Auto parts stores and speed shops

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toolmanmike

toolmanmike

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Back in the mid 70's I worked and later managed a auto parts store and speed shop. We sold everything from replacement parts, accessories and speed parts. That was a lot of fun back then when the muscle cars were hot on the street. Here's some photos. Thanks to @RustyRatRod for the idea. He has some stories to tell I bet.

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Here's some shots from our other store in town. We had 3 at one time.

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If you notice in post #2, all of the intakes, valve covers, & headers are for Chevrolet. LOL
 
Over 40 years ago my local speed shop was called Associates In Performance. He semi sponsored me with 10% over jobber, deals on machine work, quick service when needed, plus being a good friend. He was a diehard ford guys so we did our ribbing on each other but joined forces against the Chevy boys.
 
Our local Speed Shop is owned and operated by the son of the guy that owned and operated the one I used back in the late 70s and 80s. I don’t have any pics of the Dads shop, but here is the sons shop. That’s my GTS on the lift on the right getting the 2500 stall converter put in.

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Don’t see peeps smoking in stores anymore!

There’s a chain of stores up here, Lordco, which still has the speed parts showcased on the back and sidewalks of their stores.
 
Ddaddy said:
Our local Speed Shop is owned and operated by the son of the guy that owned and operated the one I used back in the late 70s and 80s. I don’t have any pics of the Dads shop, but here is the sons shop. That’s my GTS on the lift on the right getting the 2500 stall converter put in.

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The shop and store in Aston has been closed a couple years. They had MP right angle adpater gasket package and some other things like that in stock when I needed. That was pretty good.
Found a website with the same name saying they have shop in West Chester and another in Oxford.
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H22A4 said:
Don’t see peeps smoking in stores anymore!

There’s a chain of stores up here, Lordco, which still has the speed parts showcased on the back and sidewalks of their stores.
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Those guys were probably smoking something else in the back room. LOL It was the 70's you know. I fired a guy at my store for selling during business hours.
 
yeah, I noticed the smoking.... LOL. I didn't work at a auto parts store, but there was a Western Auto I'd go to when I was in my early teens. The store owner talked to me for lengths of time about performance parts, cams, etc. At the time, he had a 9.20 @ 150mph Cordoba drag car. I helped him put his tunnel ram on, and watched him run it at Cordova. He sold the store and went to Coan transmissions to work. Never saw or heard hide or tail from him again.
 
Really cool, Mike. Those bring back some good memories.
 
Mattax said:
The shop and store in Aston has been closed a couple years. They had MP right angle adpater gasket package and some other things like that in stock when I needed. That was pretty good.
Found a website with the same name saying they have shop in West Chester and another in Oxford. View attachment 1715453096
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The shop in West Chester and Oxford is the other brother. Chris (who’s shop my car was in) is now doing business under Market Street Auto in Marcus Hook. His dad closed the original Aston shop years ago, but Chris opened another one in Aston later that he just closed a couple of years ago before opening the new one in Marcus Hook.

Chris is a good friend and has even come to do work in my garage on my GTS. I’ve known him since the early 80s when he worked at his dads place. His dad is still running around, just saw him a few months ago.
 
9 years in parts myself. Counting the ford dealership almost 10.
No pictures. Was before i could afford a cell phone.
 
My family owned and operated an automotive machine, parts, speed shop from 1952 untill we sold out to autozone in 2008.

It still makes me said that the shop is what it is now.

Last time i went in the store all the machines are gone as are all the speed parts. The back bays where we did repairs and machine work are just racks with parts now.

We were "Tadlocks auto supply" in east palo alto.

The said thing is we would still be in business but the auto zone guys straight up told us in one of the meetings that, "you can sell to us or we will open up across the street and put you out of business."

That was it, almost 60 years of taking care of folks gone with the stroke of a pen....

But then i wouldn't be running my own custom fab shop so maybe things do happen for a reason?

One good thing is we still own the building so we get to stick it to the corporate office each month.

Back when i was a kid my folks would get pissed if i bought something at a chain parts store. Support small businesses, support the community, no more....
 
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Our local Interstate auto parts store sold some speed parts back before Fisher took over, I bought my first set of new craigers there, we had a Supershops in Louisville, that was one of my favorites I sure miss those days, looking at the pictures really takes me back, Thanks Mike!
 
I only have a sticker on my tool box, but here was our serious speed shop back in Tidewater VA, Southern Performance Center. Check out the Appliance Headers decal below! Who remembers them?
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Hyper_pak said:
I only have a sticker on my tool box, but here was our serious speed shop back in Tidewater VA, Southern Performance Center. Check out the Appliance Headers decal below! Who remembers them?View attachment 1715453202
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I remember! White with square, 4 bolt collectors. I think they advertised being a heavier gauge than others, too.

One shop's owner used the "f" word about 3 times in every sentence!
 
SpeedThrills said:
I remember! White with square, 4 bolt collectors. I think they advertised being a heavier gauge than others, too.

One shop's owner used the "f" word about 3 times in every sentence!
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I don't know what happened to AP. They were good stuff.
 
Jay's Bike Shop in the old country. Schwinns on one side of the store, Cragar, Hooker, Edelbrock, etc. on the other. :D "Let's go to San Bernardino Racing/Super Shops." was one of our favorite getaways on those long boring desert summer days :lol:.
 
MileHighDart said:
Denver area had the SuperShops automotive performance centers. But thinking they went under in the late 80's
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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:
 
MileHighDart said:
Denver area had the SuperShops automotive performance centers. But thinking they went under in the late 80's
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I think Lopers Speed Shop in Phoenix was a super shop. I understand they got busted for transporting drugs in their car haulers. lol
 
The only decent speed shop that i used is gone. The owner was knowledgeable but kind of gruff.
Still a smart guy. His dad, the original speed shop owner passed and it closed shortly after.
There are a couple more in the city, guess i will have to stop in and see what they offer.
 
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