"Three Frogs on a Log: Why Most Drivers Never Fix the $20.000 Car Mistake"

Good morning folks! You're tuned to Car Connection where the coffee's hot, the

tools are ready, and the talk is always tuned up. I'm your host, Nile Motor

Mouth Jenkins, coming to you straight from the Car Connection workshop, where

we mix a little humor, a little know-how, and a whole lot of horsepower. Here it's

not just about fixing cars, it's about keeping you rolling and saving you money

and giving you the confidence to understand what's under that hood. From

the classics, to the commuters, the weird noises, to the what the heck moments we've

got you covered. So grab your coffee, sit back, join the crew because this is

Car Connection, your Monday through Saturday morning pit stop for stories,

smarts, a few good laughs, and I'm Nile Motor Mouth Jenkins and we are shifting

into drive this morning. Well, we've made it to the weekend. Yep, we've done it. We

pulled it off and I can't believe how fast spring break has chugged along and

it's wrapping up after this weekend and it's everybody back to business as

normal and all the crazies back on the road. Yeah, it's been really quiet out

there. I've actually been able to run some errands and get back the same day and

not have to take my jammies and my toothbrush on the road, but I will say

you know, I know where they are. You ask, Costco. Yep, I won't do that again. Went

in there and it was like pulling a shopping cart onto the 401 West. It was

full body contact and I had no gear whatsoever. And I'll tell you, those

seniors in there, they weren't taking any prisoners either. Yep, if they got their

cart kind of sort of in front of yours, they wouldn't move. They were on it. They

were like holding their ground. It took me forever to get a half a dozen

thingies and get the heck out of Dodge. Just take a breath. It'll be okay,

motor off. It's going to be all right. Well, good morning to you. If you're just

scooting through the drive-thru, double check your order. It is Friday. It has

been vacation week for many and you know, people make mistakes. It just happens.

Poo poo happens even while you're watching. You ever notice that? So double

check, lock her down because we got a lot to get through today and we're going to

just sit back. We're going to have some fun. What do you think about that? Are

you good with that? Because have some fun. Why? Because here in the car

connection workshop, we work hard six days a week, Monday through Friday, putting

out material for you, shooting videos, getting videos lined up, getting them

added, getting them in order on the schedule. If you saw my schedule board,

you'd go, I quit. Yeah, you probably would. You go, there isn't a blank space

anywhere. Like, where do you breathe? No, you don't. Yeah, go ahead. Take a

breath now. Okay, you're done for the month. Move on. Yeah, lots of things,

moving pieces with car connection all the time and you know what? You got to

keep a schedule. Everything's got to run on time and sometimes you might just

screw it up and it's okay. You can laugh. You can laugh at yourself. In fact,

you know, we had a shot of video on Monday and I'm, what was I doing on that? I

was gushing, flushing the cooling system and then the holes blew off and I got

like the ultimate anti-free shower. You got to watch that one. That's going to

come out next week. Next week and I'll do a wrap up to that one this morning.

Skippy's not around but I'm still trying to get all the crud out of the engine

block on this 97 Jeep TJ Wrangler Rescue and once I get that done, then it's out

until I have to do the welding on the floor, which won't be until the summer.

Anyhow, I laugh at myself and that's what I'm saying. So, car connection in the

car connection workshops brought to you by Earl Louise Grant at City Auto Sales

and Leasing, Greater Toronto Area's pre-owned, Premier Auto Store, low mileage

quality vehicles at fair prices, in-house leasing and financing available. They

don't sell any junk folks. That's why they made it to be in partnership and part

of our community with car connection is you can buy with confidence and be

treated with nothing less than honesty and integrity. If you're looking for

something specific, they do carry a pretty decent inventory under roof and outside.

Let Earl Louise Grant know exactly what you're looking for. They have over 20 plus

years and that means they've created the resources to find that specific vehicle

you're looking for. That's City Auto Sales and Leasing. You know, in times of community

support is very, very crucial right now. Absolutely. The Crystal Ridge Dream Center

shines as a beacon of compassion and transformation. They're located at 385

Derby Road, right in the heart of Crystal Beach. If you know that area,

that's where they're located. There's a lot of low-income families in that area as well as

Fort Erie and surrounding. Crystal Ridge Dream Center is serving men, women, children,

meals, love, hope, and changing lives one at a time in the Niagara region. They feed out the door

on a side door Tuesdays and Fridays. They put hot meals out and now they're between 260 and 300

meals twice a week and they don't get any government funding so whatever we can throw at them

and support them is well received. Anything over $25 you get a tax receipt. They are a

non-profit faith-based organization changing lives one at a time. All the programs they have

running for seniors, young adults, the children, single moms, widows, orphans are all available to

you including if you need a hot meal. It's Tuesday and Friday. They'll serve you a beautiful meal

all at no cost. So let's dig in deep. Take a look at them online. Click on their link

below their logo for all our program partners and check them out. These are people that have been

a part of Car Connection for a long time and when we were looking at switching out of radio onto

digital platforms which give you now more ways to watch, listen, and engage with us.

