a trip to the parts house

[IOPort51]

I was in a thread about a filler hose for a 77 CJ5 and some one claimed to have had help at the Auto Zone to find a substitute that worked. I was amazed that an employee of this business knew what a fuel filler hose was. Of course the mind started to wander and I found myself at “City auto supply “in my home town in the late 60’s and 70’s. The young man behind the counter was a major motor head that had worked there as long as any of us could remember. Howard could recommend a carb upgrade or tell you why the spark plug was that color and knew which of 3 possible oil seals your 65 mustang needed for the wheel bearings. They also had a complete machine shop for every thing from milling heads and grinding valves to shortening axle shafts, I can’t for the life of me remember why any body did that.

Now I have four stores all within rock throwing distance that are basically a 7-11 that sells oil by the case. You can’t ask for a motor craft 2100 two barrel carburetor, it has to be the carburetor for a 1968 galaxy 500 with a 351 Cleveland and air conditioning, power steering and brakes. In other words the little girl that is helping you has no clue what you are talking about and you can’t start in the middle of the computers flow chart. Just for fun try to buy a 4L-310 fan belt some time.

I miss the smell of oil and antifreeze and the VW cylinder head they used for a door stop and I miss standing at the picture window that looked into the machine shop watching a V8 getting punched out and a crank being ground. And I hope the counter guy,
Howard, had a good life and career and he retired and moved to Florida and spent his golden years in the warm sunshine. And I hope he did not end up pumping gas or working in a convenience store or even worse in an Auto Zone.

The only constant in the universe is change. There is nothing that says it is going to be for the better.

Does any body have any parts house stories to renew my faith in counter men (persons)??

 

[CJ]

Great post!

One of the reasons I shop Napa is that they seam to employ the old gear heads...

It's not that AZ or AA have nobody that knows vehicles (our AZ and AA have a few very well versed employees). It's that I swear Napa only hires greasy finger nailed workers...

The only exception in my town for this is the new O'Reileys... They have a woman ther who totally knows her ! She is an absolute joy to talk to! She turns rotors, uses the press and almost always uses the 'books' when you need a special item.

 

[LongHorn]

Great post!

One of the reasons I shop Napa is that they seam to employ the old gear heads...

It's not that AZ or AA have nobody that knows vehicles (our AZ and AA have a few very well versed employees). It's that I swear Napa only hires greasy finger nailed workers...

The only exception in my town for this is the new O'Reileys... They have a woman ther who totally knows her ! She is an absolute joy to talk to! She turns rotors, uses the press and almost always uses the 'books' when you need a special item.

X2 on "Napa", they still know how to use the books. Not just the computer.

 

[elwood blues]

x3 for NAPA. Just about every NAPA that I've ever been to has local people that know a thing or two about working on vehicles. There is a local place here called bumper to bumper, good local guys that will look up and at least attempt to get you anything you need, and generally have good advice.

 

[CJ]

We have a 'bumper to bumper' here also - but it is a body shop... Still great people though!

 

[BajaEdition]

I get totally frustrated with counter guys these days at the fast food type auto stores, I seek out Napa stores or the old independents. It seems there are no more professional parts guys anymore. It is a lost art I believe, and that is sad. I loved the guys who knew their parts, conversions and part numbers, computers ruined it all and now we can get someone to get a off the shelve, works on 30 cars part by asking a few questions and looking in the screen, Usually it is the wrong part.

 

[CoreyYoungCj577]

We have a 'bumper to bumper' here also - but it is a body shop... Still great people though!

Our bumper to bumper closed sadly But the Carquest here is ok, im real good friends with the manager and we always bull about rigs, or his harly or something because he actually is one hell of a decent guy and a great mechanic and he gives me everything at cost. Nothing better then cheap parts

 

[Jroch]

I get totally frustrated with counter guys these days at the fast food type auto stores, I seek out Napa stores or the old independents. It seems there are no more professional parts guys anymore. It is a lost art I believe, and that is sad. I loved the guys who knew their parts, conversions and part numbers, computers ruined it all and now we can get someone to get a off the shelve, works on 30 cars part by asking a few questions and looking in the screen, Usually it is the wrong part.

Unfortunately this is the trend of America, I started my trade as an apprentice, and I appreticed under a miserable old man named Ron, I had to meet him at his house at 7am every morning if I was early I was getting yelled at and told to sit in the truck and wait, if I was late he was gone! I had fittings thrown at me, wrenches thrown, called every name in the book, first year all I did was carry tools for him, to this day I still have the ut most respect for him and strive to be as good as he was, and still can hear him yelling and screeming at me to this day. I wouldn't change the way I was brought in to the trade for anything. unfortunately the kids today just wanna walk up to the computer and know it all, think they are owed everything, if you suggest a better way to do something you are talking down to them cause they know it all. it's very unfortunate and this is a true story, I told an apprentice while we were on the job to get me a pair of Dikes, he stood there laughing asking is I wanted a Blonde and a Burnate, when I really wanted a pair of side snip plyers.
It's a sad gentlemen for all aspects of the trades, it has lost the heritage that so many of us still hold dear to our hearts wheather its a machinest, pipe fitter, Refrigeration Technician, our your local auto parts guy, Take a picture as we are a dying breed!!!

