I have a set of Sears mufflers that are 2&1/2" in and out on my 57. I still buy Die Hard batteries for my car, and they have always been good. I could never understand how Sears let the internet do them in. They already did lots of mail order business, so switching over to add the internet should have been a no brainer.
If you stop and think about it, Sears had Amazon's business model for years. If they had the vision Bezos had, they could have migrated their comprehensive catalog/mail order business right into that niche as computers evolved and they would have owned the world today. Thru the early 70s, just about everything of substance we bought from the Sears catalog. But as computers were improving, Sears decided to go with brick and mortar retail and got rid of the catalog mail order business. Very similar to Xerox's story. If you can find it, watch the do***entary Triumph of the Nerds. It is the story of Xerox's establishment of the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) in 1970. PARC was a collection of brainy kids charged with coming up with 'new stuff'. These guys literally invented the personal computer - CRT, mouse, laser printer, WYSWYG, early spreadsheet, graphic, word processing, etc., software, desktop user interface (kernel of DOS operating system), pretty much the whole thing. Management looked at it and decided the would go with the paper office and dump this digital fad. Steve Jobs was given a lot of the lap top tech in exchange for the right to buy stock in his upstart Apple company, Bill Gates took the operating system, IBM the PC hardware format, etc.
Wow, I remember as a kid the Sears 'Silent Guardsman' tires out of the 1300 page catalog. With those funny squiggles on the tread. Also the 'Rivet them yourself' brake linings for my '50 Studebaker.
Great thread, Lou. In the 1970's thru the mid 80's I with a group of friends would make our yearly trip to the NHRA spring nats in Columbus OH. Early in this process we discovered a Swallen's department store that had a well stocked speed shop counter in the middle of the store, manned by two guys that knew their stuff, and the prices were really good. It quickly became our first stop in town. One year I asked for prices on some Crane sbc parts; a particular solid cam, lifters, springs and a cloyes true roller chain set. I liked the prices. "How quickly can you get them?", I asked. "I have all of it in stock here, do you want it?" I believe it was a family owned chain of about 7 or 8 stores in the Ohio area which, sadly, has also disappeared.
In the early sixties I used Sears, Monkey Ward, J C Whitney mail order for my specialty car parts. Got what I wanted and could afford from those 3. Saw my first speed shop in 1962 when we went to the state basket ball tournament in Lincoln NE. and I visited Speedway Motors on N st. when they had a speed shop with service bays. I was in awe of what they had for hot rod parts.
Sears was the Amazon of the day no doubt. This is a Sears Kit House we just moved onto our place, albeit one piece at a time. Looking forward to getting it back together and taking pictures of our Hot Rods in front of it.
While I was working at Sears I purchased a set of chrome rims & four bias ply tires for my '54 Ford, the only shiny thing on the car was the rims. HRP
I bought a set of Crager 5 spokes from Sears Surplus on foothill in Upland California, 1988. I think they were $25 each
Not sure how many Western Auto stores were nation wide.....it was also one of the places that sold re-manufactored engine blocks and such....
And Wester Auto sold Marx train sets in the 1960s. I collect Marx trains so they are on my 'good guys' list!
Great train collection. I still have the Lionel train set I got in about 1952. Still running and occasionally we put it around the Christmas tree.
That's about half my collection! I still have my first Marx set from mid 50s. It's the first steam engine up from the bottom car shelves in the photo above with the flat car, green tank car, brown stock car, and red caboose. Lionel is the Cadillac of toy trains, Marx is the Chevy. I can get a couple or 3 complete Marx sets for the price of one Lionel engine!!
Born 1952, graduated high school 1970. Western Auto in my little town in Tennessee was a dreamer's delight. Aisles of cool stuff. Our Pennys had some cool stuff, and guitars and amps, but Western Auto got most of my money for years. I'm still pissed that they're gone. I bought no name gauges, chrome everything they had, their ****ty cheap body filler kit with mesh, sometimes even tires when I had enough money that I didn't have to buy the local $16 recaps. My dad bought 2 new bikes there for me, too.
They probably do. Just changed the original battery in my wife’s bmw, still working fine at 11 years old. Got 9 years out of the original battery in my 2002 ford, took it out, left it on the garage floor for a couple of years, charged it and got 2 more years out of it in the flathead. Diesel vehicles - 3 to 4 years maximum……….
We had Western Auto that was a corner store that had windows full of bikes, sleds, all sorts of cool stuff that was available. The last time I was in one was when my granddaddy and I picked up a new tinsel Christmas tree and the light wheel (remember those?) for my grandma.
For my '64 Impala, I bought a set of chrome reverse rallye wheels at the Clark's Department Store for $64. Drove 100 miles round-trip to Ppeifer's Speed Shop in Albany, N.Y. for a set of Marsh Racing tires (recap wide oval equivalents). Then, back to the local Firestone tire shop where the guy mounted them by hand because he didn't want to damage the chrome. This thread is both interesting and sad at same time, but Thanks for stirring the memories!!
Boy I wish I could get my hands on one of those for that price today. Heck I’d break the bank just to clean them out and have tons of spares
I'm old enough to remember cheap prices, and have worked jobs that paid less than a dollar an hour, but lost angel's post makes me cry....
Where the hell was Sears in Lakewood? I remember the Sears parts store on Woodruff in the Old Dutch Village. It was in the former FEDCO store building. I do remember the Sears in Downtown Long Beach and the one in Compton, the two closest ones. They did build one in Cerritos Center. Montgomery Wards was in Lakewood Center, they took over the old Butler's Furniture store. When was a kid my mother bought me a set of JC Penney's tools to fix the car because I couldn't get the alternator off with a crescent. About 13 years old at the time. $39 came with 1/4, 3/8, 1/2 socket sets and some combination wrenches. I still have those tools. Penncraft. Good tools made by Husky. Go Lancers!
A friend of mine got a set of 5 spokes from Sears.Took them to a service station to have them mounted. The next morning he had 3 flat tires . They were leaking around the rivets. Instead of putting tubes in they just put tape around the rim. I liked the looks of the rim so I got a set for slightly over $100. Every time I washed the car some chrome would peel off. When I traded my 67 SS Nova for a 70 SS Nova I was happy to let them go with the car.
There are 3 Sears houses side-to-side in Rialto, California. Downtown on the east side, north of the railroad station (don't know the addresses). In the 100 years some changes have been made, but they still look great last time I saw them.
In 1961 I bought a complete dual exhaust for my 1950 Chevy from Sears - nice tube headers, dual side tailpipe and of course a muffler. Perfect fit, no problems. No idea what I paid.
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