BCAA

dfgdg 28 BCA A .COM SPRING 2017 Lionel Trudel I f there's one thing Service Advisor Daniel Merkins and his team at the BCAA Auto Service Centre in Kelowna enjoy, it's a challenge. They got one the day long-time BCAA Member and retired doctor William Wang brought them his broken- down Volvo GL. Wang had bought the car new in 1980 and driven it for a quarter-century before trying to start it one day without success. It wasn't a big deal, because he also owned two other mint-condition vehicles. So the Volvo gathered cobwebs for 10 years before Wang, now 88, had a sudden urge to resurrect it. "I guess I just wanted to keep it as a souvenir," says Wang. "I'm attached to it and I like the idea of keeping something old for the memories in it." When the Volvo showed up riding the bumper of a tow truck last June, Merkins and his team approached it like a team of ER doctors. "We were glad to have technicians with lots of experience on hand," he says. Wang told them he knew it would take some time to figure out why the car wouldn't run, and cleared them to spend as much diagnostic time as needed. Turns out the car had been sitting idle for so long the fuel had turned into tar. Early attempts by the owner to start it had flushed this muck into the rest of the motor. Over the next few months, the shop replaced the battery, brakes, fuel tank, fuel lines, both fuel pumps and the fuel filters, and sent the Labour of Love BCAA's Kelowna Auto Service Centre brings a treasured car back to life BY IAN MacNEILL AUTOMOTIVE injectors to be cleaned. Service Manager Dan MacInnes even worked after-hours, and in his spare time. "It sort of became the shop pet," says Merkins. Parts trickled in from Sweden and slowly the vehicular Lazarus was revived, much to Wang's delight, who visited the shop numerous times with his wife to watch the process. "We developed a great relationship, where he'll come in to just say hi and he'll tell me about his family and his life," says Merkins. In September, the car was safe enough for Merkins to surprise Wang with a test ride. "Though the vehicle was still running a little rough, not quite ready, it made his day," says Merkins. And while the vehicle is still a work in progress, Wang isn't complaining. "I realized it wasn't going to be easy for them, but I decided they could play with it. They've always been very conscientious," he says. MEMBERS SAVE BCAA Members save on labour, and get a two-year warranty and free car wash, with every service or repair at BCAA's Auto Service Centres in Kelowna, Penticton, Vernon and Nanaimo. bcaa.com/autoservice Retired doctor William Wang checks on his Volvo GL with BCAA Service Advisor Daniel Merkins.

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