Mr. Dieter Schnirch, 1935-2006

Mr. Dieter Schnirch, 1935-2006
Dieter owned and operated Dieter’s Volkswagen Service, on Orangethorpe. How far west was his business, on the south side of the street? Near Magnolia?

Dieter was a good man, an honest and highly skilled VW mechanic. I took my 1970 VW sedan to him from 1970 to 1988. So did many other Lancers. Rest in peace, Dieter.

May 15, 2006 - Dieter J. Schnirch, 70, of La Palma, a retired automotive technician, died May 11, 2006, of complications of a stroke. Visitation: 4-8 p.m. Friday.

Expert Volkswagon mechanic retires after 32 years.

The Orange County Register

August 1, 2001. Eric Carpenter

FULLERTON, Calif. _ He has been called the Mother Teresa of Volkswagens, quietly tending to ailing Beetles and finding ways to keep dying VW buses alive.

His name is Dieter Schnirch, but most people know him only as Dieter.

And at age 66, after fighting through two strokes, he has closed the hood on his career as a mechanic.

Customers traveled up to 100 miles for Dieter's work. He was known for lending his own car to customers in need of a ride. Used-car ads sometimes included the phrase "Worked on by Dieter" as a selling point.

And despite his expertise, he had a reputation for getting the job done for no more than it should cost. Maybe even a little less than it should cost.

Word that he has quietly retired from the west Fullerton repair shop he founded 32 years ago has many of his devotees wondering what they will do, whether their cars can survive, without him. … [sorry — that’s all I could get]

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Paul Shepard, '64 on June 11, 2018 at 11:40 AM said:

Paul:

When I last spoke with Jim, a few years back, he was living in Central Point, Oregon. My intent at that time was to get up to see him, but sadly I just laid another paving stone in that well-known road.

If you locate "ol' Froggie," please let me know. Thanks.

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BY THE WAY, EVERYBODY -- Has anybody talked to Jim Crawford, ’63, or kept in touch? I only met Jim in 2001, just as he was closing his auto repair garage on Williamson Way, but he became a good friend. I think he and his wife moved to Oregon, but it might have been Northern California. I’s sure like to talk to Jim again.

In high school, he lived at the southeast corner of Valencia Mesa & Euclid, of course, and he told me he would often work on his cars until 2 AM. On his family driveway, that is, so close to Euclid. Some of the neighbors complained, Ha ha! A great guy. Jim Bucheister, Larry Brehm and others knew him very well, of course.