What was the Speed Shop that said it all for you?

I grew up down tha street from MOON and would ride my bike over there to check out what was going on all of the time.

 

Me too.

 

Bandimere Speedway Speed & Machine Shops in Denver, Colorado.

 

Because of Him..

Mondello Performance Products
Van Nuys Ca. (Dr.Olds)

I worked there as a teen (first job ever)
R.I.P. Mr. Mondello..

And...
Super Shops (customer first,then employee)
P.A.W
Hawaii Racing.
San Fernando Valley..

 

S&S Parts Co. 202 S. Washington St. Falls Church, Va. 703-533-9733

Thanks for everything, Chuck....

Fred Bear

 

Wow! somebody that remembers Clary's Speed Shop!
I was raised in the South End of Louisville in the 60s and 70s, and I went to grade school at St. Thomas Moore and walked to school because we lived relatively close. I walked past Clary's every day, and when it was hot, my brother and I would go inside the shop and buy a Coke and look around. We were always respectful, and Mr. Clary (Bill) never seemed to mind. I remember that he always had lots of circle track cars in the back from their days racing at the Louisville Motor Speedway, and I even remember a '64 Belvedere Hemi drag car that used to be there a lot. All of my uncles who had race cars and street machines used to shop at Clary's exclusively. I went into the Air Force years later and when I came home, Clary's was closed. I was heartbroken.

I have always wanted to build an old shop truck with the Clary's logo on the door, but I have yet to find anybody who has the logo I could use as a reference. It used to have the landspeed car with the Clary's logo in red underneath.

If you remember Clarys, then you have to remember Tooheys. Not a speed shop, but it was the place where we used to buy all of our auto parts.
"If you car goes Foohey, go see Toohey!"

 

Service Center on Alantic in Comptom right next to Custom City...

 

Goodies Speed shop san jose,Ca,did it for me.Went on to work there.

 

No Speed Shops within 50 miles of where I lived until I moved to Lubbock to get a "higher education", so until then it was Honest Charlies. When I got to Lubbock it was Jackie's Automotive.
Visited these guys when I visited DFW later on. Kind of off topic, but Browns was still on Main back then, across from Catalinas.
Larry T

 

HRP & auto parts. Hot Rod Paradise with lots of new stuff. A large used, trade, and consignment section of go fast goodies.

 

No question for me it was the oldest and still going Speed Shop - Blair's In Pasadena. And still is the #1 speed shop in So Cal. And I still go there.
Closely behind that had to be Bell Auto Parts.
When I moved to Orange County in 1971, I then frequented Jew & Screw Speed in Westminster (Oops I mean J&S) and Santa Ana Speed (which is also still there)
As for Stupid Shops (I mean Super Shops) I never considered them a "Speed Shop", more of a department store of accessories with counter people that didn't know what they were talking about and the main emphasis on selling BF Goodrich Radial T/A's anyway. (They were Michelin/Goodrich's biggest customer and stuck them from Millions when Harry went bankrupt). I only went there when I was in a jam, and always dreaded it.

 

Sissell's Automotive and Speed in West Covina, CA. Big inlines and they were all fast. He even made up his own version of inline twelve port heads using Chevy SBC head blanks. Very sharp mind, good with designs and he ruled many Strips with his Chevy 292 Roadster. RIP Kay. We miss you a bunch! He loved the "Lump Port" idea and made it work right!
Normbc9

 

Sterling Speed and Engineering, Rockford, Il.

 

Wise speed shop.Hampton ave st Louis mo. Only place in the city I new how to get to. Rls

 

Coleman Bros. Speed Shop in Elkridge for me. Bill Coleman still does machine work at his house in Linthicum. Dave is retired to one of the Carolinas. These guys are still 2 of the nicest racers and horspower guys I know. Al

 

Guaranteed Auto Parts in Albuquerque was THE place to go in the 60's/ 70s. I really miss the place. Unfortunately Super Shops came to town and put them out of business, all the kids and wanna-bes would shop at Stupid shops because of price and put too big a dent into Guaranteed.
One Friday night I blew up the small block in my 37 Chevy. Saturday morning my buddy and I decided to swap the big block I had in the corner into it. I went to Guaranteed just before closing to see if he had any headers that would work, all I needed to finish the swap. Of course there was no listing for a header then for stuff like that so Steve (the owner) had me back up to the back door and loaded every set of big block headers he had in the back of my truck with the instructions to not mix them up or damage them and bring back Monday the ones that didn't fit. I was out that night cruisin with a big block. Find a place to do that today!