That's it exactly. Thank you to our certified financial planning professionals Tony Miele,

Larry Tietro, my brothers from other mothers. They have combined over 50 years experience

as fiduciaries. You are not going to share anything with them honestly folks that they

have not seen or heard before or dealt with. So don't let that be an excuse. I wouldn't be sitting

talking to you right here if it weren't for those two fellas. Certified financial planning

professionals. I have lost my shirt and my lunch money and milk money three times. Wiped out.

I mean wiped out. When you're sitting on the floor in your living room

rolling pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters to keep the lights, the water and everything rolling

then you know you're at the bottom and not all by my choice I might add. Just stuff

happens. When I say poo poo happens it does doesn't it? So these guys will help dig you out of what

seems to be a very dark deep cavern. But you've got to be willing to open up and share share with

them. So here's what you get being a part of car connection and these fellas I've known them for

over 20 years. They are my brothers from other mothers. They know exactly what to do and how to

do it. You get an hour and a coffee discovery meeting and you can leave your wallets leave

your purses at home. Nobody's giving you a bill. Take that time to get your questions answered on

investments. An investment portfolio if it's with the bank they're going to tell you what you need

to do with that. If you're in over your head over your eyeballs with debt they're going to work that

out for you and see how they can get that pressure off of you and what the game plan is. Estate

planning. If you have a checkbook, a bank account, and children it's not a do it yourself program

folks. Don't go there. The CRA will love you. Yeah they will absolutely eat your estate raw.

So estate planning needs to be done properly and anchored well anchored. They can do mortgages for

you. I haven't had a mortgage with a bank for 15 plus years and I'm never going back to the bank.

They have an amazing mortgage team out Winnipeg and the rates are fabulous and they're willing to

work with you and there's more. You have more services than I can mention. So thank you guys

our certified financial planning professionals for being there for us to help us

we navigate some of the most uncharted dangerous waters we can think of and that's the economy

and our household. Tony Miali, Larry Tetrell connect with either one of them and just sit down and

have that discovery meeting. Get your questions answered by those who have the fruit on the tree.

That's what my professor taught me and I'll tell you what it's true. Everyone else will try and solve

your life's problems but their own life is a mess. Exactly. They mean well don't disrespect smile and

nod but if their feet aren't standing where you want to be then you should not be taking any

kind of advice from them whatsoever. There you go. I give you a nugget this morning.

It's absolutely true. Thank you to the Greenville family at Niagara Block. 5,000 Montrose Road,

Niagara Falls. They've been busy building Canada since 1931 with building supplies,

hardscape landscaping materials. Why not get into that idea of having your very own outdoor

backyard space. You're a little oasis where you can just hang out and be. It's very good for the

mind. Trust me. I have that space and I can't wait to get out there and sit at my my table

and read my book or just sit and listen to some quiet music or just listen to the birds.

It's absolutely therapeutic. So get on that. They can help you line you up with contractors that

can start, estimate and do the job and do the job well and build that hardscape landscaping

project for you with the best products on the face of the planet. Into Total Freedom,

Darien Center, New York and Sidney Manitoba. They are a addiction campus. That's what they do.

All age groups, men, women, young adults, wherever you're at. If you've made that decision, you're

sick and tired, fed up, disgusted and bored of being another lap around the mountain stuck

in your very own addiction. You got to bring it into the light. Take it out of the darkness,

bring it into the light, get to a Total Freedom Addiction Campus Canada USA. And there is a

brand new life that's waiting for you there because you can't fix what you can't see.

They're an alternative addiction program bringing a Christ centered healing and restoration to

individuals and families that have been enslaved by cycles of addiction and destructive behavior.

And I've worked alongside them for a long time and I'll tell you, I've seen people come through

there. It's not a program. I'll tell you that right now. It is not a program. It is a life change.

So thank you for when you when you purchase merchandise from our website, which is the

biggest drawer in our toolbox, everything we talk about lives on our website so that it's easy

through you don't have all these mega choices to connect with us. Go to our website, carconnectionbusinessnetwork.com.

