Hot Rods Went to the auto supply store today OH MY!

In Glastonbury, Connecticut there is a NAPA store owned by Don Wilson who started working there as a young man. He knows almost all of the "old" stuff, and is very competent on the computer. He is definitely a "go to person". Many years ago in the 1960's a fellow worker of mine whose sister worked in a NAPA office told my fellow worker how much money a particular NAPA store manager earned. My fellow worker was a white collar worker and he thought that it wasn't right that an auto parts counter person made more money than my fellow worker did. I told my fellow worker that the NAPA store manager was worth every dollar that he earned, because he had a following. One day the NAPA manager moved onto a "mom and pop" auto parts store, and took more than 27% of the NAPA business away with him. My fellow worker could not believe it, but his sister told him that it was a fact. If you have a good auto parts store counter person, be thankful, they will not be around forever.

 

Tried Tractor supply?

 

Am I the only one that hears circus music on a loop when I open these threads???

 

Lol. Keep in mind the OP was talking about a part that should be a rack item, he wasn’t ragging on the counter people. Others piled on for that, and yes, cue up the band

 

Not my circus. Not my monkeys.

 

Here is a funny story re "supply stores"
my friend worked in a Bank as a cashier, a regular female customer came in on the
usual Friday payday to get her cheque cashed "supply". after the usual greeting the
cashier asked the customer "how would you like it" she knew him well and looked
him in the eye and said "in bed" cashier blushed and did not know what to say.
remember the Bank was full of customers who all heard the reply, he quickly grabbed
some $20 notes and handed them to her. next Friday they were still friends,,but she had
a big smile on her face.
Bet this never happened in a parts shop, from previous read it appears all want to
argue with the inexperienced counter guy, remember we were all juniors in business the day
we started and over thirty years gained much knowledge

 

Haha, yeah, 210Super, my post was a bit strong, but mostly in reply to the "tough shit, get used to it" responses this thread, and others get sometimes. Accepting the here and now doesn't mean having to like it. And I use civilians as a nicer name than what I'd like to call some of the people I deal with in this world every day. And I'm not even a vet.
The reason folks post these kinds of threads IMHO is some of us are old enough to remember what was, in many ways, a better time. Not in all ways, but many.

 

The kids don't stand a chance working at these Auto Parts/DEAD-ZONE places. Went to purchase a couple of heater hose fittings at what used to be our Napa Auto Parts. It's now, what you see in the pictures. We tried every name in the book, -heater hose fitting-heater hose connector-heater hose nipple-heater hose barb- so we started opening up boxes and looking on shelves and finely found the size and shape of what was needed. No wonder he couldn't find it on the computer. Look what it's called on the packages. Heater Valves???? W.T.F. So now he has a number to type into the machine, so he can ring me up and get me the hell out of there. I get home and look at the receipt. It calls the parts, HVAC HEATER FITTING. The PC is only as smart as what's typed into it. Plus, they don't know if their ADVANCED or CARQUEST. So take it easy on the poor SOB working back there.

 

The other thing to keep in mind is those young folks behind the counter might not know much about our old cars and our ways. But the thing is you could follow them out to the back parking lot to the 10-year-old Subaru 4 door and listen to him or her explain about how they installed 6 piston caliper ,big rotor 4 wheel disc braked road race suspension, twin turbo, reprogramed, 4 cylinder that they can super tune with a Bluetooth adapter that they can control with an app on their phone and pretend you know what they're talking about! lol Hot Rodding is alive and well! Just not how we remember it. lol Larry

 

On the road at night in Nebraska, fuel filter got plugged up on my motorhome, I limp into an O’Reilly’s parking lot. Spend the night. First thing in the morning I walk in ask for a fuel filter , well they don’t have it. No other parts house in the town.
So I ask for the Wix book. Parts man won’t give it to me, I ask for the manger, I get the book, I precede to find the dimensions of the gasket and threads on my filter! I find a fuel filter that will screw on to my housing, they don’t have it! I do this many times before I find one they have! The “ manager” asks “ what are you doing?” I tell him , and he tells me that won’t work, we do not have a filter that will fit your rig! I buy the filter, the manager tells me when I put it on and it doesn’t work, you can’t bring it back! I say OK! I install it , fire up my rig and drive out with all the O’Reilly’s employees watching me through the windows!



Bones

 

[QUOTE="gimpyshotrods, post: 14806195, member: 82854"

It's over. Get used to the future. It arrived a while ago.[/QUOTE]

Insightful, with a twist of jocularity. I'm thinking t-shirts and bumper stickers.

 

Yes, I did actually. But no 2008 GM full-size did. Basic stuff.

Missed the point, did we?

 

"Should be a rack item" is subjective. I broke down in September in a mountain town that had a Canadian Tire (automotive/houseware/everything store). Needed an alternator belt. Simple enough. They didn't have a single V-belt in store. Only serpentine belts. You'd think it should be a shelf item, but the inventory turnover on V belts has gotta be just too low for the store to bother when there hasn't been a car made with one in ~35 years.

 

I was going nuts down here in NZ trying to find NPT fittings. Figured out to go to Plews & Edelmann's website Drain Cocks (plews-edelmann.com), find the part number for the fitting, and punch it into RockAuto. Here in a week and cheaper than local prices.

 

I just bought a couple of these... put a drain hose on it
Got tired of antifreeze mess, and having to pool a swimming pool under there to catch a the sheet draining all over the frame and and dripping everywhere

 

These kinds of threads is almost like looking at car crashes.
We all hate to see them, but we can't help but to look at them!
So here we are again, looking at another crash with a different name, 4 pages deep and still reading, and still posting!

