CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, OHIO -- Consider yourself warned: Don´t take your Lincoln Navigator to the Lusty Wrench.

Oh, this two-technician garage in a suburb of Cleveland might work on your sport utility vehicle, especially if you´ve failed the state´s emissions check. But owner Sam Bell will be heard. He´ll want to know why you drive a gas-guzzling, emissions-belching SUV.

If Bell doesn´t like your answer, his response will sound something like this:

"We generally don´t service this type of vehicle because we feel they are environmentally irresponsible," said the 55-year-old Bell. "In fact, we´ll go so far as to say they´re environmentally reprehensible."

He jokes that he´s had to fire customers who don´t see eye-to-eye with his business philosophy. Others come to his shop because of his viewpoint, including more than 20 that drive hybrids. "Most people realize that I do this out of my real concern of the environment and the rest of the people on the road," he said.

Data flies from Bell´s mouth about SUVs being unsafe for occupants and fellow drivers. He cites high rollover rates and the damage SUVs do when they collide with passenger cars.

The Lusty Wrench only works on two SUVs regularly. These customers legitimately need SUVs, Bell said. One is a salamander-chasing biologist who four-wheel-drives his way in and out of marshes. The other has a family of seven and uses the SUV to cart the entire clan.

"We don´t need SUVs," Bell said. "We don´t need four-wheel drive in the city. It´s stupid and it´s wasteful. You´re carrying around all this extra weight of transfer casing, extra drive-shaft, extra differential, extra drive axles for 45 minutes´ use a year."

Bell figures that´s how long someone needs four-wheel drive to navigate the snows of a Cleveland winter. However, he really believes that time frame could be reduced to zero minutes if drivers stayed off the road during snowstorms or until crews cleared the way.

Minivans get a pass from Bell, but he recommends buying one with a small engine. Large pickups are fine in his book, too, provided they´re work trucks that haul tools and equipment.

Bell´s coveralls definitely have a green hue. In addition to his stance on SUVs, his shop reuses auto parts, when appropriate, and actively recycles cardboard, metal and oil.

But don´t confuse environmental leanings with a lack of business savvy. Bell has operated his shop for 26 years and handles 30 to 35 cars per week by his estimate. In addition, he´s a teacher´s teacher. Bell and one other person are certified by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to teach a course for trainers, who then go out and instruct people how to become emissions specialists. He´s authored or edited seven books for the state agency. He´s organized a consortium of local garages to share the cost of diagnostic equipment for several brands of vehicles.

That´s all well and good. But what does this anti-SUV, shop-owning, class-teaching, book-authoring, consortium-organizing, father-of-two drive around town?

He allows himself a quota of 30 miles per week in his 1995 Ford Escort. But, "most of the time I ride a bicycle."

Contact Waste News managing editor Brennan Lafferty at (330) 865-6174 or blafferty@crain.com