All our program partners are there. Their logos are on the homepage. Click and you're in. All the pages

are set up the same. So navigation from one program partner recommended business to the next

are set up exactly the same. No confusion and you can meet them. Thank you in advance for giving

them your business. In the top right hand corner of our homepage, you will find all the links for

all the platforms. We're working our tails off to grow and we ask for your help in doing so

by doing all those little things like share, follow your comments down below on our videos,

ring the bell notification bell so you know when the three videos come out each and every week.

New videos two for Tuesday, one every Friday, and we've been doing that for well over a year.

We're almost over the top of 200 videos. There's Facebook, Instagram, Stevensville on the web.ca.

We're tied in with the businesses there and the community. Just click on the businesses tab to

find us. Our iHeart radio icon is there and our online car connection motormouth merchandise store

is there. Grab some gear. I always say grab some gear. Join the crew in the battle and the fight

against addiction to help those who've made that decision. Today's the day to get to a total freedom

addiction campus and get that new life that waits for them there. Well it is fun Friday. What are

we going to be talking about today? Well some interesting things. I'm going to give you a

little bit of my background. If you have questions, tomorrow is Saturday Q&A, one hour, nine to eight

till nine. I answer questions and the questions have been coming in and if you haven't sent your

question in I don't know why not. Where else do you have access to an automotive service

technician with 44 years plus experience for free? For free and I'm not just a DIYer. I have my

licenses. I just paid for them for another year and I'm up to date. Current with all the new stuff

and the old stuff and I'll tell you what. I like the older stuff and we're not talking vintage.

10 years, 15 years old. You know why? Because that stuff we can get decent parts for them

at a decent price and you can keep that older car rolling as long as you want and they're much

better to work on. The quality, I have to say the quality is superior to what we see today.

Too much plastic. Honest to goodness. Plastic is cheap. It is. It's cheap and everything we see

today here's what you got to know. It's built by the lowest bidder. That's right. Every single

thing around us is built by the lowest bidder. That's what we got to know. So let's jump in this

morning. I have a question for you. So if you have questions, today would be the day to email them

into me and reminder in the description box for all the YouTube videos which will teach you all

the basic fundamentals of automotive repairs and service and maintenance. I teach you the five things,

what it is, where it is, how it works, how it breaks and how you could have understood that

component a little bit better may have saved you a lot of money. So those are the items that you

will learn in every video and you'll probably laugh at me as well at the same time and it is okay.

It's absolutely okay because I know you're laughing with me, not at me, right? Okay. So remember to do

all those little things like share, follow, subscribe. If you're enjoying the videos like I

know you are, 93% of you have not subscribed. I don't know why but you're watching the videos

and you're not subscribed. That really helps us and the whole purpose of everything we've been doing

for 32 years is to be able to reach out and help others just like you and me, maybe down on their

luck or maybe a single mom trying to keep afloat raising two, three kids could be a widow, a fellow

or a woman that husband passed away and they're lost. They don't know what to do and the car is

just one of those things that just stresses them right out and last summer we were able to help

a couple of widows and get vehicles back out on the road but unfortunately because we're not

monetized yet we couldn't buy parts for them but we could supply the labor and in lieu take some

videos and show you what we're working on, why we're working on it and so the five things. Again

what it is, where it is, how it works, how it breaks and what you could learn as basic automotive

service and repair fundamentals that would save you not hundreds, thousands of dollars and we are

going to run the 30-day fuel savings challenge and as soon as we have some stable weather out there

that's going to make a huge difference to the outcome of that challenge. It certainly will so

let's get started with things. We have our Fun Friday on deck today. Again if you've got automotive

questions I need to get them into my mailbox today so I can answer them on the air tomorrow

and thank you to all those who have been participating and sending their questions in.

Really appreciate it. It makes for great conversation and when you share a question

somebody else may be thinking the exact same thing but they're just a little shy

or nervous to send me an email. I don't bite too hard anymore. Treatment therapy has been

really good for that. I'm not much of a biter anymore so let's have our morning swiggy together

brought to us by all our program partners because without them we can't keep the lights on and can't

keep the ignition on and the engine running smoothly folks and Skippy and I we do like a really hot cup

of coffee in the morning and a snack so we need a few bucks to do that and we appreciate our program

partners for being able to do that so let's count it down whatever your morning beverage is

keep an eye on the road if you're driving this morning if you're just kind of hanging out that's

good that's really good have a second cup on three two one ready three two one

that's right on I got that one down to a science

question for you this morning and your answer you got email to me okay ready listen closely

this is important you know you can hear but how's it work you're listening but you're not

really hearing or are you hearing but you're not really listening so that's what's important

and when you read an email or somebody's text read the whole thing and that brings me to our

descriptions for the videos and for the podcast I write them myself and I put a lot of details in

