And Now One of My Favorites

Well, this is really more about keeping my favorites running. My sportscars. This may be a roll your eyes deal for some of you. But for those of us lucky enough to have a special car, this is a big deal.

As a small production, exotic vehicle, Aston Martins can be, shall we say, difficult to maintain. It’s even more difficult to find someone knowledgeable to maintain them. The dealer network is a good place to start, but the quality of the service, as with any car dealer network, varies widely. We in the Pacific Northwest figure ourselves lucky to have one of the world’s top dealer mechanics in our friend and car whisperer, Vincent Edwards.

Even though Aston Martin only manufacturers about 5,000 to 8,000 cars a year, it is every bit as complex as any car on the road. My 2012 model has 35 computer modules; today’s 2025 models have 63. Sixty-three! Worse, they all talk to each other, so if one has a software or performance glitch, it affects a series of others. That creates a chain of error codes that do not necessarily isolate the problem; the codes only give you a starting point to begin troubleshooting.

Today’s mechanics are as much software and computer geeks as they are old fashioned wrenchers. It’s a combination I frankly abhor. Electrical engineering and programming have never been an attraction for me, to put it mildly. Getting lost in a rat’s nest of wiring, or tracing syntax or coding errors in a huge program on a computer screen are not my idea of fun.

All this makes finding a good mechanic even more important.¹ And, at today’s incredible auto labor rates, a good one is worth their weight in gold. I have found having more than one mechanic is also a good play. Park Place can get backed up, and as one might expect, they have the highest labor rate. For my cars, after a fair amount of research and sometimes painful experimentation, I depend on four places.

Vincent, at the local Park Place Aston Martin dealership, is always a go-to. But if I can save some on that labor rate for routine stuff, I head to Finesse Auto in the Georgetown district of Seattle. They are a group of serious car enthusiasts, whose eyes light up when they see one of my cars pull into their driveway. That’s the kind of people I want working on my cars.

Then there’s Courtesy Tire in West Seattle. Yeah, a franchise auto service shop. Owners Tim and Kelly are great people, conscientious and honest. They do most of the work on my GMC Yukon Denali, and do simple stuff like changing brake pads and updating the TPMS (tire pressure monitoring systems) on the Astons. Anything that is rather generic I get them to do. If they’re not comfortable with it, they tell me, and I move up my list.

For special performance work or upgrades I head north over the border into British Columbia. Yeah, a journey. Fortunately, there are several things working in our favor when we head that way. First, it’s Canada, so the exchange rate makes for a substantial labor discount. Second, Velocity AP in Oliver, BC, is in the heart of Canada’s best wine country – the Lake Osoyoos region of south central BC. We make it a little vacation, taking several days to enjoy this beautiful area while Stuart Dickinson’s boys at VAP work their magic. I’m a fan. They do great work.

Aston Martin Scottsdale, Group Two in Woodinville and Advanced European Service in Kenmore are places I no longer go. Some places claim to know how to work on Aston’s and some don’t take the proper care and attention to detail. I’ve listened to others and sometimes learned on my own who to avoid.

With classic or exotic cars, it’s important to have a group of enthusiasts you can go to for direction and advice. Some people have so much money they don’t care – they just go to the dealer. If their car sits there for months, they don’t seem to mind. Although I’ve had that happen, I care. I don’t buy a car to not drive it. Cars are meant to be driven. No matter how expensive or beautiful they are, they were built to be driven.

Having one of these cars is a commitment. As much as we would like to avoid it, there’s more to it than getting in and driving. There is a price to be paid for anything; the most rewarding usually come with the highest tag. But the satisfaction of a unique driving experience, of being around fun, enthusiastic, and like-minded people, is a blessing.

If you can find something that gives you joy, a sense of freedom, removal from the daily grind, a sense of absentmindedness, then I strongly suggest you exercise it. Take advantage; do what sets you free. As Joseph Campbell said, “Find your bliss.” Driving a car on a curvy, vacant backroad is one of mine. Poetry of the road less traveled. Robert Frost. It makes all the difference.

Enjoy.

1. Car clubs, online forums, Facebook groups, and specialty companies can be invaluable. The Aston Martin Owners Club, Bamford Rose, Aston DIY, Aston Martin Bits, Phoenix Bespoke Key, Aston1936, Aston Owners, and Scuderia Parts are just some of the websites our groups use. ↩︎