I dig my mechanic

I knew I had found a good mechanic the first time I went into my (now) friend Jose's place shortly after I had gotten my car. I was hearing a clunking sound and he went for a test drive, put it up on the lift, found a loose bolt in the rear shock, replaced it, and told me I didn't owe him anything as he wasn't too busy at the moment. Since then, he has always been unflappable (truly, he has no flap).

When i first brought my car to him after changing it over to run on used veggie oil, I briefed him on what i had done, fully expecting the usual "I won't touch your car" mentality. Instead, he was fascinated, told me he had heard of this, but didn't know much about it, and spent an hour going over everything with me so he'd understand it better down the road.

Well, yesterday I brought my wife's car in for a 60K maintenance, and true to form, Jose had no flap (see above). I quietly explained to him what i was up to and without even blinking an eye, he asked if i wanted the air filters too as he would have to check them, and then apologized that legally he couldn't give me the old fluids. He then went off to explain what was up to his guys and at the end of the day, handed me almost everything back (minus two boxes, but who's to argue). Very cool.

Dave