Back in the late 1970s, most cars never made it to 100,000 miles. And mechanical problems were much more frequent than they are today. The vehicle owner who could detect and describe symptoms of problems had an advantage when bringing that vehicle to a repair shop. And so General Motors made this little pamphlet to include in new cars and continued printing it for years. Here's the Chevrolet version from 1979, found in a discarded Lumina.
So when you took your Chevette to the dealership after hearing a disturbing noise, you could use this pamphlet as a reference to decide whether to call that noise a roar ("Lion; waterfall") or a whine ("Electric drill motor, mosquito").
Know What Your Car Is Telling You: A Service Signals Checklist
