Stevens or Stephens Mopar Auto Parts

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Doberman2016

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Jul 27, 2021
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Location
Beech Bluff, Tennessee
As anyone had any problems with Stevens or Stephens Mopar Auto Parts?? I tried to order parts for my 74 Duster. Called & gave a list of parts I needed. Waited 2 to 3 plus weeks. Called every week for updates. She didn't know what the rear bumper was going to cost me. She finally told me the price of the rear bumper $700 plus & I said NO. She finally gave the phone to some guy because I said NO to the bumper. He states he wasn't going to deal with me for the parts I needed!!
 
Never dealt with them, but I will say I will never deal with Texas acres again. I hope they aren't in business anymore.
 
If you mean Stephens Performance out of Alabama there is never any issue with them, all and their prices are on their website. You must mean someone else...
 

Stephens Performance is a complete AMD seller of body parts. I've bought a few body parts from them at Carlisle and a pleasure to do business with. They are probably one of the busiest vendors there. A little bit of a wait for them to get to your order but definitely worth the wait.
 
The big money players in the hobby don't ever seem to have a problem with the junkyards that charge exorbitant rates for parts.
$700 for a used bumper that will absolutely need to be rechromed?

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Some people are too stupid to shop around and find a better deal. Because of them, there are numerous ebay vendors with multiple auctions for the same part with a wide range of "Buy it now" prices. The idiots in a hurry probably just buy the first one they see listed no matter the price.
Clearly, Doberman here isn't that type of guy.
I'm with you, man....I want the sellers to make a profit but I'm not paying more than I have to pay.
Ted Stephens does do a lot of business, or at least he used to. That usually means a lot of overhead in terms of his staff, insurance, other business expenses. Buying from his business always means you'll pay more than if you just searched around for yourself.
 
$700.00 is a chunk of money but I paid $600.00 each to rechrome two bumpers 20 yrs ago
 
Some times you have no choice but to bite the bullet and pay what the seller asks. I have a 74 Duster and the A pillar molding was eaten away like termites got to it. At Carlisle last year, I spoke with many vendors trying to locate those pieces. Dart molding were plentiful but not any for Dusters. By the way Dart molding is different and not doable. So I searched around and found a set for $300. Did I want to pay that much, No, but no other recourse. There was a fellow here looking to reproduce them if anybody had a good set and willing to donate them, but no response.
 
I remember Texas Acres, what a joke! I dealt with the owner through an acquaintance many years ago. I was asked about a stash of parts that I had, because the Texas Acres desperately needed some of them to finish a "restoration". Boy did I get taken for a ride, about a year later I saw Ron at a swap meet in his area. As soon as he saw me, he was quick stepping out of the swap meet. The acquaintance ghosted me shortly after that, I later heard that Texas Acres had been shut down and the acquaintance had died.
 
I drove to Stephens about 25 years ago with a list of all the parts that I intended to buy from them. They wouldn't let me into their yard and said they would have to order everything I wanted. I told them I could order them myself so I wasted a day. I thought it would be nice to pick up everything from one place. I was really disappointed after seeing their advertisements and then seeing their actual business. I have never even considered buying anything from them again. Just my personal experience, Joe
 
I've read about a lot of people who were less than impressed with Ted's business. I've bought a few things from him in the past and never had an issue. There was just a discussion about a bumper on here very recently. Another poster posted an ebay ad for a reworked and freshly rechromed bumper for the OP's car. It was listed at 2K. Is it over priced? I wonder how much they have in the bumper itself? Then, taking it to get it straightened and maybe some rust holes filled in too and finally rechromed. You think they're making a killing at that price? I bet not. Not in today's economic climate. I think that's Ted's attitude. Those who don't ***** about his prices probably have the best experiences. This has never been a cheap hobby. Somebody has to do all the leg work for finding parts, buying parts, having them shipped in, sorting and storing them. I bet old Ted's property taxes and business expenses ain't cheap. Everybody seems to never think of all that when they ***** about prices. Not to mention it's somebody ELSE'S parts so they can ask whatever the heck they want. That doesn't mean you have to buy it.
 
I would just look somewhere else. Yea, that price is too high. Did you check with Moparmarks here or Ratrod AL. You'll find one on this site for 100 bucks
 
RustyRatRod said:
This has never been a cheap hobby.
Click to expand...

I must take exception to this.

If you are talking about concours restoration, or high-end customization, then sure.

But if you're talking about fixing up old cars, or installing big engines and driving them fast, this stuff was dirt cheap back in the day. Buy a beat-up Dart and a crashed 440 Newport for a few hundred bucks, make a few trips to the junkyard, spend some time messing around in the yard with a chainfall on a tree, and you're in business.

