modern concentration camps

 

 

Dachau  was one of the first concentration camps built by Nazi Germany and the longest-running one, opening on 22 March 1933. The camp was initially intended to intern the Nazi Party's political opponents, which consisted of communists, social democrats, and other dissidents.  It was located on the grounds of an abandoned munitions factory northeast of the medieval town of Dachau, about 16 km (10 mi) northwest of Munich in the Gau Munich-Upper Bavaria, in southern Germany.

 

(Hitler became chancellor in January of 1933, and president in August of 1934)

  After its opening by Heinrich Himmler, its purpose was enlarged to include forced labor, and eventually, the imprisonment of Jews, Romani, Germans, and Austrians that the Nazi Party regarded as criminals, and, finally, foreign nationals from countries that Germany occupied or invaded. The Dachau camp system grew to include nearly 100 sub-camps, which were mostly work camps or Arbeitskommandos, and were located throughout southern Germany and Austria.

 The main camp was liberated by U.S. forces on 29 April 1945. Dachau was the third concentration camp to be liberated by British or American Allied forces.

Prisoners lived in constant fear of brutal treatment and torture including standing cells, floggings, tree or pole hanging, and being forced to stand at attention for extremely long periods.

At least 25,613 prisoners are believed to have been murdered in the camp and almost another 10,000 in its subcamps, primarily from disease, malnutrition and suicide. The Dachau Memorial Site archive has documented 32,000 deaths at the camp, but thousands more are undocumented. Crematoria were constructed to dispose of the deceased. Approximately 10,000 of the 30,000 prisoners were sick at the time of liberation.

In the postwar years, the Dachau facility served to hold SS soldiers awaiting trial. After 1948, it held ethnic Germans who had been expelled from eastern Europe and were awaiting resettlement, and also was used for a time as a United States military base during the occupation. It was finally closed in 1960.

There are several religious memorials within the Memorial Site, which is open to the public.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dachau_concentration_camp

You already know that we have become the Germany of the 1930’s, but who among us would have imagined that we would have concentration camps?

Today, they are called ICE facilities.

This week, two right-wing circuit judges signed off on the Trump administration’s new mass detention policy: the extraordinary assertion that vast numbers of noncitizens throughout the country can be arrested and held in detention centers without the right to release until they are deported.

As Steve Vladeck explained in December in One First, this new policy dramatically expanded the number of immigrants suddenly subject to arrest and long-term detention. U.S. judges overwhelmingly rejected the new policy; Vladeck quoted Politico’s Kyle Cheney, who reported that in more than 700 cases, at least 225 judges appointed by all modern presidents—including 23 appointed by Trump—have ruled that the new policy likely violates both the law and the right to due process.

 

This policy has dramatically increased detention of immigrants. Before it, the U.S. held about 40,000 people on any given day. Now, according to Laura Strickler and Julia Ainsley of NBC News, the United States is currently holding more than 70,000 immigrants in 224 facilities across the nation, 104 more facilities than it had before Trump took office. Those detainees include children.

Private prison companies under contract with the U.S. government operate these detention facilities, including the $1.2 billion Camp East Montana located at Fort Bliss Army base in Texas, where a medical examiner recently ruled the death of detainee Geraldo Lunas Campos a homicide. The cause of the January death of Victor Manuel Díaz there remains unclear, although officials claim it was “presumed suicide.” A third man, Francisco Gaspar Andrés, died in December after being transported from the camp to an El Paso hospital for treatment for a serious medical condition.

On January 20, Judd Legum of Popular Information reported that ICE stopped paying third-party providers for medical care for detainees on October 3, 2025, and that it would not start even to process claims again until at least April 30, 2026. It told medical providers to “hold all claims submissions” until then. A source in the administration told Legum that some medical providers are now denying detainee’s medical care.

From 2002 to 2023, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) helped to make sure detainees had medical care if an ICE facility couldn’t provide it, with ICE paying the VA for the coverage. But in 2023, Alabama Republican senator Tommy Tuberville lied that President Joe Biden was “robbing veterans to pay off illegals,” and on September 30, 2025, a small right-wing nonprofit sued to get documents from the Trump administration about the VA’s role in detainee care. On October 3, Legum discovered, “the VA ‘abruptly and instantly terminated’ its agreement with ICE,” leaving it with no way to provide prescribed medication or access off-site care.