I have old junk. My newest vehicle is 17 years old (way too new to talk about here!) I have simply arrived at the point that I don't really expect to be able to walk into any auto parts stores and find any non-genetic part that fits anything I own on a parts store's shelf. Even my newest vehicle is too old for stocking many parts for it.

The biggest problem these days is trying to determine what the part I need is called in their parts computer. Starting with the year, make, and model number at least gives us a shot at guessing what the part I need might be listed under. I usually deal with two different parts stores here (both are franchised local owners) in our town (there are at least 5 different national chains that have stores here, but nothing old school). Over the years I have found favor with most of the guys at both stores. Most the employees at those two stores and myself, have come to understand neither of us is dumb, we just don't speak the same language as their computer does. We stumble through the process and try to determine what I need, how long it will take to get it, and how much it will cost me. Both stores know I will be checking on the prices, and the time frame for expected delivery between the options available. This is especially true as the delivery date gets farther into the future. They tell me they can have the part I need on a specific time or date if its ordered by this time, or day. We have a Farm & Fleet store here, but there are less usable auto parts at that store then there was even 6 months ago.

This process has me checking things online more often then I used to. If the part is more then a week away, I'll check on line. Most things I try to buy locally if the price and delivery time line are close to online pricing and delivery time frame.

That in my reality.

 

Ace is the place

 

For some odd reason, I buy 99.99% of my parts on eBay. I have one good seller that is local, actually 2. I can pick parts up at their shops.

 

Years ago I put a ( drain cock) petcock on a small chain and put it around my neck and called it my pet cock as in the old (pet rock era). Lmao, but I did walk around with it around my neck. And everyone asked me what that was and I reply my pet cock. Thanks for the read and I agree with everyone. Ron.

 

I was working at Napa Sunday and out of curiosity I typed in Drain cock as well as pet cock. As usual when the system doesn't recognize an item it brought up an array of unrelated parts. I typed in radiator drain and got 50 choices. 46 were plastic versions and 4 were brass. we only stocked a couple. They were listed under the NOE or Napa original equipment line; it did not bring up our Weatherhead line in the search. Those bins are right out in the store with all our brake line, brass and airline hardware. Anyone has access to those cabinets. We only had a hand full of sizes in stock anymore and I did a sales search and we sold one 1/4-inch NTP in the last year. I am sure most stores have or can get what is available. but in many cases, it is a pain in the ass to figure out what corporate thinks they should be called and how it is listed in inventory. Oh yeah. and a lot of area guys come into Napa here on Sundays because it's the only day I work there, and I am the go-to guy. I deal with people all the time, they waste our time looking for odd ball parts and then get upset even when we do find them, because it has to be ordered and if it is not available through another store or distribution center that there's shipping cost. Just like in Boneyards story, you took up a bunch of their time looking up filter numbers. and then when you finally find one that might work. You walk out like a smug jackass. This has turned into a rant on my part, but most of these young guys are doing the best they can and are lucky if they are getting 10 dollars an hour to do it, so it pisses me of when people come in and give them grief. Larry

 

I also find it frustrating to figure out what a particular part is called by name in their systems, but, like has been said, you had better adapt to it, or go yell at a cloud.

 

A friend used to work at a auto parts store. If I needed something "oddball" he would ask me if it was OK to look for it when he wasn't busy and he would call me back. That was great. He a has since moved on. Last summer I was having a hard time getting a driveshaft yoke for my Olds. I had looked at a bunch of places including truck driveline experts. I had been buying stuff at a local Auto Value store, so I asked the guy I knew to be somewhat knowledgeable if I could have him solve a mystery for me. His answer was a very quick" no".... Not rude but a "no" with a smile. I explained what I meant was I was not in a hurry, "could you do some research and see what you can find out and call me back?....." .... "no".... Well I don't go there anymore. But I sure miss my buddy working in the parts store.

 

I just went to the NAPA website and searched for petcock (one word), and while plastic ones were shown first, the house brand brass ones were also right there on the first page. It also showed the Weatherhead brand, they were on the second page. 1/8" and 1/4" NPT are in stock at my local store, 3/8" NPT would have to be ordered. There were many different brass ones available, I counted over 20 but didn't go through the entire list.

 

Yep ! Went to the big 3 auto parts stores to get an exselirator pump for a 2100 ford 2bbl carb. All deer in the headlines. All tried selling me a fuel pump.
Ordered on line.

 

I walk into my local Napa, and say-I need a part for my hot rod.
Then they will usually point out the guy I need to talk to.

 

I walked in our parts store with part numbers for all the brake parts for my 51.

picked em up 3 days later.

did the same for a set of flathead gaskets.

they like me so much they even use outside vendors if needed.

my AutoZone and O’Reillys is great

 

Crap. I might do an inline course on how to get parts in a modern world.

 

This is how I do it. I also scooped up as many books as I could when the stores started going digital. Our chain stoores are fine, you just gotta know what data the computer needs to get your part. I can search Advance or OReillys and have some options in a couple minutes. Many times I just order online for in store pickup.

 

Advance and Carquest merged quite some time back so yes, it is safe to assume you will still find packaging for both. I hopped on their website and had that fitting in 30 seconds WITH a discount code I could apply at checkout. I used the search "90 degree heater fitting"

 

I have the same problem getting the correct parts locally that everyone else has, I just try to accept it. My problem is that most of the auto parts stores had machine shops in the back when I was growing up. I spent almost 2 months trying to find someone to ream my new kingpin bushings for my 32. Finally found a place within 20 miles from my house by accident. They will get my business from now on.