When, during your cross-country roadtrip in an '84 Vanagon Westphalia is interrupted, just like…read morethat-- it is always like this, with cars with people; we, ourselves, are probably too old, in our middle 60's, to have undertaken this trip at all, sans air-conditioning, with our sweet eight-year-old dog-- on Hwy 90 in Fingerlakes region of New York (so close to making it all the way across!), the sudden loss of power indicating something grave, you are thinking, like the main drive belt, & you pull over (plenty of room for a tow-truck, just in case), & toss out all the luggage in back because underneath it is the old engine & you have *two* spare drive belts & can do this repair yourself! Only you can see immediately that the belt is fine. You start the car again: no gears to shift into; we lost the clutch, you are thinking.
Then the superb tow-truck driver at Farmington Towing (shout-out! sorry I forgot your name; see: "mid-60's), suggests I call CDI in Victor while he's up-loading the van & Mike, co-owner, answers the phone & says, "I don't even have anywhere to *put* your car & we're booking out three weeks from now & one of our mechanics is on vacation, but, sure, bring it by."
Apologies for suspending the punchline for so long, but, after renting a car (shout out to the local Enterprise & Caleb) & thinking we'd be spending the next week exploring the Fingerlakes for the next week (we're fine with that: see "mid-60's), & spending the night in a sweet & vacant yurt (shout-out Plum Point Lodge), Mike at CDI has, overnight!, determined that the clutch cable & assembly are actually fine & that what need repairing are the CV joint & boot (so doable, especially when, as owner, you have a thing for old vw vans & have spare parts in abundance!). Mike has our van back on the road in 24 hours (backup on the lot be damned; he's committed to "getting us back on the road" to complete our cross-country road-trip)! Robert (shout-out: a mechanic who works with Mike) identifies an axel issue (that would have been big trouble further down the road) as well, so they fix that, too.
All this to say that CDI Auto Repair in Victor, NY, is one of those magical, necessary stops along the road you didn't even know you needed to encounter. Now writing from Maine just a couple of days later: my grandfather was a great & honest auto mechanic; I know them when I happen upon them. (Shout-out also to Garrett at C & G Auto Repair in Hanksville, UT for his own skillful & timely work to keep us going). Yes, we highly recommend CDI-- among the best auto-repair experiences we've ever had. Skillful, humane, most excellent!