I haven't travelled extensively overseas, I'm not the world traveling type.
I think lots of people can do the same things in the right circumstances, but some countries and some societies aren't set up fpr us Gearheads, they don't have this huge culture of Pep Boys, Craftsman tools, Mig Welders at the Home Depot, Junkyards and Intenet sights.
I have heard that some Scandinavian and European countires do this too, but I always thought that this was some off shoot of Yankee inventiveness and American ingenuity and can do.
I do know in some nations the land, culture and environment are packed real tight, I mean how could you be a motorhead in downtown Manhattan. Likewise they don't do this in Hong Kong, Singapore and many Asian countries. Nor do they do it in Switzerland or Holland. They just buy their cars and trade them in but no one goes under the hood or jacks their car up at night aftter work and their are no autosupply stores..
Does anyone have any ideas about this? I watched my neighbor, who normally isnt a technical type, or a carpenter, once add a room on to his house, didnt seem the tools type, and he did astounding work, it was amazing. Maybe thats ome thing hiding in Yankee blood.

I can't speak for Europe, but in England, tinkering with your motors is considered sporting! Because of space limitations, motor parts stores are on the internet and some Capitalist ingenuity would flourish well in some areas.

Just about everywhere I have traveled, I would say that people work on cars. Its each persons way of saving money on something that is a necessary evil ( cars ).
I've traveled all over Europe, Africa ( northern part ), the Mideast, Australia and Central America.
Actually the amount of Gearheads out there is not as many as you may think. People don't have the knowledge or desire to do it. The same with houses. Some people don't know which end of the screwdriver to hit the nail with.

Dave

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1970 220D, owned 1980-1990
1980 240D, owned 1990-1992
1982 300TD, owned 1992-1993
1986 300SDL, owned 1993-2004
1999 E300, owned 1999-2003
1982 300TD, 213,880mi, owned since Nov 18, 1991- Aug 4, 2010 SOLD
1988 560SL, 100,000mi, owned since 1995
1965 Mustang Fastback Mileage Unknown(My sons)
1983 240D, 176,000mi (My daughers) owned since 2004
2007 Honda Accord EX-L I4 auto, the new daily driver
1985 300D 264,000mi Son's new daily driver.(sold)
2008 Hyundai Tiberon. Daughters new car

Regardless its got to be in your Soul...I mean I look at ii this way, I'm frugal but I belive myself to be ingenious and resourceful and inventive, but beyond that I love Cars and the smell of gas, diesel oil and paint, I'm comfortable with smashed hands and fingers and gashed arms, and all the dirt, and I can go on under some pretty bad physically exhausting conditions like rain and ice or heat and the sun, and finallY i am never happier and more peaceful than when fixing my Cars

I gotta agree with that 100%.
I feel when I look down at (usually) my arms and hands, and at the moment one of them is bandaged from a weatherstripping cutting project gone wrong, and the scars, cuts and scrapes, I look back and remember, oh I got that when I was working on this, or that happened when I installed that. I see it as my own personal sign of accomplishment. I love being out under the car when the weathers not the best, people drive by and look at me like I'm a fool, but I just laugh as they drive in a car that is only going to be fixed by the warranty department. The people who put blood sweat and tears into what they drive, to me have a lot more character, and there cars seem to be personal pieces of work, not just a cookie cutter piece of machinery.
-Zach

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1978 240D Auomatic
Custom Charcoal Gray, Navy MB tex, kenwood/Elemental/Boston/Aura sound,
Shaved antenna and emblems.

1990 Lincoln Town Car, Sleeper/Strip car in progress, 17.75@77mph.

When on vacation in Norway a few years back, I'd arranged to meet a fellow from a Mercedes internet forum who owned a 420SEC, and while he worked for a Computer Criminal Identification systems company, he was a real gearhead.

In his garage at home, his 420SEC was torn down for engine work, exhaust fabrication and other work. He also had a 1973 Ford Mustang 429ci Mach I in there, and an old Volvo PV544 (think of a 1940 Ford) that were in the stable, and being fixed up.

Treated us to a home cooked fish dinner, and gave is a tour all over Oslo in his old beaten up Ford Escort. Luckily I was able to return the favor when he came to San Francisco on business, later on.

In my travels to Peru it was another matter entirely, as cars are kept alive as a matter of grim necessity. I saw some really ancient old stuff, running, it was unbelievable. Stuff like a '55 Dodge Panel truck tilted over with Peruvians hanging off the sides, old Studebaker Larks, Rambler Classics, Lada Niva 4wd, '61 Toyopet Crown sedans, DKW coupes, Opel Admiral sedans from the 50's, 1946 Ford, old 1966 Chevy Bel Air, 1966 Ford Custom 500 cars, that looked like
retired cabs, 1967-78 Dodge Coronet/Monaco sedans that were CKD cars assembled in Lima and still running, old VW bugs from Brazil, a '70 MB 250C, a heckflosse MB 190 taxi, and other old cars. Like Cuba, but even more diverse.

