one word: ACE. i love the place, still has that small town feel, all the employees seem really happy to be working there. I know the feeling, ours is called Giffords it is ran by a old family and I cant figure out how they find stuff. All you have to do is tell them what you want and they lead you through a maze. At the end will be just what you are looking for and you may even run across something else on the way there.
DAMM!! Should have listened to my own advice. Today I was at a Home Depot getting sprinkler parts. I came out to leave & saw a Checker Auto right across the street, I needed some loc-tite & had planned to go to Car Quest for it , but what the hell ,it's just across the street. I found the loc-tite - then remembered I had given my feeler gauge to my son & I would need one later today. I asked where they were & got a Blank stare -- neither guy had a clue what one was. One pointed to a tire pressure gauge & asked is that what you want!! I finally found them & the thinnest blade it had was .022 -- I needed perhaps a .0015 or at most .003,--- I should have known better --but I then asked if they had shim stock--- that caused them both to have a total disconnect!! If they had been real robots that question would have burned something up!!
My favorite around the Des Moines area is Factory Motor Parts. They usually have about 99% of the stuff I need for my 429's. Napa's is next because as someone said earlier, they have guys that know what they're doing. I go to ORielly's for my late model stuff and they are pretty good.
I still use the small local stores. I deal with 2 mainly, one near work and one near home. They are always up for helping me, no matter what I'm try to find. And they let me look up my own stuff and look through their catalogs. As well as let me root through the shelves to match stuff up. Try that at your local big time chain store! They get stuff the next day. I know them by name and by voice on the phone and they know me the same way. It's nice to have that piece of mind and it's worth the couple bucks you might have saved elsewhere when it's all said and done. The same goes for h-ware stores. The homo-depot hasn't got shit on my local ACE store. Grade 8, Stainless, Chrome, all there and they speak English. What's a few bucks when you need 1/2 fine thread gr.8 bolt on Sunday at Noon? SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL STORES AND TELL OTHERS TO DO THE SAME. If not we're all screwed. MIKE.
I called my local Autozone with an Edelbrock part number. I knew they carried the part but I wanted to make sure it was in stock. The girl that answered the phone said she "couldn't 'find' it in the computer" and started in with the 'what year is your car?' crap. She ended up telling me they didn't stock anything like that and that it was all special order. I called another Autozone in the next town and had them check stock at the first store. You know it, two of them on the shelf. When I peddled parts at a small independent parts store twenty years ago, the manager was the only one who could tell a customer 'NO' - you'd be surprised how many sales the younger guys would have missed.
Well, much like 32chevy, I work p/t at my local kragens, parts alot of the time are the same story too. Name brand parts bought & put in generic boxes. Not everyone who works there is a total idiot, but we have some. Thankfully I only work there 1 or 2 days a week. I get alot of grief from customers when I'm there wondering why I'm not there more. Mostly because it sucks.
Can't say much different except it's all hit-or-miss based on the quality of the people who own and work in the place. I know one NAPA that was it not for one employee and the town and other big accounts that stay there because of him, the store would go under when it finally ran the owner out of money. When I have to go to a chain store, I usually look up what I need on their website, too, it saves me a lot of trouble going through the "year, make, model" game. The thing is, even then you have to be smarter than their computer. I saved about $15 on brake shoes for my '89 Suburban by having them look up the cheapest brand shoes for an '87 half-ton pickup. It seems this brand isn't crossreferenced for the 1988-1991 Subs. Another good example, Chevy car brake shoes are the same 51-58, but the computer doesn't show them going before '55. I have a set on the car now, though. The kids get paid minimum wage and trained to look it up in the computer. It's a shit job no different than K-mart or Burger King. It's no wonder most of them could give a shit about looking things up in books -
In Fort Worth, it's S & S Auto, 3411 Miller Ave. Went there when I was converting from a cast-iron powerglide to a turbo 350. Told them I had the tranny and needed everrything else. The fella grabbed a cardboard box and just filled it up (starter, flex plate, dip stick, etc.). Total of 10 minutes and $100.00. Oh yea, good prices too. Only bad thing is the area there in is not very nice, they have to keep full metal over all the glass and doors, along with barricades in front of the windows. But don't worry, the prostitues out front don't hurt anyone. Tony
Try the NAPA by the fairgrounds. The manager, Joe, knows his shit! Joe Store manager P.S. Now that I have my horn-tooting out of the way, it's refreshing to see that some people still appreciate us parts guys/gals. I have a couple green-horns working for me that can look up the basics, I usually handle the wierd shit, because I'm a car nut, and have been doing this parts stuff for about 10 years. Thanks to all of you
So your the one I gotta deal with? walk in to my local NAPA, in Etobi. ME: Need a upper rad hose for my car? NAPA GOOF: yr, make, model? ME: 58 Chevy Delray NAPA GOOF: engine? ME: '69 327 NAPA GOOF: Uhm, that will have to be a custome hose. We don't carry custome hoses. ME: I just need a hose from a '69 Chevy II. NAPA GOOF: You need a custom hose. ME: Walk out ang go to the local mechanic, who has no problem replacing the hose.
I cant speak for the other guys (O'Reilly, Autozone, etc.), but as for they really could pay more to get better people, that would help a little, but I do know we offer very comprehensive training, but it's up to the individual person to do it. People are just too lazy to learn sometimes.
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