Super Shops is back!

Exactly. For me it was the Red Barn Speed Shop in Ludlow Mass. Named that because it was really in an old barn. First floor was 4-5 complete drag cars that they raced every week & a machine shop. Complete engines on stands all built lined one wall. How fast do you want to go depended on how deep your pockets were. 2nd floor was half full of used parts, Muncie 4 speeds stacked like firewood, intakes, heads, etc. Half was new parts & the parts counter. Bought my first set of mag wheels there. Cragar GT mags (remember those ?) 4 for 99 bucks. Outside the building were always a few hotrods & muscle cars for sale. No dipshit asking if you have power steering or not when you're trying to buy a set of sparkplugs..

 

They were still going in the late '90s but well on their way out. They belonged to Erson just before their demise at least here in the mid west.

Pretty cool place they used to throw parts at me once in awhile.
Glad to see them back at least in name. Can't wait to see if they open up here again.

 

I remember my fellow employees making fun of Mopar customers.. Saying they might as well stare at the ceiling & wipe off the slobber. Because they're not going to find any parts anywhere else in the store.

 

I don't think anyone is saying "Super Shops" was the most intense speed shop on the planet, rather that it (the chain) had the largest effect on the masses, 165 stores at one time and multiple stores since the early 1970s.

Not too many speed shops can say they have their car in the Smithsonian (Garlits S/S car) and Eddie Hill didn't do too bad in his S/S years (first in the 4s).

And in second place in my view was "Service Center," with their company stores and franchises. What was the total number? I'm thinking something like 20-25. And how about Snoopy and Peanuts!

 

I wish them luck. I remember when I was younger Colfax Ave. here in Denver was the place to cruise. The guys with the fastest cars always hung out in the Super Shops parking lot. I wish I had a dollar for every B&M shifter and Centerline wheel they sold in the 80's.

 

<------ worked at the super shops here in Sacramento CA we wouldn't let you leave the parking lot in a muscle car w out a burnout! man that was a cool job! I was the only guy with a running classic in the lot every day but then I was also the only Ford guy working there! Would be really cool to walk in to another Super Shops! Oh and the prev comments on customers "KNOWING" what was the right part was is SO true and believe it or not even extended to the tire shop! I was there back in the Pro Street days and guys would pump their air shocks as high as they could to fit the meats! Rode like it had square wheels but they thought they looked cool!?

 

When I worked there it was always fun to unload the truck bringing us new parts. I felt like a kid in a candy store. Tons of burnouts done at our store, especially if they were there to get new tires installed. Nothing like burning off the old ones! That place was a lot of fun, I was 20-21 when I worked there and I will never forget it.

 

Super Shops was like the Summit catalogue in person. Most of the guy's were average gearheads. Sevice Center was the bomb. The Store in La Mesa CA had a huge area of used speed equipment. It was like you could get your swap meet fix inbetween swap meets. I still have a set of unfinished alum small journal rods from there that I bought in the 80's for $25. I can't imagine a store front being able to compete with an internet site nowaday's.

 

We had two in springfield mo. I bought alot of stuff there. Now all we have is Oriellys and autozone both suck!!! They are always giving me the wrong stuff. It would be nice to have a speed shop here again.

 

I worked in one for a while. It was a challenge to find people that knew what they were doing, but there is also a natural conflict between standardized training of a corporation and the self taught know-how of a car guy. I won't say mechanic, because SS didn't employ mechanics with any standard training. What they really wanted was sales guys. If you think about it, this was the period where the chain type parts stores were born and Auto Zone is very much the same atmosphere.
I knew my stay would be short when my manager chewed me out after hearing me explain the Ford selonoid method for resolving hot starts on Chevy starters instead of pushing that POS Painless Wiring hot start kit that uses a booster relay and a red button to help the main circuit. I looked her in the eye and told her that this guy was going home to do as I instructed and would be back tomorrow with a smile. If I had sent him out with the Painful kit at 3 times the price, he would never be back. I asked her where credibility was measured on the monthly performance reports. I found myself installing tires after that....

 

i remember as a young marine stationed @NAS Atlanta , finding the Super Shops located on south cobb drive in Smyrna Ga was like being in giant candy store. ya know i think i still have my first set of Erson chrome valve covers from there. i rember the guy behind the counter giving me a stack of stickers for my tool box also. It was like giving free samples of cake to a fat kid ..... I was hooked

 

I remember in the late 70s early 80s I would call the Super Shops on Van Nuys Blvd right off of Sherman Way and hear......
(say this quickly) "Thanks for calling Super Shops in Van Nuys can I help you plaaaz"

Brought back good memories...didnt buy too much there I was a broke kid then.......I can close my eyes right now and be right inside the store though...they used to have a small block Chevy motor on a stand on the north end of the building with a tunnel ram or something...a bunch of tires in the main floor of the place in piles and one wall with a bunch of cheap fiberglass scoops. I remember buying a pro stock hood scoop...setting it on my absolutely cherry hood on my 65 Mustang and trying to drive around the block to see how it would "feel". Problem is I didnt attach the scoop in any way and as soon as I started moving the scoop wanted to fly off...so that mission was aborted. Funny stuff...

 

Yep, I remember at least two in the Denver Metro area. One on South Broadway in Englewood and the one on Colfax in Denver... I got my first Edlebrock intake from those guys around 1984 or do.