According to Legum, ICE said it could not provide “dialysis, prenatal care, oncology, [and] chemotherapy.” ICE officials described the loss of care as an “absolute emergency” that needed an immediate solution to “prevent any further medical complications or loss of life.” But it did not get solved.

Douglas MacMillan, Samuel Oakford, N. Kirkpatrick, and Aaron Schaffer of the Washington Post reported that according to ICE’s own oversight unit, Camp East Montana at Fort Bliss, Texas, has violated at least 60 federal standards for immigrant detention. The contract for the $1.24 billion project was awarded to a small business that operates out of a residential address and has, as Lyndon German of VPM News reported, “little to no publicly available record of managing immigration facilities.”

Last April, at the Border Security Expo in Phoenix, Arizona, acting director of ICE Todd Lyons told attendees: “We need to get better at treating this like a business.” He called for a deportation process “like [Amazon] Prime, but with human beings.” In the Republicans’ July 2025 budget reconciliation bill—which they call the One Big Beautiful Bill Act—they put $45 billion into additional funding for ICE detention.

In November and December, NBC News and Bloomberg reported that the Trump administration was considering “mega centers” for detaining people. Fola Akinnibi, Sophie Alexander, Alicia A. Caldwell, and Rachel Adams-Heard of Bloomberg reported that in November, ICE issued a $29.9 million contract—just below the threshold of $30 million that would require open bidding—to KpbServices LLC for “due diligence services and concept design for processing centers and mega centers throughout the United States.”

In December, Douglas MacMillan and Jonathan O’Connell of the Washington Post reported that the administration was working to put in place a national detention system that would book newly arrested detainees into processing sites before sending them to one of seven warehouses that would hold 5,000 to 10,000 people each. MacMillan and O’Connell reported that “sixteen smaller warehouses would hold up to 1,500 people each.” From there, people would be deported.

“These will not be warehouses—they will be very well-structured detention facilities meeting our regular detention standards,” a DHS spokesperson wrote to Angela Kocherga and Dianne Solis of KERA News in Texas. “It should not come as news that ICE will be making arrests in states across the U.S. and is actively working to expand detention space.”

Strickler and Ainsley reported Thursday that the Department of Homeland Security has already secured at least three facilities. It paid $87.4 million for one outside Philadelphia and $37 million for another outside San Antonio, a warehouse of nearly 640,000 square feet. ICE bought a building the size of seven football fields in Surprise, Arizona, outside Phoenix, for $70 million.

But there is increasing criticism of the new warehouses as Americans mobilize against the violence and abuse of ICE and Border Patrol.

Even Republicans like Paul Gosar have questions about the Surprise facility.

He sent a letter to Kristi Noem on February 4, and asked her 15 detailed questions about the propose site.

Officials from Surprise answered concerns about the federal facility with a statement saying: “The City was not aware that there were efforts underway to purchase the building, was not notified of the transaction by any of the parties involved and has not been contacted by DHS or any federal agency about the intended use of the building. It’s important to note, Federal projects are not subject to local regulations, such as zoning.”

On Tuesday, February 3, more than a thousand people turned out for the Surprise City Council meeting to oppose the establishment of the federal detention center. One of the speakers reminded the council of Ohrdruf, the first Nazi camp liberated by U.S. troops, on April 4, 1945. He said:

“The U.S. Army brought the leading citizens of Ohrdruf to tour the facility, which turned out to be part of the Buchenwald network of concentration camps. A U.S. Army colonel told the German civilians who viewed the scenes without muttering a word that they were to blame. One of the Germans replied that what happened in the camp was ‘done by a few people,’ and ‘you cannot blame us all.’ And the American, who could have been any one of our grandfathers, said: ‘This was done by those that the German people chose to lead them, and all are responsible.’

“The morning after the tour, the mayor of Ohrdruf killed himself. And maybe he did not know the full extent of the outrages that were committed in his community, but he knew enough. And we don’t know exactly how ICE will use this warehouse. But we know enough. I ask you to consider what the mayor of Ohrdruf might have thought before he died. Maybe he felt like a victim. He might have thought, ‘How is this my fault? I had no jurisdiction over this.’ Maybe he would have said, ‘This site was not subject to local zoning, what could I do?’ But I think, when he reflected on the suffering that occurred at this camp, just outside of town, that those words would have sounded hollow even to him. Because in his heart he knew, as we do, that we are all responsible for what happens in our community.”

