Homage to the parts store era

[Rodney_Hamon]

 I came across a poem that is too good to keep to myself. My dad was a factory salesman back in the day who used to travel to many parts stores from the 50’s to the 70’s. He took the orders, came back with correct parts, did changeovers etc. He was also known as the “wire guy” on the road. I used to go with him as a kid to the many parts stores (before big box of today) and to the warehouse itself. Up to the day he died he could recite a parts number. Amazing. When I go to Napa or whatever I think about how it used to be. Sorry it is sideways!

[Plymouthy Adams]

[Merle Coggins]

Sure... after I crank my neck and read it sideways I see that Tim posted it right side up. ?

[busycoupe]

Back in the early 70's I used to frequent an old storefront parts store.  The front part of the store had a wood floor, tin ceiling,  and a long counter with stools for the customers and an old ceiling fan turning lazily overhead (in the summer).  Looking beyond the counter you could see the shelves of parts with  exhaust pipes and mufflershanging overhead.  

Now the parts store is long gone and the building is the home of an upscale restaurant.  ....   I can't sit down to eat there without seeing those exhaust pipes hanging over my head!

[Rodney_Hamon]

Thanks for rotating that. I grew up in Sacramento and my dad’s territory was everything north of Bakersfield to southern Oregon and a lot of Nevada. Yes, I was used to seeing exhaust pipes and  hanging mufflers on the walls. Fan belts and hoses.  Counter with a knowledgeable guy/s behind it who always knew my dad’s name. They talked shop. Then there were the shelves of stuff going into the back and many times the machine shop was back there. And don’t forget the parts catalogs. Their bibles. I kept some of them as a momento. My dad was always on the lookout for old dodge parts and he found them way in the back. He always had a station wagon loaded down with product. He also represented Belden and Whitaker wire before they changed. It is a time no more but good memory. 

[Young Ed]

On 2/26/2020 at 6:57 AM, Merle Coggins said:

Sure... after I crank my neck and read it sideways I see that Tim posted it right side up. ?

me too!

[Young Ed]

19 hours ago, busycoupe said:

Back in the early 70's I used to frequent an old storefront parts store.  The front part of the store had a wood floor, tin ceiling,  and a long counter with stools for the customers and an old ceiling fan turning lazily overhead (in the summer).  Looking beyond the counter you could see the shelves of parts with  exhaust pipes and mufflershanging overhead.  

Now the parts store is long gone and the building is the home of an upscale restaurant.  ....   I can't sit down to eat there without seeing those exhaust pipes hanging over my head!

One of my Dads buddies owned a few parts shops. One of them was turned into a pizza place! I think the restaurant is gone now too. 

[Plymouthy Adams]

7 minutes ago, Young Ed said:

One of my Dads buddies owned a few parts shops. One of them was turned into a pizza place! I think the restaurant is gone now too. 

 

they exhausted all their pizzas....

[Rodney_Hamon]

Good one. Trying to think of another pun  

[Old CWO]

I worked the counter at a couple of traditional parts stores (with machine shops) when I was a kid.  Honestly those jobs had more long term value for me from a technical perspective than any other place I've worked.  I learned so much I still use today:  pipe and hose sizes and fitting types, how to properly measure bearings and seals with a caliper, parts interchangeability, making custom crimped hydraulic hoses, basic machine shop tasks, fastener sizes and thread pitch by sight, clutch up-sizing, etc. etc.  This was just before the lookup computers became common place so I learned to be a catalog commando.  Love em.  Way more information in the old school catalogs than digital lookup by make and model only.  (psst.  Look in the back...that's where the good info usually is!)

 

[JBNeal]

The Saturday before last, I wheeled into NAPA about an hour before closing time (I had called earlier in the day to verify) to get parts for a battery cable that my elderly neighbor's International 384 needed.  The 2 kids behind the counter made a bet: whoever found the parts last had to buy dinner at the Sonic up the street.  I had dealt with those 2 knuckleheads before, so I figured that this oughta be good, so I officiated by writing down what I wanted and handing them the list for the get go.  To my surprise, one guy immediately whipped out a soft cover catalog from under the counter, while the other guy was searching the computer...the paper catalog had both lug p#s and was on the way to the back to cut the cable before the other guy had one p# pulled...the irony is that I had called 3 O'Reillys that were closer to the house, and none could look anything up because I was working on something not on their dropdown menus

[Frank Elder]

Too many bad experiences at Oh Reallys  for me to darken their door again, of course you are a couple miles away from my stores.

