long gone speed shops, anybody from Texas remeber Hotrod Exchange in Dallas?

Charlie is building it now. He even has the original gear drive that he made from aircraft gears .

 

Used to go to HRE myself until a college buddy turned me on to Custom Automotive. Maybe you remember him? Bill Mace, drove a mid sixties Nova SS

 

Paul Feuse that tunes the Scorpion V used to work at Hot Rod Exchange. He tells some stories at lunch on several ocasions. He may see this thread and chime in. I will tell him about it.
dwrfab Don Ross

 

Wow you guys are remebering names that were before my time. My memories of Hotrod exchange were going in there with my older cousin, as I was just a snot nosed kid. I had the sickness even at an early age so any chance to be around speed equipment was for me. I do know Tinker Faulkner as he does my machine work at his shop out here in the sticks. Does great work.

 

Speed Specialists in Austin, location is now a Greyhound Station. Anyone have any info on this shop?

 

There are still 2 in the Houston area. 1 on the north side and 1 in Pasadena.

http://www.competitionsales.com/asp/default.asp

 

The original Competition Sales on Long Point was opened by Carl Schulte,
a postman at the time,and I believe Is still going strong.Had a franchised one on Inwood Rd,Dallas.Run by the one and only Sheffy DeAzzo.now a radio personality. Mr Lobucrod,We also sold many parts to Jackie Mize up in Lubbock.

 

Yea Chris was his name. Butch worked at Dubs in Grand Prairie. Bought lotsa parts from there and even Harry's Hot Rod when he sold hot rod parts instead of whatever it is he is selling now, which ain't hot rod parts for sure.

 

Hey JDJ9410..Harry sold that shit while selling hot rod parts !!!!!!!!!!!!Even some stuff that took welders gloves to handle

 

Ol' Harry Green wouldn't do anything like that, he's a fine upstanding business man. hehe. Next thing you know your dog won't turn it's back to ya and the change is missing off the dresser, I've seen it a thousand times.

 

CDs HotStuff wasnt much better!!!!!!!!!!!!!They were brothers in the hood

 

Do you mean at Airport & 290? Wow, I never heard anyone mention that and I've lived in Hyde Park for 15 years.

BTW, I'm finally beating on that old model A cab you sold me...

-Ron

 

charlie and his wife came by today to pick up some desoto parts.
dad said that custom was the first speed shop in this area.
charles son of tinker

 

Absolutely Ben was great for us as we came up in the Hot Rod World, or bad as our wife might say. You could find all of the wacky things you coul want there. I purchased my first race car there and it has been down hill since.

 

Placo was another shop in Dallas owned by none other than Augie A.G Place, but damned if I can remember the name of the street, it was one block off Harry Hines just N. of the the old Harry Hines Circle. The street ran parrallel to the railroad tracks.

I was unfortunate enough to work for Augie for a very short period of time doing mainly head porting. He could be an awnry ol' cuss sometimes.

There was a guy that worked for Augie that was about 6' 7" tall and weighed about 275 that had a really nice 40 model Willis gas coupe (but here again I can't remember his name). Just after he finished the car he took it to Cedar Hill and rolled it in the lights and totaled it. He was okay but his racing days were over, so I bought the engine out of the car.

408 AA/D

 

My wife went to CDs once to pick me up a set of SBC flat tops. WHen she got home with them, they were dished. He got them back and I swore I would never step foot in his place again.

I like Harry. I grew up 1 block from his shop. I blame him for warping me.

 

i could be wrong but the old Hotrod Exchange on Beckley is a used car lot-i think it is called premier auto or something like that.

 

On the subject, I think. I'm remembering "Augie" ? maybe wrong name, but was a Braniff pilot? seems like the shop was on Harry Hines or at least near the tracks on the west side of Love field and north a mile or so... I nearly went to work for him just to "hang" there.... anybody's welcome to correct me on anything I may remember.. ahaha

 

I finally remembered the street it was Denton Dr. and if memory serves me right the shop was just N. of where Lombardy Ln. crossed Denton Dr. Going N. on Denton Dr. the shop was on the left across the street from the railroad tracks. Augie may have been a commercial pilot, but it has been too many years.