There is a reason that the public is critical of ICE>

ICE’s latest recruitment ads are built around music and language drawn straight from far-right neo-Nazi memes, and they are aimed at extremists who are most fervent about guns, tactical gear, and vigilantism. Meanwhile, two companies you probably use all the time are making a profit from running these ads: YouTube and Google.

One ICE recruitment post on the official DHS Instagram account, less than two days after an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Good in Minneapolis, included the song, “We’ll Have Our Home Again” by Pine Tree Riots. This song, popularized in neo-Nazi spaces, uses phrases associated with white nationalist calls for race war, their “glimpse at kingdom come:”

“On the other side of misery,
there′s a world we long to see
The strife we share, will take us there

Oh by God we'll have our home again
By God, we'll have our home
By blood or sweat, we′ll get there yet
By God we′ll have our home”

Finally, even ICE agents have had enough:

 JUST IN: 2000 ICE Cops SURRENDER THEIR GUNS and WALK OUT ON T.R.U.M.P In STRONG DEFIANCE

 Washington, D.C. has descended into TOTAL CHAOS after reports emerged this afternoon that over 2000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents dramatically surrendered their firearms and walked off the job in an unprecedented act of rebellion against President Donald Trump.

 https://usamax24.com/just-in-2000-ice-cops-surrender.../

 According to eyewitness accounts and circulating video footage, the mass walkout unfolded swiftly as agents turned in their weapons en masse, with some publicly declaring they would no longer enforce what they called ""unlawful orders"" from the administration. Union representatives had previously warned of brewing discontent, pointing to escalating internal fury over aggressive deportation policies, staffing shortages, and mounting legal challenges.

 With national security debates exploding across media and political alliances fracturing in real time, the institutional fallout is only just beginning...

Read the full breakdown before it disappears. Mass ICE walkout.

 https://usamax24.com/just-in-2000-ice-cops-surrender.../

 This week, Congress is still negotiating the details for the funding of ICE.

Unless ICE implements proper controls, the answer to more funding should be NEIN!

 

 

It's just simple math - version 2

Since Girl Scout cookies are now out, I bought 2 boxes this morning. They were $6 a box, so my total bill was $12.

I gave the woman selling the boxes a $20 bill and 2 dollars. She gave me back my $2, a $5 bill, and 3 ones, even after I suggested that she simply give me back a $10 bill.

A few weeks ago, Brian bought roughly $60 worth of groceries, and gave the cashier a $100 bill – which confused her.

She then gave Brian his $100 bill back, and roughly $40 in change AND he got to keep the groceries without paying for them.

Here is the problem:

In 2024, only 39% of American 4^th graders are proficient at math.

28% of 8^th graders are proficient, and only 22% of 12 graders are proficient.

https://usafacts.org/answers/what-percentage-of-students-in-the-us-are-proficient-in-math/

Although math proficiency needs a lot of improvement, proficiency in English is better – but only slightly.

Approximately 1 in 10 U.S. public school students are classified as English Learners (ELs) who are not yet proficient in English. While proficiency rates vary, recent data shows about 30% to 35% of all students (including native speakers) are proficient in reading. For ELs, proficiency scores have declined since the pandemic, particularly in younger grades. 

Is there a better way?

The answer is “yes”.

Based on the 2022 PISA results, 75% of Finnish 15-year-old students attained at least Level 2 proficiency in mathematics, placing them above the OECD average of 69%. While still performing above the average, this represents a decline, with roughly 25% of students falling below basic proficiency, a significant increase from 7% in 2000. 

Key details regarding proficiency in Finland:

 

• Top Performers: Approximately 9% of Finnish students were top performers in mathematics (Level 5 or 6) in 2022.
• Proficiency Definition: Level 2 proficiency means students can interpret and recognize how a simple situation can be represented mathematically without direct instructions.
• Trend: Despite a long-term, sharp decline in scores, Finland remains one of the stronger performers among EU countries.
• Context: Girls slightly outperformed boys by 5 score points in the 2022 assessment.
• Actions: Due to the decline, Finland added1 extra weekly lesson of mathematics to the curriculum for grades 1-6, effective August 2025. 

 

I published an article with the same title on January 12, 2019, which is why this article is the 2^nd edition.

https://tohell-andback.blogspot.com/2019/01/its-really-just-simple-math.html

Then, as now, the problem is the structure of the school system.

