I remembered a conversation from my childhood today. I was riding in my 245 (back when my parents owned it) with my dad driving, and he'd just bought some part for the car to replace some other bit that was worn out. Based on where we were living at the time I can't have been older than 6, probably more like 4 or 5. Dad was explaining to me this new notion of "spare parts".

This was an exciting notion in my young life. I realised that each component of a vehicle could be purchased individually. My next logical question was "could you buy all the parts and build it yourself?" My mother explained to me that this would be a very expensive way to build a car, as spares carried a high markup and it was much more economical to start with a complete car

Perhaps I should have remembered this advice later in life, it would have saved me a lot of time and money. But that was probably the point when the idea first came into my head, and now I'm addicted.

Can anyone else remember when the desire to assemble things that moved first bit them?
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A smart bomb. The bomb teaches Shakespearean sonnets, ancient cuneiform, relativity, and the Tibetan language. It may know other things. It has no tolerance for rudeness, so ask nicely.