'Memoirs of a Hack Mechanic' Book Review

FlatSixes.com - August 11, 2013

Rob Siegel, author of "Memoirs of a Hack Mechanic", might be best known for his love and affinity of BMW (he's written a monthly column called "The Hack Mechanic" for the BMW Car Club of America's magazine for the last 25 years) but that doesn't mean he's not a Porsche fan or owner. In fact, he drops a metaphoric Porsche "bomb" right up front and sets the tone for what's to come...

"So. You're a car guy. Now you need to establish your dominance in the pack. How do you do it?

The classic thing to do is to procure some American iron. A muscle car. Something big, nasty, and brutish, with fat tires, a loud exhaust, and lots of swagger. Maybe a '69 Camaro with glass packs. Vin Diesel on wheels. Or you could go expensive and metrosexual, maybe a late-model Porsche. Forget the image of Porsche guys with gold chains and slicked-back hair; it's the money that does the talking, baby, and nothing says money like dropping "the Porsche" into a sentence. Especially when it's mispronounced using the popular but incorrect single-syllabic form, rhyming it with "porch" (it's actually pronounced "Por-sha," and don't get it wrong if you wish to be taken seriously in the car world).

(The alert reader will notice that, before the end of this book, I, in fact, will have dropped the P-bomb multiple times, but the Porsche that I own is an '82 911SC, worth less than ten grand, and I pronounce it correctly, so we're good.)"

This is Not a Book About Cars

Surprisingly, Siegel's book is not what you think. Yes, there's plenty of trivia and minutia for even the most die-hard car fanatic (a decent bit of it Porsche related), but I don't think that's the point of his book. Instead, Memoirs of a Hack Mechanic explores the obsession passion of a car collector (or any hobby for that matter) and the inter-personal relationships that grow out of it.

Extremely well written, funny and engaging this is a book that even a non "car guy" can enjoy. In fact, if you find yourself constantly trying to defend your Porsche obsession to your family or significant other. Give them a copy of this book. More importantly, you read it and see how you can engage them in your passion.

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