History Things that J.C. Whitney use to offer

Over the years, I bought a fair amount of mechandise from them; never any trinkets or doo-dads however. My best friend in high school (66-69), would sit down at their kitchen table, and plan out everything he wanted to buy; all the stuff that added horsepower, like a carb that added 20 HP, and an intake that added 30, and headers that added 50. Then he ADDED it ALL up. Man, did he have a high horsepower engine when he was done; there are current Pro-Modified 55 Chevrolet's with nowhere near the power his 283 powered 55 Chevrolet had. I'm pretty sure that Muncie 318 transmission would't have held up against all that power anyway. NO Mark, it does't work that way! We're still friends, one of two I still have from 1962. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

Not trying to be lucky , and it really doesn't matter , but '66-'69 or '62 , or were you in high school for 7 years ??

 

My first car was a '31 Model Ford that I bought in 1966 when I was 15. Bought a ton of stuff from Whitney for it. Don't recall any of it being poor quality. Later in 1972 when I was in the service I bought a new master cylinder for my OT '50 MGTD. It was a genuine Lockheed M/C and it was a lot cheaper than anywhere else plus they shipped it to where I was stationed in the middle of BFE.

 

I also purchased many things from J.C. Whitney back in the late 50's and early 60's

I used to look at each page in their catalog over and over because back in those day's it was really one of the few ways of buying parts.
I think I still have their catalogs today in my 50 boxes of car magazines in the shop.

My wife kids me and say's when I am gone all those boxes of magazines aregoing at the same time.
Jimbo

 

And later in the 70's everyone was trying to get better mileage. Lots of claims of improved mileage dodads that would increase your mileage by 20%,etc in JCWhitney catalogs. As stated earlier about the horsepower increases, If you put 4 or 5 of these gimicks on your car you should be able to produce gasoline as you drove!!

 

I ordered parts from JC Whitney(since 1915). They carried parts not available locally. I had intended to order header dumps for my car 40 years ago, guess I waited too long, they no longer carry them.

 

High school was 66-69; knew Mark from my neighborhood starting in 1962 (he did't have a car, let alone a license in 1962; his Father and mine were both stationed at Paine Field Air Force Base, just outside of Everett, Wa then. The airport is now County owned, Snohomish County Airport, ever since the military left in about 1967), Mr. Warren's 6th grade class at Beverly Park Elementary School, hence two friends from 1962 when we were all in the 6th grade. The other friend from then is Larry, although he did wind up finishing high school elsewhere. I reconnected with him in about 1984 when I was hunting for a 56 Chevrolet fender; 55-57 Chevrolet cars AND parts was his side business, still is. At that time, high school was 3 years, now it's 4, but includes 9th grade now, at least here. No last names I care to print here however. Is there anything else you need to know? Do you have any friends you've known that long? I am Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

Usta LOVE Honest Charlie's!! Maybe because it was southern (Chattanooga, Tennessee)
Still in business you know!!
6sally6

 

years ago I purchased my first model A and the first thing I did was look for a J.C. whitney mag.because I knew I could get everything I needed was in that mag. Boy when I found out they were out of business. No more seat covers, spare tire covers etc.I grew up reading them and I knew when I bought an old car that was the place to go for inexpensive odds and ends maybe even a chrome plated aahga horn.

 

Still in business but a mere shadow of what it used to be, just like Moon Equipment.

 

J.C. Whitney was the real deal. You could get parts from them you could get nowhere else. When I built my first drag car in 1961 (a '36 Ford coupe running D/Altered) I needed safety hubs and a scattershield. J.C. Whitney had both. The scattershield was $17.50 and the safety hubs (the real ones; not the ones you bolted on with the wheel cylinder bolts) were about the same. I tried to get those parts locally ("The Big Wheel" and "Champion Auto Parts") and came up empty. Later, when I got into Corvettes, I needed the original Quadrajet on my '68 rebuilt. I was told it was going to take a while to get it right. I got on the J.C. Whitney web site (yes they had one), and was able to get a replacement carb to run in the interim for $179.95 (no exchange). The carb ran great, and I took it off when I got the original back, I was able to sell the replacement for more than I paid for it! Later, I was able to buy a '70 el Camino with only 5500 miles (it had been sitting in the original dealers showroom for over 20 years). It had carburetor problems also, and I sent the original 2G out to be rebuilt. Again, I was able to get a good running replacement (I think this one was $129.95 no exchange) to be used in the interim. In was also able to sell this for more than I had in it after I was done with it. I wish the "old" J.C. Whitney was still around.

Regarding Warshawsky"; I remember when one of my friend s showed up in study hall with one of their catalogs; it was essentially the same as the J,.C. Whitney catalog, but the prices were much better. For some reason (availability, exclusivity, etc.), we all still went with J.C. Whitney.

Sure they had some crap (mini-superchargers and devices to improve your mileage), but if you were able to separate the wheat from the chaff, they were a real valuable resource.

