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Colin visit

Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2010 12:21 pm
by TheBigSpud
I see Colin is putting his list together of interested parties on his forum to determine his intinerary for 2010. Anyone planning on having him in? I could probably benefit from a half to full day (more like a week!).

Re: Colin visit

Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2010 3:02 pm
by WideFive
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Re: Colin visit

Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2010 3:41 pm
by TheBigSpud
Yep, the traveling VW mechanic (forum name 'amskeptic'). Sorry, I thought he was like world famous 8-)

http://www.itinerant-air-cooled.com/vie ... php?t=7722

Re: Colin visit

Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2010 6:49 pm
by Six Volt
He's been at my place several times. When I first got into buses, and before I really got to know everyone in LEAKOIL, he spent a day going over everything I needed to know about my first bus. Valve adjustment, tune up, FI issues, vacuum leaks, steering box, AFM, front end... the list goes on and on. For novices, it's money well spent. For seasoned knowledgeable veterans, the visit is entertaining, but you probably already know what he is offering. Since his first visit, he's stopped at my place on his travels east and west in the intervening years. Don, (VWLover77), knows him as well as anyone. They are big IAC guys on that website.

Before "tune up day", the website and all the free help that's out there from fellow LEAKOILER'S, novices like me were on our own. All in all, Colin's an interesting character who's very intense and passionate and really tries to get you to be one with your bus. He's mainly a bay window guy, but knows his way around all models. He's very knowledgeable and really tries to teach you how to fix and maintain your bus. I would suggest a good way to deal with him is split a day with someone. He'll go for 12 hours non-stop, so it can be overkill for one person. You'll forget more than you'll learn in that much time. If you figure out what you need and get the parts, he'll walk you through it and spoon feed you the procedures so you'll get some confidence.

You can also reach out to some of the local guys on this site who have VW related businesses. Guys like Bill and Aaron can fix pretty much anything and Kyle can take you through any electrical issue.

The main thing is to learn so, even if you can't or don't do the repairs yourself, you can at least identify problems and help with the diagnosis. Good luck.

Re: Colin visit

Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2010 7:40 pm
by Howie
If anyone gets Colin in, please give me a holler so I can come watch. I'll kick in a few bucks toward the fee.

Re: Colin visit

Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2010 8:32 pm
by Don from Canton
As Sean mentioned, I've met with Colin a few times. Once, for half a day working on my Bus at Sean's place, once when he was passing through the area - it was just supposed to be for dinner but he ended up adjusting the steering box on my 71 Beetle in the parking lot, and the third time last fall - again at Sean's with Kyle and Josh in attendance.

He is a very interesting guy, living a very interesting life. He basically chucked his day job working as an HVAC technician to do laps around the country in his '73 Bay Bus (that he bought in 1980) working on people's VWs. Unfortunately, that Bus was totaled in a glancing head on collision with a Mitsubishi Eclipse in Colorado this past summer - a 19 year-old girl was passing on the double-yellow while climbing a blind hill. When she crested the top, Colin was there. Too surprised and inexperienced to react properly, she swerved in his direction as he was trying to dive to the shoulder. He's lucky to have walked away alive, let alone with only minor injuries. I believe 2010 will be his 5th year of doing this, but in what vehicle, we're not sure!

He has deep and intrinsic knowledge of all things automotive, and air-cooled VWs especially. He is the nephew of the only American to ever win a Formula 1 championship, Phil Hill, and he worked with his uncle at the famous classic car restoration shop "Hill and Vaughn" in California in the 1980s. He's extremely eloquent, very intelligent, and quite philosophical.

I've always said I've met the most interesting people I've known through the VW hobby, and Colin is certainly one of the most interesting of the most interesting!

If you hire him, his goal is not to just fix your VW, but to teach you how it works and how to do it yourself. He relishes the experience of meeting new people, preferring one-on-one to large groups, and he loves discussing not just VWs, but life.

The weird name he calls himself is the "Itinerant Air-Cooled Mechanic"
Itinerant: –adjective
1. traveling from place to place, esp. on a circuit, as a minister, judge, or sales representative; itinerating; journeying.
2. characterized by such traveling: itinerant preaching.
3. working in one place for a comparatively short time and then moving on to work in another place, usually as a physical or outdoor laborer; characterized by alternating periods of working and wandering: an itinerant farm hand.

Yup, that's him to a tee!!

Re: Colin visit

Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2010 12:59 am
by SlashKirk
I'd hang out if he stops.

Re: Colin visit

Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2010 8:26 am
by Ken
I'd love to meet this guy, he's living the dream. :D

Re: Colin visit

Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2010 9:40 am
by chadvw1965
I'm going to look him up! I've been wondering if one exists that can come to my place in Newton Falls.It sounds like money well spent!

Re: Colin visit

Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2010 9:56 am
by Howie
If memory serves me, his fee is reasonable, and ya need to let him sleep at your house, and feed him, too. Sounds like something that any Leakoiler would do for a brother. :)