History Come Get Your Parts Before 5 P.M.

I received a call from my girl friend yesterday that I needed to pick up my part’s from Allied Auto Part’s because my part’s guy Dave posted on the net that as of 5 o’clock today (Wednesday May 15th) I’ll be job less. This part’s store has been a staple in Pasadena California since the 50’s and will no longer be around.

Dave’s a great guy and he has prospect’s to move on to another store, but it just won’t be the same bs-ing with him at a counter instead of his desk.

 

I wish you the best of luck finding new employment.

 

Times change and people change places all the time. Some fossils stay for a long time somewhere like Dave did, but it sounds like its a quick notice thing so who knows what happened there. Best wishes for him though. Good parts guys are non existent anymore. Most ask if 4wd for wiper blades.

 

It was quick notice. I know the reason’s but won’t go there.

 

I grew up in Pasadena. Been there as long as I can remember. Progress...meh!

 

Sad day for sure Johnny, a good parts man/store is irreplaceable, been through that more than a couple times over the last 50 plus years.

 

That sucks.
Support your local Auto Parts store before they disappear.

We have none down here anymore.....all chains. I remember going to Nu 5 with my grandfather in Bellflower??

 

"Support your local Auto Parts store before they disappear."

Sometimes that is hard to do because they don't carry the items in stock anymore and it is faster to order online yourself then wait on them to order it then have to pick it up when they finally get it in. by then the part could be on already. Or they don't know how to find the part, like the napa dealer asked my friend how I cross referenced the number for an item he was looking for so I gave him napa number for it seeing it was local to him. napa guy said he wouldn't be able to find it without me doing the legwork already because their computers in the stores are not set up for that anymore. they need a year, model number, engine size, etc but as soon as you tell them it is off a 60's forklift they have no clue unless you tell them their napa part number.

Good luck on your job hunt Johnny.

 

I’m not the one that lost his job. Just a part’s store.

 

Because of a lack of a good counter man (for many years), I have a stash of old parts books and dig DEEP into the internet to cross part numbers or find NOS stuff. It's always good to have your own part numbers to give to your local guy....I'll wait if it takes longer and I'll pay more (within reason for the SAME parts).

 

It looks like it was Dave the parts counter dude who will now be Dave the guy at a desk parts dude in another store.

Agreed that to many "parts counter people" give you the blank stare when you walk in with a parts number and don't ask for a part for a specific year, make and model of vehicle . The locals are a bit better because most of the parts houses deal with farm accounts daily and often get asked for a bearing number or belt number or filter number with no other info. For a lot of the young kids in the parts houses the parts for 50 or 70 year old cars are just out of their wheel house, Walk in and ask for a Performance part for a Honda VTEC and they come to life.

I've found that looking the part up on the online computers and finding exactly what you want and getting the brand and part number helps some. On some you can see if they have it in stock or if it is in stock in a close by store. Both Napa and O'Reilly's in this area shuttle parts between stores in the local area a few times a day. That saves a 25 mile drive to get a ten dollar part but you have to wait until they get it to the local store close to you.

 

Dave has given me some.

 

Agree 100%. That's why I buy my oil and other spray cleaners and lubricants from my local parts store. And they usually get flathead parts as well. Yes, the oil and other stuff is cheaper at Wally World or online but when the local guy is gone there will be only the chain stores left. And they can't look up anything without make, model, and engine family even if you have a cross reference part number.

 

When the lived in the Ca Bay Area, we had an Allied parts store, small place, but with a pretty decent machine shop in back.
Old school place.
The Napa we had in town here was just “Oakdale Auto Parts before adding the Napa in the name.
They moved across town and left a lot of stuff from the back of the store

a year or two back it turned into a CarQuest.
No more smaller parts stores in town these days.
Used to be several. Besides the CQ, there’s Oriellys and AutoZone.
That’s it.
Online ordering is now my first choice, same or better price, less hassle.

 

Yep. The older parts stores are a treasure.
Our little town has one, Smith’s Auto Parts, that has been around for probably 40 years.
They also have a basic machine shop, everything but crank grinding.
The owner knows everything, and where it is. He stays busy, needless to say.
He also owns the local NAPA as well as another Smith’s location 5 miles away.
We also have an AZ, Advance, and O’Reilly’s, for your air fresheners.

 

Still have a few local parts stores with knowledgeable counter men and machine shop facilities.
If they don’t have what you need can usually get it by next morning.
Do your best to support small local business.

 

I would, and used to.
But there’s 3 chain parts stores in my town now.
Shoot, thinking about it, may only be one family run deli now.
Maybe one of the two welding shops are still open.
Heck, even a staple of the community, Oakdale Feed and Seed, is now joined into some conglomerate.
It’s tough to put money in a pocket when corporations are taking their cut as well.
But I get it.

 

Just a general comment.
When I needed a ( model specific ) battery for my daily, The A.Z. had none.
By looking on his computer he told me that Advance, a block away, showed one in stock.

 

I’ll be darned.
Similar thing happened with me, I called a manufacturer of cylinder heads. They had 6-8 week delivery time, none in stock.
I heard the click-click-click of the keyboard, he told me “Summit has one set left”.

 

Been using a local NAPA for the last 20 years. Counter guys were all older and hardly ever used the parts books or computer up front to look stuff up. They just knew what they were doing and where to look. First the machine shop closed, then gradually the guys started retiring and the parts started to be mfg in China. Hard to find anything anymore.

Before I moved to Indiana, I used a local O'Rillys back in the 90's when I lived in Missouri. That's before they went national and started hiring young counter guys that didn't know shit about parts.
Life changes.

 

There's still a Western Auto next town over, but they have very little in the way of parts anymore. They are a big lawnmower / yard equipment dealer and repair center though... Go figure. The local Napa from years ago was the real deal; hell, they'd let you come behind the counter and look in the books yourself for stuff. They since closed, and another "new and improved" version opened up. I ordered one part a couple years ago from them. Came in wrong (twice). Thank you, no. I also keep outdated parts books for cross-reference purposes. Raybestos, Doorman, Standard, and a TRW for good measure.