Chris, if you've worked that hard to separate yourself
from "all the other loser mechanics", then I can see
how you might take offense to being lumped in with
them. Sounds like you're working to restore some shred
of honesty to a field that I'm sure you'll agree is
rife with dishonest, so-called "mechanics" like Ben's
friend. GOOD mechanics and service techs--those that
don't charge their customers for their own stupidity
and faulty troubleshooting--are hard to find,
especially those inclined to work on our 20-year-old
Vanagons. If I lived in Seattle, I'd probably be one
of your regular customers.

Please keep your technical posts coming; they're
always enlightening and informative, but one must be
careful when casting insults based on another's
heritage of nationality.

At the risk of dousing gasoline onto the dying embers
of this little flame-war, a brief web-search reveals
the following:

"Surname: delong

Origin: French

Spelling variations include: Delong, DeLong, Delon,
Long, Lelong, Longin, Longet, Longuet, Longuay,
Longueuil, Longeau, Longueau, Longeaux, Longueaux,
Longeaud, Longaud, Longeret, Longueret and many more.

First found in Normandy, where the family established
itself in early times."

In the end, I suppose we all came from somewhere else.

"OK, I'll leave it at that since I've already gone on
for far too long about something I don't know a whole
lot about ..."

Jeffrey Earl
1983 diesel Westfalia "Vanasazi"

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