Bob Tyler has been doing suspension work for nearly 50 years, on everything from beater cars to race cars. I had him put new shocks on my 1997 Toyota Tacoma. He was half the price and twice the crotchety as my local mechanic. Plus I got the added entertainment of hanging around his backyard shop while he did the work.

What Bob lacks in organizational skills (and teeth) he makes up for in stories and curse words. And opinions. So does the Taco now float over washboard like a Caddy on fresh pavement? Nah, it’s still stiff and occasionally jarring. A bit like Bob.

The shop probably holds every tool you’d need to completely rebuild most cars, but finding them would take far longer than the job itself. Bob says he used to work on suspensions for race cars (stock cars, I presume). I’m guessing that’s true, but maybe he had an assistant to put everything back in its place.