History Let's go shopping at JC Whitney! in 1958

When I was a kid in the early 70s, my dad got a JC Whitney catalog, and I spent hours reading it. I'm guessing that many younger guys haven't ever had the pleasure of seeing what was available way back when, and might like to see what things were like. But I set the time machine even further back, to 1958. We'll see if we can find some treasures, but it might take a while to thumb through the whole thing.

edit: The image files are all here, I am adding a few pages each day. But more importantly, the four index pages are also there at the top of the list, so you can look up what you want and then see if I've got that far yet. If you want a sneak peek at a page I haven't scanned yet, let me know.

Here are the first four pages.

 

Very cool...

 

I'll take one of each!!!

 

'Pretty cool...

 

That catalog and the one from Honest Hisself were my two main sources of entertainment when I was growing up. I actually ordered some stuff from Whitney and it was good quality and cheap.

My fantasy is to have a couple of grand in cash and a time machine........boy, the stuff I would come back with !


Don

 

First time I've heard of them having those '53-'54 Chevy grilles - were they repros or leftover GM stock? Wonder how the quality was if they were repros.

 

I remember the catalog fondly.. Thanks for bringing back some memories.......

 

I was looking closely on the pages you posted for those "dagger style" dip stick handles, or the "winking cat" they used to sell. My buddy bought a "bull nose" for his 50 Ford in 1958, he was still receiving their catalogs free in the 70's.

 

Not quite THAT long ago but I remember as a teen studying EVERY page of the new JC Whitney catalog every couple of months. Some of the stuff they had was just crazy...

 

And I think they're the last place to buy a car cassette player!

 

I can't imagine what it took to keep track of inventory back then...

 

Just remember to multiply the prices by a factor of 10!

 

I wanted my dad to get some of that faux animal "fur" for the deck lid of his daily. He wouldn't hear of it. Wonder why?

 

Today we get some fender skirts. I'm thinking they were pretty popular in 1958...

 

Wow,so cool. Thanks for posting Squirrel

 

when I was a kid my dad and I would go to jc whitneys downtown chicago. it was the coolest place. as I remember one door was jc whitneys and the other was warshawskys? They had aooga horns on display and I just had to push the button. I was real young and that was a long time ago. They have moved out to Utica Il.

 

Catalogs used to be damn fuggin cool! and so did adverts in car mags.
I think all the way up to the early 80s...then they became boring and anti-aestethic.

I actually enjoy readin the old adverts, as much as the rest of the mag.

 

I remember them well. Ordered a lot of stuff from them. Then in 1973 my brother and i drove my '69 Camaro there, to save the shipping charge. Gas was so cheap! Bought new bumpers, headlight bezels, Porta Walls, door and window seals, and other small parts. Big adventure for us driving into Chicago, before Mapquest, GPS, etc! I still get their catalog, buy something occasionally. There in the burbs now, I stopped there a year ago while passing thru.

 

I remember buying parts for my brothers 57 chebbie out of those catalogs.

Ahhhhh, the memories.

 

I ordered a catalog in the early 60's and bought some item for my 51 Merc and got the catalogs for a few years. My best purchase from them was the chrome big block tight tuck headers that I bought for 150.00 about 20 years ago and they were shipped direct from Ernie Immerso Enterprises. Works of art that I haven't used yet but will someday.

 

Check out the "Auto Fabric Coat Push Button Spray" reupholstery in a can...They sold a lot of stuff like that, too...

 

Just the other day I was remembering the T-Bucket headers for Buick 215s from JCW, back in the 70s. I loved those catalogs

 

i have J.Cw catalogs from 54-the mid 60's,,,lets build a time machine!

 

I built a lot of cars out of the JC Whitney catalog before I ever owned a car.

 

When I built my 57 Ford I wrote down and saved it'scost list.
cost to put a 54 Chevy grille in a 57 Ford in 1960(J C Whitney)
Enjoy-------------TwoChops

 

that's neat!

 

Hey, at those prices, Grill bars I can finally afford!

 

I called the operator and she said she couldn't connect me to CALumet 5-3100...

...damn cell phones.

 

^^^^^That's funny right thar

 

From manifold splitting flanges (whatever happened to them?) to continental kits, W & Co. had it all