there a lot of nuggets in every description that will help you even more beyond the videos beyond

the podcast I do it with specific intent I put information there that if you're willing to come

and get it it's there for you for free so don't just skim the description box and click on the video

because if you do you are missing out on a ton of valuable information that you could take

to have as your own I got 44 years experience and I'm not patting myself on the back or saying

that I'm a big shot I'm a little shot that just keeps shooting I'm here in your corner I'm not for

the manufacturer I'm not for the sales dudes I'm here for you to teach you the car game

because it is it is a car game and I stay ahead of what's coming and what's going on

so that I can bring the truth to the table for you to save you not hundreds but thousands

of dollars you know having a solid gold mechanic they don't wait for your car to break they

help you to stop it from breaking in the first place that's the technician you want to grab hold

of and hang on because that's the fella or felette there are a lot of women

young ladies getting into the trade the trade is dying there is a shortage of technicians

North America wide it's huge it's a tsunami and we were talking about that back in 1992

97 2000 into the early 2000s up to 2007 that there was going to be a shortage of automotive

service technicians North America wide not just in automotive all platforms and it's here it has

arrived and it's scary I got honestly I get a call you see once once or twice a year wanting

to put me back out in the grunt field but you know what your body takes an absolute beating

and automotive it absolutely does it is not for the squeamish it will challenge you mentally

physically and emotionally all the time it really is a challenging career I'm not saying that to be

negative but I remember when I was talking to um I went to see a fella in a little town called

Smithville that's where I grew up for most of my life then moved on to St. Anne's another small town

which was close to Smithville so I grew up in Sodbusterville and I worked on farms when I was

13 I was driving tractor and Bailing Hay picking 150,000 eggs a day feeding beef cattle milking

cows every day was fun was a fun day and hauling out you know their trash um that's where I grew up

and I went into a Texaco station and I talked to a fella Chris Hadler I remember his name

was very good to me he was hard on me when I needed that discipline to push myself and he

didn't hire me to do oil changes and I remember going in and I said to him and yeah I'm getting

there with this I went in and I said I'd like an apprenticeship and he looked at me and he said

oh so you want to be one of us then I go yeah well you got to be an idiot but I'll sign you up

that's what he said to me and here I am you know 44 plus years still in the trade

and I say thank you to Chris Hadler for giving me a chance and he worked me hard and that's okay

I didn't just get hired to be skippy in the shop change in tires change in oil and he said I'm not

having you here just to do that stuff he says I can do that myself no get under the hood of that

you're going to take the cylinder heads off and get under there you're going to take the transmission

now we got to change the clutch he put me on the hard stuff right away and that's how you learn so

if you've got kids at home they're wondering what to do I would say you know what you want to become

a really good solid person that looks at things totally different than anyone else go get trained

to be a top drawer automotive service tech because you'll use your computer theory you'll use it all

your brain your hands your brawn your smarts it will challenge you all the time to get better

to be better to become a diagnostician to not only be able to diagnose properly and repair properly

but also learn to communicate with people it covers every angle of life becoming an automotive

service tech is not for the squeamish and we have a major shortage of techs in the U.S. Ford is having

a problem they got all kinds of dealerships open and no service techs in the service space

a short over 7,000 automotive service techs and you don't build a service technician overnight

you can know it at all on paper but i'll tell you what forget about it because when you're in the

service space a man with a theory will always be at the mercy of a man with experience period.com.org.ca.net

that's it weather for today you ready for it heading into the weekend what's a weekend anyway

today bringing it up here whoa here we go feels like no that's not right what's the

matter with you folks you on medication maybe you should be 30 degrees right now and cloudy

rainy conditions expected around 10 a.m today's temperature range 28 to 46 Fahrenheit and it

will feel more like 27 to 42 degrees Fahrenheit so today the high for today is 46 degrees the

overnight low is going to be 28 28 that's the answer to any question so many asked for your

question you don't have the answer it's always 28 that's official so don't see any snows or ice

rain or anything like that out there so that's fantastic on a friday drive safe people tend to

shut things down if you know what i mean on a friday and stop thinking keep an eye out for

them remember peace patience kindness always pays off at the end so i have a question for you

and i'm going to rattle it off so here you go it's fun friday you have to send me your answer

you have to email me your answer we are working for the month hard for the month of april

my service tech friend is coming back from his snowbird vacation

yeah he sends me pictures and stuff it's crazy good living down in the the keys all winter

yeah baby eat some gator anyhow um yeah he's coming back and i just need him to help me to

how we're going to connect our ip over internet phone system so that we can take calls during the

program on saturdays so once a week so we can have a live call in automotive program on saturdays

