Saturday, February 20, 2010

Again and again, etc.




Again, Jack Gabryziak saved our automotive bacon: (father of Dawn Olhoff; father-in-law of Randy.)

Last evening, after a full day of driving including a client out to Brookfield & back, Dee was stopping to get us a bag of popcorn from the root beer stand on Arcadian, a few blocks from our house, before returning home.

Oh-oh! A breaking & clunking sound as she pulled into the lot at the stand. A rod was hanging down under the car in front, she said. She walked home from there with her load, including the popcorn, dejected.

After discussing the problem, we immediately called good old Jack, who has been keeping cars running for us for 30 years, at least. How we met him is a good story.....

Jack said he'd be over first thing in the morning to take a look. "Sounds like a tie rod."

Dee had a deposit to make at the bank and we took Lee's car to do that and then went to the root beer stand to see the rod hanging down. That was it, it appeared. Fortunately she was able to come to a stop at the front of their lot, out of the way of customers to be left until help arrived.

The stand operator who knows us said no problem. Leave it there. We've bought a lot of popcorn, hot dogs and root beer since they opened in 1937.

So this AM Jack went out and had it fixed in an hour. He replaced the tie rod, a part he got at a supply shop, and the car is running fine once more. He also tightened up some other stuff under there, he said. It was snowing. Impervious, he lay in it.

Will not say how little he charged us except that we could not agree to that pittance. His fixing the car right there in an hour, saving us a towing fee and probably a rental car until the repair was done? No way would his quoted sum do.

Jack has chased into Milwaukee's inner-city when we konked out there where we worked years ago. In those days he drove an old VW bus, a moving repair shop.

Bottom line, Jack has fixed cars for our son, various friends and our brother who drove his 'borderline condition' mail-delivering used Jeep for his rural mail route some years back. Jack specializes in duct tape and wire when appropriate.

So now we await him to return to drill a new hole in he bumper and with a toggle bolt refasten the bracket on the front license plate. We can't be driving around with a crooked Yibawe plate. http://raccoonnews.blogspot.com/2009/01/yes-im-bald-and-what-else.html
That name must remain straight. (Jack did return. See picture above.)

When he was again thanked profusely, he merely said, "HEY! What are friends for?" A 30 year friend and a good one. No molds of Jack anywhere.