The Garage Girl's Guide to Everything You Need to Know About Your Car [Paperback]

Courtney Hansen (Author), Jerry Hansen (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 15, 2007

After a home purchase, the most expensive item that most Americans ever buy is the vehicle they drive. Keeping it running well not only protects the investment, it's also important for security and safety. In the crowded field of handbooks about car maintenance, The Garage Girl's Guide to Everything You Need to Know About Your Car is unique in that it is not your typical gearhead's guide to automotive care: it has a sense of humor and an attitude, and is written with women in mind.
The Garage Girl's Guide to Everything You Need to Know About Your Car provides tips for proper car care, and a guide to preventive maintenance to keep your auto in top form. Based on Courtney Hansen's hit television show Overhaulin' on TLC and her widely read automotive columns in FHM Magazine, Celebrity Car Magazine, and Hot Rod magazine, The Garage Girl's Guide to Everything You Need to Know About Your Car discusses everything from basic maintenance to installing more intricate details on a custom hot rod. Readers will learn:
• How to familiarize themselves with everything under the hood
• The essentials of car maintenance, from oil changes to setting up an emergency kit for the trunk
• Where fluids are located in the engine and how to keep them topped off between scheduled changes
• How to keep tires in top form, spot problems early on, and choose the right replacements
• What to do when the car sounds funny, smells funny, or acts funny
• How to change a tire, swap a fuse, cool down a radiator, and jump-start a vehicle
• How to increase performance and install add-ons
• How to customize a car

Editorial Reviews

Review

Author Courtney Hansen is no stranger to millions of cable TV viewers. As host of Spike TV s Powerblock show, she has become a fixture on the modern automotive scene.

Ms. Hansen s introduction to the automotive world came via her father, 27-time SCCA National Champion Jerry Hansen. She grew up emersed in the culture of mechanics, garages, and the competitive atmosphere of the race track. She decided early in her television career that she wanted to come across as more than a pretty face. A handy pair of hands is a valuable asset in any garage and if she could encourage other women to get involved through example, all the better. They don t call her Garage Girl for nothing.

The Garage Girl s Guide To Everything You Need To Know About Your Car (GGG) is presented as a confidence builder to people interested in learning about their cars. Full-on mechanics will find it overly simplistic in content, but for the overwhelming majority of drivers, GGG answers many of the questions that are often left unasked or, more frequently, assumed to be known.

I know that sounds vague, but put yourself in the mindset of a non-car guy, someone who is relatively intelligent but hasn t really considered the difference between EFI and a carburetor or the benefits of front- vs rear-wheel drive. This would be the same person who takes their car to a mechanic for air filter changes and tire inflation because they ve simply never been shown that they can do it themselves at virtually no cost. Or think of the young driver who only knows what their friends have told them about cars. GGG addresses these issues in an open, straightforward, hey-this-is-possible manner.

The author uses basic prose to explain the automotive experience from buying a vehicle to how to perform simple maintenance items yourself. GGG uses photos and illustrations to accurately explain how an engine operates, what the primary components/systems are called, and how to recognize when something major (versus minor) has gone wrong. Such information can help a car owner avoid getting ripped off by unscrupulous mechanics (there s even a chapter devoted to the topic!).

I could do without so many posed images of the author in the garage. But showing her with a handful of brake parts, a spark-filled grinding wheel, or turning a screwdriver serve to encourage the reader by showing that such work is not impossible or magic. This compliments the approach taken in the text and removes some of the mystery surrounding automotive operations and mechanics. GGG is a valuable read for new drivers.

The Garage Girl s Guide To Everything You Need To Know About Your Car will not have much for a seasoned mechanic. But for the rest of us, it is filled with valuable insights that bring us into the car s world, remove some anxiety from the mechanics of it all, and through that understanding allow us to better enjoy the experience. That alone is worth the price of admission. Nicely done.