At one point in time, our school system was the best in the world – but that is no longer true. Today, that honor goes to Finland, and here is why:

https://tohell-andback.blogspot.com/2015/01/why-finns-are-smarter-than-us.html

As much as I would like to see us adopt some of the programs that Finland uses, it is not likely going to happen anytime soon.

Since the current administration plans to eliminate the Department of Education entirely, there is simply no way that our math and English proficiency scores can improve, ESPECIALLY in cities where the ICE goon squads make children afraid to go to school.

Eventually, our math and English proficiency scores WILL improve, but it will necessitate a change in leadership in our country before it can happen – and that is a topic for another time.

Since our current president is unable to talk in complete sentences, the eloquence of speech exhibited by Barack Obama can no longer be used as a model – and that is a shame.

Fortunately, Obama also had some ideas on how to improve our math scores:

President Obama prioritized STEM education, aiming to move American students from the "middle to the top of the pack" in math and science. He emphasized recruiting 100,000 new STEM teachers, increasing literacy in these fields, and promoting "maker" culture over consumption. He famously advocated for celebrating science fair winners like Super Bowl champions. 

 

Key themes from President Obama regarding math and education:

 

• STEM Focus: He launched the "Educate to Innovate" campaign to improve student participation and performance in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
• Global Competition: He frequently mentioned that U.S. students were lagging behind in math, stating, "our public schools had been the envy of the world, but the world caught up".
• Teacher Quality: He identified teacher quality as the "most important single factor" for student success in STEM fields, proposing a Master Teacher Corps.
• Equity and Access: He championed expanding STEM opportunities for underrepresented groups, including girls and minorities.
• Beyond the Classroom: He emphasized that boosting STEM literacy requires a culture shift where "the winner of the science fair" is celebrated, not just athletes.
• Economic Imperative: He linked math proficiency to the future economy and national security. 

Obama aimed to improve STEM education to prepare students for the 21st-century economy, ensuring they are producers rather than just consumers of technology. 

 Obviously, Obama cannot run for a third term, but there are many talented Democrats who can resurrect his vision once again – and that is a good thing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

         

 

 

They called us enemy

 

If you were a Star Trek fan, you may remember a character named Hikaru Sulu, He was the helmsman on the starship Enterprise.

Star Trek Original Theme

In real life, his name is George Takei – and he has a story of his own to tell. The details can be found in the book shown in the title above.

Shortly after Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, George and the rest of his family were moved to a series of internment camps in the Southwest. In much the same way that European Jews were forced to move on very short notice by the Nazis, his family was forced to leave most of their belongings behind on very short notice, as they were to camps in California and Arkansas. In total, roughly 120,000 Japanese Americans were moved to “relocation camps”, where they stayed until after the Japanese surrendered in August of 1945.The first camp was at Santa Anita racetrack, where they were forced to sleep in horse stalls. Their next stop was camp Rohwer, the eastern most of the 10 relocation camps. Their final stop was back in California, where they stayed until the end of the war. In fact, a small number of people remained at Camp Tule Lake until March of 1946.

George Takei’s family return to Las Angeles, where they had been living at the start of the war.

The camps came into being when FDR signed Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942. It changed a lot of Japanese lives, and it was not until years later that our government apologized for its role.

Even before he signed 9066, FDR also signed Proclamation 2537, which required people to acquire certificates of identification. The details can be found below, but it reminds me of Jews being forced to wear stars identifying them as Jews:

https://www.hpresidency.ucsb.edu/documents/proclamation-2537-regulations-pertaining-alien-enemies

In early 1943, some of the detainees were forced into military service, and they were housed at Camp Shelby in Mississippi, which became known as the 4452^nd regimental combat team. They served with distinction, and at the end of the war, the team was the most decorated unit of its size. President Truman honored dozens of its members with the Distinguished Service Cross.

On February 19, 1976, President Gerald Ford signed a proclamation formally terminating Executive Order 9066 and apologizing for the internment, stated: "We now know what we should have known then—not only was that evacuation wrong but Japanese Americans were and are loyal Americans. On the battlefield and at home the names of Japanese Americans have been and continue to be written in history for the sacrifices and the contributions they have made to the well-being and to the security of this, our common Nation.”

In 1980, President Jimmy Carter signed legislation to create the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC). The CWRIC was appointed to conduct an official governmental study of Executive Order 9066, related wartime orders, and their effects on Japanese Americans in the West and Alaska Natives in the Pribilof Islands.

