quattro Digest, Vol 6, Issue 40

[Brendan Walsh]

>I don't know many people who started repairing cars when they were less 
>than 10 years old, does anyone else? snip<

first spark plug was at 6 years old, snapper lawnmower, i forget the model 
but needless to say it was red and rusty(much like may of my future cars...) 
LOL dion't know idf that count's but it was definatley internal combustion, 
no crappy electrics back then. Guess that gives me 18+ years.. wow I'm 
almost as qualified as that jacka$$
regards
Brendan


>From :
Brett Dikeman <brett at cloud9.net>

To :
"Chris Dyer" <chrisdyer at hotmail.com>, quattro at audifans.com

Subject :
Re: LAC! Dawn of the Type44 Dead

Sent :
Monday, April 12, 2004 9:14 PM

At 3:32 PM -0700 4/12/04, Chris Dyer wrote:
    My wee anecdote of this morning:

So I'm at the dry cleaner gathering my clothes out of the back of my '87 
5ktq. There's a scary looking and acting guy walking my way, but I continue. 
I notice he's walking slowly towards me! Scary big-city moment. Where's my 
howitzer!? He approaches the trunk and in a very antagonistic tone asks, 
"Lemme ask ya sumthin. How in the HELL do you keep that thing RUNNING?! I 
had a 100, it was the biggest piece of sh!t I ever OWNED!" [insert sarcastic 
door handle response here]

I'm perplexed. Flee or fight? Does he want to kill me, or attack the car? Or 
find the fountain of Audi youth? I continue on without answering...best not 
provoke or confuse it. He walks away as if he never asked the question. 
Maybe he's headed over to the guy with the Peugeot 505? The lady in the Fiat 
124? Anyway, murder avoided. Weird Audi moment documented.

Gotta love L.A. (it's the people I'm not so sure...)


I can top that.

I had a conversation with a mechanic a week ago regarding a transmission 
swap for the 200q20v(it munched itself due to owner negligence).

"Hi, SRS recommended you since their schedule was booked solid.  I need a 
transmission swap done."

"Ok, what kind of car?"

"1991 Audi 200 Quattro 20 valve turbo"

"Ok, first off, why are you dumping money into this pig?"

It deteriorated from there into his declaring it an "5000", then refuting my 
correction by stating "well, all the mechanicals are the same" despite the 
fact that from the rims to the air filter, virtually nothing in the entire 
powertrain/drivetrain save the block is the same between the 20vt and the 
10vt.

I was desperate and made an appointment in case I couldn't find anyone else. 
  I have never had someone work SO hard to piss me off SO fast.  Needless to 
say, someone else got the job...and wouldn't you know, I plumb forgot to 
cancel my appointment(actually, I honestly did.  But shucks, I can't say I 
felt all that bad when I remembered the night before).

The best part?  I got an email the day of the appointment which was a mild 
surprise, since I hadn't given him my email address.  No rocket science 
involved, but then, neither is hanging around your ex-girlfriend's apartment 
with binoculars, and both are pretty much "stalking"...anyway, the email 
lambasted me for:

a)failing to cancel the appointment despite his self-admitted rudeness
b)being "obsessed" with my car
c)not having a girlfriend(and needing to get one.  No arguments on there, 
but I hardly need him to point it out; as Paul Royal cheerfully put it, 
"Hey, giving you crap is my job").

Finally, it wished me "good luck" trying to find a mechanic with nearly his 
25 years of experience("you have the right to get your car NOT serviced at 
the best mechanic in town"); nevermind his website bio says he's in his 
30's.  I don't know many people who started repairing cars when they were 
less than 10 years old, does anyone else?

I have been debating whether to submit his info to Mike for the "mechanics 
to avoid" list.

Brett

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