Driving to Florence Italy in a friend's 190D he stops on the autostrada because he needs a new diesel filter- he explained to me that in Italy the fuel needed an extra fuel filter. Three mechanics come out, take a look, come back with a variety of tools and with lots of hand gestures and arm waving try to remove said filter. This goes on for about 15 minutes.

I'm watching this Three Stooges/Marx Brothers moment and when they start taking random bits out to get to the filter I start laughing. An old guy strolls out of the garage with a filter wrench and the new filter, cuffs them all out of the way with a few curses and applies the filter wrench.

A minute later, he's got all the bits back in place with the new filter. Massimo takes him around to the trunk while they discuss the bill, and a couple bottles of wine from the trunk vanish into the guy's overalls. The lire that changed hands covered the cost of the filter.

As we all piled back into the car he tells me he never travels by car without a case of wine in the trunk, because it solves so many little problems.

__________________
95 E300D gave away
77 300D, 227k, station car
83 300CD 370k, body gone away to the rust gods, engine is in a Yota pickup, going strong
89 190E 2.6- 335k, no more
79 VW FI Bus- 154k summer driver
59 VW Beetle ragtop- 175k
12 VW Jetta- 250k
74 MG Midget-78k