Contents 1. Finding Your Ride 2. New, Used, or Leased? 3. Test Driving and Inspecting 4. Safety First! 5. Hot Cars, Trucks, and SUVs 6. Reducing Gas Pains 7. Auto Theft and How to Avoid It 8. You Found Your Ride! 9. Early Maintenance 10. Emergency Gear 11. Basic Tools 12. Particulars of the Powertrain 13. Summary of your systems 14. Do-It-Yourself Maintenance 15. Fluid Functions 16. Tires: Where the Rubber Hits the Road 17. Maintaining That Showcar Appeal 18. Warranties and Replacement Parts 19. Finding a Good Body Shop 20. How to Avoid Getting Ripped Off by Mechanics 21. Speed Bumps and Pit Stops 22. Souping Up and Tricking Out --LA Car.com, Harold Osmer, October 3, 2007 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Courtney Hansen steals cars, and the hearts of viewers, every week on the hit TV show Power Block on Spike TV, turning cars from heap to hip in every show. Her "Garage Girl" columns for FHM Magazine, Celebrity Car Magazine, and Hot Rod came from her experiences in the racing world while growing up. Her family owned Minnesota's Brainerd International Raceway; and her father, Jerry Hansen, won more national SCCA racing titles than any other driver. A former spokesperson for Rolls-Royce Motor Company, she now lives in Los Angeles.

Product Details

• Paperback: 284 pages
• Publisher: Cumberland House Publishing (June 15, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1581825196
• ISBN-13: 978-1581825190
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #733,636 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Start!, October 30, 2007

By 

T. Olson "Deuce" (Tampa, FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Garage Girl's Guide to Everything You Need to Know About Your Car (Paperback)

This book speaks to the basics of auto maintenance written for non-mechanics (male of female). The author has a legitimate background in auto repair. Her ability to make things basic and understandable is a treat.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars highly recommend, September 5, 2007

By 

Reader Views "Reviews, by readers, for readers" (Austin, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Garage Girl's Guide to Everything You Need to Know About Your Car (Paperback)

Reviewed by Lori Plach for Reader Views (8/07)


Do you remember what it felt like to be 16? It was time to experience a new sort of freedom. You had the world at your fingertips now that you could drive. But wait, with that license to drive you also had a big responsibility. What if something went wrong with the car's mechanics when you were driving? Ah yes, you can call the vehicle's owner.

Another big day in your life was that day when you bought your first car. Ownership was quite a feeling. Now if you knew nothing about cars, where would you go for advice or knowledge about the many different vehicles on the market? Courtney Hansen has written a book which will help the first-time car owner to make a knowledgeable decision. "The Garage Girl's Guide to Everything You Need to Know about Your Car" is a manual which helps decipher just what is on the market in vehicles. Should you buy or lease? Should you buy a brand new car or check out the available used cars? "The Garage Girl's Guide" can offer much needed advice on how to test drive and inspect those cars before investing your hard earned dollars.

Now you have your car, what is the best way to maintain your car? Sure you can scour the owner's manual, but Courtney has clarified the information in a very easy-to-understand manner in her book. She gives tips on how to save money on fuel use, keep your car safer from auto theft and what items should be kept in the car for emergencies. She does in-depth discussion over warranties and provides tips to avoid getting ripped off by auto mechanics. No matter if you are a long-time driver and have been a car owner for years or just starting out. Courtney Hansen is here to help. You are sure to find out some information that you didn't know already before opening the pages of this book.

Before revving up your engine, open "The Garage Girl's Guide" and you will be pleasantly surprised. The more you think you know about the vehicles of today the more you don't know. Take the advice of Courtney Hansen who has grown up around the automotive world. With her knowledge and experience to help you along, hopefully there won't be too many bumps along the road between you and your smooth ride!

Book received free of charge.

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book, provides a 100% fill-in after reading each chapter., April 4, 2011

By 

Morgan Kingston (Vancouver WA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Garage Girl's Guide to Everything You Need to Know About Your Car (Paperback)

This is the only book published at the time of this review that shows 100% truth about how to work on cars. It is a book I will enjoy reading once I get my own copy...this went as a gift.

This is a systematic book for working on cars.

-Morgan