Bev & Buttercup: Back on the road!

Thanks to social media, a fab mechanic & a sentimental owner …

 

Call it the power of social media … or the blessing of great mechanics … or a Christmas miracle. Maybe all three?

The result is a very happy ending: Methuen’s Beverly Winn and Buttercup are back on the road!

Last September, MethuenLife shared their story: For 26 years, Winn had driven her 1999 yellow Volkswagen Beetle – a hand-picked purchase she and her late husband Red made together – all around the city and beyond. The “WE WINN” license plate is their calling card.

Co-workers and friends often shared that they’d spied this dynamic duo here, there and everywhere – including at Nevins Library where she serves as Head of Technical and Administrative Services.

In August, Buttercup couldn’t quite shift into the next gear. Winn was distraught when, after inspection, her longtime mechanic at Methuen Auto Care told her a faulty transmission was to blame.

“He feels the cost is not feasible to spend on such an old car,” Bev related at the time, noting several other issues that needed to be addressed. “Rust in the frame, after 26 New England winters, only adds to the diagnosis.”

Winn is unapologetically sentimental about this car. She noted that her friendly mechanic knows her VW’s history and “is emotional like me … when he told me he couldn’t fix it, we were both in tears.”

Winn, then 78, wasn’t up for car shopping, car payments … or saying goodbye to her treasured ride.

“For 2 months, I looked for a Volkswagen, but they’d all been in crashes or had 3 owners. I was getting so discouraged,” she says, adding that she appreciated carpooling with her good friend and co-worker Phyllis Luongo. “But, really, who wants to drive me to the credit union and to the cemetery (to visit Red)?”

MethuenLife shared the story on our Facebook page and two followers – Chris Bernard and Silva Nelson – recommended KMH VW & Audi on Marshall Street, saying they were happy with work that owner Keith Harley did on their VWs, calling him “honest” and “knowledgeable.”
Winn reached out to Harley.

“She had the original article from the paper that she brought it in. I read it, and I get where she’s coming from,” the mechanic said. “We talked and that was a good indication of the car’s’ intrinsic value to her.”

He did computer diagnostics and drove the car, but came to the same conclusion: bad transmission.

“They’re not the best that VW made. I used to replace them left and right back in the day when there were more on the road,” he said.

Winn took a deep breath and agreed to have the work done, bracing for the financial blow.

Harley and a fellow mechanic removed the transmission.

“We started working on it and noticed a broken (speed) sensor; it was the wire going into it. We thought, that’s great! That’s the fault we had,” Harley recalled. “We said, let’s get a sensor for 50 bucks, and that saved her about $1,500 to do that versus replacing the transmission. … She got lucky.”

He called her with the good news: “I could tell it was a great relief.”

“This was the best birthday present,” says the now-79-year-old. “On Thanksgiving, I was so thankful! Call it a Christmas miracle. I’m so happy and hoping we have a few more years together!”

If you don’t believe in miracles, maybe you believe in good karma?

The garage Harley bought 6 years ago belonged to Methuen High Class of 1982 grad Scott Latulippe. He owned and operated Scott’s Auto and Truck Repair there – a business he started just 8 years after graduating high school. He had a reputation as a talented, honest mechanic.

His death in 2018 from cancer rocked many in this community.

“I don’t know him, but for the first 6 months I was here people would stop in all the time,” Harley recalled. “They’d say things like, ‘(The band) Godsmack used to practice in this room’ and that he was a musician. And they’d tell stories about all the stuff he did and the people he knew.”

There are still plenty of good, honest folks watching out for one another, right here in Methuen. And positivity can be contagious.

“Keith says Buttercup has a whole new lease on life, and I’m right there with her …” Winn grins.