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History Homogenized Auto Parts Stores

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by captaintaytay, Nov 16, 2019.

  1. I know times change and I accept it in certain ways.
    Its just funny how every auto parts store I go to has the same things.
    There part number might be different or box it comes in, but its all the same.
    It's like walking into your typical big box stores, no originality.

    I was in the business "back in the day" LOL!, people would come in and bull shit and bench race. Have beers after work, work on cars in the parking lot. Those were the good ol Mom and Pop days.
    I miss those days, but there has to be some of these places around this country still.
     
    Last edited: Nov 16, 2019
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  2. manyolcars
    Joined: Mar 30, 2001
    Posts: 9,176

    manyolcars

    same parts because they all come out of one factory in china
     
    rust runner, da34guy and Beanscoot like this.
  3. Beanscoot
    Joined: May 14, 2008
    Posts: 3,056

    Beanscoot
    Member

    You are exaggerating a bit, of course. There are several factories in China, and judging from my last Rockauto parts order, at least one in India.

    That was what I found when my Anchor motor mounts came in about a year ago.
     
    warbird1 and da34guy like this.
  4. I have this picture in my head of a giant crate of say, distributor caps and a dozen different workers gathered around it. Each worker has a different pile of boxes. One person is boxing AC Delco, the other Oriellys, the next Auto Zone, and so on. I truly believe that it doesn’t matter what the box says or what you paid for it, you’re getting the same cheap shit parts. Might as well go to the Rock and get the cheapest part in the column, he’ll, some of the different brands even use the same f$&king part number.


    Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
     
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  5. OLSKOOL57
    Joined: Feb 14, 2019
    Posts: 477

    OLSKOOL57
    Member

    There may be some left.........maybe, In my area, none that i’ve seen in the 4yrs. i have lived here. Mostly chain stores like Autozone, Advance Auto, ect,ect. As stated in another thread on here,Mom & Pop stores can not compete. I too, miss them.
     
    lothiandon1940 and captaintaytay like this.
  6. And they always ask "what year, brand, and model is your car"?
    What would happen if I said: "1923 Ford model T"?
    I tell them: " '66 Chevy Impala", because that's one of the cars my 283 could have been in...
     
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  7. Chicster
    Joined: Aug 5, 2018
    Posts: 313

    Chicster
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    1. Missouri H.A.M.B.ers

    If they cain't look it up on the puter they're lost
     
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  8. DDDenny
    Joined: Feb 6, 2015
    Posts: 19,144

    DDDenny
    Member
    from oregon

    Parts stores nowadays have no soul, the new generation stores seem to have an almost sterile environment, I liked the days when you walked in the door you knew they had a small machine shop in the back just by the smell.
    And employees that knew more than how to install windshield wiper blades.
     
  9. Hotrodmyk
    Joined: Jan 7, 2011
    Posts: 2,302

    Hotrodmyk
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    1. Northwest HAMBers

    ^^^^^They know how to install wiper blades????
     
  10. Yep....went to NAPA on Friday to pick some stuff up they had and as I was needing so Studebaker parts - I asked if they still had some books.....no was the answer...... but I still left happy and went home to look thru my books to start searching the bay.......
     
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  11. oldiron 440
    Joined: Dec 12, 2018
    Posts: 3,301

    oldiron 440
    Member

    It just piss's me off that they need to know my dd is a XLT so I can get a wheel bearing for it or that it's a 4x4 for a headlamp bulb.
     
  12. 1biggun
    Joined: Nov 13, 2019
    Posts: 465

    1biggun

    I could not get Holley bowl gaskets at Advanced a few weeks ago.

    If you dont have a make or model there lost .

    The internet has killed anyone stocking much.
     
  13. 62rebel
    Joined: Sep 1, 2008
    Posts: 3,232

    62rebel
    Member

    Come back behind the counter any old time you feel like being completely frustrated by a customer who doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground and he can't tell you a single relevant fact about his vehicle when the software system you're saddled with requires as much detail as possible.
     
  14. And how many Holley parts do you think they sell in a day? Our shit is old and outdated, that’s why they don’t stock parts for them. Our local Napa is awesome. I understand the challenge with finding parts for my old stuff. I work with them instead of bitching about it.


    Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
     
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  15. 62rebel
    Joined: Sep 1, 2008
    Posts: 3,232

    62rebel
    Member

    I don't even work retail auto parts anymore, I do heavy commercial trucks. I'm amazed at the depth in age of what we support, it would be impossible to cover the automotive sector that deeply. Still, the collective ignorance of operators is not confined to automobiles. But, even as deep as we cover, we can't keep forty plus years worth of parts on hand.
     
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  16. 41rodderz
    Joined: Sep 27, 2010
    Posts: 6,540

    41rodderz
    Member
    from Oregon

    Our Knecht's has an old time feel to it. Crammed full and has a wall where you can buy carb studs, header gaskets, and chromey things. Still has parts catalogs in slanted stands to flip through. Helps they have not remodeled in decades .:D Even Paul Smith , 1973 NHRA season champ delivers there.
     
  17. manyolcars
    Joined: Mar 30, 2001
    Posts: 9,176

    manyolcars

    I wasnt clear. Take a part for sale in America. Any part. Like a transmission mount. No matter who you buy it from all transmission mounts for that application are from one factory
     
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  18. 1biggun
    Joined: Nov 13, 2019
    Posts: 465

    1biggun

    I don't know but there is at least 5 circle tracks in the area and Thursday night drags at one.
    I was a bit surprised I could not find one .

    I didnt think a 600 Holley was that out dated . One place still sold the carb.

    I guess every one did like I did and ordered a dozen on Ebay for the cost of one at Napa.
    I try to support the local guys when I can but after going to a Auto Zone, O Riley ( sold out ) and a Auto Zone . Napa was closed .
    I just ordered them .


    The Napa near here is not great since the old guy retired but there is a Weaver the next town north that carries a lot and still does machine work .
    They have a decent following.

    There is no speed /performance type shops around here anymore.
    Everything is pretty much a chain store.
    The local private guy the last who carried things like individual wheel cylinder seals and bins of stuff instead of the bubble packed HELP stuff closed up a couple years ago .
    He used to turn brake drums while you waited.
    The internet has killed off a lot or most of the private non chain stores.

    The machine shops are dissapearing as well.
    That's were I used to hang out in the 80's
    Now I dont know were to even get a crank turned around here .
     
  19. Still a small market I think...I guess I’m lucky, Napa here gets me all my performance stuff, there is a machine shop here as well and we are a small center in the north. I’m fortunate I can do all my own machine work at the college I work at, but there are easily six within a three to four hour drive, one is twenty minutes from my house.


    Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
     
  20. No one seams to like the box auto parts stores, So why are all the mom and pa stores closing, And speed shops getting harder to find. Because when we need a part we want the cheapest prices we can get. I have heard people say why should I pay that when I can order it for so much less. Then when the stores we bitched about the price is gone we bitch they are not here when we need something now. I have a friend that owned a parts store and closed four or five years ago and He has told me that he can't compete when they have a major wear house to hold lots parts to send tomorrow and he has to buy it then have it shipped and hope the buyer shows back up to pick it up ,
    So if you have a mom and pa or local speed shop use them it might coast a little more but that helps keep them.
     
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  21. T. Turtle
    Joined: May 20, 2018
    Posts: 424

    T. Turtle

    Hell I'm in the EU. If I went into one of our auto parts stores and said "Mercury Comet" they would probably ask me if it's an old Soviet car. And we have one (count it, 1) speed shop in all of Vienna (but at least they know their stuff).
     
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  22. bigdog
    Joined: Oct 30, 2002
    Posts: 761

    bigdog
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Every time I see one of these threads I tell my self to ignore it because I know it's just going to piss me off. I've been in the parts business for 15 years after being a mechanic for 30+ years. The reason stores stock cheap parts is that's what 95% of people want. We also stock premium brands but most people aren't interested.
    You're upset because we don't have a part for your 50 year old car in stock? Every piece of inventory sitting on the shelf costs us money. I can stock your part that I'm going to sell once every five years, or something that will turn 4 or 5 times a year and actually make some money on. But if I don't have it I can probably get it overnight. A local parts store isn't going to stay in business catering the hot rod market, it's just way to small of a market segment. We have a lot of old cars in the area, a local monthly cruise night regularly draws 150+ cars, but we sell maybe three sets of small block Chevy points a year.
    People bitch about the young kid behind the counter not knowing anything. Guess what? That old guy that's you like because he knows everything wasn't always an old guy, he started out as a kid that didn't know anything. Add the fact that your probably the first person to ask for that weird old part you need and you might want to cut him some slack. Maybe you can even get somebody new interested in old cars if you're not a dick about it.
    End of rant.
     
