Tales from the Auto Shop: No, just No

[Sparklyturtle]

I don't know where my brother got his Capri, but it was for Americans as the steering was on the left side. My brother has always liked offbeat cars, mostly AMC products; he's the only person I've ever known who owned more than one Pacer, and I remember him complaining about trying to find brake shoes for his Rambler.

[protege]

Pretty sure the older Capris were in fact made in England... well the 4-cylinder ones were, at least. The 6-cylinder versions were German.

Yep, the Capri was built in Dagenham and Halewood (UK), Cologne (Germany), as well as South Africa and Australia. US models were sold through Lincoln-Mercury dealers. While you can still get many engine bits here--trim and body panels are annoyingly hard to find.

Most of you know that I have a 47-year-old sports car in the garage. While I can change my own oil, it's easier to simply let the local garage do it. The MG uses an inverted "canister" filter. This contains a replaceable paper element...and usually gets quite messy. While most of the oil easily drains out the sump, the rest will come out the filter housing after you take the canister off. More oil will then drain out through the oil cooler. Truly a messy job--doable at home, but trust me, it sucks. It costs about the same, plus I'd rather have someone else deal with the mess

Anyway, if I have to have the garage do anything with that car, I pretty much have to supply the parts, and sometimes the tool(s) to do the job. My mechanics appreciate that, since it makes their job that much easier.

[peach2play]

So, we allow customers to bring their own parts, with approval from myself or my husband, however, we make them sign a paper that there is no warranty on the part, and no warranty on labor so if it fails on the drive home, they have to pay the labor rate again. They always have the choice to let us order the part. We do this very, very rarely, and only for cars that parts are really, really hard to come by.