A Woman’s Guide to Fixing the Car
Weissler and Weissler
1973
I will bet everyone looked at this cover and without even reading the title and thought: this is a book for the ladies. See the bright pink and purple? That mean it is for the gals. We wouldn’t want them to have to use one of those big heavy, complicated Chilton’s manuals. You can’t truly be a liberated lady without understanding your car. My favorite part is poor Arleen who is a co-author, but look at her mention on the inside flaps. Arleen is reduced to a sentence. I bet she didn’t get paid the same for her contribution to the book.
Content wise, I actually thought this was a pretty good for car basics, regardless of one’s gender. Of course cars were a lot simpler in the old days, but the text and the diagrams are pretty good for basics. Today’s more complicated assembly and sophisticated electronics makes DIY auto repair more difficult than the old days. Time to weed.
Mary
Proofreader says no: The four to eleven inch mechanic on page 130.
Good catch! They put a dash instead of the apostrophe that should have gone there.
Double prime instead of single prime (four foot, eleven inch).
I know so many women who are competent at fixing cars, whereas i’m not at all.
Justice for Arleen! Her name is first on the cover and yet she was shafted (heh) in the author bio.
“I will bet everyone looked at this cover and without even reading the title and thought: this is a book for the ladies”
I looked at the blue, purple, and pink, and thought “this is a book for bisexual people” (ref https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisexual_pride_flag), but I can see how that might not be the first place everyone’s mind goes.