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

When I was getting the catalog in the 60s, they were still offering rebuilt flatheads and Jeep parts. There was another outfit in Canada that offered all kinds of auto surplus parts, called Princess Auto in Winnipeg. My uncle used to buy parts for his Jeep there.
Whitney also used to sell that cheap flex pipe and a valve that a person could use for making an exhaust cutout.
I don't even remember what I bought, but I received a catalog for quite a few years. I regret not keeping one for its nostalgic value.
Bob

 

I bought one from them for the '61 Bonneville I had back in the 1980s, I imagine it was the exact same top that you bought. The top was actually pretty good quality, but having never installed one before it was a bear of a job. I finally got it on nice and straight and wrinkle free but it took quite a while.

 

I remember using the bags from the Whitney catalog inside the front springs of my 47 Chev. The bags plus some stiffer shocks really helped compensate for the weight of the Buick and did improve the handling.
The bags lasted long after I sold the car in 1963.
Bob

 

Squirrel, any possibility of your jumping to the page where they offered the floor shift conversions?
Bob

 

I don't see any, except for the one on page 91.

 

Thanks, I was almost certain that they had a better assortment of shifters, but I must have been thinking about the Honest Charlie's catalog. Most of the stuff I was buying in the 60s came from Vic Hubbard and other California suppliers. In the 70s, a lot of my purchases were from Nickey Chevrolet and from Honest hisself.
I still have the Nickey Chevrolet catalogs, which have the casting numbers and prices of all the high performance BB parts.
I really regret throwing all those old catalogs and magazines away, but moving a lot in the military meant throwing a lot of good stuff away.
Bob

 

Princess Auto is still around across Canada


Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.

 

Yep, we have three stores that I have purchased from in BC. My closest store is Victoria.
Bob

 

Jim, glad you woke up this old thread. Like many, I also grew up waiting for my dad's latest J.C Whitney catalog or flier to read (and dream) cover to cover, starting in the very early '50s when I was about 6. I had dad order some pin stripe decals for my new home-built go-cart/sidewalk car in '57, and started buying on my own in '62 for my high school '54 Ford.
I have '54, '55 and '58 catalogs that are still fun to occasionally flip through. Great memories.

 

A friend of mine bought a "Bull Nose" for the hood of his '50 ford back in '58, he received the catalogs for another 20 years !

 

A friend of mine was looking for a windshield frame for his 34 Plymouth back in the mid 70s he couldn't find one anywhere. He found an old jc Whitney catalog somewhere that had one listed in it . At that time the had a warehouse in Chicago he called the phone number gave them the part number and damd if they didn't have one at some ridiculously low price.

 

I think you should add one of the MilesMaster thingys to the Lasalle

 

I bought a set of Baby Moons and Lee Plastics tailight lenses for my 60 Chevy and that car got a 75% bump in coolness immediately.
They put on a free show down the road from me every spring,lotsa deals,

 

My first car was a 1931 Model A coupe that I bought when I was 15 and had just moved to SoCal from the East coast. The JC Whitney catalog was my go to source for parts at the time. Couldn't wait for the brown truck to make deliveries. Good memories.

 

"The Catalog" was required reading in study hall back in the late 50's, early 60's.

 

Back in the late 60's a high school car buddy ordered a 'Hollywood muffler' from JCW and he received a door popper kit. Always thought that was funny. He sold the door popper kit to a body shop that did kustoms.

 

A few more pages....good stuff here!

 

Oh, my neighbor's mom used to get so mad when she found her magnetic Mary outside being used as a hood ornament, I hope we don't go to the hot place for that.

 

Ha!, 3 Way Lantern my Dad had one. I was playing with it in the back seat observing all the different ways it lit up as we traveled in the evening. I decided that the flashing red light looked best in the package tray. Dad didn't.

 

Now we're getting a little more serious. Or not.






rebuild your motor with one can!

 

A friend of mine bought one of those "supercharger" rotors for his father's '66 Ambassador w/232 six. he says it actually melted at some point, disabling the car!

 

My Dad bought what few A Model parts he could afford from JCW and ensured a couple of decades' worth of free catalogs. I used to read them religiously when they arrived, too. I started noticing that the A and T Ford section (which was probably ten-fifteen pages when I started reading them) dwindled down to about a half a page by the time I left for the Navy.

 

The fact that they are still in business is impressive in itself.
I stopped in the last time I was in Illinois just to check them out and picked up a couple of small items.
https://www.jcwhitney.com/company/retail/

 

I can't tell you guys how much time I spent reading these every weekend with my granddad. these really bring back the memories. When I was in my teens and early 20's I ordered from JC more times than I can remember. when I built my 50 Pacemaker shown as my avatar I found one of these JC catalogs that showed the Hudson Wasp 202 engine in it for the low price of $210. When I went to work for Wildrick Restoration and restored Hudsons with Doug Wildrick we found one of these Wasp 202 engines for sale on Ebay in Columbus Ohio that use to be one of the warehouses for JC Whitney in the 60's. The engine was old inventory that had never sold and they were clearing it out. This was sometime in the winter of 2012. Doug bought the engine for a little more than the add above. it was clean as could be inside with just enough black carbon soot from a test firing. One of those once in a lifetime finds.

 

thanks squirrel for bringing back old memories.

first time I seen a JcWhitney catalog was at my grandparents house when we go visit when we were kids. I would head for the magazine rack and find it and just look thru it at such a young age for entertainment value.

First time buying from them was when I was still in high school. I would buy things out of the magazine and sell the items at a profit. I must have been either 15 or 16 at the time. this was the start of my buying and selling career that helped finance me in buying my first legit business at age 18.

I brought items for many years from them to flip. Even up into my online auction days I got some inventory from there.

Thanks again for opening up my memory.

 

Brings back many memories. Took the Archer ave bus to State Street. Archer, State about 1900 south State. All lot of horns and hood ornaments in the “show room” cheap 5 gal cans of oil. I even fell for the “gas savings” of the Miles Master pressure regulator. If you sifted through the junk, most of the normal parts (gaskets, engine parts) were name brand at a good price. Also got tail lights for my 56 Pontiac I think they were $5 at the time

In the early 80’S they applied for bankruptcy. This saved the co. Many were fearful they could no longer get some of the old parts. People were buying parts like crazy. Also at this time I worked for a trucking co. and they would not deliver skid full of parts until they prepaid the shipping. As already stated the several buildings they had are gone and their catalog is not the same. But it was a fun time

 

We have one of the U.S. government taxpayer plaques by the house doorbell. It's a different pattern however; looks more "official" I think. It was fairly plain until I painted it, red, white, and blue. I bought it on E-Bay a few years ago. I am Butch/56sedandelivery

 

When looking at the prices remember the teenage job in 58 was pumping gas for $.50 an hour.