In December 1982, the CWRIC issued its findings in Personal Justice Denied, concluding that the incarceration of Japanese Americans had not been justified by military necessity. The report determined that the decision to incarcerate was based on "race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership". The Commission recommended legislative remedies consisting of an official Government apology and redress payments of $20,000 to each of the survivors; a public education fund was set up to help ensure that this would not happen again (Pub. L. 100–383).

On August 10, 1988, the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, based on the CWRIC recommendations, was signed into law by Ronald Reagan. On November 21, 1989, George H. W. Bush signed an appropriation bill authorizing payments to be paid out between 1990 and 1998. In 1990, surviving internees began to receive individual redress payments and a letter of apology. This bill applied to the Japanese Americans and to members of the Aleut people inhabiting the strategic Aleutian Islands in Alaska who had also been relocated.

FDR likely felt that he had no choice about the executive order that he signed, in view of the fact that the bombing of Pearl Harbor has happened roughly 2 months before. It was not until years later that we came to the conclusion that the relocation camps were not a good idea.

The story of the camps, however, is simply another example of the dangers of xenophobia, and it is a problem that has existed since ancient times

Xenophobia is the fear, dislike, or prejudice against people from other countries, cultures, or groups perceived as foreign or strange, stemming from Greek words meaning "stranger" (xenos) and "fear" (phobos). It manifests as discrimination, hostility, or violence, often fueled by anxieties about losing identity, national security, or cultural integrity, and can target immigrants, refugees, or minority groups, leading to policies of exclusion or persecution. 

Causes of Xenophobia

• In-group/Out-group Conflict: A basic human tendency to favor one's own group and distrust outsiders.
• Economic Fears: Belief that foreigners compete for jobs, resources, or strain social services.
• Cultural Anxiety: Fear of losing national identity, traditions, or values due to foreign influence.
• Misinformation & Propaganda: Spreading stereotypes and false narratives to portray outsiders as threats.
• Historical Grievances: Past conflicts or perceived injustices can fuel ongoing resentment. 

Effects of Xenophobia

• Social Division: Creates "us vs. them" mentality, increasing tension and conflict.
• Discrimination: Unfair treatment in housing, employment, or legal systems.
• Violence & Persecution: Hate crimes, ethnic cleansing, and even genocide (e.g., The Holocaust).
• Restrictive Policies: Laws limiting immigration, asylum, or citizenship. 

How it Manifests (Examples)

• Anti-immigrant sentiment: Hostility towards new arrivals, as seen historically with Irish, Chinese, and Latin American immigrants.
• Islamophobia/Anti-Semitism: Hatred of specific religions, like hatred of Muslims or Jews.
• Nationalistic Isolationism: Extreme policies to keep foreigners out (e.g., historical Japan, modern North Korea). 

Combating Xenophobia

• Education: Teaching about diverse cultures and promoting empathy from a young age.
• Intercultural Exchange: Encouraging interaction and understanding between different groups.
• Challenging Prejudice: Speaking out against discriminatory jokes, stereotypes, and policies.
• Promoting Inclusive Laws: Advocating for policies that protect immigrants and minorities. 

• Xenophobia - UCLA Initiative to Study Hate

 

It’s no secret that xenophobia has gotten worse during the Trump administrations, and it has gotten worse since January of 2025.

 

In the past few weeks, Minnesota has been the site of many of the atrocities linked to ICE, and it has led to protests around the country. The problems first came to light in Los Angeles, quickly followed by Washinton D.C., Chicago and Portland. Both Minnesota and Illinois recently sued the government because of the actions of today’s version of the Gestapo.

 

Some people wonder if the protests are doing any good. If you have any doubt, though, you need to consider the words of naturalist Margaret Mead:

 

Never underestimate the power of a small group of committed people to change the world. In fact, it is the only thing that ever has.” ~

 

 

 

 

 

the death of the shade tree mechanic

 

A shade tree mechanic is any mechanically inclined individual (and it was not always guys) who could repair any automobile just about any place – and it could be outside under a tree.

Today’s cars have gotten both more expensive and more complicated.

 When I was a young man, I did a lot of mechanical repairs on my cars, in addition to regular washing and waxing

The mechanical part consisted of doing my own oil changes, rotating the tires, and replacing exhaust systems and brake pads. It also included the “tune up”, which meant changing the plugs and the points, and setting the timing and dwell angle, which entailed using something called a “timing light”.

