Let’s Hear It for the Honest, Able Mechanic
You may drive a luxury car or a clunker you picked up at a used-car lot. You may commute from Moreno Valley to downtown Los Angeles every day or merely drive to the local grocery. You could be a rocket scientist or a janitor.
But maintaining motion in Los Angeles requires one thing common to everybody: a good mechanic.
Competence and honesty are the two qualities that motorists seek in their automobile mechanics, if our mail at The Times is any measure of the issue.
When we asked Highway 1 readers to tell us about their favorite mechanics, we were overwhelmed by the sense of gratitude and respect they hold for these people of oil and grease, socket wrenches and electronics.
“When you find a good mechanic, stick with him,” said Victoria Clare of Mar Vista, a former partner in a classic-car restoration business. Clare’s mechanic of 10 years for her 1985 BMW 528e, Tom Cleave, “is practically a member of the family.”
There are about 790,000 mechanics in the U.S., according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. They run the gamut from the gas station variety of self-taught mechanics to the purebred technicians often found at dealerships. Without question, independent garage mechanics are the ones most often cited by our readers as the best.
Ross Peck, who operates a small garage in La Canada Flintridge, has attained hero status to Don and Barbara Nanney, who have relied on Peck’s judgment for 20 years. Peck even has the final say on the cars the Nanney family buys.
“He embodies the expression ‘honest as the day is long,’ ” Barbara Nanney says.
Karen Murphy of Brentwood swears by Scottie Grace at Exotic Performance of Marina del Rey, the shop that solved the rear-end sag in her 1974 Mercedes-Benz 450 SEL by cleaning out piles of junk in the trunk. The shop put everything into marked boxes and handed her $119 in change that had accumulated in the trunk through the years.
“I begged him not to tell my fiance, because I would never live it down,” Murphy recalled. “So Scottie made up something mechanically obscure and sent me home free of charge. When I married in 1996, the very first face I saw in the congregation as I walked down the aisle was Scottie winking at me.”
Grace says he insists on professionalism in his shop: “We listen to our customers. They drive their cars every day. Even if what they say doesn’t make sense, you listen to them.”
Indeed, top mechanics seem to connect with their customers, not only through integrity and knowledge, but by having a tremendous devotion to their trade.
“I love my customers’ cars,” said Declan Kavanagh, owner of a Sherman Oaks garage. “You have to love to make cars better. They come in in the morning and they are sick. They go home in the afternoon and they are well. I remember all of my customers’ cars. People like that.”
Madelaine Sutphin of Studio City depends on Kavanagh to keep her ’96 Jetta GLS running, after a Volkswagen dealership was unable to diagnose the car’s “burp,” something of an irony given the dealership’s “sophisticated equipment” and “alleged VW-trained technicians.”
Notably, not a single letter mentioned a dealership mechanic or garage. A number of people said they resorted to independent shops after receiving poor treatment (that’s putting it mildly) from dealership service departments.
Mike Morrissey, a spokesman at the National Automobile Dealers Assn. in McLean, Va., said the reason most people don’t grow fond of dealership mechanics is that large franchises use service writers as intermediaries.
“Dealerships do employ the best-quality, highest-trained technicians in the business, without a doubt,” Morrissey said.
But every other type of mechanic was mentioned by our readers. John Edberg, a former heavy-equipment mechanic in the Marine Corps, said he relies on the Winston Tires shop in Anaheim.
“I don’t know where to start on this shop, except that they are upfront, professional and have done an excellent job at a reasonable price each and every time my wife and I had a problem,” he said.
Rocco Avellini, who owns Rocco’s Collision Center in Hawaiian Gardens, gets high praise from Chester Buker, who recalls how Avellini helped identify a shoddy repair done on his car by another body shop and get him a refund.
The main thing that endears mechanics to their customers is honesty, the demonstration that a garage will not take the opportunity to make a quick buck when 5 cents’ worth of repairs is all a vehicle requires.
William B. Leaf III, who runs a shop in Venice, once had Charles E. Bloomquist back on the road without any charge, just an hour after he took his 1962 Chevy II Nova in, leaking gasoline.
“He hoisted it up and fixed the problem by tightening a clamp or two. He refused any payment, and I was on the road before 8:30 a.m.,” Bloomquist recalled.
Lee Robinson, a Pomona mechanic, was described by F. William Parker as “quite a gentleman and fair beyond belief.” It was Robinson who helped Parker drive his Mazda station wagon all the way back from Indiana with a bad alternator, advising him along the way by phone. When the 1974 RX-4 rolled into his shop, he had a new alternator waiting, Parker says.