[Dan Hiebert]

My wife's uncle owned an "old fashioned" parts store in Bayonne, NJ that was originally built as an auto dealership and parts department back in the '30s, although Uncle Jack didn't get it until the '70s.  Still had some old NOS stuff from over the years in the top floor (which they had cleaned out before I got the old car bug).  They did everything by catalog, and customers were taken care of in short order, it was the parts shop everyone in Jersey City and Bayonne would try to get to, even if it was out of the way.  The coffee was always at least a day old, but it was free and everyone was welcome.  He and his son knew the PN of just about everything in the shop, and just where it was located, too.  I was there when a guy came in and asked for a "rear leaf spring for a 1980 potato chip truck", they knew what he needed, had it, and found it quick.  Uncle Jack died a number of years ago, his son took over and has since transitioned to computers, but he still challenges the clerks to find stuff before he does when he uses the catalogs.  Apparently, most of the parts manufacturers still have catalogs, just a matter of the franchises using them or not.

[Old CWO]

On 3/10/2020 at 11:28 AM, Dan Hiebert said:

My wife's uncle owned an "old fashioned" parts store in Bayonne, NJ that was originally built as an auto dealership and parts department back in the '30s, although Uncle Jack didn't get it until the '70s.  Still had some old NOS stuff from over the years in the top floor (which they had cleaned out before I got the old car bug).  They did everything by catalog, and customers were taken care of in short order, it was the parts shop everyone in Jersey City and Bayonne would try to get to, even if it was out of the way.  The coffee was always at least a day old, but it was free and everyone was welcome.  He and his son knew the PN of just about everything in the shop, and just where it was located, too.  I was there when a guy came in and asked for a "rear leaf spring for a 1980 potato chip truck", they knew what he needed, had it, and found it quick.  Uncle Jack died a number of years ago, his son took over and has since transitioned to computers, but he still challenges the clerks to find stuff before he does when he uses the catalogs.  Apparently, most of the parts manufacturers still have catalogs, just a matter of the franchises using them or not.

 

Sounds like my kind of place.  Well, except I'm sorta picky about coffee...

 

I don't know what it is, but all the cool "guy" places to hang out seem to be going extinct:  traditional auto parts stores, real barber shops, neighborhood bait & tackle, electronics supply stores, hobby shops, etc.   I guess we just order it all on the internet cheaper so there's no reason to go in and chew the fat with the local guy anymore.

[keithb7]

I've made a great living, from what started out as a Parts guy.  An official "Partsman", used to be a red-ticket recognized trade here in Canada. BC anyway. I went to 1 year pre-apprenticeship school. Studied all the systems and parts of automobiles. Air brakes. Warehousing, Inventory control...Everything. it was awesome and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I maintained high grades. It seemed I had truly found something that I was interested in. After that schooling, I broke off into Heavy Duty Equipment parts studies. Now I was at a larger trade school studying earthmoving equipment. Dozers, loaders, graders, excavators. I remember inspecting and measuring my first set of dozer tracks (undercarriage). I really liked learning about hydrostatic drives and axial piston pumps with swash plates. I tried to drop the term "hydro-static drive" into a sentence whenever I could with my common friends. It made me feel smart as they had no idea.

 

After about 18 months of studies I started looking for work. I wanted to work in the Heavy Equipment industry. Ideally at the local Caterpillar dealer I figured. I took a job quickly at at local Auto Parts store on the front counter. That was fun and I learned a ton dealing with people. I kept applying at heavy equipment dealers. I did get hired at the John Deere construction dealer. Not farming equipment, the yellow earth moving Deere equipment. Dozers, loaders graders etc. I was offered an official part apprenticeship which I completed over a 3 year period. Now I was a Journeyman Heavy Duty Partsman! I was happy.  I worked the parts counter for 10 years at that Deere dealer. Then I quit to go work at the Caterpillar dealer. 1 year on the parts counter there really opened my eyes at how massively large Caterpillar is in the heavy equipment industry. It was after that one year that I was lured into outside sales. I sold parts and service in a sales territory. Then later I became a machine salesman, selling new and used CAT equipment to various customers of all sizes. 10 years into the CAT dealership I had a pretty darn good grasp of the business.  Parts, sales, and service. However I had not really too much experience with large mining customers. So I made a move into mining. I worked closely with massive mining customers helping them keep their CAT equipment running at maximum efficiency and profit. I still do it today. I am in my 17th year at the CAT dealer. I started as a "wet behind the ears" parts guy when I was 20. 28 years later, I can say it has served me extremely well.

