Auto parts stores and speed shops

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Unconventional said:
1998 they went under. A friend of mine was going to school in Phoenix and when Super Shops opened their store there it raised quite a ruckus with Loper's being the big gun in speed equipment there at the time :lol:
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Ahhhh, ok I guess they lasted longer than I thought, but still been a long time.
 
Got out of the Army aug 75 went to work at the Pro Shop in El Paso Tx. I was 21 at the time. I learned all kinds of good stuff there. Met John Quin who invented the MSD. He was a great guy even if he was into fords.
Moved back to IL and worked a little bit for Auto Masters speed shop in decatur before moving to Tempe to work for Mo-par or Mopar Performance or Car-Ron Wholesale. Wore differant hats for differant days. Went to the last winter nationals held at Ontario Speedway in California. Saw Don Garlits Kick-*** in the final round in the slow lane that day. Also saw Dave Benjamins funny car go up in flames. He owns a speed shop or owned a Chassis Shop in Albuquerque.
That was also the last race that the guy, with the speed shop, over in East Peoria ran his rail in. When he got home from that race he hung it on the ceiling of his speed shop, it hung there for years.
 
When i was a younger (teenager years) we had vic Hubbard and super shops. I think super shops bought vic Hubbard before they went under but id hafe to ask my buddy who worked there when they all went under.
 
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I remember going here in the '70s.........
 
Performance Centers of America were all over New England at one time. Great place to hang out and talk to the "experts". Used to go to the one in E. Hartford, CT a lot. I think they were all gone by the '90s.

We had a great place in my home town (Avon, CT) called "Motor Clinic". Harry Kulak sold everything you could think of, including speed parts, tires, etc... They also had some pretty good mechanics out back that could do anything. Even had a chassis dyno. It was the largest speed shop in New England at one time. They had an old '63 Pontiac drag car. Place is long gone. Building is still there:
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Then there was "Don's Automotive" on the Berlin Tpk. in Newington, CT. Still in business. Never bought much there, but they always had some serious drag cars parked out front, plus lots of old cool stuff to look at inside.
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Here's a photo that just surfaced. Howard Allen is the guys name. He's still around but not racing any more. Esco sponsored his car back in the 60's and 70's.

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Here's Howard (driving) in the 70's. Still sponsored by Esco and Central States Warehouse which was owned by the family that owned the ESCO stores. I took these two shots back in the 70's.

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We had Eddie Joyners Speed Equipment in Asheville, NC back in the day. He was in business for 2 or 3 decades, and finally closed up in the mid to late 80's. Now, all there is are the chain stores. Only 1 high performance machine shop, and the gentleman who owns/runs it is 74 years old.
 
These guys been around in our area since the 50's also. Still around today with speed parts and a machine shop for whatever you may need. If you need a 150 mph snowmobile you can see them also.

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I never got a picture but we had a dual quad 392 Hemi in front on display. Damn thing was pretty heavy even on a Lakewood stand. We reinforced the front with a pipe off the balancer.
 
In Lincoln NE here we had two speed shops, Raceland and Speedway. Raceland is long gone but was a great place located right on the main drag "O" street. And Speedway went on to become the world famous Speedway Motors. Speedway does have an excellent museum if anyone is passing thru Lincoln and has a day to spend- very worthwhile.
 
lemondana said:
In Lincoln NE here we had two speed shops, Raceland and Speedway. Raceland is long gone but was a great place located right on the main drag "O" street. And Speedway went on to become the world famous Speedway Motors. Speedway does have an excellent museum if anyone is passing thru Lincoln and has a day to spend- very worthwhile.
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I have bought some parts from Speedway. Good to see them still around.
 
I'm not much of a fan of Speedway, lots of Chinese product. But they stand behind it fairly well I guess. I buy some stuff there, just because they are so close.
 
69_340_GTS said:
Performance Centers of America were all over New England at one time. Great place to hang out and talk to the "experts". Used to go to the one in E. Hartford, CT a lot. I think they were all gone by the '90s.

We had a great place in my home town (Avon, CT) called "Motor Clinic". Harry Kulak sold everything you could think of, including speed parts, tires, etc... They also had some pretty good mechanics out back that could do anything. Even had a chassis dyno. It was the largest speed shop in New England at one time. They had an old '63 Pontiac drag car. Place is long gone. Building is still there:
View attachment 1715453426

Then there was "Don's Automotive" on the Berlin Tpk. in Newington, CT. Still in business. Never bought much there, but they always had some serious drag cars parked out front, plus lots of old cool stuff to look at inside.
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PCA had stores down into central Jersey. I don't know if any had shops as well. Bought stuff from the one nearest me. In part because I knew one of the guys there through autocrossing. He had a well set up Mustang fastback.
Only photo of it I have scanned in.
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Pretty sure that store was closed in '92 or '93
 
Had 2 SuperShops within 10 miles of me. Also had Santa Ana speed center (gone) and even Herbert Speed Shop, a mile from Disneyland. I bought a Stage 2 cam from Herbert's. I talked to some old guy behind the counter in a wheelchair about a cam for a 318 with 273 top end and he sold me his "Stage-2" grind off the shelf....Came in a brown shipping tube. Yeah, It was Chet himself! :eek: They also had an old cam grinder right on the prem. I heard the grinder was a 'little loose' and the cams that came off it were not perfect but I think I paid $49 for the Stage-2 cam. Ran great for me. Maybe 2006?

There are still alot of Import speed shops around, mostly air cooled VW than tuner shops though. Hard to beat Ebay on tuner parts.
 
pishta said:
Had 2 SuperShops within 10 miles of me. Also had Santa Ana speed center (gone) and even Herbert Speed Shop, a mile from Disneyland. I bought a Stage 2 cam from Herbert's. I talked to some old guy behind the counter in a wheelchair about a cam for a 318 with 273 top end and he sold me his "Stage-2" grind off the shelf....Came in a brown shipping tube. Yeah, It was Chet himself! :eek: They also had an old cam grinder right on the prem. I heard the grinder was a 'little loose' and the cams that came off it were not perfect but I think I paid $49 for the Stage-2 cam. Ran great for me. Maybe 2006?

There are still alot of Import speed shops around, mostly air cooled VW than tuner shops though. Hard to beat Ebay on tuner parts.
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That is cool you got to meet him.
I remember Chet Herbert advertising cams for $49 back in 1975.
 
When I was gathering parts for my early Hemi build maybe 12 years ago I found a guy in MA that had a NOS Cragar intake. He owned a speed shop for many years and was clearing out his old inventory.

I sent the cash.

A week or so later I went to the Good Guys show in Indy. There was a crash down the track... didn't seem to be a big deal.

Many weeks later I still had not received my intake and the guys phone went unanswered.

Then I got an email.

It was from the family of the speed shop owner. He was the one who crashed that day in Indy and he died in the wreck. The family was contacting everyone who had not received parts that they had purchased before their Dads death.

Wow.
 
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