Technical Mild rant: anyone else finding it hard?

Yeah....ready for the jokes.....
BUT, I don't know if it's the area I moved to (South/Central NJ), if I'm getting older, and more impatient, or what. But I find that any time I need "help" in a restoration, I spend an inordinate amount of time on the internet, and driving around, to find a business who can do the job.
What sparked it off yesterday, was a simple thing. My helper in the shop broke a vent window on the 61 Olds. I searched out places close to me to find a glass cutter. Then I drove to 2 of the closest, and both were closed. For good. So today, I tried again, and have to travel quite a bit to see if this next place will do the job.
But this isn't the only case! I've run into problems getting parts, due to the proliferation of chain stores, and the morons who work there (Is it a 4 door? Does it have air conditioning?) Getting parts to fix air conditioning systems ( try to find AC flush solvent locally! Advanced rents the canister to do it, but doesn't have the flush!) Finding a good front end alignment place. Finding a small machine shop to do little things. Finding a local guy to laser, or waterjet a few parts, it goes on and on and on.
Anyone else have trouble finding local businesses and talent to do things for us to restore/customize our cars?
Even finding a good exhaust bender, or upholstery guy is challenging!

 

Unfortunately the days of the small mom and pops shops are fading away at least around here that is.

 

I'm curious why you did not call these places to see if they could handle the glass work or if they were still operational before you did all that driving.

More to the point I often rely on word of mouth recommendations. For instance, I had help from a guy with electrical work whom had come highly recommended. He did excellent work and put me onto a glass guy he trusted. That worked out great and he put me onto a fabricator. Again, he was fine and has recommended a transmission guy.

I have found that scumbags associate with scumbags. Conversely, a quality craftsman knows others of the same quality. All you have to find is one guy to get the ball rolling.

 

yup, it's getting really hard to get stuff done.

flip side...if anyone wants to try to get me to do something for them, they'd have a really tough time!

 

We have a great glass guy in town but he is constantly backlogged with work so that says something about his work.

We also have a exhaust guy that does excellent work but he is also swamped and he tries to set up a time and day where you bring your car.

Ordering parts on the other hand is a lesson in futility, I ordered parts from Drakes 2 weeks ago and they finally arrived this morning. HRP

 

Not to pick on you specifically but this always makes me laugh. A few years ago this was the norm not the exception but now everyone is up in arms if something doesn't arrive in two days.

 

Maybe its that I'm in SoCal but I can pretty much get almost anything I need locally, usually from an independent business. This includes a machine shop that actually knows how to do flatheads, glass and upholstery one or two man operations that do excellent work. My local parts store can get almost anything I need and the counter guys/gal actually have and know how to use the old parts books. And if they can't get something The Old Ford Store and C&G are not that far of a drive - depending on SoCal traffic of course. Now that I think about it I guess I should stop complaining about the fact the California is going to Hell in a hand basket!

 

we've been way to wasteful with resources especially cars so part of my "life plan" was to always drive an old car that I fixed and kept on the road myself. Its not that I don't want to support the jobs that big industry creates...I just think we got it all wrong. Anyway having a wife her "old" car just can't be "too old" fine for me to drive a '60's car but not her so we usually go about 20 yrs old...however in the last year or two I've had to trade vehicles several times why? because when a major part goes It's unavailable! Our major parts supply house used to stock parts for cars 40-60 years old now you can't find parts for 20 year old cars even at the dealership! if they can find it it's usually in some warehouse in Timbuktu and will take 4 to 6 weeks to deliver!!! thats my rant....
oh yeah and try to find 14" tires anywhere at a decent price theyve been "phased out" too

 

Seriously?!?! You expect dealers to stock parts for cars that are eligible to join the AACA?!?! Reminds be of the bike forums where people bitch about the #%*@! HD dealer who doesn't have a gasket set for their Knucklehead

 

"...now everyone is up in arms if something doesn't arrive in two days."

Maybe us Canadians are more patient, since we are used to mail orders being held up at Customs for ages.

 

At least you live in a high population area where there are some businesses. Try living in an area where there are few car crazed people. I have to order every danged thing I need and now that the government is going to allow states to tack on sales tax it is going to get really expensive paying for expensive shipping and now tax on top of that.

 

Same here. When I started drawing Social Security people wanted to bring stuff for me to work on in my ( spare time ) How do we define Spare Time? Are we supposed to not charge as much for so called Spare Time. I think I am finished with selling part of my life to others.