The merits of Hall’s Expert Auto Repair of Riverside can be summed up this way: “He seems to want to try the less expensive, easier way first,” said Lyn Koch, who found owner Dave Hall and his shop through a coupon book.
“Whenever someone needs a mechanic,” wrote Sue Sapien of La Verne, “I send them to Henry’s Auto Repair of Pomona. He’s very honest and fair.”
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Their cars and trucks are important possessions for most people, often embodying the important memories of their lives for five or 10 or even 15 years. The idea of allowing just anybody to handle their vehicles strikes many motorists as being as impersonal as allowing a complete stranger to handle their taxes or perform a physical exam.
“ ‘Touch my car, touch me’ was my motto,” said Ruth Kramer Ziony of Los Feliz, who recalls a mechanic named Gino she met 30 years ago.
“I knew, without a personal mechanic, I could not exist, as changing lightbulbs is challenging for me. And so I baked cookies for the men at the shop, read their poetry and learned about their musical interests and, much to the shock of Gino’s family, I even took him to his first ballet performance at the Dorothy Chandler.”
The shop later closed, and Ziony abandoned automobiles for public transportation, she said.
Heidi Barron, a Westsider, recalls that she was once sprayed with transmission fluid while fast-talkers at a quick-lube shop tried to sell her on repairs she didn’t need. Instead, she found Bob Riley at Riley Automotive in Burbank.
“Riley Automotive not only returned my car to me in good repair,” she says, “but also returned my peace of mind. Bob tells me his goal is to keep my car running as long as possible so I don’t have to replace it. His wife, Charlotte, is the office manager, and she is charming and helpful.”
I.I. Ramirez of El Sereno, whose husband died 10 years ago, says she knows little about cars and even less about how to maintain them. But being an elderly widow, she needs a top mechanic who can ensure the reliability of her “ancient” 1986 Chevy Celebrity.
That’s where mechanic Jesus Barbosa comes in. With Barbosa and others at Y Tire Sales in Alhambra, she said, she is “confident in the knowledge that their expert mechanical performance runs parallel to their honesty and integrity.”
Ralph Vartabedian cannot answer mail personally but responds in this column to automotive questions of general interest. Please do not telephone. Write to Your Wheels, Business Section, Los Angeles Times, 202 W. 1st St.,
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Los Angeles, CA 90012. E-mail: ralph.vartabedian@latimes.com.
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Eminence Grease
We asked readers to nominate their favorite mechanics--individuals and shops that have proved themselves to be honest, caring and trustworthy. Here’s the full list of nominees:
Autohaus Sylla, 818 N. Irena Ave., Redondo Beach. (310) 379-1610.
Rocco Avellini, Rocco’s Collision Center, 12421 E. Carson St., Hawaiian Gardens. (562) 865-0040.
Jesus Barbosa, Y Tire Sales, 2969 W. Valley Blvd., Alhambra. (626) 570-1113.
Tom Cleave, Autobahn BMW, 3237 Carter Ave., Marina del Rey. (310) 821-5050.
Dodge Bros. Automotive, 17550 Chatsworth St., Granada Hills. (818) 360-5581.
Donald Fitzpatrick, Fitzpatrick’s Service Center, 1325 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica. (310) 450-1712.
Scottie Grace, Exotic Performance, 4100 Glencoe Ave., Marina del Rey. (310) 821-2870.
Dave Hall, Hall’s Expert Auto Repair, 10403 Magnolia Ave., Unit B, Riverside. (909) 358-0118.
Henry’s Auto Repair, 310 W. Foothill Blvd., Pomona. (909) 596-2656.
Jerry Jalbert, Hondiat Service & Repair, mobile mechanic. (626) 447-0092.
Declan Kavanagh, Kavanagh Motors, 13428 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks. (818) 788-3375.
Tim Kikalo, Auto Repairs Unlimited, 21100 Sherman Way, Canoga Park. (818) 704-6840.
William B. Leaf III, 1745 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice. (310) 822-3227.
Wade Lennan, Monaco Motors, 21311 Vanowen St., Canoga Park. (818) 704-1836; https://www.monacomotors.com.
Ross Peck, Independent Mercedes Service of La Canada, 440 Foothill Blvd., La Canada Flintridge, (818) 790-7979.
Bob Riley, Riley Automotive, 2601 W. Olive Ave., Burbank. (818) 843-0711.
Tony’s Transmission & Auto Repair, 149 E. Wooley Road, Oxnard. (805) 487-6442.
James Van Dusen, James Van Dusen Automotive, 2925 Pico Blvd. (310) 829-2986.
Winston Tires & Service, 1200 S. Magnolia Ave., Anaheim. (714) 220-1597.
