I had a set of Riverside tires on my 65 289/225 Mustang in 1969. My mother thought they must have been a cheap, low quality tire since the rears only lasted one summer. I bought a set of knock off Centerline style mags , maybe Fenton’s, cast Aluminum, with bolts screwed around the perimeter of the cast aluminum center, for my 55 Chevy from JCPenney in 1974 or so. They had a lot of speed equipment.
I bought a set of chrome reverse wheels at JC Penney in 68 for my 56 Chevy. 15x7.. $12.49 each. When I sold the car 5 years later the chrome was still good. Funny thing about wheel prices....when I bought those chromed wheels, Torque Thrusts were about $45 for the same size. Today, the original pattern TTs are about 3X what they cost back then. But chrome reverse are about 8X or more of their late 60's price.
i recently had to go to bakersfield ca to the federal building. right down the street was a woolworth store. remember them? it is and was the first one and still open. just thought it was kind a cool. it has the old soda fountain too.to
In Australia, Woolworth was called the "BIG W" I'm not sure if one is still there in my old neighborhood... I gotta look it up....
metlmunchr : I too got my chrome reverse at JC Penneys, by 1970 they cost $14.00 pr/wheel in 15”x7”. They are still on the back of my ‘52 Customline, and the chrome is hanging in there. By 1971 when I went back for the two 15”x 6” for the front, they had gone up to $15.00 pr/wheel :
Montgomery Ward sold guitars under the Airline name back in the 60's. Picked up a Gibson style knock off of the Gibson 335 back then. Good guitar, sounded and played good and was affordable. It somehow disappeared when I was drafted in 69. I've looked for one off and on for years with no luck.
iv'e got a chest deep freezer my grandmother bought from Wards in 1964 and gave to me when i moved into my house in 95. ITS STILL RUNNING FINE!! when it finaly dies someone else will have to move it out. that sucker weighs a ton.
The motorcycles were Jawa a Czech company. I ran J.C. Penny slicks on my 65 Comet stock eliminator car ,they worked good. The worst day of my dad's life is when the Sears catalog went to shiny paper. The last years issue was in the out house and the recent one was by his chair. He never shopped at Sears again after the shiny paper disaster.
My first cassette recorder came from MW. Second came from Longs. Both long gone. As a kid I never noticed car related stuff, seems my mom always shopped for the Blue chip stamps. Green ones were weak. Lol. Who had the orange ones?
I’ve acquired a few of the wards under dash ac units. They look look like frigiking units rebadged. Anyone use them before?
i have a monkey wards snow blower that i still use every winter made in 1974 and a big exhaust fan with the cast iron motor and big metal blades that move the air probably made in the 50's.
My dad installed those under dash A.C. units for years at Montgomery Wards Denver store on S. Broadway. It had everything including Auto Upholstery. He brought home my brothers and I's first mini bikes. When they closed down the upholstery shop he snagged one of the sewing machines and fabric and traded it for a complete Roll and Tuck interior in his 40 Ford Pick up.
Never purchased anything from Monkey Wards personally... but my wife did buy my wedding ring there and my finger hasn't turned green yet after 43 years.
For some reason, this is one of the first pages I would turn to whenever the new Sears and Roebucks catalog showed up.........
I still have and use my '66 snow blower that I went halfsies with my mom after I got my first job at Wards back when. Garden Mark badged Gilson blower from Canada. Lived about 5 blocks from Wards and bought stuff there, tools, car parts, welder, tires, appliances, clothing; just about everything except groceries, car magazines, and torch gas. When department stores had all the departments.