 

Summit and a few others have spoiled us for sure. I swear that sometimes it seems they are packing it up for shipment before I've even completed the on-line order.
Now where the hell is that waiter with our food! Its been five minutes at least......

 

I use the dealers as a last resort up to about 20 yrs old they can scour the country it's called old stock when they liquidate it to guys like us it becomes n.o.s. but as for the chain parts stores... Absofrickinlutely! if I could buy a part for a '56 in 1990 why shouldn't I be able to buy parts for a '98 now ? there are still 100's of 1000's of them on the road being driven daily...my point is the largest chain parts outlet has become not much more than a glorified Wal Mart ....I was laboring under the false impression that providing the means for people to do it themselves was their business...if parts for your '55 chev or '34 ford had become obsolete 15 yrs later there wouldn't be much of this hobby if any at all.... driving a '55 in '75 was pretty average!

 

Hard I'm not as young as I once was

 

We Americans are spoiled.
Can you just imagine trying to find parts and people with these skills in Europe.
Their patience and determination amaze me.

 

'61 olds glass?
https://www.autocityclassic.com/1961-2-door-hardtop-dynamic-88-3237-super-88-3537/

 

The guy that does my glass is old school, he will cut glass for his customers. He runs a mobile operation but has a shop he does work out of. I gave him all the door glass for my Ford and he set it all in his shop, he came to my garage to install my windshield.

 

Nailhead A V8, you bring up a point that I can answer. It's all due to dollars and cents why the older parts are not available like they were in the past from the auto dealerships.

I was seeing this the last few years I was in a dealership parts department, especially after the last downturn/recession/depression and the bankruptcy at least in GM. The longer a part sits on a shelf, the lesser chance it will be sold, all formulas and algorithms from the inventory control software people. Every square foot of that parts department costs rental in the sense of allocated expenses. Parts managers and in some cases counter people are paid on net profit after expenses so to have dead stock on hand makes nobody any money.

Used to be that dealers would put their dead stock in a room or an extra building in the oft chance they would sell it. As a parts counterman and later in management I had access to the "honey pot" and found some interesting things, sometimes I was able to buy them right or was given them for my own use. Best time was in the early 1990's when I did inventories for the GM division that financed dealers, some of the stuff I found! Best find was a set of Pontiac parts catalogs circa 1969. I showed the parts manager there a photo of my car, he gave them to me.

The manufacturers are in the same boat with expenses. IF you want to get sick, there were parts for three year old cars that were no longer available, mostly soft trim items. Contrary to popular belief, there is no official law on the books regarding replacement parts. Now it comes to how much the contract spells out per piece, setup charges, how many of that item is expected to sell in a given time, etc. No more going to GM Flint (Otterburn) warehouse and seeing 67-72 pickup truck cabs on pallets stacked up like in the mid 1970's. You'll be lucky to get one for a 2012 anymore.....

I left the dealership parts business last year after a tic over 47 years, yep, not a typo. 1970 started. Today's counterman usually cannot "game" the electronic parts catalogs to find anything unless it's "make,model',year" or the dreaded "What's your VIN number?" I just ran into that last week, made the mistake of going to a chain parts store with some performance parts on the floor. Asked for a Holley carb kit, gave him the LIST number, after five minutes stumbling around he asked "What kind of car is it for?" I told him to forget it. He then asked me again. I replied "Holley 650 cfm, single feed double pumper spreadbore with mechanical secondaries and divorced choke, aftermarket part, never came on a car" to which he replied "Sorry"

At least we have Jegs and Summit...!

 

Thanks Bob for the link...It was actually cheaper to buy it from Auto City, than for a local guy to cut it!

 

And regarding my local bodyshop store: I want to buy a quart of HOK Candy...the local guy "carries" it, but even his warehouse doesn't have it. He tells me it will cost 80$, and it will take a week to get it (and sometimes even charging me for shipping!). I can get it in 3 days from smartshoppers.com, for 60 and 12$ shipping, for example. The local stores are shooting themselves in the foot by keeping their high prices, and no material in stock, but extra costs to get it!
I would prefer to buy local, and keep the small guys in business, but it's getting tougher, and tougher to do. I don't mind paying a bit more to a local business, but not to the point of ridiculousness!
BTW, that's also why I prefer to go in person and ask questions, as sometimes on the phone, people aren't as accommodating.