 

The companies I have worked for have spent a ton of money training me over the decades. So much technical stuff. Failure analysis studies is amazing. Today I still read and study automotive engineering books to really grasp what I am doing when working on my old Mopars.  I work and play around some pretty cool machines and people. The days of the official Partsman seem to be fading into history.  I have been very fortunate.

 

Here I am at work about 15 years ago. Just a parts guy who kept at it. I was sure excited to be out there. Still today, a trip to the bottom of a large open pit mine visiting equipment and customers beats a day in the office every time!

 

 

Edited March 14, 2020 by keithb7

[Rodney_Hamon]

Awesome stories!  Ahh, the term “sales territory” brought back memories as my dad was on the road a lot in the 60’s and 70’s. 1-2 weeks was normal. His station wagon was always loaded down. We used to go to the drive-in in those company car station wagons. I was always in my pajamas as a young kid in the back. Lot of fords. As a momento I have his “Smokey the bear” cigarette butt extinguisher head with the magnet that held it to the metal dash. 

[19vegas56]

I worked as a delivery man and counterman in a few parts places in the 70s - 80s on Long Island. I remember all the books for each manufacturer, all the stock on the shelves and the exhaust parts hanging from the rafters.

Now in Henderson, Nv. Last real parts place here was Pickarts, went out a couple of years ago. Old time countermen, were very knowledgeable, took as much time as needed to find what was needed. Great place for what you needed.

[Dan Hiebert]

Only "old timey" parts places remaining in northern Maine seem to be the farm equipment shops, which are coming back into vogue because the tater farmers and loggers are keeping/rebuilding their old equipment in/to spite all the computerized stuff that they can't afford the price or time to deal with nowadays.

[iowa51]

Growing up my dad frequented the local "Bumper to Bumper" parts store. Narrow storefront in the middle of the block but had an upstairs and a basement. Display area in the front of the store was about the size of a single stall garage.  But they had the parts in back and very rarely did you need to special order something.  My dad, and I after I turned 16 and had to buy parts for my own vehicle, got to know the manager quite well.

 

Then they switched the name to "CarQuest". Then they moved to a more modern (former restaurant) free standing store. Huge display area but limited rack space for storage. This location under CarQuest lasted maybe 3 more years. Seen the manager a few years later working at another parts store and asked what happened. He said 90% of his business was commercial accounts with deliveries and 10% walk-in sales before the move. Corporate felt that they needed more display space and an easier building to access for the DYI group. Couldn't keep enough parts stocked for the commercial accounts who needed the part right now and didn't want to wait for it to be shipped from a warehouse so they lost them to the competitors. Not enough walk-in sales to keep the store open and I think they blamed the manager even though it was no fault of his own and had a very profitable store before they moved. I miss that old store and not needing to walk up and down the aisles try to find the part you need.

[plymouthcranbrook]

DIY on modern cars is a dying  money losing proposition.  Most folks have no idea of what the cars systems are and also really couldn't care less.  One long time shop here has stopped opening on weekends at all and NAPA has dropped paint among other things. We have the big three (Auto Zone, Advance, and O'Reilly's) but only Auto Zones has any real business.  I gave up on Advance years ago after finding a brake caliper supposedly rebuilt with a frozen bleeder screw full of rust.  O'Reilly's occasionally has a car in the lot but not often.  NAPA has two countermen who know their stuff and they can't seem to find anyone else who does or is willing to learn.  I think NAPA lives on it's commercial accounts and Auto Zone on  at least some of the  DIYers but finding someone there who knows anything is problematic at best.  We only have one store with a machine shop and that is the one closed on weekends. When the owner retires that might be it for machine shop work around here. Have to go to the next town to get anything done.  Luckily it is a larger city and has a couple of radiator shops and a starter/generator repair place.  Guess in some ways I am glad my days of doing the more complicated stuff is coming to an end.