motorheads

[mike phillips]

are there any speed shops left in your town? seems like summit and jegs are the big boys of hottie car parts. slp is on its way for the new car crowd. there use to be all kind of mom & pops run speed shops in the 70s-80s. just wonderin if there was anywhere still left you could pick up a set of headers, cam, intake, carb without goin mail order. we use to live at this one speed shop. everyone knew everyone. we would get pizzas and pepsis and bench race until mornin light. i sure do miss those days. share your stories from days of old. thanks, mike

[tplyons]

nothing around here. we don't even have any pep boys or autozones within 25 miles. napa closed in town, and the other one locally is open until 1 pm and not on weekends. can't even buy spark plugs locally without making a half-day out of it.

[Pilgrim]

Nope. Most of the kids don't know anything about cars other than how to turn the key (and their driving stinks), and the ones who do know mechanical work are rapidly finding it beyond their ability to do much to cars that are increasingly computer controlled.

Making a car a "hot rod" now is adding colored and chromed parts to the engine, a big wing, a loud farty exhaust and ground effects panels. No engine work (except maybe a chip), no tranny work, pure cosmetics. Pass.

I've been working on cars since 1967 and plan to hang onto my 1983 280ZX Turbo. At least it's easy to work on.

[playinpearls]

i'm in atlanta, does summit count still? lol

[The Golden Boy]

Man "speed shop" brings back memories...

I think the place that was a speed shop when I was a kid (where you'd get the yellow KC lights) is now a shoe repair place- another place that's going to be pretty rare.

[mike phillips]

nothin from colorado to jersey so far. sad. i spent so much of my youth at these stores. i never dated in high school but my steady was a 455 olds. oh how i loved her. problem was gettin olds parts.

[toytech]

Vic Hubbards in Hayward, but the mail order killed off the rest. Pep boys doesn't count.
There are a few specialty shops and tuners of note such as Turbo Hoses.

[Kelly Lee]

We have Don's Hot Rod and Townsend's Performance.

I guess we are pretty lucky here in Tucson.

[iamlowsound]

There is an auto parts shop in town. A custom sport bike shop http://rccturbos.com/ check out "Richard's bike", a 550 hp hayabusa drag bike that does a 1/4 in 7 and some odd seconds. We also have a guy that builds custom choppers/harleys http://www.eagleslandingontario.com/ (he does my work). We also have a hot rod shop some 20 minutes out side of town, never dropped in, but they always have some sweet cars sitting out front. I guess I am lucky.

lowsound

[MoD_Scotty]

There's a decent speed shop in town, but they don't really carry anything. There's a couple good machine shops that will do all kinds of custom stuff (everything from port&polish to custom driveshafts).

The only shops here that catered to imports (what I'm into) either came and went in a matter of weeks, or are completely shady. There's ONE shop here that has a dyno, but half the time, they can't figure out how to use it. On top of that, they're notorious for stealing stuff out of people's cars, taking months to do simple work, and generally being complete hacks.

So I do all the work myself, and I order parts online. We've got regular parts stores for the mundane stuff, but I hate that I have to drive 2.5hrs to Atlanta to get a decent tune.

[Spector_Ray]

We've got a local mom and pop speed shop. Super Shops was the shiznit back in the day before they went belly up. I used to buy all my stuff from there. I also had a lot of stuff on layaway when they went bankrupt. They also had the coolest radio commercials.

[buzzbass]

Originally Posted by mike phillips

are there any speed shops left in your town? seems like summit and jegs are the big boys of hottie car parts. slp is on its way for the new car crowd. there use to be all kind of mom & pops run speed shops in the 70s-80s. just wonderin if there was anywhere still left you could pick up a set of headers, cam, intake, carb without goin mail order. we use to live at this one speed shop. everyone knew everyone. we would get pizzas and pepsis and bench race until mornin light. i sure do miss those days. share your stories from days of old. thanks, mike

nope, last one just closed a few weeks ago. It's Jegs or Summit for me now. Or, one of the Dakota/Mopar specific vendors out there, on the boards I frequent. It's shame, I miss going to the speed shop and hanging out, like we did as high school kids.

[buzzbass]

Originally Posted by tplyons

nothing around here. we don't even have any pep boys or autozones within 25 miles. napa closed in town, and the other one locally is open until 1 pm and not on weekends. can't even buy spark plugs locally without making a half-day out of it.

I know I aske you this before, but where is Madison NJ ? Not even a pep boys ? Heck, we have them and VatoZone in Howell

[whoapower]

There are some here locally. They are difficult to keep stock for items that are not too common. The internet has cut the prices down and it is all about service and installation and you or they can order up the parts.

www.soulspeed.com is a local suspension shop
www.jcautospec.com is another
www.mzmperformance.com

There are others here in Austin, but I support those three shops. I've outgrown the street racing scene, but enjoy some bench racing from time to time - so long as someone has some first hand experience in cars. But, I still venture out to the track a handful of times a year. Just returned from CA a few weeks ago to drive in the 24 Hours of LeMons... but that is another topic.

[mike phillips]

thank you for all the stuff underlined in blue. i will check them all out. i remember super shops and their top fuel car driven by eddie hill. first in the fours. hey, what ever happened to eddie hill and ersie?

[tplyons]

Originally Posted by buzzbass

I know I aske you this before, but where is Madison NJ ? Not even a pep boys ? Heck, we have them and VatoZone in Howell

Next to Morristown, Chatham, Florham Park. Nearest Autozone to me is Parsippany.

[Mike N]

There's still a few places left in western NY, and alot of chassis shops too.

Even with the economy in the toilet, these places survive rather well.

[Mike N]

Originally Posted by mike phillips

thank you for all the stuff underlined in blue. i will check them all out. i remember super shops and their top fuel car driven by eddie hill. first in the fours. hey, what ever happened to eddie hill and ersie?

I miss Eddie, Ersie, their dog Peanut and long time crewchief Fuzzy Carter. Great people, and one heck of a racer.

Sadly, Fuzzy Carter passed away some years ago.

[Spector_Ray]

Eddie Hill runs a power sports business in Wichita Falls, TX.

[mike phillips]

wow. fuzzy and peanut. i really liked that bunch. to bad about ole fuzzy. eddie was always a happy sort. to bad time has forgotten most of racins heros.