 

hmmmmm...let us see hard to rember, mas, big wheel, racer exchange,kelly,s and 10,000 ap big wheel and mas had REAL race cars inside from time to time, here

 

I had no chance to escape this deal after spending the first 8 years of my life or so in my dad's fabrication and engine shop for his company "Racing Unlimited" out of St. Paul, MN. Imagine the school bus dropping you off everyday at such a place! I took many a nap as a kid in the seat of a front motored car, drifting off thinking about the day I would be able to drive one. It's been gone many years now, but I can still remember what the Snelling store "felt" like to walk into...

After mom and my brother and I moved to Phoenix, Loper's became the drug of choice... I first walked in at about the age of 13 or so to buy a Hurst front engine mount for a small block Chevy, and Johnny Loper treated me like a family member until his death about five years ago.

The other one I have to mention even though it is O/T here is Karl's Custom on Indian School rd. I walked in there sometime around thirty years ago this next week because suddenly high winding VWs had become a curiousity. That was like Disney Land back in those days for that group, truly one of the top shops in the nation. By '84 or so, I was managing the street and performance side of things there. Talk about a kid in a candy shop! Karl just shut the doors in October, and it's still hard to drive past.

 

Tognotti's Auto World in Sacramento, mid 70's. Place was the size of a Kmart it seemed.
Aisles of stuff...frames on the walls. It was crazy.

 

The Old H&E Auto Sales ( With Wholesale Dept. On Speed Equiptment ) Old Building Downtown Ft. Worth, TX. Late 40's-Mid 50's
Ssotty's Auto Supply On Rosedale, Ft. Worth TX.
Custom Automotive Downtown Dallas, TX.

 

We all called it a speed shop, but actually it was
Eddie's Auto Supply in Fresno, with Art Voorhees
behind the counter...... Hi Art

 

Riley Auto On Rosedale Ft. Worth TX.

Reynolds Speed Shop On Rosedale Near Parker Jr. High School Ft. Worth, TX.

 

Well, not exactly a speed shop, but we built a bunch of speed stuff. At the age of 15, I got my first job at Challenger Equipment Corp located on Foothills Blvd in Azusa, California. Jim Kirby was a great man to work for. I would ride my bicycle 11 miles each way from Pasadena just to work there.

Before my time at Challenger, Jim ran a Blown Hemi powered Willys gasser he built himself:



We would sometimes stay open late on Fridays to catch repair work from Irwindale drag strip just down the road from us. As a young kid, it was so cool to see dragsters literally rope-towed down Foothills Blvd to the shop for a quick tig, and then quickly towed back to the track to get another pass in.

I loved that place.

 

Hot Rod Valley on Sepulveda Blvd., Van Nuys Ca. Enough stuff just up on the used manifolds shelves to make a grown man either salivate uncontrollably or weep with anticipation. Early sixties (maybe earlier).

 

In the Salt Lake City area it was F. G. Ferre & Son, from the early fifties through the 70's.

Fred sponsored many of the local racers as well as the local racetracks.

Mick

 

Jim built the molds for the fiberglass Anglia's off the steel car in my Avatar, and then chopped one and made the molds for the chopped Anglia's.

 

Radke's in St.Johns neighborhood in Portland, Two counters one for just parts and the speed counter. Real honest to goodness parts guys at both.Bought a lot of stuff off their bulletin board by the front door.

 

Mostly Service Center on Atlantic I think (to long ago), also Reath, and went to Blairs once or twice.

 

Brockman's Speed shop Dayton, Ohio

 

Honest Charley's in North Little Rock Ark. Run by Fred Buchannan who ran, I believe, a 65 GTO called "The Old Goat" at Carlisle Drag-O-Way. Also RHS had a shop in the University Shopping Center in Little Rock run by Russ Smiltnieks, Ivar's younger brother. Deposited many a pay check in both places. Steve's Speed Shop was also pretty cool and is actually still in business.