but right now it's q and a so you send in a question and i'll read it out on the air and

give you the answer on saturday so from eight till nine you can be with us and have your question

answered live on the air just by tuning in so here's my question to you and you have to email me

your answer ready three frogs on a log one deciding to jump off how many frogs on the log

got it that's when i want you to answer i'll read out one more time from my memory three frogs on a

log one deciding to jump off how many frogs are on the log send in your answer nile at ccbusnet.com

or motormouth.jankins at gmail.com and all that information is always included in the description

on our videos and in the description on our podcast and again if you're skimming you're losing a ton

of nuggets i put with specific intent in the description box for our youtube videos

and our podcasts that you will not hear or see anywhere else so if you're a skimmer you're doing

you're not doing yourself justice i'm teaching you in the description box that's what i'm doing

i'm teaching you in the description box so no matter what age group you are size build color

culture one leg one eye one arm it doesn't matter you'll get something out of it absolutely

because knowledge is power it absolutely is i started in the trade

i got the bug at about age 13 and my pops who's still around yep he's got all his faculties

sometimes um most of the time he's a good pops yeah we love him he's 89 and he texts he uses his

cell phone he a t moves not as much anymore but uh he's a mill right by trade and brought us all

to canada from england except for my sister she's a foreigner in the family she was born

in 1967 yeah she's true canadian with some english we came over on the atlantic

that's all i remember i remember hanging on to my uncle john's neck and i apparently i kind of

embedded my fingernails into the side of his neck but we came we were boat people we arrived

crossed the atlantic into canada and my pops is a mill right got a job with uh

westinghouse on uh i think it was sanford avenue at that time something like that but anyways

i'm not going to start off with it all happened because i didn't go to the zoo no that's not true

went to the buffalo zoo i think i was 12 saw the monkeys so i think i know that one

anyways yeah that was the only time i went to no i went to the uh toronto zoo i really enjoyed that

anyhow before i get down a rabbit hole so at age 13 i was changing it helping my pops change an

engine on an old mercury pickup truck in a barn in bimbrook ontario which is now like a metropolis

i'm told uh there was nothing there i think there was a post office in a corner store

and we were in a barn that had more holes in it than the titanic in the middle of winter

changing an engine out and i remember getting paint all over my face because i was painting

something then my pops wipes it all off with gasoline on a rag and we drove home that way

in the whole time i'm thinking i could light on fire yeah but anyways that's how i got my start

i loved it i loved the pulling the engine out putting another one in and we got it running

and we drove it and um that's when i got the bug i knew what i wanted to to do i enjoyed farming

very much as a kid and picking fruit all that i really really enjoyed it i absolutely did i made

a lot of money picking fruit i was a good fruit picker i was easy on the product and understood

the you know people this stuff's going to people's tables don't be a wiener about it

do some really good picking and then farmers would call me and say hey can you come pick for us

so i picked everything from strawberries raspberries cherries and then apples in the end of the

season and you know what i was only a little gaffer built like a toothpick or a pencil with

an eraser on the top and i was making good money back then i was i was clearing 150 bucks a day

picking fruit do the math i was like 12 13 years old climbing the ladders hauling in the goods

and i worked on a farm i worked on the farm one one whole summer i was just a little guy let me

tell you i was a tiny little feller and uh you know the wind would blow me away and my clothes hung on

me like like a clothesline pretty much i look like i've been dressed by somebody else uh in their

clothes and they're bigger than me but i i i went to a farm and uh that was when we moved in saint

anz and i said i i want to work on the farm for the summer and i'll work for free i said so give me

a chance so i did and i pops wasn't too happy about that but the next year they called me back

and they wanted me to come back and um i was milking cows as well and going to school getting

up at like three three fifteen in the morning riding my bike up to the farm rain snow sleet

whatever and milking cows and i still remember it those are days i remember they were they were

great they were great days you worked hard and you put in an awesome day and you got a lot of

stuff done and you did different things every day and some the same but it was interesting

so the following year they called me back and they said we're going to pay you

now i'm 13 for sure at this point i'm 13 no driver's license and they taught me how to drive this

little david brown tractor and that was my tractor because i knew how to work it and i could pull

things and whatnot so they were paying me seven dollars an hour then there was a government

program that came out with the government and they told me this government's going to

pay us half your wage so we're going to give you that as well so i was making like 11 bucks an hour

and i was 13 pretty cool huh yeah i had some dough and uh yeah so it was good that's how i

even got into automotive even more because we would have to fix machinery and service it

i learned how to weld there stick weld a lot of things to picking up the trade

and uh you know when i was turned 16 i left home i've been back home since 16 just for visits but

i haven't lived back home since age 16 got my own place to live i lived just down from the high school

and i got a full-time night job at a chicken processing plant cleaning the plant all night

and so i was able to put myself through school i had my own car paid my own insurance my gas

repairs and i went to school during the day and i got some special treatment because

i got a letter from my employer saying you know i start work at four o'clock and i'm out of work

at seven in the morning so i worked at a 38 000 square foot chicken plant my friend john got me a

job there and uh we cleaned 38 000 square feet of blood guts and gore every single night so that

