old school vw golf mkii in pieces

Why Parts Books Will Give You A Hernia...

Click and enlarge - free LLTeK Badge for anyone who guesses the correct number of parts.

Nowadays it's all database. It used to be paper (tons of it) on the counter at the parts shop and I asked myself how anyone could find anything. Yeah I know it doesn't take much to impress me, but I admired the guys who could answer the phone, hold the phone between their shoulder and ear while blabbing away about some exception for a filter on particular engine AND still be leafing through one of the two or three giant tomes looking for the number of the part you needed to get your beetle (they were called "bugs" back then) back on the road.

Then (while still talking) - reach for a pen and without missing a beat, transcribe the info onto the back of some already beat up piece of triplicate purchase order and just as you thought the phone conversation would never end - crack a joke about an old girlfriend to the guy at the other end of the line and hang up with such surefired ease that it made you glad you came to the right place. Without a word or pause, this person was off and headed directly to the spot in the warehouse where you knew he would find that magic part.

I don't miss the paper or the giant parts books - it's the guy who took your money and smiled because he knew you heard the joke and knew that you got it. See VW Golf styling parts here.