 

I bought some stuff from the la mesa store when i was 16 -17 i think i bought a shift kit cause it was on sale cause they were closeing down. I bought something for my dad from the new store for christmas. i wasnt impressed, the service was what i expect out of a parts store. But they just didnt have much.

 

i remember it being SB chevy heaven. lots o chrome and nothing for my ford six cylinder. but i still have that car.

 

Yes, it brings back memories. Around 1973, there was a store in downtown Oakland, CA. I didn't buy much from them, but I did pick up some side business and used parts from their referrals.

At the time, I was going to grad school on the GI bill and did some auto work on the side. When a customer wanted easy stuff, such as an intake, rocker covers or a floor shift installed, they'd give 'em my phone number. If I had time, I'd do the work cheap.

One guy brought by and left an MG TD with a 283" and a 30-30 Duntov in it and slicks on the back. Naturally, I had to road test it after installing his new carb and setting the valves. Talk about scary, when the clutch dropped it would pull the wheels about 6" and that frame, fenders, grille and front wheels would howl, flap and rattle like a hound dog $hitting a peach pit. I wouldn't have driven it on the highway if you had given it to me.

Seems like a lot of their customers would try to trade in parts or sell them used parts. Naturally, a shop selling new parts didn't want used stuff. They'd tell the customer, buy your stuff from us and this guy will maybe buy your used parts. In Oakland, I would always meet a potential customer or parts seller at a well-lit corner near the fire station. Guys with too many used parts, you didn't want them coming to your house/shop. I'd look them in the eye and say, "You didn't steal this did you?" If the vibes weren't right, I'd turn it down. Once, I just low-balled an offer of $25 for an obviously hot Muncie, figuring the guy would take off with it. He left it on the ground and was gone with the $25 before I could blink.

And the cars I worked on and then was offered but couldn't afford to buy or didn't have room to park - a '69 Z28 with the factory cross ram 2x4 - the guy's wife kept toasting clutches and he had to have a car she could drive. A beautiful XKE with a Boss 302" - the guy who had it built was too sensitive - the Jag club sneered at him and the Cobra/Tiger club sneered at him, so he just wanted it gone.

Yes, Super Shops was great while it lasted.

thnx, jack vines

 

Inventory was a big factory in the speed shop biz, stock what sells, order the odd-ball stuff. Nobody stocked hi-po Ford six cylinder stuff.

 

i loved ss.i would go there atleast every other week and buy something.then every income tax check would go for the big cool parts.i can still see the counter and a mallory dist.sitting there that they had set up so when you spun it it would throw a 1'' spark{and yes i did buy one}.i probably went through three sets of tires just in there parking lot and the street in front of the store.i learned alot of things from the guys and customers there and hope they put up one buy me!!!the one i use to go to was in euclid ohio.

 

they got a few of my hard earned bucks back then! only bad thing i remember was standing at the counter with cash in hand and being snubbed for a possible phone sale/question.but i hope they do return and have a better run(hope i win the funnycar this time!!!)

 

I used to work at Super Shops also. i Started in the Euclid store then went to the North Randall store. Had some fun there but they were always on me to do more in sales. I told them i would if i wasn't mounting and balancing tires 95% of the time, by myself, with no impacts(they wouldn't allow those critters). Just try mounting a 40" mudder on some hicks' home-made 15" wide 150lb wheels for his twin engine chevy panel mud bogging truck(stock 350 up front, stock 440 Mopar in back)and then 2 29" slicks with tubes and get it done just in time to put some 15x10's and 205/50-15 on a chevy celebrity and then look up to see 4 more cars coming into the bays. North Randall was known to us as the tire store. At least they had the performance stuff i wanted and they were closer to me than Summit.

 

One was in Oxnard, CA. I cant understand why they would try to come back after such an absence. It would be cool if they could beat jegs or summits prices and you could walk aout with the parts.....Well see.....

 

I used to go to two different stores , one on harbor in costa Mesa and the other on 1st St in santa ana .. the latter was the scene of a murder maybe it was a double murder , cant remember now . But i think they cl0sed the store after that ...

 

I wonder if they will use the same music bed for their commercials... Edgar Winter count probably use the royalties.

BTW, "Frankenstein" has always meant "performance shop" to me since I heard Super Shops commercials every single commercial break on the radio while cruising around in high school.

 

Got a Hurst V-Matic shifter off the display board from the store on Van Nuys Blvd at the going out of business sale... Still in my El Camino to this day...

 

In the negotiation stage with Super Shops in CA , to put a store here in SW MO, more precise south of Springfield in Nixa. So anyone in the surrounding areas Ozark, Clever, Highlandville, Billings etc. Speak up on how you feel about this. All the cool parts you remember when your dad took you in there or hopefully taking you son or daughter in today

 

hell yeah lets see some service centers poppin back up!

My mom and dad used to own one, love hearin' them old stories.



Better times, why'd I have to get the short straw

 

When I was home in early March I went to the Super Shops on Bradley Ave in ElCajon Ca. Guys seemed to know what they were doing but did not have a lot of stock. Did state they would beat summits price though.
Just my .03

 

and summit is usually the lowest, pretty cool.

 

Another 4 1/2 year old thread revived in the name of promotion.

 

There used to be one in Omaha, but if I remember right it closed early to mid 90's. They had good prosducts, but some of the people there didn't know shit