Date: Fri, 20 Feb 2015 09:16:37 -0400
Reply-To: Roy Nicholl <RNicholl@NBNET.NB.CA>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Roy Nicholl <RNicholl@NBNET.NB.CA>
Subject: Re: Complete Engine Replacement Cost Estimate
In-Reply-To: <8413C9C8-05D1-46B5-9293-2854310CC580@johndillon.com>
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John,
For a minute I thought you were describing Günther (outside Fredericton), except he's already in his 70s and a bit cranky at times ... but he knows his way around air-cooled and diesels better than any of today's VW mechanics.
On 20-Feb-2015, at 06:19, John Dillon wrote:
> I live in a small town in Eastern Canada … in an even smaller town about 30 mins away lives a 67 year old German mechanic … he can be incredibly disagreeable if he doesn’t like you - or if you are late for a meeting. But people bring him MB’s and VW’s and Porsches from all over. He has been working on German cars for likely almost 50 years. He does body work and mechanical work .. he restored my 82 from top to bottom .. and he did another for a friend … he rebuilt the engine, replaced metal, and painted … etc.. He rebuilt the engine in my 60, and my 78. OK … all air cooled but he has rebuilt many water cooled engines as well. He is totally honest and because he lives above his shop his overhead (just thought of that pun) … is low so his rates are really fair. I hope to get my new 82 diesel to him within a few days for either an engine rebuild or 1.9 replacement … body work and paint …
>
> Anyway, I KNOW he is ever bit as good as Boston Bob was or anyone at Go Westy … these guys are just mechanics … I’m sure Boston Bob was a great guy and fair and honest … i’m sure he backed up his work and if something failed he did the right thing … but he was just a mechanic …. These Go Westy guys aren’t gods …
>
> My point is …. I live in a little town … in Eastern Canada … I can’t imagine in a big city like Detroit … or LA … there aren’t mechanics who can build a vw engine for you at a fair price … i’m not sure why you need to ship an engine from far away … like, how do you get it serviced if something fails? do you have someone pull it then ship the engine a 1000 mi to have the seller look at it and determine if the reason for failure was their fault? Then what happens … who pays for all that shipping?
>
> I know of my mechanic … then there is a reputable guy in Kingston (also 30 mins away) … then there is a vw guy in Perth … I found a similar old German guy outside of Fredrickton once … these guys are around …
>
> OTOH … my buddy is 67 … yikes … in 10 years he’ll be 77 … who will rebuild my engines then ….
>
> jdd
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