Mechanics for the people

Tune-up consultant helps the
broke fix their rides cheap

by CHRIS BARRY

Name: Lawrence Fraser

Age: 52

Occupation: Auto-tune-up consultant/teacher

Bio: Prior to the three consecutive work-related hernias and crippling tendonitis that relegated this munificent NDG stud to spending his days lounging around at home collecting workman’s comp, he’d been labouring in an auto garage for years, performing relatively minor tasks like oil changes and replacing tires. Bored at home and seeking to give something back to the community, Lawrence recently got the idea to share his considerable knowledge of auto mechanics with the general public, offering, for a paltry $20 (“my gas money, really”) to come over to your place and teach you how to tune up your four-cylinder junker yourself, saving you both the expense of getting it done professionally and all the gas savings/environmental benefits that come with driving a finely-honed machine. “I’m doing this because the less fortunate in our society get shafted daily. Somebody making $100K a year, if their car breaks down, they take it to the garage, but what about people making minimum wage? Their cars just sit there because they can’t afford a garage. Look, I’ve been poor before. I’ve been a single parent on welfare, I know what it is to struggle each and every day. These people who have money, they don’t.”

How long it’ll take him to show you what to do: “So long as there are no complications, the entire tune-up should take about 20 minutes.”

Why he only gives lessons on four-cylinder cars: “Because they’re easy to do and it’s easy to train people on them.”

His contact info: ndglaw@hotmail.com.

Something that bugs him: “This new law saying everybody has to have winter tires. Poor people making minimum wage will have to decide whether to eat or buy winter tires now. It’s not fair.”

Perhaps said lowly proletariat might consider abandoning the junkers they obviously can’t afford for some wacky utopian concept called public transit? “Yeah, well, say you’re a single parent who has to take their kid to school and a car is the only means of doing it, then what are you going to do?”

His primary motivation to start teaching people how to tune up their cars for next to no money: “Because, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned that you’ve got to start giving back, you can’t be taking your whole entire life, and now is my time to start giving back. You need a lot of Air Miles to get into heaven, and I want to get to heaven.”

Something else he does: Volunteers for the Negro Community Centre. “I’m on the board of directors over there. I do what I can to help.”

Has anyone on the board of directors ever considered that the Negro Community Centre might not necessarily be the most politically correct of names for a Negro Community Center? “Yeah, we’ve had complaints, but to change a name that’s been around for 80 years, why, to me that’s ridiculous. We all spend too much time worrying about these trivial things.”

Last book read: Shogun, by James Clavell.

Musical preferences: Jay-Z, George Benson, Nas.

Words of wisdom: “Start being kinder to each other. We’re all human beings, so let’s start acting like it.”

Comments: dimwit@hdot.net