For years, I never knew how the story ended. I’ve taken many hours of enjoyment reading the fictional exploits of Gus Wilson and his Model Garage in my collection of vintage Popular Science magazines, but this one from July 1968 has left me hanging. The mystery of how “Gus Has An Argument With The Brass” ends is finally solved. No, I didn’t find the missing page that has vexed me for twenty years, but I have discovered I’m not the only one who loves these tales of diagnostic derring-do.

The Gus Project, put together by Mike Hammerberg, Don Miller and the flying typist fingers of Mary Viramontes, has archived all 529 stories online for easy searching and, most importantly, reading. The tricks and techniques chronicled by “author” Martin Bunn (a nom de plume for several writers over the years) may not be fully modern, since Gus hasn’t appeared in PopSci since 1970, but many of them are still useful. Learning the fine art of diagnostics at the elbow of a master, fictional or not, is a fulfilling way to while away the hours, and thanks to modern technology, you won’t have to leaf through musty, silverfish-infested pages. Pull up a chair and a tablet and lose yourself in nostaglia while learning a thing or two.