We'll REALLY be screwed when the mail order guys fold, too!!

If you want it you can have the intake and carb from the 302 out of the donor car I bought from you. It will save me from having to chuck it.

Don't know if this is one of the place you tried but I heard the Taylor Ramchargers closed it's doors Thursday or Friday, I'm not sure if there all doing that.[/QUOTE]


Beatnik, if Hack doesn't want the intake and carb, I do. I'll come pick it up!

Let me know...PM me or e-mail kevsho2000@yahoo.com\

I'll PM you to be sure you get this-

Kevin

 

I still use my local speed shop. Sure they stock mostly BS stuff for the normal people, but when I need something goofy for my project, they get it. I have been doing business with them since I was a kid. Last week I called Danny at 5:45 on wed. I needed some "brite lights" for my wifes 54 chevy, tail/stop. He had three in stock and broght them to me at a buddies house, the fourth one came in thurs morning. I buy nearly all my parts there, they are a Keystone/key parts shop but do business with all the street rod companies (Moon, Vintage air, Coker tires, Brookville, Juliano's, ECI, Pete and Jakes, and the list goes on)

They always give me the best deal they can and still make money (that is why I go to work too) They have floated my bills as long as 4 months and never give me crap about returns. I trust their judgement and experience. My pop used to take me there as a kid and now I take my kids there.

I also swear by the guys at my local NAPA store, they DO go out of there way to get what I need, they treat me fair on price, and the quality of the parts is really good.
We have a hardware store in town, Katz Ace Hardware. It has been in the family since the 20's. Three years ago home depot built a new store less then 2 miles away. Funny thing is that Katz business continues to grow, Dick Katz still is there to help customers, his son is starting to 'take over' in a good way and they hire good help-polite intellegent kids who know/have learned enough about the business to be assets.
If you don't support the small shops, where will you go for that one small part, may be a fitting, a wire connector, or whatever that the megachains don't carry because they just don't sell enough of them.

Mailorder is fine if you run a belly button car or are in Siberia, but if you run something other than a sbc/sbf like many of us do, they are useless.

I know I am rambling, but I truly believe that we should support out local shops. We all like Walmarts low prices but we hate the fact that they have everything made in China so they can give us those prices. The only ones making out are Walmart and the Chinese....

 

Well. I guess I have a slightly different feeling towards Summit.

I live 30 minutes from the main Summit store. I went there when they were in a small, little, junky store. A long time ago.

Now I go to their huge, state of the art 'supercenter'. And the first place I go is to the private owners "forsale" board near the bathrooms. Lots of great stuff there.

Now, there were a couple smaller shops around that I barely remember, including a SuperShops that went under 12-13 years ago.

I guess what I'm saying is, Summit has always been so close that that's all I knew.
But even half the guys working the counters there are clueless. You have to walk them through everything.

 

I saw an expose on Wal-Mart and I refuse to buy anything from them ever again. I'm sure what follows could be said about Target, Home Depot, Sears, Lowe's, etc:

They showed people in India, making the clothes that Wal-Mart sells at their rock-bottom prices, that undercut everyone else. The "Workers" that make the clothing have to work a week to be able to afford the clothes they are making for the U.S.

In this installment, they showed a worker from India making a t-shirt that sold for 9 bucks at Wal-Mart in the states. Then, they brought her to the US, took her to a Wal-Mart where she recognized some of the clothes she'd made, and told her what they were selling it for. She barely lived on rice and some other food at her wages, and told the reporters that for what Wal-Mart sold "her" clothes for in the US, she could live like a "normal" person...in her homeland...and put her kids thru school, etc. She was just trying to make ends meet and barely scraping by as it was. All for a $9 t-shirt.

Fact is, big companies are taking over middle America. If we keep seeking them out for the "best deal" there won't be any more "mom & pop" shops left anymore, regardless of their industry.

Support your local stores whenever possible. I have a local hardware store that I frequent whenever I can avoid Home Depot. I'd rather pay the slightly higher price than have Home Depot succeed.

 

yea, I vist my local hardwear store almost every time, the owner realy appreciates it, and thanks me evey time for coming in.
the help he has given me over the years is worth the higher prices.