 

YES.. you are totally correct, 408 ! ! !

 

Hey Paul,,(408)..Augie was a pilot for Braniff,if I remember correctly...sure didnt manke any money at Plaeco...That was his hobby shop,,really liked the midget racers..had a few of them..
mostly with V-8-60s

 

Ed's Speed Shop, on Guadalupe St across from State Hospital in Austin. Bought out by The Performance Shop in late 70's.

 

Hey Bob, when 49 Ford said he thought Augie was a Braniff pilot that started the rusty gears to turning and I'm sure you are both right. As I stated earlier Augie could be an awnry ol' cuss and you are right it was nothing but a hobby shop to him. I wish I could remember the tall guys name that had that beautiful Willys coupe. The guy was about the size of a small mountain, but was very soft spoken, laid back and never got upset with anything or anybody. I know the night he crashed at Cedar Hill he was still belted in when they got to him and the car was on its top so they had to cut the seat belt with a knife to get him out. I think the fall hurt him worse than the actual crash. I know he moved slow around the shop for about a week or 10 days. I think that was the first time he raced the car after finishing it. It was a sad ending for that ol' Willys coupe. He wanted me to go to Cedar Hill with him that Sat. night but I was taking the dragster to Green Valley.

408

 

apound

if you are still out there, i remember hotrod exchange well, bought many parts there. more importantly, i remember the hub in greenville, Ray Bowers Welding out on the north side did all my welding, heated my springs, etc.
Bet you dont remember the speed shop that was on E. Lee st in the late 50's early 60's. Thats the only place i ever saw a half speed cam.

 

I built a model of the el camino but cant find any decals for the sides
I worked on saturdays as akid cleaning up the stalls and sorting ouit old parts

 

We bought the old Hot Rod Exchange in 1985 and changed the name to CHRIS'S PERFORMANCE CENTER. We owned it till the ecomony got so bad in 1991 when we moved home to Big Spring, Texas. Our son was shot and killed in shop 9/9/1986 in the back of the head. He was 22 at the time. We soon moved to Jefferson across from the old Sears building. Before owning Chris's Performance Chris worked at Harry's and the other location of Hot Rod Exchang on Harry Hines.. Before moving to Dallas from Corpus Christi, at Speed World of Corpus Christi for a long time.

 

The first time we ever went in the old HOT ROD EXCHANGE I think I was 17 or 18 in 1965. We had a gold glitter steering wheel that we wanted to sell. I would have not thought back then I would have walk into a big tall bank in downtown Dallas and bought the place. That was 1985 and we owned it till the ecomony got very bad and we moved home to Big Spring to care of our parents. I have such great memories of that place and a few bad ones. The first week we thought the floor was dirt till we cleaned about 3 inches of dirt and oil off the floor and scrubbed it. It had ugly green tile. There was always something different every day and people from all over Texas. Some would come in and say, "Chris, what are you doing here?" Guys from Odessa where I had lived worked and race to guys from Corpus and all over. People would call me 7 days a week at all hours and ask what parts to buy or what was wrong with their cars. I will always miss that place and the good memories made there. I am now retired and have moved back to my home near Richmond, VA. If you have some memories about the place or pictures please post them.

 

Are you serious about the floor!?!
I would never have believed the floor was paved......I remember when we used to go down there as high school kids in the mid '60's, there were always half finished projects parked in front of the building. Some of them were scary even to a high school kid!

 

Lagourney - go by the old place on Beckly at least once a week...the lot still has the black/white checker board looks....will try and get a pic...

as a #1 horder...still have some new intakes I bought at Beckly with the tag still on the yet to see a motor....

was the place on Jefferson the old Goodyear store - think I walked the isles there as well...

on another note...moved my "old blue" today...the old truck still has a readable sticker on er'....but she don't get out much.....

lwf