They’re Doing it Again!

Okay, who can identify this Device?

Give up? It’s called a tire pressure gauge. It’s used to check the air pressure in one’s automobile tires. This one is called a pencil-type gauge. Small, very easy to use, and with a pocket clip. All you do is press it against the tire valve, and a small white scale jumps out to reveal the tire pressure, in terms of pounds per square inch, like this:

The device is fairly simple, accurate and reliable. I bought the one pictured in 1976, for the price of $4.90. Bear in mind, that is four dollars and ninety cents in 1976 money. This one was purchased at a long-gone place called place called Becker Auto Supply. ‘œBecker’s’, to the locals. Becker’s was one of those places that you might not want your wife or mother to know you ever visited. It was a true, real auto parts store, catering mostly to local, independent service shops and mechanics. A real manly man’s kind of place. You’d walk in though the heavy metal door, and the smell of grease and cigarette smoke would hit you in the face like a hammer. The wooden floors, dirty and grease stained, creaked heavily as you walked over them. In one corner, snugged in next to a step ladder, stood an old engine block from lord-knows what. Next to it was a crankshaft, that presumably went with the engine block. The area where customers were permitted was very small. The rest of the place was behind a high counter, where only employees were allowed. You could see back there though, and it was a jungle of hanging exhaust pipes, hoses, fan belts of all types, and of course, all the auto parts imaginable. Spark plugs, distributor caps, gaskets for anything every created, you name it, and they had it back there somewhere. Becker’s also had what was surely the best selection of tools for the working pro. (Or, maybe the working pro ‘œwannabe’) If you didn’t have some expensive tool, such as a torque wrench, or a set of brake spring pliers, and you couldn’t afford to buy it for that one job you were doing, Becker’s rented them. If you needed a set of brake drums or rotors machined, Becker’s had complete machine shop services, with rapid turn-around time. If they weren’t too busy, you could get your brake drums machined while you waited. And yes indeed, they sold tire pressure gauges. They sold only two models, the one pictured, and a rather exotic and expensive model, with a very nice analog gauge on it.

Sadly, Becker’s fell victim to changing times and economic realities in the late 1980’s. Many local service stations stopped offering repair services, and many independent shops closed up for good. And this brings me to the point of my latest rant.

I have used this tire pressure gauge on the tires of every car I have ever owned, since I was nineteen. It was always worked just fine, and it continues to do so. It has survived the intense heat of summers, and the unforgiving cold of New England winters. So,,,, Why are these icons of the American automobile front suddenly disappearing? As they love to say on AOL, ‘œWTF?’
The nice, easy-to-use-and-read pencil type tire pressure gauge has suddenly become very difficult to find at most hardware and auto stores. What’s replaced it is a device I want absolutely nothing to do with: A digital tire pressure gauge, with an LCD read out that will surely not function on a cold winter morning, and a bunch of buttons that have that ‘œI’m gonna break in six months’ look. Now I’m reading that there are some tire pressure gauges that talk. Uh,, excuse me, it talks? Why on earth would anyone need a tire pressure gauge that talks? Who thought this up?

Now, all hope is not lost. Consumer auto parts chains such as Auto Zone offer a decent analog tire pressure gauge for $28.99. A little poking around the web, and you can find it for a few bucks less. Still, Kinda steep in the age of three-dollar-a-gallon gasoline, but I’d buy that one before I’d ever part with fifteen bucks for a digital-LCD gauge that I know won’t last long. (It talks???) The pencil type tire gauge seems to have vanished from Auto Zone’s catalog list. This is just plain wrong. It looks as though you can still buy a decent one from some on-line outlets. A trip through the tool department at Sears unearthed only one pencil type tire pressure gauge, and it was only sold as part of a larger kit. I did get to examine it though, and the ultra-cheap, made-in-china manufacturing quality was downright scary. Sears did have a digital pressure gauge though, complete with the aforementioned buttons, LCD readout, and ‘œProgramming Guide’. And this is better than the good old, no-nonsense pencil type gauge because,,,,,,

So, why is this happening? A pencil type tire pressure gauge, something I feel should be in every car owner’s glove compartment, is suddenly hard to find. It’s been replaced by something that has gimmicky lights, an LCD readout, talks, and requires batteries. (But of course!)

Get on-line. Find a good-quality, pencil type tire pressure gauge. Learn to use it, and keep it in your glove compartment. Save on gas, save on tire wear and tear. And best of all, screw the digital crap.