 

no shit,,,this was something i came acustmed to like 12 years ago when i first moved to kentucky,,prior to leaving my birthplace in So. Cal,,,i was a quick skateboard ride away from anything i needed if my car was tore down,,im talking real HI PO stuff,,(SERVICE CENTER IN EL MONTE, i know they're still there),or anything for that matter,,,then i moved to kentucky and you have to order spark plugs for a 48 chevy,,,dude ,,this IS old news,,,,,

 

I feel lucky. I can zip an hour down the interstate to Speedway motors and buy cool shit when ever I feel like it...Bad news is: nobody else around here can compete with Speedy Bill. No speed shops in the Omaha area except for the local roundy-round racer store. I gotta go check them out this coming Monday..
Or I can go to Autozone for an air freshener and hope the non english speaking girl will get me the right color freshener... I like the blue ones...that's Bluuuuuuuue, missy. bee ell yew eee....

 

for YEARS there was a speed shop not 5 blocks from my mom and dads place back home... Dick Thune's place. little hole in the wall (literaly) with about enough room in front of the counter for two guys to stand, and two guys to sit one each on the Goodyear bar stools and put smokes out in the piston next to the cash box... nothing written down or inventory kept. just piles stacks and heaps of parts... little sign over the door to the back "Speed is the same as cash... open your billfold if you wanna go fast"

a chain big box generic air freshener outlet (thanks Rocky... thats Bee Ell Yew Eee ) opened in the mid 80's, but if you wanted the "real stuff" everone KNEW you hadda make the trip to Dick's place. he hung in there for a few years, but cheap prices and fancy storefronts with 15 minute oil drops in the back of the building, sip a latte while you wait kinda shit caught up to him and he HAD to close the doors...

fuggin shame too. when i was realy young, we'd (the young guys on BMX bikes) sit in there for hours watchin the older guys talk with Dick about how to jet this, or how that came off... felt cool as hell the first time i went in there to actualy BUY something and bend the old mans ear about how to put it on the car

ask the local chain store if they sell THAT kinda shit among the neon license frames and matching shifter knobs

 

yeah, but "handling" is like 8 bucks or something.

 

My main bread and butter is lowering Chevy trucks. They'll send me a pair of spindles, a pair of coil springs, a flip kit, a c-notch, and 4 shocks all free shipping. That stuff is heavy too, way over 100 pounds. The 8 bucks handling charge isn't too bad when you realize you can't UPS a pack of playing cards across the country for 8 bucks nowdays.

Hack, get a credit card and move into the modern times. Your life will be much easier, and you can focus on other stuff. Summit sells every part that Holley lists, every gasket, clip, and widget. Call them with your card number and the part number and you'll have it in the mail. Who gives a shit if the counter guy is a doofus? Make him recite the part numbers back to you to assure he didn't screw it up.

Life is too short to sweat the small shit.

 

Tom Craft is the guy you are talking about. He's great guy to deal with. He's got a small shop but has allot of parts in stock.

 

Hack,
There are two Ramchargers shops still around SE MIch. one is on Plymouth Road in Livonia and the other is in Waterford on Dixie highway. I used there web site to see if they have the parts then go there because the counter guys are not always in the know. Motor City and no decent speed shops go figure.

 

Man, there's still Don's Speed Shop at 8 and Telegraph. Oh wait. That's only VW parts. My bad. Ha Ha Ha.



There is still the Ramchargers at 12 and John R. in Madison Heights too. I bought a fire extinguisher there once and the guy tried to sell me a Hemi crate motor. They have a lovely selection of colorful wire loom.

 

you have a good point hack but i also think the mail order companies are at fault in the first place. it doesnt make sense to sell parts anymore when people can just call summit and get it for less money. My boss used to work in a machine shop that sold $4000 a week in parts. They could even afford to have a guy sit at a counter and just sell speed parts all day. Today the shop we work in now doesnt even bother selling parts. We get them at basically the same price summit sells them for so theres no profit there. It sucks though there isnt a single real speed shop around me either. It's a shame.

 

Sounds a bit like trying to locate parts in England ,only about 20 -30 places in the whole country that stock such items.......The closest for Holley stuff from me is approx 50 miles

 

one of the favorite things about my local speed shop is the sign on the door that says"Texas friendly Spoken Here". Cant get that through a goddamn catalog.

