sigue dando mucho miedo.
Going back to my grandfather's truck, little by little I grew up and they gave me more responsibilities, I think we all started being the one who must realize that the water tank is full, then we are promoted to oil supervisor and over the years to be The one that turns the key while the owner, in this case my grandfather, moved cables in the starter motor or changed the battery because the alternator was not charging the one that was in place. I think that for mere mortals, whose knowledge of automotive mechanics is quite basic, the greatest responsibility that we come to have is when they ask us to place the hydraulic jack to change a tire, that I must admit that even today with modern cars that literally They have an arrow that says "support it here", it is still very scary.
Eventualmente con el paso de los años, fuimos evolucionando y la vieja K10 que utilizabamos para llevar tanques de agua de un lado a otro dejó de ser util, se vendió y llegó la Jeep Grand Wagoneer, otro auto viejo. En este caso supe apreciar mas la originalidad, aun hoy valoro mucho la contruccion y diseño de su interior, para mi, uno de los mas comodos en los que he estado, una direccion particularmente suave y una caja de cambio con desarrollos perfectos, si bien no soy amante de las cajas automaticas, esta era bastante sorprendente, tenia mucha suavidad a bajas revoluciones y mucho empuje al pisar a fondo.
Eventually over the years, we evolved and the old K10 that we used to carry water tanks from one place to another was no longer useful, it was sold and the Jeep Grand Wagoneer, another old car, arrived. In this case I knew how to appreciate originality more, even today I highly value the construction and design of its interior, for me, one of the most comfortable in which I have been, a particularly smooth steering and a gearbox with perfect developments, although I am not a lover of automatic boxes, this was quite surprising, it had a lot of smoothness at low revs and a lot of thrust when stepping on the ground.
Pensandolo en retrospectiva, mi historia con la mecanica ha sido bastante extensa, pero bastante basica, he sido siempre el que ayuda a hacer las cosas y no el que las hace. Algo que si he hecho, es entender esas frases que decian sobre carros viejos, en este caso ni la K10 ni la Jeep nos dejaron a mitad de carretera, si bien tenian fallas eventualmente, eran incapaces de apagarse y si alguna vez llegaron a hacerlo la solucion se volvia tan simple como acelerar a fondo mientras girabas la llave y un fuerte rugido del motor solocionaba todo, parecia un grito de batalla del motor a las demas piezas "AUN NOS FALTA CAMINO ¡AGUANTEN!", como si de aclarar la garganta se tratase. Se que los nuevos modelos son mas fiables, mas seguros y mas eficientes, pero cualquiera puede decir y asegurar, que los autos viejos tienen alma, crean una conexion organica entre piloto y maquina, un sentimiendo de familiaridad y una comunicacion intrincica donde el auto te pide que no lo abandones, ni lo dejes de usar a cambio de no fallarte y nunca dejar a tu familia a la orilla de la carretera.
Thinking back, my history with mechanics has been quite extensive, but quite basic, I have always been the one who helps to do things and not the one who does them. Something that I have done is to understand those phrases that they said about old cars, in this case neither the K10 nor the Jeep left us in the middle of the road, although they eventually had faults, they were unable to turn off and if they ever did. The solution became as simple as full throttle while you turned the key and a loud roar of the engine alone everything, it seemed like a battle cry from the engine to the other parts "WE STILL MISSING THE ROAD, HOLD ON!", as if clearing your throat it was. I know that the new models are more reliable, safer and more efficient, but anyone can say and assure that old cars have a soul, they create an organic connection between driver and machine, a feeling of familiarity and an intricate communication where the car ask that you do not abandon it, or stop using it in exchange for not failing you and never leaving your family on the side of the road.
Thank you for reading | Gracias por leer.