
ass 
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Photo by U.S. Forest Service 
Camps in Bitterroot National 
HE tourist will find himself at 
‘T the mercy of garages, and some 
of them are far from merciful 
toward tourists. Service stations, and 
especially the Ford and Lincoln service 
stations, are better as a rule than 
those which are merely “general re- 
pair shops.” The great automobile 
companies are more or less active in 
looking after the interests of their 
car companies, but some automobile 
owners find themselves stranded for a 
part, because even service sta- 
tions do not carry a good full 
line of parts for old model 
cars. For example, I asked at 
a dozen or so service stations 
for a crank with which to turn 
my motor over, in case the 
starter stopped working. I 
could not find the crank any- 
where. 
The sales station is apt to 
be a great and beautiful build- 
ing on a main street; the ser- 
vice station is apt to be tucked 
around on a back street, but 
service is generally pretty 
good; one feature is bad, and 
that is the failure of the auto- 
mobile manufacturers to com- 
pel standard prices on parts, and 
standard rates for work done on their 
cars in their service stations. In 
Houston, Texas, they scorned my 
1916-17 model car, and referred me 
around the corner to another fellow’s 
garage. 
[NX Denver, when I had my gears 
torn out, they took me out to 
demonstrate what a good car they had 
made of the job, and the mechanic 
himself not only tore out the gears 
but split the gear case. And I had to 
prices. 
. 

Forest, Montana 
pay for the job the service station 
mechanic did to me as well as for the 
new job. And my letter to the auto 
manufacturing company was never 
answered. 
Every tourist will find himself con- 
fronting the problem of garages. 
Men who can take care of their own 
car have an enormous advantage over 
those who can’t. Time, money and 
difficulties are saved. The garage 
contacts are through the gasolene and 
TUVIVUITRUIUUUTOU VOUT 
When on tour, the auto camper is apt to 
meet with many annoying situations. | 
bad knock in the motor, a broken part or 
other trouble may necessitate the help of 
a garage or service station. 
happens, it is well to know what to look 
for in the way of real service and fair 
You will find Raymond Spear’s 
article on this subject very helpful. 
FULUUWUOITVUETTUUUT UTEP 
oil pumps, even if one does not have 
to go in for repairs. 
But garages have grown far better 
under the necessities of competition, 
and good workmanship is easier to 
find now than a few years ago. Many 
of the garage workers were trained 
under army conditions, or in the army. 
Mechanical ability good enough to 
handle any car job is available. The 
later model cars are simpler and 
easier to work on. Prices have come 
down to reasonable, or nearly reason- 
able proportions. 
When this 
Touring 
with 
Raymond Spears 
Garages and 
Service Stations 
The tourist learns about good ga- 
rages and poor garages from his fel- 
low travelers, just as he finds out about 
short weight and full measure stores, 
or towns. 
AS a general rule, when something 
begins to go wrong in a car, as a 
knock, a grouch or a skip, the thing to 
do is locate it, and fix it. If the job 
is too heavy for the roadside, then the 
camp ground is the next point—the 
first camp ground one comes to. 
If necessity demands, then one 
ll enters or sends to the garage. 
I have found that local drivers 
are good guides. Ask a driver 
which garage in the next town 
is the best, and nine times out 
of ten he will name the best 
garage. If there are local ser- 
vice stations, the garage taking 
care of one’s own make of car 
is the place to go, unless one has 
heard that prices are exorbi- 
tant. Large garages generally 
have experts on certain makes 
of machines so that when a 
Buick, a Studebaker, a Ford, a 
Reo, or other car comes in, the 
specialist is called for consulta- 
tion. He may not do the work 
himself, but he will tell what ought to 
be done. 
Usually, the main thing is to know 
what is the matter. A knock may be 
in any one of a score of places, and 
caused by many things. 
A 
O locate that knock may take an 
hour, and to fix it fifteen minutes. 
Thus it is that it pays to have a good 
mechanic working on the car, rather 
than a hit-or-miss man. 
The garages on the main automo- 
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