 

Typo?
If not, congratulations on your 121 birthday!

 

Moon Is still going strong, but it is a niche type store

 

Yep, that is my idea of what a J.C. Whitney "Dream Car" looked like.
Bob

 

I also bought some stuff from them when I was in high school, thanks Mom for letting me use your credit card, and the catalogs were the best! If you had some oddball POS, they had parts for it! I wonder what happened to all that old stuff? The tragedy is that the kids today will never have the opportunity to look through their catalogs. I know my 17 year old nephew would love one.


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I bought a lot of VW stuff from them back in the 80's. Some of the boxes it came it were German, some were in Spanish, so I figured South America somewhere. I'm talking quality Bosch and other German brand stuff. This was before the internet and all the restoration parts companies sprang up. Bought some seat upholstery, it had VW tags and parts numbers on it. Never bought any of the trinket stuff though. A few years ago I wanted to get one of their interior kits, seat covers and door panels, they no longer carry them. Wish I could find out who the supplier was and if they are still in business, the ones I have seen were top quality and looked as good as factory upholstery.

 

Now that you mentioned credit cards, I remember back in the fifties and sixties, almost nobody had them (remember "Diner's Club? They had the first credit cards). This is from "Wikipedia : "The first plastic Diners Club card was introduced in 1961". Back in those days, I had to bug my mother to write a check to pay for the stuff I wanted (with the attendant wait for the check to clear). When I had the cash, I would go to the local drugstore and buy a money order so I could get my stuff faster.

I wonder how any cars got built back in them days.

 

The word doo-dads come to mind. HRP

 

If you bought one thing from them they would send you a billion catalogs for ten years.

 

Not all that different from Mac's with emails and catalogues.

 

Back in the mid '80s I bought a wiring harness kit to wire the '38 Ford pickup. Looked like a good kit that would do what I needed it to do. When the box arrived, it was Ron Francis Wire Works kit, but the brand name wasn't mentioned in the catalog. Made me happy.

 

Anyone see a “blinky the Cat” anywhere. That used to be a hot JC Whitney ....lol


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They also sold "mirror muffs"!

 

Nearest catalog today that would be close to Whitney would be the Harbor Freight pages.
I grew up reading the JC Whitney catalog. Bought a few things.

 

In 1964, I wanted to increase the power of my flathead. Whitney had thin sheets of copper(headgaskets) that I think we’re about .020 thick. I was 16 years old and was very disappointed when both heads leaked water everywhere possible! I believe the cost was $8-$10 for the pair. My older, wiser friend said they(pure copper gaskets) would never make a seal and he was so right.

 

I used to go there years ago and we always brought a Warshawsky catalog to get the cheaper prices. We would place our order and when the counterman balked we would go see Sol. Sol was the floor manager and also manned a section where windshield wipers, wiper motors, lighting accessories (fog lights) and some other small stuff was handled. He always honored our price with a loud “Give it to ‘em dammit!”, I think he admired us for working the system.
Roy W. had a pretty large collection of classic cars and at times a couple would be shown in the front windows of the store, Caddy, Packard and like that, most likely they got sold off by the family years ago.
The store was at 1900 S. State and the area from about 1700 S. to 2500 S. and State to Michigan Ave. was loaded with automotive businesses. Machine shops, chrome shops, magneto rebuilders, used parts dealers, generator and starter rebuilders, a couple junk yards, and about anything else you could think of. Those businesses went away decades ago.
When Whitney moved from Chicago to LaSalle, IL the thrust of their marketing had changed. The cool parts were gone.
BITD the doll up accessories were aimed at a certain crowd, but hey, why pass up their money? Some speed equipment was name brand and other of questionable origin, so it was a benefit to live locally, you got to see what you were getting. Antique car parts could be iffy, they sold some Argentine repro stuff that the older guys will remember. ‘40 Ford grilles that didn’t fit, new ‘32 spring perch bolts that were made on the original forging dies but those dies were pretty well worn out, and more but they did offer some quality restoration parts too. One thing that was really suspect was anything they had manufactured that was chromed. The chrome would practically rust or peal off in the box. I exaggerate but you get the idea.
Some good, some not so good, kinda like Summit or Jegs today.

 

Lost my best h.s. friends ,(62-65) to Vietnam , 2 hotrod buddies I've known since 66 , one just moved to Florida ( he hates it) , the other is 82 , forgets when he calls ......

 

I bought the engine rebuild pellets.

They worked, had to rebuild the engine.

 

2old2fast, I graduated high school in 1969; one of my senior class, classmates, was Ronald Page Paschall. His helicopter was shot down over Viet Nam on 4-2-1972. His remains were't found until 2-8-1993, and were't ID'd until 2-8-1994. His sister Linda is married to my automotive machinist, Dave Peyton, whom I've mention many times here on the HAMB. Ron's sister Linda was also a long time girl friend of Larry's brother, Gary. Small world, and full of unusual circumstances.
I am Butch/56sedandelivery.