150 people or 150 thousand birds would be processed the next day and almost 100 employees so we had

to make sure the plant was spotless for when the inspectors come in they do swabs and check and

make sure everything is properly cleaned that was our job and that was monday through friday

and then we went back in if they if they did a slaughter on saturdays we'd have to go in sunday

night and so fridays i would be off school and i slept until my shift at the chicken plant that's

why i put myself through trade school as well and uh paid my way i paid my way learn how to cook

learn how to clean learn how to do my own laundry make my own bed take care of my place and pay my

bills and be responsible for my very own actions no one else to point the finger at so that's my

background and i got in the automotive when i walked into the texical station downtown smithville

ontario canada and chris hadler signed me up as uh apprentice and he waited a whole year i wanted

to finish my grade 11 and that was my own choice at that time we only needed grade 10 to get into

auto mechanics he waited a whole year and then he used to call me dripper he'd say dripper

you got to get in here now i i can't run this show on my own i need you full time like i can't

just take you after school anymore can you do it and i said well i just got to write my exams

for grade 11 and accomplished my grade 11 never got my grade 12 i didn't need it i knew what i wanted

and that was to become a service tech so it was more important i had somebody there ready to sign

me up so i could become a service tech and work on it and he was a great teacher he had a bad temper

but uh it was good yeah when hammers are flying somebody's not happy yeah that's what i know someone's

not happy anyhow i was there for a couple years and then uh he sold out half his business to a

partner and i lost my job so i was still in my first year so that's when i headed into the big

smoke hamilton ontario canada that's where i could get back into the trade and keep going find a

transfer my apprenticeship so i where did i end up there i'm not sure exactly well that was back

we were into the 80s yeah you know the deal you you that are the same age as me the 80s yeah long

hair spandex pants you know the thing yeah and um mullets i think mullets were around then i never

had a mullet just so you know in the trade it was best to have short hair because you were working

under trucks and equipment and stuff and you were getting filthy dirty working out in the field side

of the road on service calls so i went to from the texaco i went to cosmos garage fridt street

west end of hamilton close to the old spectator building i was there for a number of years i think

i almost i was in my second year when cosmos sold me off the team and i went to work for the

resudo family that owned blue line taxi and i learned a lot there how to work fast how to get

stuff done in a hurry and we did repairs i worked on john street south the shop there so we did some

cab work but mostly vehicles off the street but i did both and i would work at night time get paid

extra to fix a cab pull a transmission out get another one back in get it back out on the road

you learn how to work fast and efficient and on your own then from there i stayed there quite a

while i was in my third my third year in my apprenticeship at that time and ready to almost

yeah i was ready to write i had written my 310 t at that time and then i wanted to get my diesel

endorsement so i said to uh tony resudo at the time they were great to me great people

taught me a lot of things helped me have my own cab and which was making me money to buy a house

and other things you know take a vacation and they taught me how to do that from scratch and

helped me do the whole thing and i had to leave there to go into heavy trucks and equipment full

time for 1670 man hours to be able to write my diesel license at that time so i had to do

1670 straight hours on diesel so i got a job with peter build of ontario until and that was on

uh nash road i think nash road yeah nash barton and nash and the dealership closed so my buddy

boner and i we got out of there and i got us a job up in um mill grove working for some people

up there i won't say who that was that was a bad deal yeah there was some funny stuff going on there

we stayed about a year and got out of there and then i got picked up by mac trucks of canada so i

worked for mac trucks big dealership queensway and kippling there was a 91 of us mechanics we worked

days and extended afternoons there that was uh that was a hard working job it was the first

time i worked for a union company which was interesting uh very and i was driving from

the hamilton mountain to uh queensway and kippling every day and on the swing shift we did one month

of days one month of steady like extended afternoons we'd work from like 330 overlap with the day shift

and we'd work until 130 in the morning and then fridays we got off at 11 and i fell asleep on

the highway coming home a couple times and it was a close call babies uh twice and that's when i i i

didn't like the union shop uh i love the work i enjoyed working on the max and learned a lot there

but i had to get out i couldn't do the drive so i called uh at that time my brother in law at

