ARTICLE

Magnanimous Mobile Mechanics

This story is about street mechanics—mobile merchants of auto repair who can perform magic in the middle of the Mission...or the Marina...or even Market Street. It’s about low overhead (working out of their homes) and no overhead (working outdoors). For VW owners on a budget, street mechanics provide a middle ground between doing it yourself and conventional, costlier avenues of repair. They appeal to penny-pinchers, to lazybones, to do-it-yourselfers who have bungled tune-ups and who can’t face their regular mechanics, and to people who just would like to stick it to the $48/hour garages.

Working for combinations of cash or barter, street mechanics offer basic services at unbeatable prices. Some whom we surveyed charge as little as $25 (plus parts) for a tune-up, $20-$25 to adjust valves, only $4 to adjust brakes, and $17/wheel to re-sole worn brake shoes.

For various fees, many also will come to the aid of motorists in distress—the “won’t starts,” the rainy-day problems, and the after-effects of failed attempts at self-repair.

The best of them also are equipped—and qualified—to perform major functions, replacing transmissions and overhauling engines. Some are capable of rebuilding entire cars.

For large jobs, their prices are as varied as the mechanics themselves. It can be a flat rate. Or it can be an hourly rate that, usually around $25, is flat-out cheap.

And though inexpensive, street mechanics are not necessarily inexperienced. For reasons of independence or—particularly nowadays—unemployment, they are in business for themselves.

Some, on the other hand, are salaried mechanics with nine-to-five jobs who moonlight to earn extra income. They have to operate word-of-mouth—employers frown upon outside work for fear of being undercut.

If you’re shopping for a street mechanic, you might check the want ads in newspapers or advertising shoppers, or look for fliers or business cards on your car’s windshield. And take note of the names and numbers of the mechanics below.

You won’t find them in the Yellow Pages.

Emergency Service

Meet Dave Russell. He’s a 27-year-old mechanic who lives near City College and who has been fixing cars since he was 13.

Russell works on all makes and models. He operates out of the two-car garage of his Sunnyside home, makes emergency calls (phone 377-1575) and will arrange free towing for jobs over $100.

“The reason I became a street mechanic,” says Russell, “was that I could spend more time with my family—I have three young kids.

“I also can spend more time with my customers. Because I can take my time, I do a good job and I don’t miss anything. I’m very conscientious.”

Russell moved to San Francisco seven years ago from his native Arlington, Va., where he worked for a large, independent garage catering to Volkswagens and specializing in engine rebuilding.

“A shop is like a machine—in/out, in/out,” says Russell. “You come in and say, ‘I want this,’ and they spit out the job whether or not they ever fix the problem.

“Everything is rush, rush, rush.”

Working on his own, Russell says he can offer better service. His only advertising is a classified ad which reads, “Mechanic, foreign, domestic. Good work/good rates.”

A tune-up generally runs $35-$40, he says, and includes new plugs, points “and a spark plug wire or two if it needs it.” Often, the job is done in conjunction with a valve adjustment ($20-$25) and an oil change ($10).

For brake jobs, he charges $30-$35 for a pair of new front or rear linings. The job includes examining the wheel cylinders, deglazing the drums, and packing the wheel bearings.

“I’m a lot cheaper than most anybody else,” Russell says. “I pay the same rent here whether or not I repair cars.

“I usually flat-rate everything,” he adds. “I can look at a job and I know roughly what the parts are going to cost and I add enough labor for what I think the job is worth.”

Russell says he likes to mix a large job—”I can change a transaxle or whole front ends; if somebody wants it done, I’ll do it”—with several small jobs. He sets a limit of three jobs per day, and usually the business is there.

“Things have a funny way of working out for me,” he says. “The more work I need, the more there is.

“If I don’t need anything, it slows down.”

Dose of Medicine

The ”Bug Doctor,” to whom we award four stars and a Phi Beta Gas Cap [see story, page 19], is a 52-year-old mechanic who lives in the Western Addition and who prefers to be known by his trade name.

His calling card reads, “House Calls Only,” and he functions strictly as a dial-a-mechanic (phone 552-4169). Although he specializes in Bugs, his practice includes many other models of Volkswagen.

His sick ward is the avenues and alleys of San Francisco. And, weather permitting, he’s on call weekdays and weekends, dispensing aid and advice with the help of an answering machine and a pager.

He believes you solve problems by going to the problems.

“I go to someone’s home, get in their car, and drive it,” he says. “If it won’t start, I’m there.

“If they drive the same car to a repair shop and it’s halfway running, the mechanic will ask, ‘What’s wrong with it?—it’s running right now.’ And he can troubleshoot that thing all day long and maybe find the problem, and maybe not.”

The Bug Doctor only works on Volkswagens.

“I’m looking at Volkswagens all the time,” he says. “I know what things should look like and exactly how they should be functioning.

“I can just pop the hood sometimes and, ah-hah, there’s the problem.”

His basic rate is $25/hour. The minimum for diagnosing a problem: $15.

“Because I represent the next thing in terms of price above doing it yourself, I get a lot of do-it-yourself ‘oops’ business,” he says. An example: person gets the old muffler off but can’t get the new one on.

Most of my work involves trouble-shooting. And troubleshooting is a basic $25/hour situation until I find the problem. But many times I take a bend on that in terms of actual work versus the time finding the problem.

“If I don’t find the problem, which is rare, I will say, ‘I don’t find it,’ and I’ll charge just the minimum. I’ve done that in some instances after troubleshooting for two hours.”

If that happens, he then will discuss the problem with other mechanics—what’s known as “bench racing.” If that fails, he’ll seek solutions “anywhere I feel I might get information.”

The Bug Doctor’s background includes a stint as a VW mechanic at a dealership in Culver City. He joined the local scene about two years ago and makes his rounds in a '60 Bug that “has been to the moon and back several times.”

“When you’re in the street, you’re an entrepreneur,” he says. “You call your own shots...set your own hours. You don’t have a garage to open at 9 in the morning.”

The road service helps to build up his regular business (tune-ups are $55, plus parts), although he says he tries to limit his work to four calls a day. Despite a substantial following, he’s steadfast about remaining a street mechanic.

“I do not envy, nor do I wish to join, anybody in the shop—unless somewhere down the road the government or the various agencies force me to.

“I’m certain I could pass any mechanical exam in the world—that’s no problem. The difficulty with me is the continual hassle of overhead and all the stuff that goes on when you’re in business.”

His only investment as a mobile mechanic is in tools. And that, he says, “was covered years ago.”