Buses were old city buses and minibuses that had failed the safety/emissions tests in Japan and shipped over by the boatload and pressed into service without even bothering to erase the Japanese writing on them.

Used Auto parts were sold in open air, flea market bazaars, and body shops were pretty unknown. Repaint jobs on a car were dipping brush in house paint and attacking the car with a paintbrush, broadside on. Insurance? hahaha

Took a ride from Lima in a mint 1966 Olds F85 sedan with green brocade seats powered by a Nissan diesel engine.

I saw one of the Petrolero's (hybrid that ran on a mixture of gasoline and kerosine, a battered '57 Chevy sedan) that belched huge, gaseous, clouds of oily black smoke. Lima is unbelievable, the pollution. You'd have to wash the soot daily out of your hair, see the black soot go down the drain in the sink at your hotel...

More and more cheap used Korean and Japanese sedans coming into Peru now, from what I saw last time I was there some years ago.

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1991 560 SEC AMG, 199k <---- 300 hp 10:1 ECE euro HV ...

1995 E 420, 170k "The Red Plum" (sold)

2015 BMW 535i xdrive awd Stage 1 DINAN, 6k, <----364 hp

1967 Mercury Cougar, 49k

2013 Jaguar XF, 20k <----340 hp Supercharged, All Wheel Drive (sold)

Some of the best older Mercedes come from Japan of all places. Hong Kong, is another hot spot, you see a lot of nice cars around their. If you want a really mint W126 that has been AMG'd it seems like Japan is the place to look.


I can't think of a place where people don't mess with cars.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Besides this site, I'm also a member of a large 4x4 website. There is a member on there from Pakistan that is always posting pics of things that he and his buddies have custom fabricated for their Jeeps, since parts for them are nearly impossible to get over there. Their ingenuity is quite impressive.

guys build twin turbo big block Chevy drag cars in Sweden!

its not just "Yankee" ingenuity at all. Its "human" ingenuity.

I know of a certain Frenchman named Jerome that I would be proud to have as a friend. Check out his website- even if you can't understand it ( and you can translate it somewhat with Google) what he has done with his Citroen ID19 is incredible.

http://id19p.over-blog.com/

I'll bet there are some handy folks in Cuba- I would love to get down there and see what they have done to keep their 50's American iron running.

Rick

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80 300SD (129k mi) 82 240D stick (193k mi)77 240D auto - stick to be (153k mi) 85 380SL (145k mi) 89 BMW 535i 82 Diesel Rabbit Pickup (374k mi) 91 Jetta IDI Diesel (155k mi) 81 VW Rabbit Convertible Diesel 70 Triumph Spitfire Mk III (63kmi)66 Triumph TR4a IRS (90k mi)67 Ford F-100 (??)

If you can take an old 1957 Chevy, put in it an old Russian diesel tractor engine, repair the air filter with your grandmother's hairnet, and replace rusted fuel lines with medical enema tubing, I'd say that's being a damn good gearhead

http://www.bootsnall.com/travelstories/na/aug01cruising.shtml

Talk about livin' La Vida Loca...

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1991 560 SEC AMG, 199k <---- 300 hp 10:1 ECE euro HV ...

1995 E 420, 170k "The Red Plum" (sold)

2015 BMW 535i xdrive awd Stage 1 DINAN, 6k, <----364 hp

1967 Mercury Cougar, 49k

2013 Jaguar XF, 20k <----340 hp Supercharged, All Wheel Drive (sold)

In India your relatives and neighbors would think you are a kook, worse, if you do it young, your future would be relegated to becoming a lowly mechanic and nothing else, now I know how my poor parents felt when I would be working on my Yamaha RD350 as well as my friend's, also they would frequently see me under our family vehicles doing oil change, brakes and also tune ups. India doesn't have a car culture yet although its picking up a bit but most Indians buy vehicles based on aesthetics rather than what it is.

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99 Gurkha with OM616 IDI turbo

2015 Gurkha with OM616 DI turbo

2014 Rexton W with OM612 VGT

I sell federal headlights overseas to lots of places. So far Germany, Phillipines, Japan, South Africa, Australia.

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http://superturbodiesel.com/images/sig.04.10.jpg
1995 E420 Schwarz
1995 E300 Weiss
#1987 300D Sturmmachine
#1991 300D Nearly Perfect
#1994 E320 Cabriolet
#1995 E320 Touring
#1985 300D Sedan
OBK #42