Multi quote. It's a great way to make several points without cluttering up the page with multiple posts.
I would much rather go to a "home town" speed shop and buy parts then from Jegs or Summit. I wish them well, I bought my first set of headers from Super Shops in the good old SFV.
Road Apple: Pretty sure that was an Arrow F/C on the poster, and her name was Kim. Does anyone know what happened to all the give-a-way cars?
I still have my shirt from Super Shops from when I worked there for a while years and years ago. wil www.sakowskimotors.com
I'm holding out for the yellow t-shirt! Hell,I might even buy some checkered vans to go along with it!
This is great! The local speed shop Show & Go is going out of business here. Really sucks. I hope they build a Super Shop in Springdale.
I remember meeting up at Supser Shops here in Fresno, before the street races. Now its a 4 Wheel Parts store.
i remember going to the one on mission and university in riverside, with my dad when i was a kid. it was right next to the pussycat theatre, nothing like a quick look at the movie posters we would go in his 32 five window. seems he would always end the trip at J&M speed shop to get what he wanted. the good ol days!!
Well one thing about a speed shops, you can look at the parts up close, unlike mail order. Super Shops tried mail order, called "ASAP" but it was too late in the game.
We had them in the Chi-Town area, when you applied for a job there, you had to take an actual test. I still remember parts of it, like you had to draw the guts of a V-8 engine, put down the coolant capacity of a early 70's VW cooling system, etc... I miss places like that...The current "auto parts stores" have nothing but leopard print seat covers, neon kits and tuner parts...
Well, I was buying speed parts when Super shops was someone's wet dream. We had independents that knew hot rods and what was needed for the area. The first real hot rod shops were the Competition Sales chain in the Houston Texas area and for the most had decent salesmen behind the counter. When super shops came on the scene they didn't have knowledgeable staff or at least the two I tried to deal with. Young kids that were qualified for floor sweepers and mounting tires was about the average intelligence. If you knew what you needed and the part numbers you might get the part. They really didn't last long in Texas and it was a shame because we needed good supply houses at that time. Maybe this go around they will learn from there past mistakes and make a go of it.
Sorry, but I haven't had time to read this entire thread, so apologies if this has already been said. Super Shops seemed to be a villian (perhaps unintentionally) to me. It put many, many local mom and pop old-time speeds shops out of business across the country with its undercut pricing. Then, it went out business itself...leaving many of us with only the option of mail order speed equipment. Nope, I have no love lost for Super Shops.
That's not how it was at the two Super Shops near me. At one of them, the ONLY carb that they stocked was the 1850 600 cfm Holley. At the other, they had a somewhat wider selection, but NOT ONE for a 429CJ Torino application. In fact, the Stupid behind the counter tried to tell me that the 1850 600 cfm Holley was what I needed! A 429CJ is a spreadbore! When I said, "I'll just rebuilt the carb I've got, its a 6210. Just give me a spreadbore Holley Track Kit." The guy said "Holley's are squarebore." Idiots. I walked out and that was the last time I ever went to a Super Shops. The policy at that store seemed to be THE CUSTOMER IS NEVER RIGHT!!
The Holley 1850 is 600cfm. I learned that and a whole lot more as a Stupid Shops counter-man and Store Manager.
The speed shop era is gone for the most part. SS killed off some of the little shops, no doubt about that. I however think they would not be around today either.
There are a couple mom/pop shops around here that are still active in Milwaukee. Same as I'm sure everywhere else I'm sure. And I'll continue to support those shops since they continue to help out the customers they have. Forget the chain store/mail order crap. The guys at summit and jeg's both couldn't give answers that were right for the life of them. The guys here at the local shops, are guys you race with. They are the guys that you hang out with at the cruise spots. Summit/Jegs - $100 and 2-3 days out Local - $110 and next day if it's something they don't have but the warehouse does. Can't beat it. (damn, year and a half and that's my first post. Sorry, haha)
jeg's and summit killed super shops. volume buying kills the competition. i always thought supershops was a tire store that sold performance parts.
Didn't Super Shops kill Boyd Wheels when they went bankrupt? They had buku inventory of wheels they didn't pay for right?
walk into a Jeg's store,or call their 800 tech line,and start asking about Olds or Buick parts like talking to a catalog.
Super Shops didnt stock Boyd wheels. They could order them but they were not stocked in the warehouses. Super Shops pretty much killed Cragar as they owed Cragar over $4 million when they went out of buisiness. Brian
Just a typo on my part. I'm sure that being a Super Shops store manager, you became quite the expert on the 1850.
And I still miss the place. It was no Eddie's (long time Fresno speed shop I loved as a kid), but any speed shop is better than none. Looking at an online catalog is absolutely no subsititute for going into a real speed shop and laying hands on real parts, regardless of the counter person's level of knowledge.
The 1850 600 was a decent carb for some applications, and the entire line of Holley carbs were sold at jobber prices over the counter, cheaper than anywhere else.
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