Yeah, I can't see Fleenor's work being 12 times better than, say, Krimar. It's his backlog. And it works for him. Remember, almost all users of Rolleiflexes these days are amateurs of one sort or another. Not practicing professionals. The cameras are not working tools. If this was the '60s, Fleenor would be dead taking 12 weeks. Because there were plenty of other places who could do it faster and as well. But poke around any Rollei discussions these days and you'll see Fleenor's name all the time. It's a chicken/egg thing by now- his work is top-notch so those 'in the know' will use him so they can tell their friends. I used to run into someone all the time on the street who would see my camera, a 2.8C, make a point of his being a 2.8F white face, then be certain to drop that Fleenor had overhauled it, as well as the six other Fs he had at home. I never saw him actually take a photo, or saw any images by him, but he always had either a Rolleiflex (F, of course) or a Leica on his shoulder.
Fleenor's working style is based on the tradition of tools for practicing professionals. He has a set price for each task because the approach will be same each time- strip it down, clean, replace parts as needed, relube as needed, get back into spec and working. Close it up and back to work! I used to work with spray painting equipment as part of my job. When there was a problem we would spend fifteen minutes at most cleaning and such. If it didn't clear up, you grabbed a rebuild kit, tore down the gun, replaced most of the moving parts, and got back to work. Not worth trying to get by; there as a job to do and the tool needed to be in top shape.
Similar to a car dealership. I have a 16 year old car that has some undercarriage mud guards loose and torn. When I was at a dealer, their answer was that I could order a new part for $300 and pay them $200 to install it. So next time I was at a neighborhood repairman getting the oil changed I asked him about it. He ran a few sheet metal screws in, no charge, and it is fine. That's against everything a dealer has been trained to do.
Given his core clientele these days, his quality, and his parts inventory, Fleenor could charge a lot more. It's a scary time ahead for us when he retires. I've opened up a lot of Rolleis and gotten almost all of them working again. But I wouldn't touch a Rollei Wide- too rare and too important that nothing go wrong. To Fleenor, it will be just another day at the shop, his umpteenth thousandths time inside a Wide.
