Hot Rods 1st experience with Bob Drake Automotive was less than pleasant.

When I started building 40 Fords in 1965 you could get your parts from page 136 of the J.C.Whitney catalog or try to find N.O.S. parts in a warehouse some where in New Jersey. It is not a perfect situation in these modern times but without Bob Drake and Dennis Carpenter then make your own rubber and plastic parts just like they did when they started.......

 

Sounds like good advise, they do have some nice product.

 

Page 136 of J.C. Whitney........man, good memory Lou! P.S. Beautiful Maroon Coupe!

 

Exactly! Bob has done a great job with the parts and outsourcing of manufacturing while maintaining quality control. He is good at it.
I will buy his parts from his dealers which have the customer service part of it down right.

 

I got banned for life from the fordbarn for bad mouthing Drake. ordered a 1939 ford gastank from him and NEVER got it. actually i did use some profanity in my remarks of drake. But he is a advertizer there, so he gets preference.I buy from speedomtive in good ol Lincoln nebraska now!

 

Appreciative of aftermarket suppliers like Bob Drake, Dennis Carpenter, etc. it allows us a source for the old Fords, where other avenues have all but vanished.
Personally, no matter who I order from, before completing the order, I ask them if it is in stock..if it isn't I move on to the "next guy".
Do not appreciate current fliers sent on a regular basis, advertising items that are not in stock/back ordered.

 

I've bought a few parts from Drake, no problem. But I recently also ordered some from Early Ford V-8 Sales in South Carolina. Their website has a fill-in-the-blanks form where you enter info about the car you're buying parts for. I put in some generic info, since I'm building a Hot Rod, not a particular year of car. I got a call the next day from the owner, wanting me to clarify what I was working on, since the part I ordered didn't fit part of the info I had given about the car I'm working on. Long story short, the part I had ordered was NOT the right one, and the owner figured out what I needed and changed my order. I appreciate that kind of service, and the fact that he didn't want to send me the wrong part, even though I had asked for it. They'v gotten most of my business since then. http://www.earlyford.com/

 

Just for the record the item was in stock and I let them know up front this was my first experience with Bob Drake.....maybe that was my mistake?!

 

Have been building 40's for quite a few years. Have used a lot of Drake parts and many times they were back ordered. I do as others say here and go thru a dealer(All Ford) they follow up and keep me informed or scout around with others dealers. Ordered some running boards and they were backordered. When they finally came in I asked how many sets they received. They had gotten 6 sets in. Called around to friends and we bought 5 sets-all were used in short order. Did the same with 40 gas tanks and inner fender panels. Without Drake and Carpenter these parts would not exist.

 

That would be Julia Lewis-Dryfus.

 

Looks like everyone is stating the same thing. It is obvious that Drake makes a lot of stuff that would otherwise probably not be available and that is a good thing. The fact that at times they market (via flyers/mail etc) parts that are not in stock is in the category is not such a good thing. Listing parts in the catalog that are sometimes out of stock is OK but marketing individual items that are not available (at the time of the sales push) is a bad thing. Having "customer service" reps who are indifferent to said customer's problems is a very bad thing, especially when they continue to not solve the problems of their own making.

Roo

 

Only two kinds of employees exist, good and bad. Simply put, those who care, and those who are watching the clock. I've discovered that no amount of pay can switch a person from one side of the fence to the other.

That being said, it's on the boss man for keeping "bad" employees around, because in the end it is a reflection of the business.

 

Good report: I ordered a 34 grille from Drake last spring during one of their sales. It was on back order for months. They finally called me in September to see if I still wanted it (which I did), they gave me the sale price and free shipping. The grille arrived in perfect condition and it is extremely nice and worth the wait.

Negative report: At the same time they shipped the grille I had them throw in a few items to take advantage of the free shipping. One of the items was stainless cowl lights. When i went to install them, the left side light had a small ding in it, not overly noticeable but I can see it and it bugged me (right on top of course). I called the service number and a young man at Drake said "we check all merchandise prior to shipping, if it is damaged it is likely you did it". Mind you this order was nearly 3 thousand dollars and to be treated rudely over something so trivial was a bit too much for me. I had the dent repaired and the light re-polished and decided not to order from them again.

 

Maybe Bob should do Undercover Boss.

 

ha, that's what my wife calls me.

 

The Early Ford Store. Prompt service, ordered many parts, and shipping is always reasonable.

 

Poor BOB ???. Had problems to bought body moulding for my 40 ford conv moulding were not the same width thanks China !!!!!!

 

Possible that this is a method of marketing to get enough orders to justify a production run of a specific part. Not the best way to do business for the customer but keeps the bean-counters happy. At least until overall business drops due to customer desertion.

 

I have no idea what you are trying to say. Want to try again?

 

You can have good employee having a bad day, but a bad employee will be consistent anyway.

 

Married the same one!!

 

every year at Portland swap I had a few things I would "TRY" to buy at the swap... Oh we didn't bring those... ... after repeat turn downs.. I stopped going to the Drake booth. Went to other vendors that carried Drake stuff and bingo got what I needed always.. Bought a lot from Dennis C. for my 51 Woodie... 49-51 Ford Drake is pretty lame..

 

Is this the Bob Drake in Grants Pass??

 

They are who I get my Drake parts from.

Yes

 

I've had hit or miss service from Drake.

This seems to be the case with a great many businesses, top to bottom the values have to be the same.
Any business Accounting, Attorneys, Physicians, Manufacturing, Construction starts out and has to be effective and efficient to be successful and stay in business. After a period of time you hire 10, 20, 200 employees and those elements that made you effective and efficient get watered down by employees who don't give a shit (cause its just a job and their name ain't on the door).

I'm sure Drake was/is really good at something, I wonder if he remembers what that was...

I wonder if his employees remember...

 

Maybe he should become just a distributor?

 

Now that my friend is powerful!!
("I'm sure Drake was/is really good at something, I wonder if he remembers what that was...")
You could replace Drake with lots of businesses or people for that matter.

 

Nope not that one never ever again. I am not a masochist.

I did marry the prettiest girl in the school twice. But she never treated me bad the first time, we just screwed up. In April we will hit 20 on the second.

 

Wouldn't that make him a dizzy? Makes my head spin just to think about it.

 

There is a quote about the ".....glory belongs to the warrior in the arena......not to those who stand on the sidelines and criticize" .......that obviously is not an exact quote, but conveys the essence of it.

It is not my role in life to be a Bob Drake defender, but I do find the less attractive human trait of piling on someone, who has made an honest effort to be a contributor, to be offensive. It is a 'crowd (gang) mentality'.

Who among you here has invested your OWN life, and risked the considerable amounts of money required on this scale, trying to serve a need in ANY realm, let alone the automotive hobbyist market? Go ahead, raise your hands. Hmmm....not many. That's what I thought.

Who among US, is beyond reproach? Ever turned in a less than stellar performance while being paid for your efforts? Would ALL of our customers, employees, or employers, give US a unqualified 'Excellent' grade?

Sure, you are entitled to be disappointed, even totally dissatisfied, with the service and/or parts you get from a supplier. But in my opinion, UNLESS that includes misrepresentation of the goods, out right deceptive or dishonest dealings, etc., one should moderate their condemnation of the supplier.

Another old axiom comes to mind..."unless you have walked in another man's moccasins, don't be so quick to judge him".......or words to that effect.

Ray