Ok thats my Rant LOL but it truely bothers me to see what our Back Bone of America has become

 

[dalefan88]

ok i know what you guys are talking about. you just have to know which person to go to. i work at advance auto and so does my wife. i tell you what if you ask for anything we will find it if we can get it. i deal with the garages all day. you dont get put in that spot if you dont know nothing. i been there 7 years now and i do amit that you have to stay away from the young kids. you just have to learn who to go to there. at my store everyone comes to my store manager and i. i talk to my garages all the time and they always want to know what other cazy parts i put on my jeep that arent stock. they get a kick out of it. i grew up around cars and worked on a roundy roundy race car for a couple of years. i do amit i dont know everything but i do know parts and i can find them on the computer or in the books those kids dont know how to open.

 

[IOPort51]

the very next time I am in Ada Ohio and need a part......

 

[IOPort51]

Our bumper to bumper closed sadly But the Carquest here is ok, im real good friends with the manager and we always bull poopie about rigs, or his harly or something because he actually is one hell of a decent guy and a great mechanic and he gives me everything at cost. Nothing better then cheap parts

Yes Corey there is some thing better than cheap parts, a jeep that runs and can be driven on the road.
How is yours doing??

 

[dalefan88]

the very next time I am in Ada Ohio and need a part......

lol. i work in lima, oh though

 

[BajaEdition]

Dale, I hear you, but I feel to much of the workforce is untrained kids these days. I do remember the day when a auto parts counter guy could walk you around a car using a few questions because he knew the parts because he had to. With the advent of the computer, I can put a high school drop out in front of that screen and get him to sell parts because he knows how to read the next question put in front of him. OK, I see them, first they punch in make then model, then year, then they choose if it is engine or clutch or something, a lot of time they get that wrong. Then they find out the particulars till the computer gives them a number. OK I used to go to places they used books but half the time they guys knew a 72 GTO took this fuel pump or that ball joint. I also returned less parts that did not fit in those days. I believe if more guys got into the auto parts business for a career instead of a job this would change. But because of the way they have the computers programed, and the way they can get a lot of guys to do it, pay has dropped and less want to do it.
My main complaint is they keep trying to streamline the business. I had to go to a specialty brake store today to get the parts I needed to complete the custom brake system for my 67, the parts AZ did not have were: a 25 foot roll of steel brake line, 2 adapters from 5/16 to 1/4 inverted flare, 2 adapters from 1/8 to 1/4 inverted flare, a new brake light pressure switch and a tee for that, oh yea adapters again, and the remainder of the inverted flairs I needed, AZ only had around 4, and 2 tees, I also got my flexible hoses from the brake shop as AZ could not get me a hose unless I told them what vehicle it came out of. I was designing a system from scratch, I do not know what vehicle shares the hoses I want to use. Now at AZ they all looked at me like I was an idiot, at the brake shop I was in and out in 15 minutes with all the parts.
20 years ago any competent Auto place could have served that request. Not even handling the tubing in rolls? they only carry pre bent pieces. and will have it there in a day? and when you ask about a double flare kit they get a blank look and send you over to the tool they have which is a plumbers flaring tool to work on copper?
Rant Over

 

[CJ]

lol. i work in lima, oh though

One of my old manufacturing facilities was in Lima! I worked for Textron then...

 

[CJ]

Baja - I hear you... Butt.. (you new that was coming - huh? )

The times of employing the 'old guy who knows everything' at an auto parts store is long gone... I'm 46, and there is no way in hell that AZ or AA can pay me what I currently make and stay in business. Many of us 'old guys and galls' fall into that category. Some with dual incomes can get by (Dale for instance - one of the few who make the system work), but they are few and far in between.

The thing about auto parts stores is that they get it right 99% of the time (number pulled out of my )! It's just old geezers that need the really screwy part to keep our 1972 CJ5 going that have the most problems!

 

[Old Dog]

This is a great thread.
For me nappa ia out, my local nappa has no one working there that knows anything. The advanced auto fits in with nappa. My auto zone store has a couple people that are great but if they are not there your out of luck. We have a local store, smith automotive that still has a machine shop and most of the men that work there will take the time to find you what you need, plus they sell name brand parts not china junk.

It's also a good idea to keep notes on what parts, from what other vechicals you end up using, that way you know what to tell the az guy when he has to go through the computer thing for the part when your jeep breaks away from home.

 

[dalefan88]

one thing about chain stores. lie to them if you are mixing parts from other cars or trucks. i told some of the kids at work how this part of the jeep is from this and this part is from that. they were like .

 

[CJ]

Yep! Each part that I need is for a different vehicle!

Hello Al, I need a alternator belt for a 1975 Chevy Impala!

 

[kicknjeep]

Our Napa store has a few who know their stuff, BUT the parts are no kidding almost twice the price as AA's or AZ's. now my (unofficial) adopted daughter works for AZ in the Boro's and from hanging out and helping my son and I work on our/her vehicles knows her way around them. Now the look on some guys face is priceless when she does her thing after he rolls his eyes when she asks if she can help him. Also if I am using a part from another make/model on my Jeep I try to get that part # before going to the parts house.

 

[BajaEdition]

I know I know, I am a dinosaur in my own right, I am a IBEW electrician that still works retail, that is strange these days but we are grandfathered into our work, we rebuild grocery stores and make them about 40 percent more energy efficient when we leave. So the chain puts up with our salaries.
I only rant, I realize the reason it is the way it is.
And I keep a seperate notebook on all my jeeps so I can open it and say, "I need a rebuild kit for a 89 ford explorer master cylinder for the brakes.