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Kindly old time mechanics...any stories?
isellhondas
Member Posts: 20,342
It seems that in today's world, there are no more
old time mechanics left. Lots of "technicians" who
usually replace things rather than repair them.
Just the way it is today...
Once, as a broke 17 year old, I was driving back
to LA from Seattle with a buddy. We had barely
enough money for gas and food, as usual.
Well, the generator light on my 1962 Buick Special
came on! We were somewhere on I5 in Oregon.
We managed to get it into a gas station that was
so old it had a pit instead of a hoist!
We could tell that the kindly old gentleman was
about to close. Still, he offered to take a look.
After declaring the generator to be kaput, he
looked us up and down, looked at the CA plates, and
said.."trying to get home, boys?"
I made the mistake of asking him what it would
cost to install a rebuilt generator.
" I don't install cheap rebuilds, son, I'm a
mechanic...I repair things!"
Slowly, he unbolted the generator and carried it
to his workbench. "Brushes are shot" he said.
He pawed through some boxes of junk and found a
set of used brushes. He cleaned the junk out of
the old generator, sanded down the communtator
(sp). He reinstalled the generator and it worked
like a charm.
" Well...can you guys afford five dollars?"
We about fainted.
As we went to get into the car, he put a hand on
my arm and said to me..." Son, ALWAYS help a
person, especially a kid, that needs helping"
I'll never forget his kindness.
old time mechanics left. Lots of "technicians" who
usually replace things rather than repair them.
Just the way it is today...
Once, as a broke 17 year old, I was driving back
to LA from Seattle with a buddy. We had barely
enough money for gas and food, as usual.
Well, the generator light on my 1962 Buick Special
came on! We were somewhere on I5 in Oregon.
We managed to get it into a gas station that was
so old it had a pit instead of a hoist!
We could tell that the kindly old gentleman was
about to close. Still, he offered to take a look.
After declaring the generator to be kaput, he
looked us up and down, looked at the CA plates, and
said.."trying to get home, boys?"
I made the mistake of asking him what it would
cost to install a rebuilt generator.
" I don't install cheap rebuilds, son, I'm a
mechanic...I repair things!"
Slowly, he unbolted the generator and carried it
to his workbench. "Brushes are shot" he said.
He pawed through some boxes of junk and found a
set of used brushes. He cleaned the junk out of
the old generator, sanded down the communtator
(sp). He reinstalled the generator and it worked
like a charm.
" Well...can you guys afford five dollars?"
We about fainted.
As we went to get into the car, he put a hand on
my arm and said to me..." Son, ALWAYS help a
person, especially a kid, that needs helping"
I'll never forget his kindness.
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Comments
A HFD(Helpless Female Driver) pulled into a rural gas station and complained to the old timer mechanic that her motor was making an unusual noise. The crotchedy old geezer pop the hooded, listened to the motor, considered the situation for a while, went to his tool laden work bench, extracted a 32 oz ball peen hammer, then precisely whacked the motor with said hammer, whereupon the noise stopped. He then asked the HFD for $25. She indignantly asked how could he charged $25 just to hit a motor with a hammer, to which he replied that he was only charging her $1 for the hammer blow, but $24 for knowing where to hit it.....
Feminists- please forgive me the term HFD, it's part of the joke, my daughter is actually quite mechanically minded...
Anyway, I don't have a story of rebuilding an engine for 1 pound, but I always remember the different things he had sitting outside. At anyone time he would have any number of different mechanical disasters sitting outside his shop - the old lady's push lawn mower, a kids bike needing a new brake cable, you get the idea. And like as not, if it wasn't a car it would get done for nothing.
I just returned from a 10 day trip to the bay area, and I couldn't believe the rat-race traffic!
Sure don't think you could find a shop like that in Los Gatos anymore!
