History The Lost Speed Shop

The demise of speed shops started in the mid-sixties and, in my opinion, was self inflicted. Regional speed equipment warehouse operations started advertising in the national publications with mail order pricing that was actually below the cost local speed shops were paying for the same item. Hot rodders would drop by the local speed emporium, pick the brains of a knowledgable counterman and then go home and order the item from a WD. Some guys had the balls to take the item back to the speed shop and complain about the fit and finish.

I too miss the days of drinking coffee that doubled as paint remover and bench racing with friends at the local speed shop

 

even places like the well known Sacramento Vintage Ford in California is barely making. It is more than a speed shop, it is a whole experience. now all seems to be getting less and less. many people now go straight to the web without ever stopping by a speed shop, swap meet or wrecking yard (old good ones are rare too)

 

The only speed shop that I remember from aurora was Sontag's [sp] sounds like a similar building , that would have been mid-60's... IIRC , the guy who ran it was John Hull[sp] ???

dave

 

I tend to disagree, at least once you made it out of the 60's. By the 80's, for sure, the speed shops were staffed by idiots who were long on cockiness and short on actual knowledge.

I also am not so sure about the old "they were selling stuff cheaper than the shops were paying for it' argument. It defies logic....why would a wholesaler sell Joe Blow a carburetor for less money than one of his established speed shops? More so, if the speed shop owner sees a carb being sold for less than he is paying, he needs to order it and now his costs are suddenly lower.

The sad fact is speed shops had little 'value added' other than perhaps a cool place to hang out and/or eyeball parts in person. But the parts remain a commodity item and commodity item sales are price driven.

 

I walked past that speed shop every day. It was close to east aurora high school and across the street from char's diner where we played hookey. pistnbroke here on the hamb would probably know more about the shop or tell you who would know

 

I remember the Super Shops and the Service Center chains. They were cool places but they pushed a lot of small shops over the brink. The speed shop that remains in my area was once a Service Center but it has changed hands at least three times since then. They still have trouble matching Summit or Jeg's prices but I prefer to do business with the locals when I can.

 

It all started going south fast after the first gas crisis in '74. The EPA had already started ripping the guts out of Detroit performance, & OPEC stuck a fork in it. Speed shops, drag strips, roundy rounds, all took a hit. It was a bleak time for car guys.

 

I happened to notice that building years ago and after driving by it a few times I decided to go in and check it out. this was about 17 years ago. it was still open for business. I talked to the counterman but do not recall anything impressive on display only some mr. gasket parts .
perhaps it was already in decline. the neighborhood has changed over there I doubt there is much support.

 

We still have a good one in Tucson Az. Don's Hot Rod shop.
Good guys and fair prices.
They got a mention at the 3/8 paved oval Saturday so I guess they're doin OK..3
Honestly its been a while since I've been there.

 

Before Carter Carburetor went out of business, we were a WD (warehouse distributor).

Carter had a suggested list price (which they did not enforce), A jobber price (shops), a WD (wholesale) price, and a volume price. The wholesale price was approximately 30 percent less than suggested list. The volume price (required the purchase of 150 carbs of the same number) was approximately 18 percent less than the WD price.

The "big boys" that advertised in the wholesale magazines often sold for 10 percent over cost. Of course, their sales staff consisted of people that could look up a part number and give you a price; but no tech. So the consumer COULD purchase the unit cheaper than we could as a WD, and much cheaper than the shop (jobber) could. We answered lots of tech questions that helped the big boys with sales.

Other companies had similar pricing.

First the jobbers disappeared, then the WD's. Now hopefully, the big boys have better tech than they used to have.

And I completely agree (as did my contacts at Carter 40 years ago). The policy does defy logic!

Jon.

 

I worked at a speed shop in Denver City Texas back in the early 70's. It was right in the middle of the oil patch in west Texas. We sold racing parts and built hot rod motors. I learned to bore blocks, do valve jobs, rebuild carbs, assemble motors when I was 18. Built a pretty wicked 409 for my 62 Impala to replace the 283 while I worked there.

