Good mechanics, good parts people are hard to find

[mopar2@xxxxxxxxxx]

We should all have the good fortune to find such a shop.
John

hugh hemphill wrote:

> I hear horror stories about mechanics but I have mainly had luck here in San
> Antonio.  Mr. Inscrutable Happypants, the notoriously unhelpful carburetor
> man from last year, aside, I have had mainly good if not great luck in San
> Antonio.
>
> The manager at my local NAPA fixed my otherwise intractable water pump
> problem within three days, for only $25.00.  He suggested getting the one I
> had been trying to replace for three years rebuilt.  Since I had been told
> this was not possible by persons supposedly better informed than me, you can
> only imagine my delight to hear such magical words.
>
> Last year I had the front end of my 58 rebuilt.  I also mentioned the
> parking brake no longer worked.  Not a good thing on a car with no "P"
> position on the transmission.  I bought the front end rebuild kit for the
> shop.  In the end, he did not use it.  It was found that the bushings on the
> car were good.  It was the pins going through them that had deteriorated, so
> only those were replaced.  Here's the beauty part.  He said he had fixed the
> parking brake.  A bracket had failed.  He said he did not have enough time
> to contact me so I could get the correct one, and, even though he knew I was
> a stickler for originality, he had simply gone ahead and fabricated a new
> one.  As a result, he said he was not going to charge me for the work on the
> brake.
>
> Ooh, a Scotsman's worst dilemma.  A freebie he could not, in good
> conscience, accept.  Who ever hears about shops making parts anymore?  About
> them actually effecting a repair as opposed to them replacing stuff?  About
> apologizing for doing so, because of time restraints?  About saying he could
> not accept payment for the work because he did not have my permission to do
> it?  In the end we compromised about the bill.
>
> The owner, with whom I was dealing, is the second generation proprietor of
> one of the city's oldest independent garages.  My luck is he trained on
> these cars as a young man and he encourages his employees to get to know all
> kinds of cars.  When it comes to computerized modern cars he may not have
> much of a future, as the diagnostic equipment is getting to be prohibitively
> expensive and each manufacturer jealously guards its own computer codes and
> programs.  I think this guy has decided he can make a living by serving
> older cars.  Lets face it, as niches go, its hardly overcrowded.
>
> Hugh
>