After pulling out that VW bus in the ditch a week or so ago and with my continued concerns about some rare but disconcerting jerkiness in rear doing sharp corners and reverseing in turns I had my fav. mechanic check things out.

He looked at the brakes, the driveline, the clutch etc and on the phone said things looked okay... but when I got there he said, "I got some bad news. You need a new clutch."

I have expected eventually to have a new clutch someday as it has 173K miles on it and some jerkiness in first gear... But after doing the recommended tests in the Haynes manual, my clutch passed. I did tell my mechanic about burning the clutch pulling out the VW bus.. but then my car's worked okay, same as ever since then. I don't mind spending some money on the car BUT my friends at work reasonably think on a old car I should wait until the clutch really is giving me problems, and that usually a clutch will give quite a bit of warning before complete failure. But then again I had brought my car in because I was going on a road trip several hundred miles away from home (thus my mechanic's concern perhaps...)

My mechanic did reasonably say what the problem was with the original concerns of mine... that the rear bushings are starting to fail and that when I put a bit of twist on the differential, as in a sharp turn some play is causing the rough rides. I booked a date for my clutch repair day after tomorrow.. but after thinking a bit I called and left a message that I'd rather have the bushings replaced and maybe the rusty wheels in the rear replaced first and let the clutch go for a few weeks.

I think he's a good mechanic even though after he checked my brakes and parking brake for damage I was worried about... I Lost my rear wheel's perfectly good wheelcover ... and that "pissed me off" to no end as my car looks like s>>t as a result .. and it's a pain to find another one (without stealing one). He says he was careful putting it back on.. but it's lost so I can only assume ... well it's maybe not worth getting worried about... but a 5 or 6 hundred clutch job (and he offered to replace rear engine seal which probably may account for minor oil loss ...) but spending that kind of money on a now rather despairing looking car.. It's white and the rear rusty wheel really makes it look not as good. So I said maybe find me some new wheels, a new wheel cover and fix those bushings first!!!

How do the experts here ascertain that a clutch needs to be fixed. And are there any reasonably easy sources for stock wheels and wheel covers as the junk yards around here are very picked over... esp. for a popular longliving car like the 245!!!!