 

I believe DA34GUY was the original owner! Maybe he can chime in and give us the inside of the business world!! Pete

 

Actually, the cinderblock building painted in a grey, red and blue motif that you described is at the corner and is addressed 441 Hill Ave./Lincoln Highway and is an old gas station. 1036 5th Ave. would have been west of it where the furniture store is now located and is now addressed 1040 5th Ave. That building has two front doors and appears to have had two suites. Hillcrest Speed & Engineering was probably located in one suite and addressed 1036 and the other suite would have been 1040 until 1040 took over both suites and the 1036 suite address disappeared.

 

I tried to load a picture from google maps but can't. The brick building behind the gas station is the building that Hillcrest was in. It was an annex building built behind the gas station and they may have shared an address back in the day. the gas station operated as a pure or a d/x station. The local drag strip would have been Oswego drag strip until it closed then most went to Union Grove or Byron to race.

 

Sontag Speed Shop was and still is off of RT. 30 in Cresthill, IL. Al's Speed Shop was on Rt. 31 in Aurora, IL. --- I don't remember Hillcrest Speed, must have been gone by the time I moved to Naperville and roamed the area. -------------- J.Ukrop, I remember that Stude from Oswego Drag Strip. There was also another Stude that was blue or green, memory is fading. If you goggle Oswego Drag Strip in Illinois (there's an Oswego in NY also) there is a website dedicated to the days when the track was in operation and there may be some info to help you on your search.

 

there was a Bob Christensen that owned a phillips 66 gas station on Farnsworth ave. I lived near there and my father tradad there

 

Ok here is what I can remember about the Speed Shops around Aurora, IL.
Hillcrest was just west of Hill ave in a brick building it was operated by a guy name John it is something else now, at one time they had a funny car that ran out of there called Yoakum and Stovall Vega as I remember spelling may be wrong, John Yoakum died I believe a snowmobile accident, behind the building is Yoakum systems a trucking company owned by the family. The shop stayed open up through the 80's may have been early 90's when it closed not much after Oswego drag strip closed.

The other shops in the area were T.P.S The Performance Shop, it was on a short strip of road called Montgomery street by East Lake street and Jericho Rd.

AL's Speed Shop in North Aurora, just north of I-88 on Rt 31. Sontag was in Crest Hill, IL the building is still there with the sign still painted on the side I have a picture included.

The Studebaker I have in a picture is one from the area, there were several I know the name of one was Troublesome.
Anyway yes Hillcrest is gone but a lot of cars were built there over the years.

 

Here is a current picture of HillCrest building and a current picture of TPS the Performance Shop Building Both still standing but the Race days are long gone.

 

By the time I was a teenager,there were no good speed shops in my area.We just learned to wrench on our own stuff and become good friends with the local machine shop.Too many friends had their rods tied up in some wannabe's speed shop and my friends and I just wanted to not deal with the drama.It seems the attitude that is pervasive at most parts stores is a carry over from the speed shop days.

 

yes, that is the hillcrest building that I remember.
pistnbroke, what shop built that 32 Vickie? pretty cool!

 

That 32 was in front of Al.s speed shop in North Aurora, it was owned and driven by Larry Teiter
That is a picture of a Picture i have in my collection.
I did see more information about the car here on the HAMB a few years ago if you search the name you will find it. Check different spellings of the name, my spelling is not my strong point.

 

Damn, I miss some cool shit on here when I get too busy. Shame on me! It's so cool that you've actually been making phone calls to find out information. I would have never thought about doing that.

 

I've got all your answers....It's my dads car!
Doug Christiansen

 

I took my son there a couple years ago & they were real nice in letting him check out a drag car they had in the shop. He has gone back several times to buy parts for his cars. GREAT people who own & work there!

 

I would definitely like to hear all about it. Do you have anymore photos from back in the day? Do you know what happened to the car, is it still around

 

I love old speed shops and they all have so much racing history connected with them.

I have hundreds of old photos of speed shops and just looking at each one reminds of how important they were for this history of racing.

Does anyone have any photos of Hillcrest Speed & Engineering?

Thanks Jimbo

 

Doug,
Welcome aboard, Please share some more history / photos of your dads car (s) and the speed shop with us , Regards Jim

 

Actually my name is Kurt and my dads name is Doug
I know he has some 8mm of the strip that I'm trying to get converted to DVD.
Hillcrest sold them parts at cost and also gave the hand laid fiberglass Studebaker the name Grapes of Wrath.
I'll ask my dad in the next couple days about the rest of the questions.