peterbilt von terrio and i said can you guys help me out and like in 10 minutes i had another

job with peterbilt so i went to peterbilt and that's where i put in i put enough hours in

mac trucks of canada that i was able to take an afternoon off go downtown sit and write the

uh four and a half hour exam and i came out with my diesel endorsement and my diesel license so i

could go anywhere in ontario and out of ontario as well so i got at that time you could earn your

interprovincial if you were 80 80 percent or more so i passed with 86 which i never got those

marks ever in my entire school life yeah i was a b plus guy or c plus or c minus so that's that

that's pretty much my career and then uh my own shop i worked for uh mill grove garage i think that's

what it was called no edgewood garage with uh jim newman great teacher as well and i love working

for the family there it was family owned business then from there i was doing contractor work i would

had a bronco put my toolbox in the back and i would drift around and work a day here two days

there go in do the jobs and get paid and move on to the next shop and i had a good routine going

there we're at three shops that were taking me in and enjoyed having another tech when things were

busy and i did that's how i got into business for myself opened my shop on the hamilton mountain

in 1991 just coming out of a ugly recession and we closed it in 2000 late 2000 early 2001 i believe

yes yes i blew my back out and that toasted me i was uh almost in a wheelchair that's how bad it was

it was bad my chiropractor closes the door and goes you keep doing this you're going in a wheelchair

and if you let them operate on your life is not going to be good so don't do it so that changed

my course quite a bit actually at that point but i uh i posted my resume and got snatched up in about

11 hours on the internet by Volkswagen Canada and then i spent the next four and a half years

fixing a dealership in the cambridge area i'm working with a great team of people there

and we made that dealership go from the bottom out of 12 in the district so it was the bottom

didn't mean you were doing good that meant you were doing really bad it was about ready to lose

his dealership license third warning from vwc Volkswagen Canada got there i assessed the

dealership and i never worked in a dealership in my life and i was hired as the service mangler

and wearing slacks and ties and shirts which was really weird for me really weird but it gave me

an opportunity to learn stuff i know today that i wouldn't have learned about how a dealership runs

in the politicking in behind the behind the curtain which helps me help you so the all the

experiences and the people i've worked for were great people and i came away and learned a lot of

things that i can share with you and i know what's going on it's not i'm guessing i know it because

i've been there and i learned in four and a half years working 80 plus hours a week at the Volkswagen

dealer i learned a lot and i knew all the paperwork warranty work all of it how the whole system

behind a dealership works and that helped me to be able to help our listeners at the time because

i was on the air at that time and went on the air in 1996 with car connection that's how it came about

during the period we had our own shop so we started in 91 we went on the air to help people

and that brought in that filled our bay doors and we never ran one commercial it was always hey if

you missed dial today give give them a call at the shop uh 5715344 that was our phone number

and we had people coming as far as pennsylvania dropping cars off for a week vacationing in

canada it was crazy but it was all good at the end of the day it was all good and that's how

i got into this full time and it still put me back on the shop floor being able to fix cars for people

and get you out there and use my knowledge to help you to be able to navigate this thing we called

the car game and automotive service maintenance and repairs and help you keep an older vehicle

going as many miles as you want and putting thousands of dollars back in your pocket that's

what i know how to do and i learned it through fleet maintenance doing lots of fleet maintenance

when i work for cosmos garage and roadside repairs and going out into the wherever land

to get a piece of equipment going to get it out of there to get it to the shop so i had lots of

experiences so from the dealership in cambridge anyways the short story there was in 18 months

we all worked together i was the captain and the coach i was always first one there last one

to leave had the respect of my team and we were a family we brought that dealership up out of the

muck we went from the bottom number 12 to number one in ontario and canada for parts sales and

service in 18 months we got tons of accolades and when i first started there and i went to

to management meetings in toronto and ajax all over the place pickering other

service manglers wouldn't even sit with me that's right i was the disease at cambridge

volkswagen maybe we're laughing stock of the district 18 months later can i sit with you

and i don't know i go no you wouldn't before so guess what you don't know and no i'm not

going to tell you how we did it so get lost that's how you fix it you know what my professor would

say you want to make you want to make your those who don't like you mad become successful

that's it be successful do it for you not for anyone else so that's a little bit of my history

on fun friday and i am grateful to all those who touched my life there's a lot of businesses i

worked for in between i worked at a business at top of sherman cutton hamilton um was that

personal auto service i think it was the the boss was he was a weiner but uh i i worked with a couple

of really good guys there tex that were there and uh what's his name bill he looked like the guy

alpha dick tracy he really did billy walker yeah i don't know if he's still around but he taught

me how to rebuild carburetors and he would have he'd be smoking a cigarette 12 to 18 inches long

rebuilding a carburetor smokes going his eyes and he let me sit at the workbench after hours

for free i wasn't on the clock so i could learn how to do carburetors because he knew how to do

them he could do them in his sleep and i really wanted to learn that that uh tech service i really

wanted to have that under my belt and if it wasn't for billy walker i wouldn't i wouldn't know how to

do it and i wouldn't have learned how to do it and he'd say to me i remember he said one thing

he never he never spoke much hardly ever at all he always had this great big eight i called it the