 

This is what I'm talking about, or at least was on the stock rodding thread. It doesn't have to be a speed shop, it just needs to be a aprts guy who cares. I for one will pay a little more for the service, for the human aspect if you will. Don't get me wrong, I have mail ordered and probably will again, but you still need good counter help with parts, hot rod or not rod. I keep all my own parts books at home, NAPA books, and look up most of my own stuff. Why, because the noobs at the store since I've left will give uip before they look and it's great to see the look on their face when you tell them a number of a part they didn't think they had. The good ones learn from this and look harder next time. You don't have to be a speed shop to get a lot of the stuff we're talking about, NAPA carries speed goodies including, B&M, Edelbrock, Mr. Gasket, Earls, just to name a few. I have found many parts for aftermarket Holley carbs in the CRB book, and can find ANY part for damn near any factory carb, back to at least 1920. Some of ity is harder to get, but with a little perseverance, it can be done. What about cutting your own gaskets? No one do this anymore? I know carb gaskets, especially aithorn gaskets can be tough, but can still be done.

Anyway, sorry for the ramble, but find a good parts guy and make him your friend, your best buddy, he can find you whatever you want, if he likes you.

 

The Livonia Ramchargers was permanantly closed on Friday when I stoppped there to try to pick up a high flow themostat.

MANY THANKS to the mail order companies as two themostats will be delivered to my door on Monday. Michigan is always next say service with UPS from Ohio.

 

In my first post on this thread it probably sounded like I though I had done everything "right" when I ran a race shop, but that's certainly not the case. I do think that the reason more shops are closing, and not any new ones are replacing them has to do with profitability. I was able to build a fairly substantial inventory, driven by customer requests and repeated purchases, through the cash flow of my fabrication business. I eventually was able to "take a paycheck" of sorts from the parts business but to stock a speed shop takes a lot of money.

Owning a speed shop had always been my dream and I look forward to building a customer base again since our move. It's quite a thrill to help a fellow gearhead figure out what parts he or she needs and doesn't really need. The fun was building the friendships along the way. From a income standpoint I'd be better off just getting a J-O-B and not have my money tied up and be tied to a store 8-10 Hrs. a day, or more, 6 days, and sometime 7 days a week. I think that's why more shops don't open or stay open....there's easier ways to make a living.

Then there's the "fart pipe", "collectables and T-shirt", and other wanna-be speed shops that really aren't what a speed shop is all about in my opinion, but I don't even want to start on that.

 

I agree with you Greg, I wish there were more local places to buy speed parts. I have also used Jegs and Summit, Because there is NO local places to buy speed parts. It's a pretty shitty catch 22. I don't like going to wallmart, I avoid it to the last. I do like the local hardware stores there is one at Auburn and Crooks in Rochester Hills that is just great (non-car related).

Maybe in another folder we could list good shops/parts stores by state or something that are still around??
There is A&A Auto in Rochester Hills, on Auburn road between Adams and Crooks. They are affilated with NAPA but do some machine work and are a bunch of good guys. They have an OK selection of tools and parts. They can also order stuff for next day deliver. I have gotten some stuff for my 51's 216 from them. Too far for you Greg but maybe not for guys up by me.

 

I guess I'm spoiled by having 2 quality speed shops with 10 minutes of where I grew up. I would only mail order stuff that they could not get me. Price was not a major concern. As long as they were close to Summit/Jegs I was happy. Ordering parts was no big deal... they had a big warehouse that they dealt with that would get them parts next day. (they also deal with the place I work at now)

Well, I went to work for one of those shops expecting to be shocked at how much they were making off of me all those years. You know what? It wasn't much... certaintly not enough to make a living off of.

After working retail for 2 years, I went to work for the company I am at now. Its a 90,000 sq performance and accessories warehouse. I had the same expectations coming into this job... couldn't wait to see how much money the warehouses make off of the speed shops. You know what? It's not much. And after being here 6 years its still about the same... some lines are getting better.... some getting worse.

The alarming thing I am seeing in the industry is we are losing some quality counter guys (as well as the good shops) because the shops are paying less so they can try to make a profit. That is why you have to deal with some morons at the counter.

...and then there are the 'internet only speedshops' with no overhead and Ebay which whore things up worse than ever.

Its not a business to be in to make money, thats for sure... you gotta love it...

 

It's happening in every part of our lives.
The family Dr. now is at the big clinic.
The neighborhood gas station is now gone and empty.
No-one will resole your shoes , let alone repair the holes in your clothes.
I buy strickly on price and I seldom are dissapointed.

