Ha, that coat hanger trick never works and you know it! I tried that once on my old Civic and the thing just bent like a wet noodle while my buddy kept yelling at me to hold it steady. The real hero move is keeping actual cables in your trunk, which it sounds like you figured out the hard way. Nothing like a random 2am car rescue to make you feel like you actually did something with your night. The Clermont Lounge has a weird way of turning a boring Saturday into a story you tell for years.

Did you ever stop and think about why those old friction hinges never needed adjusting? They wore out slow and you just lived with a door that didn't quite shut right after 10 years. My uncle ran a cabinet shop for 30 years and swore by the plain hinges too, but he also told me customers never used to expect a door to close itself. That's the real change. People now want the door to shut quiet and soft every single time, and they will pay for it. So yeah, the old guy is right that you're fixing stuff nobody used to have, but the reason is folks expect more now.