I ran a pair of small JC Penney’s slicks on my Chevy powered MGB when I took it to Lions to run brackets way back when With a spray of VHT Track Bite they worked well. It looked like they were made by Casler. I worked at Hedman Hedders and at that time they were a supplier to Sears. From what I remember Sears was a lucrative contract but they were a pain in the ass for warranty and stock returns. I remember them sending back truckloads of unsold headers that we had to inspect and rebox. When they finally ended the contract I asked Bob Hedman if it was going to hurt us and he said, “ Nah, we have several new customers and they were just too much of a pain in the ass” I’ve still got an old Montgomery Ward riding mower that still works great. I went to get a couple of new bearing assemblies for the blades and asked the counterman if I should maybe step up to a new mower. He said he’ll no, as long as you can still get parts, I’d keep that one running. They are way better built.
In High School in the mid '60's, my first big tool buy was a Monkey Wards floor jack. Always breaking something on the '57 Chevy and the bumper jack didn't cut it. I still have the floor jack, it still works good. It doesn't lift quite as much as it used to, but neither do I.
A lot of smaller towns had either Sears or Wards catalog stores where you could go in and order stuff out of the catalog and then pick it up at the store a few days later without paying postage or shipping. When we first got married in 1969 the one in McGregor Tx was one of the busiest places in town. Both the old Sears and Wards stores in Down town Yakima Wa had serious auto parts sections up though the late 60's at least. The Western Auto here in town where my mom's third hubby worked when she met him had a big parts section and sold a lot of tires but you had to take the tires to the gas station to have them mounted.
Chicago Home to Wards and Sears and J. C Whitney ( warshawskys) As I kid we bought everything at Sears or Wards. I still have a Sears’s bike with the banana seat and high handle bars. My sister had a J.C, Higgins bike. Sears had an outlet store on Archer Ave. We would go there when we had nothing to do just to see if we could find a deal. Wards had their main store on Chicago Ave. They had an O S and D dept on the 8th floor. I got a good deal on a gas tank for my truck there.( early 80s) My dad bought most of his car parts from Sears. He used the Sears Spectrum gold oil. Allstate was the brand of parts and batteries (before Die Hard). I have a 2 1/2 gallon grease can/ hose and gun with the allstate label. We even bought gas at Sears. When you entered the store you could smell the freshly popped popcorn. Call in the catalog order then pick it up on archer and there was no shipping cost. Sears had a slogan for a while: Sears has everything. Above their door it said: Satisfaction guaranteed or your money back The last Sears store in Il is closing by the end of the year. In the 70 s many of the car guys had JCP shat tract tries. All lot on mechanics got their start at Sears, Wards and J.C.P. auto centers.
Never knew there was such an animal but this is about the only Sears v-twin cycle I could find. And it goes back some years earlier than I would have guessed. https://www.searsallstateriders.com/model/19a216.html They weren't Harley based, but the engines and assembled bikes were supplied by F.W. Spacke Machine Company of Indianapolis. https://nationalmcmuseum.org/2018/03/09/1913-sears-deluxe-dreadnought-twin/ Sweet wheels though, regardless of who built them.
Got a under the dash AC from Monkey Ward for my 72 Nova in 1973, about $ 250. Worked great. Got a color TV in 1967, never broke down but it was a POS.
Wards and Sears had full service automotive centers. Yes you could get a lot of remanufacture items. I would always get my shocks replaced by them and batteries at Sears
I worked in the Sears Auto Center in Inglewood from late 62 until October of 65. Started pumping gas. Moved to tires then night Battery line. Subbed on the lube rack when the normal guy was off. Put me thru El Camino JC.
Here, you are looking at an honest-to-god genuine Montgomery Ward house: This cabin has been in my wife's family since the 1920s. The kit was delivered by train to Blaine, Washington. Almost all of the siding, panelling and flooring is in 4 ft sections, because that was the size of the boxes.
"Gentle Mexican Burro" LOL!! That's great. So what was the "regular express rate" from Del Rio, Texas? Shipped uncrated, with health certificate, no less. For some reason this reminds me, people used to really try to save money - and Parcel Post was a pretty good bargain. So they'd send their kids through the Post Office. Really. They outlawed it eventually. Just as well, today they'd probably deliver to the wrong house.
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