Now, if you're one of those rich kids who can afford to totally rebuild an engine, install a tunnel ram, etc., that's different, but I was never one of those kids, and I doubt most of the folks on here were either. Between insurance and gas, I barely had anything left to put into my car when I was a kid, but I messed around and had a god time anyway.

Try that now. NOW it's not a cheap hobby.

– Eric
 
MDchanic said:
I must take exception to this.

If you are talking about concours restoration, or high-end customization, then sure.

But if you're talking about fixing up old cars, or installing big engines and driving them fast, this stuff was dirt cheap back in the day. Buy a beat-up Dart and a crashed 440 Newport for a few hundred bucks, make a few trips to the junkyard, spend some time messing around in the yard with a chainfall on a tree, and you're in business.

Now, if you're one of those rich kids who can afford to totally rebuild an engine, install a tunnel ram, etc., that's different, but I was never one of those kids, and I doubt most of the folks on here were either. Between insurance and gas, I barely had anything left to put into my car when I was a kid, but I messed around and had a god time anyway.

Try that now. NOW it's not a cheap hobby.

– Eric
Click to expand...
No, none of it is cheap for ME. I make it as cheap as possible for my situation, but it's still not cheap.
 
But it WAS, if you weren't obsessive, and you didn't plan on winning any races, except maybe at the occasional traffic light.

It WAS cheap once. A-bodies were cheap. Junkyard parts were cheap. Running motors were cheap.

That's why a lot of us got into this when we were kids. We could afford it.
Not so much now.

– Eric
 
A-body's can still be cheap compared to other Muscle Cars. Parts are going up though, that's for sure
 
MDchanic said:
But it WAS, if you weren't obsessive, and you didn't plan on winning any races, except maybe at the occasional traffic light.

It WAS cheap once. A-bodies were cheap. Junkyard parts were cheap. Running motors were cheap.

That's why a lot of us got into this when we were kids. We could afford it.
Not so much now.

– Eric
Click to expand...
Maybe a long time ago when we weren't payin attention.
 
Steven is a very strange fellow but he's not too difficult to deal with but his wife is straight up bipolar...I sold his cheap *** a 72 dart fender(mint) at show/swap in South East Tennessee...he was walking around with Mike from crossville....he wants something for nickels and charges 500% more
 
Look on Craigslist for Mopar parts in Crossville, TN. There is a guy named Matt who has a lot of stuff there. He usually goes to the Music City Mopar Club's show in Nashville, so maybe you can meet him there. @badlilred79 also lives in Crossville and has a lot of Duster stuff.

I've known Ted & Jackie Stephens for almost 40 years. Ted has always been fair with me, both buying things from him or selling him something at a swap meet. I buy ALL of my AMD sheet metal from Ted. He has invested a lot of money and time in our hobby, and we have all benefited from that. A HUGE amount of reproduction parts for our cars have been brought to market because of Ted's involvement and he is a busy man. His employees handle all of the sales and shipping, so they are busy people too. I can see how searching for a list of parts for several weeks and then getting told forget it would tick someone off.
 
one of my friends had a vw/audi junk yard made good money ,sold it off he said me and maybe 2 other shops where ok to deal with
everyone else pissed him off ,spend hr/hrs dealing with them ,just to have them say i can buy that down the road for $10 less
he said he got to angry had to sell
if you know what you have ,and put a price on it ,either buy it or move on
 
nutz said:
one of my friends had a vw/audi junk yard made good money ,sold it off he said me and maybe 2 other shops where ok to deal with
everyone else pissed him off ,spend hr/hrs dealing with them ,just to have them say i can buy that down the road for $10 less
he said he got to angry had to sell
if you know what you have ,and put a price on it ,either buy it or move on
Click to expand...
Can be the same when you sell on ebay, though it mostly isolates you from tire-kickers. I flipped a nice Edelbrock 4 bbl because I found it was the special Marine version. The guy who bought it wanted it in xx days to take his boat out Memorial Day, but wasn't sure he wanted to pay extra for fast shipping. Wanted me to phone him from the USPS counter and relate the various costs so he could decide live, while holding up the line. Forget that, just shipped it per ebay listing.

Another time I spotted a Sanden AC compressor on a late 1970's Chevy 6 cyl smaller pickup at PicNPull, with factory brackets so grabbed the brackets knowing rare and desirable. Posted with 12 photos on ebay and the research I did, like won't fit if your alternator is on driver's side (L). Guy asked for a photo and I said there were 12 in the listing, but ebay shows it already sold. He replied, "I bought it". Nothing else, so I shipped it to him in Dothan, AL. He left angry feedback "Didn't fit". Had never related what engine or vehicle he had. All his feedback for sellers was bad and unfair. Who needs that, so can see why the yard "fired a customer".
 
Never had a problem, bought a lot of things from Stephens. Never had any attitude were always very helpful and professional.
 
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