I was sorry to hear of Weinberg Motors (ne Weinberg Dodge) throwing in the towel starting October 1. They have been in business since 1967, selling Dodge cars and trucks to folks in Kansas City. I recall looking at the responses to the Chrysler dealer closure list back in June, that Weinberg's reputation was not the best, but I never had any difficulty with their service department. In fact, their service department is involved in a most fun story of car repair.
At the time, I had a 1987 Plymouth Sundance. It was a manual transmission car. I went out of town for a time, and left the car at home, which, at that time, was in Grandview. Grandview, like much of the south part of the metro, has lovely mature trees, which are full of squirrels. (This is important to know...) After I returned from my vacation, and resumed normal life, I noticed that the shifter (the part inside the car that you take hold of to change gears) was getting harder and harder to move. It was getting difficult to change gears. One day, there was a most disconcerting pop! and the shifter started just flopping around, even with the clutch pedal not pushed down. The car was stuck in neutral. A tow truck was called and the car towed to Weinberg. I was thinking the worse--new tranny, new clutch, many dollars. After awhile, Weinberg called to let me know it was fixed. So I walked over to get the car.
The mechanic came over to the service manager's desk and said, "This is what was wrong with your car." He opened his hand and showed me a walnut the size of a golf ball. "This was stuck in the linkage, and eventually the linkage came apart. So I put it back together, and it works great now. " I settled up with the service manager. The mechanic says, "You want this?" I laughed. The tow and repair totaled $85. "Yeah, I'll take it," I said, " the 85 dollar walnut." I still have it.
Best wishes to Steve Weinberg and his family.
Some links--videos are worth watching to see the memorabilia that Weinberg has.
KMBC: Weinberg to Close
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