History J. C. Whitney Catalog

I feel I gotta post this as I feel it somewhat relates on some tangent. I got the biggest kick out of reading this and feel like these folks would be right at home here on the HAMB. Shoot, this could almost read as a thread itself. I hope y'all enjoy! The scanner scanned it as an illustration, that is why it looks "watery".

Brian

 

I've spent alot of time as a kid looking at old JC Whitney catalogs. Man you could buy it all from them.

 

A funny thing about J.C. Whitney Co, if you purchased only one item from them, they sent you another catalog, plus put you on their mailing list for at least 40 years....

 

I bought quite a few sets of Studebaker V8 rod and main bearings for $15 and $20 a set.
A set of chrome piston rings for $12 a set. I stocked up.

Ditto on their $45 gasket sets with head gaskets and rear main seals included. Hard to find for quite a few years.

So many odd and interesting tools I wish I had collected.


Here's something funny.
A few JC Whitney and Warshawski catalogs listed just a couple of their many engine parts for the Studebaker 289 as a "Studebaker 389". (I think it was pistons and rings)
For many years afterwards, I had people telling me that Studebaker used to use Pontiac 389's in their faster cars.
Talk about a silly idea. Well, I believe I know where it came from- a misprint in a JC Whitney catalog! a 3 instead of a 2, and the mistaken "knowledge" lasted for years and years even tho the catalog misprint didn't.

 

I knew their IT guy. He looked up my last name and told me my Dad's (who died in 1990) name was still on thier mailing list since 1947. My name first appeared in 1961 and is still there.

 

You were very lucky. When my chrome parts arrived I just breathed on them to shine them up and the chrome fell off.

 

My favorite items in the Whitney catalog were the oil filter canister that enabled you to use a roll of toilet paper as filter media and the slotted band you could clamp on the steering column of a car with a column-shifted manual transmission to compensate for shifter wear and tighten the pattern.

Come to think of it, I might trust a roll of toilet paper over a Fram filter.

I think the clamp-on column shift gate still would sell today.

 

Hell, I think I finally just dropped off their mailing list! Got my first J.C.Whitney catalog in 1975, and I still have it around here somewhere. I bought from them regularly right up into the early nineties, and I can't remember why I stopped. It always was so cool just looking through the pages at what could be had for what ever car I was wanting or had at that time. Always kinda' knew that most of the stuff was pretty close to crap - but come on - who can resist ORGAN PIPE speakers!

 

I always loved the tiny little "before" and "after" pictures with some of the parts. Winky the cat's product line expanded from one model to three, and we always wondered who bought that kind of crap.

 

That just reminded me of an expression I used to use long ago.
When I saw a car that was too dolled up or too decorated, I used to say it had " the whole JC Whitney trim kit" on it.
People used to know exactly what I meant. They don't know what that means anymore.

 

Do you guys know when they started selling license plate frames in the catalog?

 

I bought a metric socket from them in the early 70's. What a POS. Still have it.

 

It is the smell of it for me.... either the newsprint or the ink had a distinct odor... kinda like a Hemming Motor News smell...when I smell it, it takes me instantly back when I was a kid, dreamin' about cars

tc

 

I totally know what you are talking about. Black fingertips from thumbing through the pages.



DuckusCrapus

 

I bought my first tool set from JCW. I cut grass for the summer to raise the cash. I gave my Mom the cash and she wrote a check for the tools. I think I was 12 or 13.

 

J.C. Whitney stuff has always been the type of bolt on do dads found on Gook Wagons.

 

I remember when the JCW catalog listed complete used engines and transmissions.

 

i bought one of thoes chrome kits that used a battery and a brush
then had to use lams wool buffer to shine it up
boy what a piece of junk
some things were ok
but i got the wrong parts about every other order

 

Not entirely true - there was a time when you could buy speed parts, heads, multi carb intakes, mag wheels, headers, cal custom dress up stuff, stock Model T and Model A parts from fenders to engine parts, etc etc.

Of course they do offer a lot of the crap you mentioned, from winky the cat turn signal indicators to light up jester hood mascots.

 

They are out of Lasalle now. Alot of my friends work there. They were just bought out by US Parts. It is a very modern facility, fully computerized, and new.

 

used to love the ads for stuff like "its like an engine rebuild in a can!!!) then they would have artwork of a car smoking,sputtering along and then racing down the road with the caption " not this-THIS!!!!

 

I found that to be interesting to say the least. When I visited Chi town as a kid. I think it`s spelled Warshawski.

 

the old timers still talk about that.

 

Went to the very back corner of the vintage thread cellar and dusted off this 10 year old beauty.

Setting here Googling and found this thread.

Look at what else I found. Have any of you fellas ever seen these J.C. Whitney gems before? I mean, they're not completely atrocious but kinda are at the same time.

 

I run a 3/4 race cam from JC Whitney in my Willys, whatever that means.

 

Um, yes they are.

 

A friend of mine bought a "Bull Nose" for his 50 Ford in 1958, and got catalogs in the mail for 20 years.

 

In 1991 I was 17 years old, and bought a timing set for the FE in my 1966 F-100 from JC Whitney. They were the cheapest around at the time. I gave Mom the cash, and she wrote them a check (remember those?) and mailed off my order form. Well, 2-3 weeks go by, and my timing set arrives, but inside was an invoice for $8 or $10. Apparently the price changed in the time I made my order. This made me mad (remember, I’m 17). I thought, piss on you. This is probably why they went out of business. Sorry, Guys, I bankrupted them by not paying the extra money.


Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

And back from the dead.....I like...and have a Honest catalog or two.....helps the unknowing a time or two when they try to figure out what they have.....