Back during the Grant Administration, I bought some stuff for my first Studebaker Hawk at a Palo Alto auto parts store which, by some strange quirk, is not yet a Starbucks. The store had an old-time machinist in the back who turned out to be the local Stude guru, so I started hanging out with him talking cars. He was always friendly, even though he was well into his 60s and I was 17 and taking up his time. Now that I'm not 17 I know how hard it can be to relate to teenagers, but he did well. Maybe he thought he was passing on the torch.
He found a buddy, loaded up "Gomer" and headed out.
Now, Gomer was a 1959 Chevy Station Wagon that he had bought two years earlier for 35.00.
The body didn't have a straight panel but it was rust free. It looked terrible but for some reason, ran especially well. It was a 348 with Powerglide.
Now, in those days both of those guys had VERY long hair. Not too popular in all places.
As I understand it, Gomer's radiator blew up in the middle of Iowa somewhere. In addition, one of the U-joints had been complaining for some time.
Money, of course was tight and a new radiator was out of the question.
They limped into an old gas station that just happened to have a small junkyard across the street.
The mechanic either took pity on them or simply wanted "them hippies" out of town.
He loaned my buddy some tools and worked into the night helping them micky mouse a radiator out of an old Ford truck into Gomer. The U-joint was also replaced with a used one that worked!
His charge was something like 30.00!
They rest of the trip went well and Gomer enjoyed a very long life.
Story #1
the 7PM oil change. My buddy Eddie worked at a station, and always had the night shift. I remember a buick special coming in with the 215 aluminum engine. He wanted an oil change. Well the car went up on the rack and for the first four minutes, all that came out of the engine was water. Told the guy he needed a head gasket and he said "sonny, I've been driving it like this for five years. I change the oil every week and it runs fine!"
Story #2
My car was a '56 BelAir with a 283 bored to 292 and of course, solid lifters, 11.5:1 pistons and a 780 Holley carb... cheap headers and a Muncie four speed. 4:56 Posi ... nice paint ... hmm i'd sure like to have it NOW!
Anyway my buddy was driving a '62 Chrysler wagon with a 413, new paint, Cragar S/S mags and home made fender well headers.
Obviously my car beat him off the line every time. and of course, he would rip my pride a new hole every time he blasted past me at 80!
The only time we raced on a strip was right after the police sanctioned Beeline Dragway to open on Saturday nights as a last ditch effort to keep us off the street (1972 there were lots of fast cars in the Phoenix area)
Well Mark and I get on the line, and I am wound up tight preparing for one of my 7,000 RPM launches. Mark's old 413 was wound up too, probably a loud 4,000 but making all kinds of noise. Well, I launched on the green and turned a 14 Second 1/4 ... and my buddy had run outta gas on the starting line!! One thing about that old wagon of his: the gas guage never worked!
Story#3
Me and my trusty not yet rusty '56 again on the starting line at BeeLine Dragway. Along comes an American Motors Gremlin sporting a 401 and he too was making a lotta noise!
I wound up for another 7,000 launch and so did he ... then he WAXED ME SO CLEAN I COULDN'T SEE STRAIGHT! That ol' [non-permissible content removed] Gremlin turned 11.5 seconds and I was of course still in the teens! I was the laughing stock of all my friends. Paul's clean, fast '56 beat by a Gremlin!
Story#4
I remember one weekend pulling the 4:56 posi member out and putting back in the original 3:08 so I could drive my beauty to northern AZ to visit Grand Canyon and a girl in Flagstaff. (Remember those old Pumpkin-style rear ends? You could change gears in a half hour! Pop the axles out about a foot either side, pull the U-Joint and remove/replace pumpkin. Oh they joy)
Anyway, I was taking the long way to Flag using 89a through the mountains instead of the Interstate. A young man's dream come true ... there was a girl at the side of the road sitting on the hood of a TR6 that was broke down. "You need a ride?" She looked at my car and said hell yea! I drove her into Flag and we called a tow truck meanwhile I learned that she lived only a half hour away from me. Next weekend we dated!