History What us trad rodders were doing in the 70's...

I stopped in one in San Diego, I think in 1979, when my buddy and I went on an extended road trip. Bought a brand new intake and carb right off the shelf for a car we had just bought and were going to drive home from Portland, OR(when we got back up to Portland). It was neat to be able to buy speed parts right away and not order and wait. Also, it was one of those places we read about in magazines, but never experienced due to our small town living.

 

"...Because Everyone Deserves Performance!"
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How many guys on here shopped at Kerrisdale Speed, or Western Accessories in New West? The original Mopac store on the north side of Kingsway? Remember Bill Phillips garage in Burnaby by Dairyland?

 

I was buying parts from San Bernardino Racing Equipment in the late '60s and '70s before they became the Super Shops. I preferred J&M Speed Center in Riverside, but the original store on Baseline, was just right across the wash from Redlands.
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When I moved back to "Small Town", Texas in the early 70's the nearest speed shop was 50 miles away. Honest Charleys was as near as the mailbox.

 

I actually used to by car tires from Western Auto in the '70s. The one in a small town my mom lived in down in thre Ozarks actually sold wide ovals, that was what they said on the side was "WideOvals".

I don't recall ever going to a "speed shop" when I live in the NW. The Auto Parts in Forest Grove would get you anything you wanted sometimes it took a week or so. Hell one of the older fellas bought a hilborn setup for his GTX there in '70.

 

Benno,
We also had a Western Auto and Whites Auto in my little town. You could buy performance tires, wheels, chromed bell tipped pipes, Fenton shifters, etc. there.

Now that I think about it, most of the parts stores had accounts with high performance warehouses that they could order parts from. They didn't stock any speed parts back then, but they could get about anything you wanted.

And don't forget J.C. Penneys.

Another GREAT source for used parts was the want ads in the National Dragster. I always went through the For Sales before I looked at race results and such.

It was a different time. Not much "instant access" to anything out here in the sticks.

 

Hell when I lived in the Ozarks I had to order my bike parts from St Louis or drive to Sedalia. Once in a while if one of the clubers from here in KC was comming down and knew you needed something he would bring it down. I used to know this fella named Scrap Iron (rest his soul) that called me one time and asked if someone could leave a tranny at my place and I would collect for it for him. I said sure, around about 3 in the morning I heard this bike comming down the country road I lived on Potatoe, potatoe, potatoe, and got up and here was this young kid looking for me (well younger than me). I said I'm right here what do ya want and he said "scrap said to leave this with you." He ballanced the tranny on his lap all the way from independence. Then he asked if I could write him a note saying that I got it and it wasn't broken. I guess he screwed up a lot.

 

tried googling western Accessories to see if I could find a pic of the famous decal with Dale Hunts Willys PU, didnt find one, but I DID find the this. Kinda cool.
http://www.gvmps.org/inductees/western_accessories.htm

Cal-Van was a big speed shop chain from around here back in the day, but more of a chrome bolt-on, cal Custom kind of deal. Surrey Speed Center was another player, backed a LOT of local SS and comp elim cars in the seventies.

 

Super Shops was a good place and sponsered some nice race cars. In the 1970's in Portland I shopped at Thrifty Auto Supply on 122nd Ave.

 

Eddie Hill. First in the 4's

 

Cool stuff! Thanks

 

That was a GREAT ad...

 

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The pictures added today are from: http://theoldiebutgoodie.tumblr.com/

 

Man, thats just heartbreaking...goddam dukes.

 

Hey, now THATS just cruel...

 

Through the history of the show, an estimated 309 Chargers were used; 23 are still known to exist in various states of repair. These Chargers performed many record-breaking jumps throughout the show, almost all of them resulting in a completely destroyed car.
Blame these guys,

 

Why? I'll bet they didn't destroy one car during the whole series.

 

Yer' right. These were the stunt drivers in the series.
Bob Orrison, Jack Gill, John Borland, Gary Baxley, Robert Jon Carlson, Monty Jordan,
Henry Kingi, Rich Sephton, Craig R. Baxley, and Al Wyatt Jr.

 

That's the reason why I don't watch re-runs... Every time I see a replica on the road, It makes me want to vomit!...

 

I like the '68s better, ala Bullitt, but even as a kid I knew they destroyed too many of those beautiful cars. But would anyone have watched the show if they were driving a Dodge Colt? Catherine Bach IMHO was way hotter than Farrah, God rest her soul.