I hear horror stories about mechanics but I have mainly had luck here in San Antonio. Mr. Inscrutable Happypants, the notoriously unhelpful carburetor man from last year, aside, I have had mainly good if not great luck in San Antonio. The manager at my local NAPA fixed my otherwise intractable water pump problem within three days, for only $25.00. He suggested getting the one I had been trying to replace for three years rebuilt. Since I had been told this was not possible by persons supposedly better informed than me, you can only imagine my delight to hear such magical words. Last year I had the front end of my 58 rebuilt. I also mentioned the parking brake no longer worked. Not a good thing on a car with no "P" position on the transmission. I bought the front end rebuild kit for the shop. In the end, he did not use it. It was found that the bushings on the car were good. It was the pins going through them that had deteriorated, so only those were replaced. Here's the beauty part. He said he had fixed the parking brake. A bracket had failed. He said he did not have enough time to contact me so I could get the correct one, and, even though he knew I was a stickler for originality, he had simply gone ahead and fabricated a new one. As a result, he said he was not going to charge me for the work on the brake. Ooh, a Scotsman's worst dilemma. A freebie he could not, in good conscience, accept. Who ever hears about shops making parts anymore? About them actually effecting a repair as opposed to them replacing stuff? About apologizing for doing so, because of time restraints? About saying he could not accept payment for the work because he did not have my permission to do it? In the end we compromised about the bill. The owner, with whom I was dealing, is the second generation proprietor of one of the city's oldest independent garages. My luck is he trained on these cars as a young man and he encourages his employees to get to know all kinds of cars. When it comes to computerized modern cars he may not have much of a future, as the diagnostic equipment is getting to be prohibitively expensive and each manufacturer jealously guards its own computer codes and programs. I think this guy has decided he can make a living by serving older cars. Lets face it, as niches go, its hardly overcrowded. Hugh