how did you learn to work on cars?

Early in my career in the Air Force and as a husband, father and homeowner, there were times when money was tight. The cars I could afford were generally not the most dependable and would need repairs that I didn't know how to do. This of course would tighten the money situation further. After buying my latest "lemon" at an auction and realizing the money I had already put into it to get it working right was just the tip of the iceberg, I decided to cut my losses and get rid of it and look for an older "simpler" car to learn on. I ended up with my 74 Duster. Within a month I had pulled the motor and torn it down to the bare block. There wasn't anything wrong with it, I just wanted to learn. It took me about 3 weeks working on it after work, but when I had it back together, in the car and fired it up.......what a feeling! Most of my knowledge came from observation of the way it came apart, books, and a couple of car guys at work that I would fire questions at when I was confused about something. Now money isn't as much as an issue, I still own the house, the boy is now 17 with a car of his own, the wife drives a nice Nissan Titan, I drive a new 300, and we now enjoy the Duster as a toy not a daily driver and it has a place in the garage while all the other cars sit in the driveway.