 

I completely agree with everyone’s sentiments on this thread. But, also look at it this way, I work for one of the largest independent truck repair shops in the St.Louis area, been here for 20 years, and it’s almost impossible to find any mechanics any more. Anybody that you hire expects to do engine/electronic work when they can’t even change oil. The labor situation in this industry is in dire straights.


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Not as often as I used to.

 

Thanks @shovelheadrider that's what I was getting at... the whole aftermarket industry is shrinking let alone factory support for older vehicles. In our arena I bet there is only a handful of guys left in the whole continent who can re-babbit a model T block but guys are still building speedsters.If you're '55 heater went you stuck a '65 heater in and away you go ...but now if no one makes a heater for a '98 it goes to the crusher because all the wrecking yards crush those cars immediately.

 

The big problem is most of the services we need have become as obsolete as our cars. Glass? Laminated safety glass for anything other than windshields disappeared in the '60s, when the OEMs switched to tempered glass for everything else, even for flat glass. Exhaust work isn't much better; most of the manufacturers have gone to stainless steel, so the days of an exhaust system rotting off the car are pretty much gone. Muffler shops these days (at least most that are still in business) make their money on brakes and suspension work. Points ignition was gone for good by the late '70s, carburetors followed in the '90s, so finding anybody who can service these is getting harder and harder. Even upholstery has changed. One-piece molded headliners and easily available replacement seat covers that use zippers or simple plastic clips to attach to seat frames on newer cars has reduced the skill level even here. The rest of the interior is usually molded plastic. Add in the fact that interior color/pattern choices on most new cars (would you like mouse gray or black cloth, or step up to black leather?) is very limited, you've got another skill that's no longer in demand by the average car owner.

So the remaining shops with these skills that exist have become 'boutique' shops (at least the smart ones), with boutique prices in many cases. That in turn makes many of us to DIY, further reducing the number of shops that can make a living at it.

There are some parts the OEMs are required to produce for specific periods; emission-related bits. But planned obsolescence has been the name of the game for years now and the whole industry reflects that....

 

I worked for VW/Audi until I realized the store owner was never going to come level with pay concurrent with the rest of the modern world, but I digress.... VW's of the modern era send everything through the instrument cluster to operate the car. Instrument clusters are VIN-specific, more or less; they are that "keyed" to that vehicles operating parameters... and for the most part, there are no replacement clusters available for cars over a certain age, nor is there a factory rebuilding program for those car's needs.... so, driving, say, a '98 Beetle is a crapshoot for the owner. Sooner or later, that cluster will fail. And there are so many variables to take into account, coupled with the fact that most if not all salvage yard cars will have failed clusters as well, that trying to find one that MATCHES your particular car is akin to finding a needle in a haystack. And people wonder why I hate modern cars.

 

But, yeah, there's very little in this area as far as getting something done or getting in-person advice without whipping out your black card. Visa and MasterCard you may as well leave in your wallet, you're not going to have the requisite funding. Doing it yourself is the only way it gets done at my house.

 

Sorry you folks are having such problems.

Live in a small town in central Missouri, population about 5000.

(1) Exhaust shop (can fix or fabricate exhaust systems for anything)
(1) Glass shop - have only needed them a few times, but each time they have come through (bit pricier than I would like, but do the job RIGHT the first time).
(3) Body shops, one has at least one nationally recognized restoration winner! Quality work, fairly priced
(1) Upholstery shop - does excellent original or custom work, again, reasonable.
(2) Welding shops - both can weld the wings of a fly together while flying (well, maybe not quite that good, but GOOD!).

No radiator shops left locally, one 30 miles away.
No custom machine shops left locally, but two automotive machine shops can be talked into custom work.

FLAPS - both NAPA and O'Reilley

Dealer parts - 1968 Ford F-100 - dealer has computer with no listing, but I bought a factory parts book years ago. Take the book to the dealer, have the parts man look up the correct part, and orders it. So far, every single part I have wanted was available (once I did have to purchase a package of 4 parts). Why would a company as large as Ford have warehouses full of parts and dealers with no regular way to look up the parts????? Assuming the other car manufacturers have the same type of parts inventory. I have had much less luck with the electronic marvels of a 1997 Ford! Once the electronics go, one has a useless pile of metal.

EDIT: Oh, and I forgot, one carburetor shop

Jon.

 

Im lucky
I have access to paint booths, alignment benches, tire machines, water jets, machine shop, glass shops......
nice having a bunch of cool friends