"Skip Gundlach" wrote in
oups.com:

Pay it forward, and the Secret, two movies which I really like, have
just
shown, yet again, that my philosophy, from childhood, really works in
RL
(real life).



Movies?........(c;

I met a Canadian couple in a nice sloop on the dock that had a Mercedes
diesel with a cracked fuel filter housing noone seemed to be able to get,
even back home. Hmm...lemme call someone.....

I called my independent Mercedes shop, the guys who've kept my old Benzs
running all these years and asked Stephan if he could help them. He
asked if it were ok to bring his boys with him as it was Saturday and he
was baby sitting. The Canadian said sure.

Stephan went to the boat, climbed into the bilge and removed the fuel
filter and housing as his boys looked on. They took it to the shop and
the boys showed the nice Canadian their new shop, closed on Saturday of
course, while Stephan heliarc welded the aluminum housing, repairing it
for good. None of the car diesels had this odd fuel filter from any
years and his search at his suppliers turned up nothing that would fit.

Armed with the repaired filter housing, they all went back to the nice
boat and installed it. The owner, watching the boys looking out in the
harbor from his deck, insisted they needed to spend the rest of the day
"sea trialing" the repaired housing, a total ruse of course. All had a
grand time and it was the first time the little boys had been out of the
harbor into the ocean, something they'll never forget....

There is a sad ending to this story, much later in time. Stephan was
killed, instantly, when his custom made Harley caught a manhole cover
that was sticking up, flipping him off the bike in Downtown Charleston.
His head was crushed between the bike and the curb ending the life of the
finest Mercedes-Benz mechanic you'll ever meet, and one of my
friends....leaving 4 boys without a great father.....

Oh, he refused to take any Canadian dollars for his work on Saturday. He
told the guy it was too hard to "exchange money" in Charleston, another
lie...(c;

I miss him, too.

Larry