6 of the best sounds to hear in the garage

Working on our vintage cars is all but required in order to enjoy them safely. Even if you aren’t taking on big DIY jobs, there is always something that needs a little attention or a double check for safety. And in that process of keeping our cars on the road, there are a few aural indicators that, when our ears are tuned in just right, make the experience that much more pleasurable. Here are six examples.

The crack of a bolt breaking free

After visually inspecting the problem and grabbing a few tools, it’s time to actually get started. Put the wrench on that first bolt, give it some tension, and enjoy that wonderful feeling of cracking loose. Not breaking loose, as that opens a whole different can of emotions, but the crisp release of the clamping force the threads were providing. The following intermittent soft clicking of a ratchet as the handle swings back and forth, bringing that piece of hardware closer and closer to freedom, can be as comforting to the right mind as a gentle rain.

The click of a torque wrench

On the other end of things is reassembly, and the defined snap of a click-type torque wrench might as well be applause to a mechanic’s ears. The reward for doing a good and correct job. If you are more of a beam-type or electronic torque wrench kind of person, I guess it might be the slight click of your elbow or wrist as the at final tension is reached. Sadly, mechanic’s elbow is much more difficult to calibrate and varies wildly based on age and, uh, chassis condition.

The squeal of the floor jack lowering

A lever long enough would move mountains. But two pistons connected by a contained fluid will just as easily move the heavy cars in our garage. There’s just something to be said for picking up your project for the last time and sliding out the jack stands with that horrible clatter, before the soft wheeze of the hydraulic fluid passes through the small relief valve opened by twisting the long metal handle. It’s a whizz that fades in pitch like a sigh until the car is back on the ground, as if the jack is happy to do the lifting but the lowering is somehow beneath its pay grade. Regardless of how that inanimate object feels, the noise signals good news to our ears.

The first start-up

This one is really a flurry of sounds that all happen at once to create an automotive orchestra written in 12 volts and and conducted at roughly 700 rpm. As maestro of our cars, we click the key over to the start contacts, which is met with a flourish of clunks, rotational grinds, and, eventually, the steady thrum of a drum line comprised of pistons that holds tempo while the fan and valvetrain fill in under-noise. It all adds up to a concert everyone came to hear.

The soft clunk that comes with shifting into gear

We might all agree that gated shifters sound great, but I have gated shifter dreams on a Saginaw four-speed budget. Therefore, that soft tink–tink of a gated shifter is left for YouTube videos and those rare occasions in the passenger seat of a car that is very much not mine. But even a Corvair has a distinct shifter sound, despite or because of the six-foot-long rod that connects the shifter to the transmission. It’s the light clunk that comes right before going somewhere. The car’s way of saying “alright, let’s get rolling and go have some fun.”

Even drivers of the two-pedal persuasion get a noise to pair with the gentle rock that comes from sliding an automatic transmission into gear. The hit of the hydraulic pressure connecting input and output via the first-gear clutch pack is unique to each and every car out there, and more than likely we could all pick out our car in a blind test.

The soft plink of a car cooling off after a drive

The reward for a job well done is shutting off the ignition, letting the engine wind to a stop, and then reveling in the mild plinks and pings that come from the shrinking and expanding of different hot metals under the hood. The subtle noises are the reminder that your car is both a machine and a living thing, and it communicates with us audibly if only we take the time to listen to its delightful sounds.

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