Dr Kev. - Kam Servicing Network.

Hello again!

Dr Kev for Councillor! What do you think, regular reader? Dr Kev standing
up for the rights of the community, voicing political opinions and getting
things changed for the better?

Well, I hate to disappoint you, but I'm not running for office just yet.
Watching the political dogfight in California with Arnold (yes, we're on
first name terms) has got me thinking about how easy is may be to get into
office. Of course, I haven't got the millions in the bank or the support of
some of the continent's richest people (or the womanising misdemeanours in
my past to add colour to the campaign) so it would be a little more of a
struggle. But surely there must be an opening for someone down to earth,
honest and trustworthy?

Talking of scandal, have you been following the allegations surrounding
certain Premiership players? Of course, we can rest easy that Derby Town
aren't involved - sometimes being in the first division has its advantages!
On a serious note, the allegations are shocking and don't do anything to
enhance the reputation of a sport already marred by crowd misbehaviour. I
hope that the whole sorry situation can be wrapped up smoothly and
correctly.

Doing things correctly has always been a great concern of mine, which is why I went into the motors business in the first place. There isn't any point
in half doing a job, or not doing it well enough - especially if you are a
mechanic with people's implicit trust in you. In fact, not doing things
properly is one reason that I give to dissuade some wanna-be mechanics from tinkering with their cars. A very good example of this is Mr McGregor (name changed to spare his innocence and blushes).

Last week, Mrs McGregor had noted that the brakes on the family Vauxhall
Corsa were "feeling just terrible". Mentioning this to her husband was the
first mistake, as he is an unrepentant tinkerer. Having worked a lot on his
first car (an Austin Allegro back in the day), Mr McGregor decided that
modern cars couldn't be that much different and promised his wife that he
would sort out the brakes post haste.

It all seemed to go well until Mr McGregor handed the keys to his better
half for test drive. We're not privy to the conversation that followed, but
suffice to say that the situation was even worse. Being a busy lady, Mrs
McGregor decided to take 'Olive' (on account of the number plate letters you
see) to the local fast fitter, just next to her office.

An hour later, and several pounds lighter, Mrs McGregor was told that the
brakes would need a bleed - and that this workshop didn't have the relevant
tools! Can you imagine that, regular reader! Obviously Mrs McGregor's next
step was to bring the car to someone who did have the correct tools for
every job - us!

Naturally, all of this couldn't have happened in the week - and 'Olive'
arrived on the Sawley forecourt bright and early Sunday morning (Mr McGregor had been tinkering on the Saturday).

"I'm getting fed up of this, Kev. I should learn not to let him play!" Mrs
McGregor was highly indignant, especially as she had to be at a family lunch
in just a few hours time!

"Just leave 'Olive' with me, and I'll fix it for you," I said with my most
reassuring political campaign type smile. "In the mean time, have a
courtesy car. I'll call you once everything is completed."

Well, I'm surprised that Mrs McGregor dared to actually drive the car into
us! The brakes were frankly shocking, and I didn't have the nerve to even
get to the end of the road on the test run. Back in the workshop, it was
time to see what Mr McGregor had been up to.

Actually, to give him credit, he hadn't done a terrible job - he'd just not
replaced the calliper return spring properly. Very important but very hard
to do at the same time. Once it was fitted properly, it was time for
another test run, which only yielded a slight improvement.

The only solution was to have a look at the back brakes, as I would have
given a Dr Kev guarantee on the front now that I had checked them. You
wouldn't believe the state of those rears! I don't think that anyone had
ever looked at them! Thick in brake dust and road filth, the brakes were barely working, and when they did, the muck on them was causing them to
catch and not move smoothly.

It took me a couple of hours to strip them down completely, clean every
component and put them back together. Once this was accomplished, the car stopped on a second's notice! Job done.

While the car was in the workshop, we also fixed the driver's door, which was sagging somewhat due to a missing 8mm bolt. And would you believe it,
the fast fitter didn't have a bolt that would fit! Not only have we got a
tool for every occasion, we've got the nuts and bolts too!

Later in the afternoon, the McGregors were back to collect 'Olive'. They
had obviously had a good lunch, as Mr McGregor was asleep in the passenger
seat of our courtesy car - and Mrs McGregor was looking more than a little
miffed at having to drive (yet again, as she told me later!).

She was delighted with the state of the car, and enthusiastically told me
that she'd now hide her husband's toolbox so that he couldn't tinker
anymore! How mean - she should let him keep at least one spanner, and maybe a wrench too. I'm sure that a full socket set would be appreciated as
well...

Until next week,

Dr Kev Allen.