(The owner’s manual for my 1972 Opel recommended a tune-up every 6000 miles. Today, platinum tipped spark plugs last 100,000 miles.)

Recommended intervals for oil changes were every 3000 miles, but a few people I know did the task every 1000 miles.

(Most cars today use synthetic oil, which means oil change intervals can be 6000 miles or more).

At some time in the ‘80’s, car companies added “diagnostic panels” to the firewall that allowed mechanics to use a computer to help diagnose mechanical problems.

Things are much different today, which I learned yesterday.

Our car has been roughly idling for the last couple of weeks, and today, the “check engine light” came on, so I took it to my local repair shop today.

If you are keeping score at home, consider this:

Cars first got rudimentary "idiot lights" (warning lights) in the 1930s from Hudson, but the modern, diagnostic-linked Check Engine Light (CEL) emerged with early computerized systems in the 1980s, becoming standardized and mandated for all cars in the U.S. with the OBD-II system in 1996 to meet emissions regulations. 

Computers today do a lot more than simply aiding diagnostics. 

Modern cars contain a vast number of computer chips, typically ranging from 1,000 to over 3,000 semiconductors, with electric vehicles (EVs) and high-end models often having more. These chips control everything from engine timing and safety systems (like airbags, ABS, ADAS) to infotainment, climate control, and battery management in EVs, making cars complex "computers on wheels". 

Key Numbers & Trends:

• Average Car: Over 100 microchips, often 1,000 to 3,000+.
• Electric Vehicles (EVs): Require even more chips for battery and motor management.
• Luxury/High-Tech Cars: Can easily exceed 3,000 chips and have dozens of computers (ECUs).
• Growing Demand: Chip content increases with features like advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) and connectivity. 

What They Control:

• Engine & Transmission
• Safety Systems (Airbags, ABS, Stability Control)
• Infotainment & Connectivity
• Climate Control
• Battery & Motor (in EVs)
• Sensors for ADAS (Lane Keep Assist, Adaptive Cruise Control)

Taiwan makes the most computer chips, especially the most advanced ones, thanks to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), which produces over 90% of the world's leading-edge chips for companies like Apple and NVIDIA. While the U.S. leads in design, and China is a major producer of less advanced chips, Taiwan's foundry model and robust supply chain make it the dominant manufacturing hub, with South Korea also a significant player. 

Evolution of the Check Engine Light:

• 1930s: The "Idiot Light": The Hudson Motor Car Company introduced simple warning lights for critical issues like low oil pressure or overheating, but they offered no specific details, just a binary warning.
• 1980s: Early Computerization: As cars became more electronic, early versions of the CEL appeared, linked to proprietary manufacturer diagnostic systems that could flash fault codes, though they weren't standardized.
• 1996: OBD-II Standardization: The U.S. government mandated On-Board Diagnostics II (OBD-II) for all vehicles, creating a universal connector and standardizing Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTCs), making the CEL more informative and diagnostic tools universally applicable. 

What I learned today is that repair shops have also started to use artificial intelligence to simplify the diagnostic process, which makes it faster and cheaper than prior methods.

Naturally, the costs of maintenance are a lot more than they used to be.

To get our car running smoothly again, the repair garage replaced 4 spark plugs and one of the 4 ignition coils. The spark plugs were $31.36 each, but that single coil was $463.48. which brought the total bill (including labor) to a little more than $1100.

“What is a coil?”, you might ask.

Ignition coils act as high-voltage transformers, converting your car's low battery voltage into the thousands of volts needed by the spark plugs to ignite the air-fuel mixture in the engine's cylinders, powering your vehicle. By creating a strong electrical spark, they initiate combustion, and without them, the engine can't run, leading to misfires, poor performance, or a no-start condition. 

 

An ignition coil is used in the ignition system of a spark-ignition engine to transform the battery voltage to the much higher voltages required to operate the spark plug(s). The spark plugs then use this burst of high-voltage electricity to ignite the air-fuel mixture.

The ignition coil is constructed of two sets of coils wound around an iron core. Older engines often use a single ignition coil which has its output directed to each cylinder by a distributor, a design which is still used by various small engines (such as lawnmower engines). Modern car engines often use a distributor-less system (such as coil-on-plug), whereby every cylinder has its own ignition coil.

 I still wash our car on a regular base, and I wax it 4 times a year to protect the paint from Tucson’s summer heat – but my days as a shade tree mechanic are now a thing of the past.