Imperials, repair shops & parts

["Matt Hopkins" <mhoppy@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I echo your comments Hugh. I have a mechanic that has a storage building for
his own "toys" on site.  When I take one of my older Imperials in, this is
where he works on it. The last time, I told him where he could get the parts
and the parts house had them in stock, for a '66 mind you.  The time before
we had to order from out of state. I had the vendor ship directly to my
mechanic. This is also a place that does not advertise. On a sad note, the
shop's father of the father son team recently passed away. Fortunately, he
passed his skills on to his son who is  about my age, so hopefully I will
have a long relationship with him as my father had with his father. It is
unique in that my father met him in 1966 at the Chrysler dealer when my
parents bought a new Plymouth Fury III. Roy struck out on his own shortly
thereafer, and my parents have used that garage ever since.  Roy and his son
have always treated us fairly and we have reciprocated. A lesson not only
for Imperial maintenance, but for life.

Matt Hopkins
66 Crown with a new master cylinder from Murakami Auto Service
75 Lebaron
92 Imperial

-----Original Message-----
From: mailing-list-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:mailing-list-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Hugh & Therese
Sent: Thursday, May 13, 2004 6:15 AM
To: Imperial Mailing List
Subject: IML: Imperials, repair shops & parts


Reading Bill's post - Good luck with the '59 - I was reminded of another
good way to endear yourself to shops when you need to get work done on your
Imperial.  Be able to provide them with a place where you know parts for
your car's problem can be obtained.  One thing that makes shops leery of
taking on your car is the idea that they don't know where to get parts for
it and they don't want to spend a whole lot of time finding out.  Another is
that there is unlikely to be any profit in the acquisition of the parts.  As
I'm sure you know, the price we as customers pay for parts and the price
shops buy them at are substantially different.  However, this rarely applies
when they have to get the parts long distance from a specialist supplier.
The loss of this profit margin makes working on these cars even more
unattractive, not to mention the time it will take to find who has the parts
and the time it will take to get them.

I am lucky in that there is an old time shop near me that has a large inner
grassed over parking / storage area.  On several occasions, the owner has
taken in a car, found out what was wrong and then moved it to this area
while I get a shopping list.  I then get the needed parts, sometimes using
UPS, and bring them to him.  The shop's ability to store the car easily in a
disassembled state takes the sting out of having it hog up one of his
precious bays.  This guy never advertises, mainly because he doesn't have
to.  He does excellent work and employs real mechanics who know how to use
manuals.

I am even luckier in that I have a friend who is an emergency truck repair
mechanic.  He specializes in eighteen wheelers and the like.  He is on call
24 / 7, as the expression goes.  He is the guy you see on the side of the
road, doing everything he can to get the truck moving again.  He is busier
than a one legged man in a butt kicking contest and he is able to get parts
at amazing prices.  I am perennially broke, not to mention cheap, but he is
able to get parts for me at amazing prices.  I just replaced the four brake
pads and the two rotors on my '92 Chrysler.  The rotors were only $11.00
each and the pads came to $17.00, total.  So my total cost for parts was
less than $40.00.  I have not checked into what it would have cost over the
counter, let alone from a brake shop.  At $40, who needs to.

The easier you can make it for a shop to work on your Imperial, the more
likely it is that they will be willing to take on the job when you cannot do
it yourself.  I was able to give the company that is working on the engine
of my '58 Imperial a list of places to get parts for the car.  That list
took me several years to compile, but it serves me well.  You have to make
working on your Imperial seem like an attractive proposition.

Hugh