 

And as testimonial, when you let Crushproof get your parts local, your car's out a hell of alot quicker! When it's your daily driver, that matters!
I also feel it's an Austin thing, as well, although all the Californians are trying to change that. Support local business and they'll support you

 

Nope, you will have to get your Hemi crate motors and colorful wire looms elsewhere because they are closed too.

 

hate to support the big chains that are driving little speed shops out of business - our only one for fifty miles that i know of just had to close the garage portion of the shop, the beginning of the end, but do you guys have checker schucks or kragen out there? i know my local kragen stocks gasket sets for holley four barrels right on the shelf. they have them on the website too, i think cheaper than even summshit.

 

Folks, I work for a major automotive aftermarket manufacture for the last 20 years, Federal Mogul Corporation. The brands that we have in the industry consist of Anco wiper blades, Beldon wire and cable, Carter fuel pumps (the carbs are dead now), Champion spark plugs, FelPro gaskets, Ferodo racing brakes, Moog chassis parts, National seals and bearings, Precision Ujoints, Sealed Power engine parts, Speed Pro Performance engine parts, Wagner brake parts and Wagner lighting products. I've been in this industry since 1974, beginning my career in the auto-parts store, then to a Performance Warehouse, then to TRW. This entire issue comes down to the all mighty dollar, or lack there-of in the cases of the Speed Shops. A substainial inventory is required to meet the needs and wishes of the customer base, entering into the millions of dollars today.

Think of all the product lines (Brands) from A-Z in the automotive Performance / HotRod aftermarket. If the shop/store wants to be able to sell you what you want, when you want it, he has to stock nearly every part number, as he has no way of knowing what YOU want when you decide to enter his door.

Thus, this is why they are closing their doors on a daily basis.

In the last 4 years, 3300 engine rebuilding shops have closed their doors in the USA. Numerous reasons are to blame, but lack of profitability is one of the major reasons, as well as the Crate-Engine entering into the market.
We have become a 7-11 mentality buyer, we want it right-now, and don't want to wait. This is why the Mega-Mail-Order giants, as well as the Wal-Marts, Lowes and Home Depot's of the country continue to grow. The masses will not support the 'little-guy' anymore. It goes beyond our industry, look the the resturant business!

The 'Speed Shops' in the country are supported by a ever decreasing number of Performance Warehouse suppliers. See, all of this runs downhill, less Speed Shops and Engine Shops, less business for the Warehouse. He then downsizes his inventory to compensate for the reduced business, and it keeps going in a large cirlce until they close up to.

Mail Order / Internet business is not going to go away, but wil more than likley continue to grow. Summit Racing is currently building their next location in Atlanta to better serve the Southeast region overnight.

What is the answer? Do your part in searching out a regional / local Performace / HotRod parts places, and get your buddies to support it.

If I can be of any help, let me know.
Glenn

 

Amen brother....a few extra bucks here & there is worth the convience (sp) of being able to special order parts without 1/2 to all of it down, defective items( usually not an issue)are not a problem, and i have the run of the store to look at various hoses, fittings &catalogs as needed


On another note, Rocky, is Charlies Speed & Machine still around ???

 

In that case, we shall buy it! We will sell our wares and eat all our meals at the Green Lantern. Oh glorious day! Oh glorious revolution!


Can you get some startup capital? I've got ten bucks. I can sell some baseball cards maybe.

 

Around here, the big speed shops were the Van Iderstine chain--they had everything, and had at least a couple of knowledgable employees around all the time. I knew the owner because he was a '32 Ford nut...
About 25 years ago he told me exactly about this trend--low prices and the rise of quick delivery systems were handing the ball over to the mail order giants (Then Midwest and Summit--I believe Summit ate Midwest!). He had made his pile of money, and happily sold his chain (and name) and moved to California to pursue new ventures. He was right!

Under the new system, the relatively ignorant have to pull directly from the Summit catalog, and if the detail answer ain't there, buy a whole new carb or whatever--ain't no expert to ask. Cosumers are supposed to buy, not fix things...
The more sophisticated user is pretty well off--as pointed out above, the Summit site has all the catalogs, and you can go through the Holley or whatever cat to find the bits you need. This is actually an IMPROVEMENT in life style in some ways--I used to try to maintain a current set of catalogs for stuff I needed, and that was hard and expensive!
And some places do hire gearheads who can field questions well--Northern Automotive comes to mind. Maybe they figgered out it was cheaper to hire a knowledgable person than to fix all the messed up orders done by the minimum wage phone clerks...