Wow, the Weiand pic is great. I just recently found out that my old man, who shows no interest in my passion for hot rods and customs at all, used to work for Weiand back in the late 60's. Sorry for the interruption, now back to your regularly scheduled program. Sorry Evel.
Cool that is where i bought my stuff from 1970 to 1976. There and raceway speed Center in Bordentown N.J. it is no longer there when i went there in 1987 it was now a adult book store. Have looked for a pic of it from the 70s but never found any. Never found a pic of my old racer a mp drag camero named the Mini Missle. Any way glad california speed and sport is still around.
The one at the right is Eddie Edmunds I found this one, at "Lifes" photoarcives, and there is more. They are here: http://images.google.com/hosted/life Lars
Don't have any pics but I got my speed stuff at Seward's Speed Shop in Reading PA. and Almquist in Milford, PA. and Honest Charlies Speed Shop in Tenn. Also back in the 50's and early 60's you could get alum.heads and intakes, flathead headers at Pep Boys and Western Auto Stores.
There's a place in Portland, OR that's in a time bubble of it's own... Radke's Speed Shop. AWSOME place... I live in NC now but if someone from Portland would go down there and take a picture, everyone would appreciate it.
Look closely everyone...Could that be a very young Don Garlits standing behind the counter with a blower pully in his hand?? Thanks, Mike
Here is a current shot of the old Nicholson Brothers Speed Shop that I took when I went to LA last spring. I believe it was in Monrovia CA.
Anyone remember M&M Speed and custom on Rt 44 in Poughkeepsie, NY?? Richie and Vic Marchese Jr had a small building in the rear of Vic sr's Shell station, Vic's garage....I was a snot nosed 14 yr old kid that hung around there and was treated like a king by the guys who hung out there...my heroes!! They later moved to a bigger store further out 44 toward Pleasant Valley...biggest seller was a decal where Wile E. Coyote had the road runner by the throat and said "beep beep your *ss".. Awesome thread....the HAMB rules!!! gaspumpchas
Anyone ever heard of Exhaust Specialties Speed and Custom? Out of Porland, Beaverton and Vancouver *I think*???? I have a spare tire cover with it on it....
I do not have a picture of the place, but years back I bought a mid 60's Popular Hot Rodding with an ink stamp on the front cover for Radke's....a front engine dragster with the name and address of this place...nothing spectacular, I'll look for the magazine and scan that cover/stamp if interested.
Still in business today. Current photos from their site: http://www.radkeautoparts.biz/ Couple of old Radke's photos. I dealt with the shop on 7th & Belmont..... like 35 years ago. Back then you'd see some very high quality cars there. They're still around. http://www.exhaustspecialties.com/ Another good shop close to them was Driveline Specialties. A few drag racers hung out there back when. I think they're still open too. Portland had plenty of speed shops and/or parts places, some with a great discount. Pay 'N Pak: They sponsered an unlimited Hydroplane and race cars including Jerry "The King" Ruth. Always had everything in stock and a great showroom. G.I. Joes: Early on, the parts guys didn't know they could order speed equipment as it was an Army surplus store with a small parts counter in back. Got some great deals after they let me into their parts books. Today it's a "outdoor" chain store. Thrifty Auto Supply on 122nd: Back in the day this was my favorite, these guys had the best sales and prices. I remember Cragar SS's for $29.95. Bought a crate LT1 in the 70's for less money than Chevy sold them. Now it's like going into a Shuck's or AutoZone, buncha' dummies. Super Shops: In the 80's there was 3 or 4. They'd have great sales with newspaper coupons. Not sure if there's any left but they do have an online store. Baxter Auto Parts: These guys would work hard to find what you needed. Really helpful on conversions and crossbreeds. The counter personel actually owned "built" cars and could relate. Still open today with 6? stores. Performance Warehouse: Right out of high school I worked at a newly opened parts store, so I got wholesale pricing at PW. I bought one of the first Edelbrock SY1 Smokey Yunick manifolds from them. I was picking up our order and saw 2 of them, they'd just gotten in. If I remember right, it was about $80. A funny side note about working at "Gary's Auto Parts" in the 1970's: Kmart would put spark plugs on sale for 29 cents and Gary would send me to buy all they had, for use as our stock. Anybody remember a custom painter "The Beard" on 52nd & Flavel?
I used to go to the Harry's in Grand Prairie in the 80's. I think it was their warehouse as they had a lot of stock in the 'back'. I think it was on Jefferson. I also used to frequent CD's hot stuff shop. It was in old downtown Arlington, but I don't remember the street. I think they moved to south Cooper street before they went under.
I wish I had a photo. I bought my first speed parts, a hurst motor mount to put a 331 hemi in my '32 3 window at the ACE Muffler Shop on Inwood Blvd. in Dallas in '63. In those days it was Ace, or Custom Automotive in Dallas. Thanks, Mike
How 'bout Hot Rod Exchange on Beckley? Took my wife there on our first date, Feb of '65. She always tells our friends she knew what she was getting into. Thanks, Mike
Yup, many of the younger guys don't really know what a speed shop was back then. You bought/traded used parts to build yours. You were among other racers sharing ideas and trying new things. Today, it's just a parts store. The old hang out, fun stuff is gone.
Vic Hubbard in Hayward, CA: ... and from the Vic Hubbard website: Founded in 1949, Vic Hubbard has had a name well known throughout the Performance Industry as the first Speed Shop in Northern California. Originating as a Speed and Marine Shop with less than 15 different lines, in a 1500 square foot building, which now houses our corporate offices. Founder Jerry Light was instrumental in bringing the performance market from Southern California to Northern California. Some of our claim to fame came in the late fifties. George Poe from TRW did not want their name on a 4" bore 12 to 1 compression piston so Vic Hubbard bought the forging dies to manufacture these pistons for Chevrolet applications. Vic Hubbard Power Forged Pistons were then distributed throughout the United States. Once TRW saw the success Vic Hubbard had in selling performance pistons, they came out with their own forged pistons that are sold worldwide. In the sixties racing was still a specialized market and parts were hard to come by, unless you were part of NASCAR or another racing giant. Jerry Light found that the 3 barrel Holly used on the 426 HEMI for NASCAR was a popular application that would sell very well. Jerry took George Bay from Holley to visit Vic Edelbrock Jr. Jerry and Vic persuaded Holley to build 1000 carburetors for Vic Hubbard in Northern California and Edelbrock in Southern California. Historically the major manufactures did not want to market racing for the general public, but as you can see Jerry Light had the foresight to pursue this ever popular industry to what it has become today. Vic Hubbard now has a new 35,000 square foot facility in Hayward (Northern California) that we moved into in 1976. In addition to our retail location, we also have a 25,000 square foot facility in Tustin (Southern California) that we use to service this area. Within these facilities we have one of the largest inventories in North America, consisting of over 300 different specialty lines, automotive parts and accessories lines.
St. Louis, Mo. area. Just this past week they bulldozed the building that used to be south County Speed Shop up until the '70's then it became Fantasy Coachworks. Maybe Monsterflake has something on this.
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