Thanks to the guys at Cafe Hayek, “where orders emerge,” for this gem from the UK. I will send this to my favorite liberal, left-wing, but very funny mechanics, PBS’s Car Guys, and see if they “get” it. It is the car owner’s version of I, Pencil.
I had to buy a new brake caliper for one of
my cars the other day. I ordered it online, it came in the post, I took it to
the garage and it went straight on with a few bolts.Nothing remarkable about that. The car is
an old 911, the caliper was for a 911 of the same year, so obviously it was
going to fit.But at the same time, it’s a matter for
extreme wonderment. At least, I think it is, and I think you should too,
because if it weren’t true, none of us but the very rich would own cars.Anyone who has ever done any proper
metalwork will know that, theoretically, a 10mm diameter rod won’t go into a
10mm diameter hole. Either the hole must be a bit bigger or the rod a bit
smaller, or maybe a bit of both. But by how much? Fettle away a bit at each
part and eventually they’ll go together.In reality, of course, nothing can be exactly
10mm; it will always be 10mm plus or minus something. So your hole might in
reality be 10.03mm, and your rod might be 9.92mm, so they will go together.
But that may be the other way around, and then they won’t.….
That something as complex as a car can be
owned by ordinary people is, I think, one of the greatest achievements of
humanity. It can be attributed to improved standards of living and the relative
price of Mars Bars, but it’s mainly because the caliper fits the 911.Bloody marvellous, isn’t it?
