Old part store treasures? What to look for?

There is mostly forgotten parts store near me that has been in business since '46. The old man still works the counter and you have to yell to ask for anything. He will give you a free story about WWII 3 times in 10 minutes with all purchases.

One day I asked for wheel bearings for my '60 Catalina. Out they came, NOS off the dusty shelf. He's let me walk around the back a little, and there are many rows of dusty boxes. What should I look for?

He's a nice guy, but he never remembers me, no matter how many times I hang around. These places are going, going. I want to help him clean up before his son does.

 

I'd ask about old performance parts, stock replacement carbs, old chrome goodies. You never know what obscure stuff he has on the top shelf.

Flatman

 

Look for one of these.

 

Yep, Distributors and all electrical components ..generators/starters are a good thing.
Master and wheel brake cylinders are another.

 

fuel pumps my friend. esp the old double pump ones.

 

Look for spare time, so you can hang with him and enjoy his WW2 stories, the atmosphere of the shop, etc........
It'll all be gone soon, and you'll be at PepBoys

 

I agree hang out as much as you can and listen to the stories. I'd love to have a parts store like that near me that I could hang around (I can, I'm retired!).

 

My grandparents used to run an old General store up until the late eighties when my grandpa died, it was a real true to life general store that carried everything. the only thing I got from the store were the few auto parts he carried and they are all original from the late fifties to the early sixties, I have a brand new in the box wix oil filter for a corvair and few boxes of small light bulbs and couple packages of glass fuses and a brand new case of 5" GE low beam headlights I think there is about 16 of them in the case, I've been thinking about selling it all on ebay since I have no use for it all.

 

I love those PC-7 thingys.... I would like to have one a trophy as well.

 

I could use a set of front wheel bearings for a '54 Buick, tie rod ends and ball joints for a '60-'62 Chevy 1/2-ton truck, and a fuel pump for a '57-'59 Chevy big truck with 322 engine. (that'll be a Buick Nailhead 322)

If you're looking for Ebay material, the front suspensions for '57 Buicks were one-year only I think, so ball joints etc. are always a premium.

Obsolete engine water pumps would be good too--Olds rocket, 322 and 264 Nailhead, Y-block, etc. Of course, those are usually pretty available through specialty places...but expensive (at least the 264/322 Nailhead pieces are). Any clutch parts would be good too. It's doubtful he has a flywheel for any of them, but...

One of my greatest joys with my '54 Buick a couple years ago was having the generator smoke on a friday night...and it was my only running vehicle. Called up the local mom-n-pop that'd been there forever, and he says "Yup, got a brand new rebuilt one on the shelf." New windings, everythihg. It was great. He did the same thing with brake shoes. "You want riveted of bonded...because I've got both here."

-Brad

 

There was such a store in a great old Art Deco style building in old downtown Pasadena TX for many years called Elsik's Auto Parts. I bought numbers of old custom goodies there to sell at swap meets but never got behind the counter or in the stock room until a friend bought a bunch of stuff there for resale to a fellow from Canada.
The back room had 100s of genuine Tru-tone, Hollywood and Smithy mufflers, a hundred or so old style floor mats in original boxes, old style seat covers and many other goodies.
I did get the Smithy Steel-Pack counter display cutaway muffler with the decal with the 57 vette on it. The decal hasn't survived well.

 

Don't forget old small town Western Auto stores. Often the signs are still there and the store is still in business. The old line inventory may have been moved to a storage location and can be a treasure trove.
A friend went in one asking about old stuff, the old fellow took him around the corner to a storgae building and opened the door, handed him the key and said, get what you want, lock up and come back to the store and we'll make a deal. Inside the door hanging on the wall were 2 brand new 65 Mustang kiddie cars with parts missing. On the shelf next to them, a new one in the box. And there was much much more.
The NOS kiddie car paid for his next car, the parts cars paid for the accessories. Not bad.