I thought I would share my experience visiting the Mopar Mecca that is about 30 minutes from my house. To preface, this isn't a hate post, i don't know the people and I don't sell parts to compete with them.
To begin with, if you've never been to this place and you have a vision of nearly complete, rare Mopars lining the road to the place and beyond, leading up to an a brightly lit, paved lot with lots of smiling faces and people leaving with parts piled in wheelbarrows, you are going to be SEVERELY disappointed. From whichever direction you come from, it's rural two-lane roads with abandoned houses, trashy yards mixed in with some nice scenery. Everything at the location is fenced off and the office is a small frame building with nearly no place to park. I've been there twice and the impression was that wasn't much going on.The first time I stopped in, I wanted a C-body part. they didn't have it. This time I wanted a sedan windshield. They didn't have one of those either.
So, on this visit, there were three people present in addition to myself. I'll refer to myself as The Customer, then there was a Random Guy out Front talking on the Phone. Inside the office, there were two more people. At the right end of the counter was the Younger Guy. To the left was the Older Guy. The Younger Guy was standing doing nothing discernable. The Older Guy was writing Something Important on a piece of paper. The Younger Guy greeted me and asked if he could help me. I stated my request for a windshield. The Younger Guy looks at the Older Guy and asks him, "Is this something you want to do"? What do you mean, something you want to do? I'm not applying for a loan, I came here to buy a windshield.
During the entire time I was inside, the Older Guy never once acknowledged my presence. He kept right on looking at the Important Things on the Paper. He didn't reply to the question of if he wanted to sell me a windshield. The Younger Guy quizzes himself about which would be the correct windshield, like he didn't know. Finally, the Older Guy mutters six words...."not gonna have a used one". Count 'em...six. So, I decided to challenge this bastion of Mopar parts and ask them who sells one new. BTW, I already know who sells them in most parts of the country and how much they are. The Younger Guy replies that "______ in _____ does glass but not sure if they can do those".At that point, I depart, reminding myself to not thank THEM....they didn't help me. As I went back to the car, being an observant person, I spotted a '73 Dart sedan sitting beside and to the rear of the building. Yeah...you didn't have one, huh?
Takeaways from the visit:
1. They couldn't give a sh*t about walk-in customers.
2. I expect that the cars shown on the fluff pieces the mags have done in the past are mostly picked over and the supply of good parts cars is rapidly dwindling.
3. If you are not somebody they "know" in the industry and don't look wealthy, they will NEVER have the part you need because I suspect they have sold it all outside of really rare, Daddy Warbucks-level stuff. I'm sure it's there. When somebody that needs to build a car for a fluff piece or a show needs a part they miraculously have it. I feel like I should have said "Forget the windshield, I also need an NOS, date-coded 1968 Hemi block, do you have one??".
Anyway, just wanted to give the skinny on what a visit to this place is like. I won't be back...not just because of the Older Guy's dismissive attitude, but because I've had far better luck finding parts at local junkyards. Save yourself a trip.