  23. It gets worse. LOL I tried to get part time work in an auto supermarket a couple of years back. I needed the cash and it was close to home. They old me that they would not hire me because I knew too much about mechanics. They don't want people who know cars and parts.
     
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  24. Petejoe
    Joined: Nov 27, 2002
    Posts: 12,264

    Petejoe
    Member
    from Zoar, Ohio

    In my area if NE Ohio, I can think of three car parts places being manned by the same guys for the past 30 yrs.
    these stores are 30 minutes from my house. Two NAPA and another that privately owned.
    They all still keep the old books to look up parts they can’t trace otherwise.
    These guys forgot more than most of us know.
    I’m Very lucky.
    You walk into any of these and find guys hanging out. Just waiting to harass the next guy walking in. Great fun.
     
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  25. I was merely stating that Auto Parts Stores of today basically have the same stuff from the same manufacture/supplier just in a different box. I'm not trashing people trying to make a living. I was just saying I miss the old days, no harm and no rant.
     
  26. BamaMav
    Joined: Jun 19, 2011
    Posts: 6,713

    BamaMav
    Member
    from Berry, AL

    Look at it this way, how many of today's vehicles will still be on the road 5 years from now? 10 years from now? 20 years? We live in a throw away society anymore, something breaks, we don't or can't fix it, so we buy another to replace it. Back as late as the 1970's, one part number might be used on just about everything a carmaker might make. Now there are many cars that have parts that only fit that model, and if something is different, say AC or not, then there might be two or three parts that do the same thing, but are just different enough they won't interchange. Like 62Rebel said, they can't stock each different piece. I remember when I first got into trucking, you either had a Cat, Cummins, Detroit, or Mack, and the same part might fit all of them for several year models. Not anymore, they go by the vin number to get you the correct part. Some parts are one year only, some part year only. Impossible to stock every variation.

    Just be happy you can find the stuff you do. A lot of low turn over stuff has done been discontinued, never to be made again. It's a different ballgame now, you have to source parts where you find them.
     
  27. gsjohnny
    Joined: Nov 27, 2007
    Posts: 241

    gsjohnny
    Member

    retired aircraft r/d, exp machinist. built machines, processes, tool cutting standards and always been in the parts business, p/t and f/t. did junkyard, oem, a/m, repo, turf, farm, mechanic, race car and did some catalog writing and editing for big stores.
    that being my partial resume, I have had the so called new parts stores tell me i'm not qualified in working there.
    do you think I give anybody any slack at these new parts stores. NONE GIVEN. I had to learn it all, so can they. autozone stock price is almost $1200 a share. WHY? they have never split it. would I buy it, not a chance and I don't shop there. all 350's are not alike either. lol
     
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  28. leon bee
    Joined: Mar 15, 2017
    Posts: 798

    leon bee
    Member

    Our NAPA changed hands, the old guy retired. The young crew is trying hard, so I don't step foot in the Oreilley's who moved into town to try and kill NAPA off. O'Reilly is the Walmart of auto parts.

    I'm always amazed by what is obsolete now, most of us are way behind the times.
     
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  29. ^^^^^ Very true......... Just because we think it should be on hand, does not make..........
    Here's one= for you corduroy bell bottom fans of the 70's, go bitch at the local store because they're not in stock.........See what reaction you get!o_O
     
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  30. Electronic parts catalogs make it about impossible to browse and find a part at least in GM dealers. Make, model and year or a VIN are required to access the sections. No longer can you open a catalog and just go to Group 0.206 and hunt for a timing cover over various years, you have to enter every possibility. Saw the quality of replacement parts decline over the last decade I was in also. Warranting a factory replacement part defective "off the shelf" was so rare that we had to look up the procedure to cover those up till the mid 2000's. After about 2005 it became commonplace for new parts found defective before installation. Like someone else said in many cases there appears to be one source for a part and it is reboxed by whoever buys them for their company.

    Glad I'm done with that. 1970-2017 in dealerships was enough.
     
    Truckdoctor Andy likes this.

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