Pat no problem regards angle, this one is a MK1.
Peter B.
My wife drove the car right after the rebuild. She asked did I want her to down shift to stop or just use the brakes? Your picture jumped into my mind and I said, PLEASE USE THE BRAKES.
I will maintain: at that point, given the hassle and danger of working under the car to remove the tranny from the engine, the difficulty of putting it back on the engine, apres-clutch job, coupled with the fact that there is almost ALWAYS something else that needs attention, I remain wholly unconvinced this is a savings of time and labor.
But on the other hand he was charged $1,500 total parts and labor, which I understand is a darn good price for the work.
Not sure of the time frame that price reflects: were I to do JUST a clutch, today, and assuming I still had all thecrelevan space and equipment, it wouldnt be that much more.
I’d be willing to bet your per hour rate is less than the bigger shops, with multiple employees and significant overhead.
Likely: I would now charge $90/hour.
I wish I knew where the mechanic moved to. I’ll try to find him and call myself. I agree about the price. Knowing there would be cutting or bending etc sold me.
And it has worked flawlessly since then (2005)
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Wiggles, don’t know where you live but foreign car mechanic rates where I live are astronomical (New Jersey)
Sorry! That was supposed to say NO cutting or bending.
Ron,
That makes more sense! Just a note to say that you can go back and edit your old post. You should see a pencil icon under the post that, when you click on it, allows you to edit your old post. It’s really useful to fix things like this so that future readers of the archives don’t get confused (or more confused than absolutely necessary 
)
-David
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No doubt: when I ran my shop, I resolutely refused to charge one labor rate for Datsuns, and a higher one for Jags/Rolls/Ferrari, what have you: labor was labor.
Might take a LOT longer to repair a Jag clutch over a Datsun —understatement of the century!!—but I just saw it as opportunistic to charge differing rates for differing cars.
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That egalitarian view is admirable - but I can also see a case for charging E-Type owners more than Datsun owners…
As an extreme example: A friend who has worked on both heavy & highway equipment and Ferraris explained to me that if he scratched or dented an earthmover no one really cared - but if he put a scratch in a Ferrari it was going to cost big bucks.
The higher rate for working on much more valuable cars was one way of factoring in the risk assumed when working on them.
I just LOVE this thread .Keep it going. Thanks DJ
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The rarer the car the more time one spends chasing parts, information, and often jigs/tools.
This time doesn’t end up on the bill.
Not scratching the car is just the start.
I recently discussed repair prices with a guy who used to take his Mercedes benz to Wolfgang at Stuttgart Motors. Yea, how’d you guess that was a gouging 
Now he uses Sam. His first experience was when his car broke down in front of Sams shop. It was a $200 part that Wolfgang couldn’t locate. Sam had him out and on his way for $12.95.
Ron, It sounds to me like the reaction plate is off, the front motor mounts are off, the liquid has been drained, exhaust dropped , it seems to me like you are very close to being able to just lower the assy to the ground by removing the carbs and ancillary items. I just completed my clutch job and dd not remove.loosen t bars or even front wheels , radiator.
I personally do not believe in higher per-hour rates. If a given car takes more time and research? Charge for that time,
Neither do I, nor the professionals I know here. Nonetheless… working on oldtimers here isn’t as lucrative as one might think, which drives the hourly rate up. Some customers understand and are willing to pay a premium… some don’t and go to a cheaper place, which doesn’t always get it right, then they end up at a specialist and complain that they’ve already spent too much.
