Foreign Plus

John has had my truck since December 29, 2014. It was promised (for the 30^th time) to be completed today. It’s 7:45. It’s not here and he’s not answering. Again.
Now located off of 2336.

John is one of the most honest mechanics I have ever met. He specializes in Mercedes but will work on just about anything. I had a 1987 Mercedes 300SDL with almost 300K on it and he was the only one who would touch it. I recall taking it to him once, before taking a trip to New Orleans. Told him to look it over and let me know what needs fixing. He called me and told me the only thing he found wrong was the power antenna boot was broken and he replaced it. This keeps water out of the trunk. I think he charged me like $ 7.00! He’s great fun to talk to as well.

This auto repair shop, owned and run by a guy named John, used to be located on Felter Lane, off Burleson on the way to the airport. It’s always been strange with this mechanic.
The first time I’d gone to the Felter Lane location, it was a shop owned by a guy named Shane. Shane had replaced the starter on my car for $ 300. He also happened to be a B-​horror movie special effects guy, and he showed me (thankfully my boyfriend was with me, otherwise I would have totally been creeped out) the special effects room with all these skeletons, coffins, and dismembered limbs.
When my car totally broke down off I-​35 one morning in January of 2006, I tried to find Shane, but I found he’s sold his shop to John of Foreign Plus. When I first got there, I walked up to the wrong warehouse door and was met with two gigantic killer, snarling Rottweilers. I thought I was going to die. (The owners followed right behind, but they could have appeared a few seconds sooner to save me a heart attack).
A few days later, for $ 300, I left Foreign Plus with a bazillion different repairs, mostly involving replacing main fuel lines and air cleaner amounts, adjusting valves and replacing the valve cover gasket, pressure testing the cooling system, and re-​tightening all the clamps on the thermostat.
I was thankful to have my car back right in time to go pick up visiting relatives from the airport. On the way back into town, my car started to spew a lot of smoke from beneath the hood. We made it to Shady Grove, and a friend came over to band-​aid the situation.
I ended up going back to Foreign Plus — $ 170 to replace the radiator (labor and new part), which I was told was a great deal. I think John felt bad. I believe that this was a genuine case of a mechanic owning up to a problem they caused. He should have charged me $ 0, but I realize it could have been a lot worse.
When I Googled Foreign Plus to see if they still had a website, I found the following posting on Craigs List:
FOREIGN PLUS HAS MOVED TO 300 INDUSTRIAL BLVD BASTROP TX 512−303−0118.
FIRE BURNED THE RIGHT SIDE OF MY BUILDING IN AUSTIN AND I WAS FORCED TO MOVE TO BASTROP. SAME QUALITY SERVICE AND REPAIRS AT A LOW COST.
MERCEDES BENZ SPECIALIST. LOWEST COST TRANMISSION REBUILDS FOR YOU BENZ. WE BUY ENGINE AND TRANMISSION DAMAGED MERCEDES BENZ.
CALL JOHN AT 512−303−0118 8AM TO 5 PM M-​F 9AM TO 2 PM SAT: