[Licensed to kill]

Originally Posted by BRENT in 10-uh-C

I think you have hit the nail squarely on the head! The biggest downfall to videos IMO is it has removed the most valuable tool in the garage. It has eliminated the need for problem solving. For example, if a 'mechanic' finds himself spending an hour watching 3 or 4 videos for someone to show how they did a task, what has that 'mechanic' actually learned? On the other hand, instead of watching videos, if the mechanic went straight to the garage to do the necessary task and spent 30 minutes using learned "problem solving" skills to do the same task, not only is valuable time saved ...but the mechanic has used his most valuable tool, -his brain, to understand the entire mechanism. Experience will always be the best teacher, but if "problem solving" skills are not used frequently, we lose them. IMO, finding an applicable video on YouTube is not really problem solving.

I see it the exact opposite. By that way of looking at it, why go to school to be a mechanic in the first place (as an example). Just learn by trial and error, problem solving by the seat of your pants right from the start. Just don't expect me to pay you to do that on my stuff. My son told me something several months ago that has turned out to be pretty much bang on. He said "you have to do things 3 times before you get it right". I have since been paying attention and that is pretty accurate for things I have never done before. I watch a couple of "how to" or FYI" video's pretty much every day. I installed a TV in my "coffee room" in my shop and at 9:00 and 3:00 most days I stop for a coffee and watch a video. Most are relevant to things I am doing at the time but others are just things that look interesting. I learn something from every single one of them and have noticed that my "problem solving skills" have improved profoundly since i have started watching these videos daily only a few months ago. I personally am grateful to those that take the time to share their knowledge in video.

Something else to ponder, think about how many Model-As were restored 30-50 years ago by hobbyists who did not have YouTube nor Les' book to refer to when they worked on their Model-A. By comparison, think about how many fewer Model-As are being restored today (-or the last decade or so) by hobbyists, -and even how many hobbyists struggle with the simplest of Model-A tasks (-as evidenced by the questions asked on social media and online platforms).

I can't answer to that with any conviction as I was not into these cars 50 years ago. However, In all likelihood, there were a LOT more of these cars around to get parts from and to examine for information as well as, I suspect more people around with intimate knowledge of these cars to glean info from. In the 70's there were many people still around that drove these cars on a daily basis at some point in their life and many that may have bought one new. No so today so where do you find that kind of experienced person from whom you can extract that experience and knowledge??. Not likely locally more most so we turn to forums and youtube videos where the very few can reach the masses with their knowledge. JMO