Lawndale Tribune AND lAwNDAle News The Weekly Newspaper of Lawndale Herald Publications - Inglewood, Hawthorne, Lawndale, El Segundo, Torrance & Manhattan Beach Community Newspapers Since 1911 - Circulation 30,000 - Readership 60,000 (310) 322-1830 - March 30, 2017 Jane Goodall Visits Environmental Charter High School The world-renowned British primatologist, ethologist, anthropologist and UN Messenger of Peace Dr. Jane Goodall visited Lawndale’s Environmental Charter High School (ECHS) on March 20 to present a lecture and to meet with student leaders involved in the Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots and Generation Earth youth programs. This photo shows her with ECHS student and Green Ambassador Ogechi Hubert. Dr. Goodall took part in a special tree-planting and naming ceremony in her honor. Ogechi was asked to name the tree. She chose Chi, which means God or a Higher Power in Igbo. (Photo by David Montejano) “Grease Girl” Teaches Women About Their Cars By Rob McCarthy Kristin Cline likes to work on her car on the weekends and she’s not squeamish about the grease and grime. When she pulls on her mechanic coveralls and leans into the engine compartment of her classic Studebaker, she feels at ease. She thinks more women should try it, popping their car’s hood and getting familiar with what’s under there. Lately, she’s had less time for her 1955 Studebaker because she’s leading a Saturday carclinic class for women. Cline is an automotive writer during the week with a blog called “Grease Girl.” Her classroom is a garage at the Automobile Driving Museum in El Segundo, where she teaches the “Ladies Car Care 101” clinic. It’s a starter class, drawing sometimes as many as two dozen women who come knowing a little, not a lot, about cars. “Knowing certain things about your car can mean more confidence when you’re driving it,” Cline said. The garage always was the domain of men, starting when they’re boys. So many women think of car maintenance and repair as a guy thing, which “Grease Girl” found out firsthand when she bought her Studebaker and began restoring it. She’d attend classic car shows and often was the only woman there. But, that’s changing as women become auto technicians and mechanics. Cline discovered that “the car world is a really fun place to be and the garage can be fun.” The classic car project was her path to a writing career and her blog. Cars can be like that, too. There’s linkage between random happenings under the hood that fuel, power, cool and control a vehicle. Career moves are easier to predict than a car breakdown, though. Some basic knowledge and terminology about horsepower and cars can be a confidence-builder for a woman, Cline noted, adding that though a woman may not do her own tune-up or oil change, she should know what system of the car and parts they involved. “We talk in class about gaining vocabulary. It helps to understand why a repair is costing you so much,” she said, likening the experience to a visit to the doctor. Trained mechanics and doctors both have specialized training and are skilled at diagnosing a problem. It helps to know what they’re talking about--and specifically with a car repair, what a broken part does and why it needs to be replaced. “Ladies Car Care 101” doesn’t expect them to know about cars, though some can identify the radiator, which holds the engine coolant. The air cleaner and the carburetor at the top of the engine aren’t always a mystery to the ladies. The museum keeps a Cadillac Deville in the garage, which comes in handy for Cline’s class. The women surround the old Cadillac as she opens the hood. Then, they do a pretty typical guy thing. They look at the engine, trying to figure it out. For the next two hours, “Grease Girl” explains the engine parts, the transmission, the brakes and tires. Class time is a slow trip through the working systems of the internal combustion engine. Along the way, students pick up the terminology of the repair shop mechanic: timing belt, master cylinder, engine coolant, wheel alignment. They also hear about car maintenance from Cline and why it’s better to pay a little now rather than a lot later. “We’ll talk about various maintenance things under the hood,” she said. “Checking your fluid levels, checking your oil, checking your tires, using a tire gauge to check the PSI [pounds per square inch] and how to add air to your tire.” Regular oil changes and keeping tires properly inflated are the simplest ways to give their vehicle tender loving care, the women are told. After all, it’s a machine with fast-moving parts that create friction and heat. The coolant in the radiator system prevents the car from overheating, and the oil lubricates and protects engine parts. Warning lights alert drivers about low levels of these critical fluids, and Cline says don’t ignore them. “A lot of people don’t know what the different warning lights mean in their cars,” she said. “Is it an emergency that needs pulling over and stopping or can they keep going to their destination?” Ignoring a warning light that is an emergency light can be a very expensive driver error, so Cline covers the most common warning signs that women and men should heed. If the engine temperature light is showing, that’s a serious one. So is the engine oil light, even if the car is new or just had an oil change. “This could be a tipoff that the drain plug isn’t tight or it fell out, and the oil has all drained out,” Cline said, adding that engine-damaging problems Inside This Issue Certified & Licensed Professionals.......................2 Calendar...............................3 Classifieds............................3 Community Briefs...............4 Hawthorne Happenings....3 Finance..................................4 Legals................................ 6-7 Pets........................................8 Police Reports.....................2 Seniors..................................6 Sports....................................5 Weekend Forecast Friday Sunny 67˚/53˚ Saturday Sunny 70˚/55˚ Sunday Sunny 67˚/54˚ See Grease Girl, page 8 Kristin Cline explains the mechanical systems of a car during a Saturday class for women at the Automobile Driving Museum. (Photo credit: Melissa Kobe)
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