Jive-Bomber submitted a new blog post: JC Whitney Catalog 1954... Tacking It On! Continue reading the Original Blog Post
that reminds me...I still have a lot more scanning to do https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/lets-go-shopping-at-jc-whitney-in-1958.679472/
I just got a couple of '57 and '59 Almquist catalogs yesterday. I need to scan them and post them up if they aren't already on here somewhere.
My Dad received the "wholesale" catalog at his shop with the name Warshosky (spelling?) on it. It was a pretty identical page for page with minor differences from J. C. Whitney. My Dad had the hood swan with blue light up wings on his 48 Ford coupe, as well as blue cloth awnings over the windows that would fold up when not in use. I think he may have gotten his fender skirts from them as well. I would go through the catalogs page by page and dream of ways I would use many of the items.
They had all kinds of high performance parts 'guaranteed' to add 5, 10, 20 or more horsepower...as a kid, I figured you could just put all those parts on at the same time, and then you'd have a real fast car.
This stuff is ingrained early. Before cars, how many of you looked at all the cool bicycle accessories in the Sears and Monkey Wards catalogs? Dear Santa, I want a speedometer for my bike. Yours truly, Jimmy
I would be particularly interested in the shifters. Back in 1962, I installed a vertical gate shifter on the Buick transmission in my Buick powered 1947 Chevy. For the life of me, I can't remember the name of the company that made the unit. The name Almquist always sticks in my mind, Edit: I did some more researching Ed Almquist, and although I knew he designed the first floor shifter kit, I didn't know that he was also the co-designer of the Hurst floor shifter. Here is a link to an interesting article on his contribution to the Hot Rod industry. https://www.recordonline.com/article/20090302/LIFE02/903020301 Bob
Ditto ! Wished I'd have saved at least one. But, that wasn't my decision to make...as a kid, as they hung up in the two holler ....for more important use !
Growing up in a small town in Eastern Washington (15,000) the JC Whitney catalog was the main tool! In 1959, age 17, I ordered a split exhaust manifold for my 1937 Plymouth 4dr. It cost $15.00 plus shipping, if I remember right. And very fast service!
My baby moon supplier, a little later chrome reverse wheels, I'm sure a few other items I can't remember this am. It was different times in the 60's, most of my car parts came from the junkyard, that was my local speed shop/parts catalog
I set my camera up on the tripod pointing down at the floor and took some pictures of this Almquist catalog from 1957-58 (instead of scanning it). Here it is in its entirety. Click the link below each pic to open up the image by itself a little bit bigger (which you can zoom in on in your browser). Fotki limits image display sizes to 1,000 x 1,000 pixels. Some pages are probably hard to read due to that and the small print. I might have to find another place to host the images someday. https://public.fotki.com/Chevelle350/stovebolt-reading/almquist5758/
MOM Hello, If we planned it right, the orders from the mail order catalogs would be our gifts to our parents. Instead of a bottle of Chanel #5 or a Johnny Walker Scotch from the local Sav-On or our favorite liquor/magazine store. We decided that car stuff would be different. Our dad had his connections to anything automotive from his friend in Los Angeles. If there was something he wanted, he just asked his friend and it was in the garage in record time, installed and serviced. When our mom kept looking at her tiny mirror from her handbag, that gave us an idea for a larger one. At first, it was just a larger mirror. But later on we got our hands on a larger mirror with a light. (before they were standard equipment) For mail order, a trip to the post office was necessary to buy a money order check for the amount. Dad, for his Buick family road trips... My brother and I were responsible for writing down the mileage on our family road trips all up and down the California coastline and down into Baja, Mexico. Somehow, there were times that miles per gallon versus length of the road between gas stations was necessary. That problem kept both of the brothers occupied for some quiet time in the car. After getting stuck in Baja, Mexico on a deserted road leading to a beach front fishing village campground, luckily it was during the day. It was a long time sitting in the sun and we tried all sorts of remedies to get out of a ditch in the big Buick sedan. If it had been nighttime, we would have tripped in the complete darkness. So, my brother and I sent away for a magnetic flash light from the catalog. Our dad kept it on the under lip of the dash near his driver’s seat. It was very handy. After all of these things we saw in the catalogs and mail order was family checks only, we were getting good sending away for items we could not get locally. But, then when the local name automotive stores started popping up in our teenage years, accessories were plentiful and the mail orders stopped. The one exception was the ordering of fake white sidewall replacement kits. Those turned blackwalls into whitewalls instantly. For a short while, they looked good, but over the weeks of daily driving, they began to get dirty and start warping, giving the “fake” look an obvious sight. So, the trash cans were handy. Jnaki One thing we did see in older trucks was the steering wheel spinners to help, supposedly, turn the wheel with ease. It looked cool, but wasn’t always mechanically sound or designed to evenly turn the wheel. Power steering did a better job of easily turning the steering wheel in any situation. But, we did see them in big diesel trucks and a lot of custom trucks with nice interiors. When we were on one of our more recent road trips prior to the pandemic, we saw a cool Comet Station Wagon in the Santa Barbara area. It was a mild custom and had a ton for custom accessories, straight from those early catalogs and then the bigger local accessories stores. A set of Venetian Blinds for privacy of some kind. What goes around, eventually comes around for a cool memory from the past.
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