Bill & Earl’s Garage

This sign wasn’t there when I was.

When we lived in Rochester (NY), we lived on a north-south arterial named Winton Road.
We lived in a tiny house that was built in 1865, probably the first house in the neighborhood.

323 North Winton Road. (Photo by BobbaLew.)

When it was built it was probably a farm-house, as the area around it was undeveloped.
The area was in the Town of Brighton, but as the area developed the City of Rochester annexed it.
The Town of Brighton still exists as a suburb southeast of Rochester.
Development brought sewers and public water. Gas-lines were also installed.
Winton Road also became a bus-route.
The area became city-like.
But our house stayed the same. No improvements were made, except an addition to the south.
That addition became the new front entrance, and the shed attached to the back became the kitchen.
We always liked the character of that house; we lived in an apartment across the street. It was the early ‘70s.
Suddenly the house was for sale.
It didn’t have a driveway to Winton Road, or visible parking, so I went around back to look.
Surprise-surprise. It was on a double-lot that extended all the way to the next street over.
It also had a standalone two-car garage.
I was unemployed at that time, but my wife was employed, so we made an offer.
Long-story-short, we bought the house with an FHA mortgage.
We had already been in the area a few years, in that apartment.
Not far away was a convenience-store.
And up Winton Road was a hardware and a Chevrolet dealer.
Across from the Chevrolet dealer was a post-office, and two supermarkets were not far. Within walking distance.
Winton crossed an east-west arterial not far from our house. It was called Blossom Road.
At the intersection were a number of small businesses, one of which was Bill & Earl’s Garage.
I never patronized the garage, but in a tiny attached part was “B & E Auto Parts.” It was manned by Earl, a kindly bespectacled gentleman perhaps 15 years older than me.
B & E Auto Parts became a hangout. The garage was a tiny, dingy place behind a small restaurant.
Parking was at a premium, but I could walk to it.
Bill was the shyster, or so it seemed. He was always suggesting engine-changes to fix some minor problem. He chain-smoked and pigged out on cholesterol. He often said he didn’t expect to make 70. Yet a photograph of the Piper Tri-Pacer he once owned was on his wall.
(My first flight was in a Tri-Pacer in 1956.)
Bill was always good conversation, but he wasn’t touching my car.
Earl was the opposite of Bill, a nice guy concerned with my welfare.
He loved jawing with someone who loved tinkering as much as he.
I liked working with Earl.
It was probably he that got me the carburetor-rebuild kit for my Vega’s two-barrel.
He also sold me a lotta tools, plus my annual points and plugs.
Together we got so I could work on my car.
And after the childhood I had, it was good to get some confidence.
We finally moved. An old house is too hard to keep up. We built a deck, and remodeled our kitchen. But the house needed an immense amount of work. Most of the windows were original and still had bubbles in the glass. They were so drafty we were heating the outside.
Our new house is in the tiny rural town of West Bloomfield, southeast of Rochester, where I am now.
With our move it was so long to Bill & Earl’s Garage. But not before I had Bill align my giant Ford van, and tune its carburetor so it wouldn’t foul its plugs.
He tightened up the idle-circuit, but it still fouled its plugs.
It was because the power-valve was stuck open; its diaphragm was holed. I found that out later when I rebuilt the carb.
Apparently Bill & Earl’s Garage finally closed. Bill probably died, and maybe even Earl.
But I consider Bill & Earl’s Garage a pleasant time when I got so I could work on my own cars.
I don’t any more. I even farm out oil-changes. And cars are so technically challenging any more they’re beyond understanding.
The things I took on back then were setting points, rebuilding carbs, and even bodywork. I got so I could gap points by feel; that is, without a feeler-gauge.

• The “Tri-Pacer” was a tricycle landing-geared version of the “Pacer,” Piper’s first airplane that could carry four. The “Cub” only carried two.
• RE: “Points and plugs:” “Points” are a switch within the ignition-distributor, which when closed allows current to circulate through the ignition-coil to generate a spark. They had to be set just so, to allow the proper amount of current-dwell. The “plugs” are the sparkplugs. —Car-ignition has advanced beyond “points and plugs;” the switching mechanism that replaced “points” is now electronic, although sparkplugs are still used. But they are designed to last the life of the car; you no longer have to replace them.