18 inch cigarette it never seemed to burn out to a nub ever and he'd say you read every magazine

every article everything automotive you can get your hands on you read it and learn it and you'll

be miles ahead of the other guy miles ahead of the other guy and he was a fantastic alignment guy

too oh my gosh i learned so much from him it was crazy good and those were the days and big gym

big gym was a man he had hands the size of boxing gloves bigger than that even

and uh he could he could pick me up with his bare hand by my head just like a suction cup

he was built like a brick poo house let me tell you but nice guy and man could he throw a bowling

i don't think the thing even touched the lane we used to go bowling together

and had a great time with him and his wife and my wife at the time

but jim knew how to take stuff apart he really did he could get things apart very quickly he

was a vietnam vet he got sprayed with uh age and orange so he had some health issues but i'll tell

you what what a great guy he had a chavelle ss a true ss stick and man he knew how to drive that car

too let me tell you so that's just some of my life i thought i'd share that with you today

remember you have that question three frogs on a log one deciding jump off how many frogs on the

log send me an email with your questions today and have yourself a wonderful wonderful weekend

and the last few days of the spring break and i think uh the us side has their spring break

next week so to our american counterparts wherever you're listening from you can grab our podcast

off of any platform anywhere and we are working on moving our 116 episodes of our podcast over to

our youtube channel so be um be keeping an eye out for that as well so we're trying to make things

as easy for you as possible so you can grab the content so share with me your story send me an

email tell me your story a little bit of your story i love to know um what you're doing where you live

not exactly street address and everything where you're listening from what's your job what was

your best job what was the worst job you ever had and answer the frog question and if you have

automotive questions or you'd like a topic for me to cover i will do that for you that's what i'm

here for i'm in your corner your corner i'm your automotive service technician that's only an email

a youtube video facebook instagram stevensville on the web i heart radio and just a minute away

from you so send me your questions answer the frog question i'm very interested in what people

will answer on that and then when we're back together on monday well we'll be on the air

tomorrow answering questions so it's a very busy one hour program eight till nine q and a saturdays

and uh fun fridays hey if you've got some ideas for a fun friday topic let's roll it out yeah

bring it to the table let's roll it out don't be shy folks you know what i won't uh if you

don't want me to mention first names that's fine you can change your name to george ed or georgina

whatever or um yeah um well we had a name for the fella too um i can't remember at the moment

when it was it was kind of like uh no it wasn't like that anyhow yeah i can't remember that we had a

name for the guys just make one up call yourself joe bill bob doesn't matter so if you don't want

to be known by your first name it's okay i'm totally okay with that but we had a name like uh

bueller you know bueller bueller yeah it worked really good when i remember it i'll share it with

you because we always wrote it on the um when the teacher was away and we had a sub we'd write that

name down on the uh the sign in list and then it was just screaming hilarious that the substitute

teacher would read it out and we'd just be just about wetting our pants at the back of the class

yeah i'll let you know what that is when i remember it so have yourself a fantastic friday

go ahead have an extra minute at break time and at lunch that's not too bad and enjoy

your day whatever it is you're doing happy healthy motoring thank you to all our program

partners for making the program available to you we'll see you tomorrow morning for q and a saturday

eight a.m another morning motor mouth morning drive so if you work saturdays tune in if you don't

get up and join us for eight eight a.m and we'll see if not we if we don't see you on saturday

we'll see you monday monday morning bright and early eight a.m for another car connection

motor mouth morning drive come join us bye for now

"Three Frogs on a Log: Why Most Drivers Never Fix the $20.000 Car Mistake"

About this episode

cooling system flush

Jeep Wrangler

Subaru Uncharted

DIYer

vintage car

automotive service technician shortage

diagnostician

apprenticeship

Texaco

Blue Line Taxi

310T

diesel endorsement

heavy trucks and equipment

diesel license

Mac Trucks of Canada

union company

Peterbilt

interprovincial license

Ford Bronco

fleet maintenance

Volkswagen

carburetor

Chevrolet Chevelle SS

Request an Explanation

Want to learn more?

Help improve this episode

More from Car Connection Workshop