In my zombie story, Northern Ireland Undead (or NI Undead for short) one of the characters has an obsession with cars. It's an important part of her character and on a few occasions, important to the story. If I am to make this character believable I need to learn some technical terms as there's (obviously) a few scenes in which she is either talking about or fixing up a car. I'm not going to sit down and watch every single episode of Top Gear, nor am I going to go to a nearby college and learn all of these things as I try to fix cars myself. College is expensive and I think after a few seasons back to back you'd eventually get tired of Jeremy Clarkson's mug You might be wondering "Some_Bloke, just why the hell would you even try to write a character who has an obsession with cars if you know bugger all about cars?" The answer, because I am an idiot and once I have a fully developed character in my head I find it really difficult to make major changes. That and because the group uses cars to get around a lot they need someone who knows what they are doing.
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/home-garden/automobiles.html You could probably find this book, Auto Repair and Maintenance for Dummies, in the library if there isn't enough on the webpage itself.
