Thread: Good Buy JC Whitney

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U.S. Auto Parts to Acquire Whitney Automotive Group, One of the Nation's Largest, Most Trusted Online Auto Parts Retailers

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-relea...-99786634.html

Younger folks may not know much about Whitney, but in the 50's and 60's this was our Walmart of auto parts. Every self respecting car lover had a Whitney catalog and we read it often, looking at the parts and accessories over and over. Another one that is gone is Almquist. They had a lot of hot rod parts, even some of the earliest fiberglass bodies.

Shame to hear that JC Whitney is going the way of so many others. I ordered some stuff from them years ago like carpeting sets, exhaust parts, etc. They were very inexpensive and the parts were actually not bad at all.

Don

The old JC Whitney catalog used to be throne room reading like the Summit catalog is now. I hope that they stay in some sort of business as they were the icon of the fox tail and mud flap (as well as other parts) business. And yes, I did buy lots of dress up stuff from them. And where else could you buy a Stromberg 97 rebuild kit for $1.98 or a set of points and a condenser for a '29 Essex for $1.59.

RIP - the old JC Whitney

I read that on another forum this morning when this site was a down at least it was for me.

I worked in Chicago from 67 till I had to retire. My car broke down on the Dan Ryan in the early 70's being stopped in the middle of the expressway was pretty scary, anyway I was towed off the Ryan to a Shell station and was within walking distance to J.C. Whitney's big store. I got a coil went back to the station and got the car going.

A couple of years ago I bought a tool kit to take the clutch and coil off from an air conditioner on a Cavalier. The one part had bad threads, I called they paid for shipping and sent me a new kit when I returned the bad one. The phone person a lady was really concerned that I was satisfied.



Richard

Among us older folk there are probably lots of stories of stuff bought. I recall getting a set of pistons and rings for an Austin Healey Sprite I had in the early '70s. Also got some stuff for a 4x4 truck. Turned out some of that stuff was major brand product (logo cast on underside) but in a plain white box. Sort of like Speedway does today with some of their items. Never bought any fox tails though, I feel about them like I do about fuzzy dice.

[QUOTE=Bob Parmenter Never bought any fox tails though, I feel about them like I do about fuzzy dice.[/QUOTE]

Well now, see, right there is your problem Bob. You are supposed to buy JUST THE TAIL, not the whole coon! (And not liking fuzzy dice is just about un-American!)

Don

Here is a link to a brief history of J C Whitney

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JC_Whitney

To correct the folks in the prior replies, you never got
A catalog from J C Whitney.....you got a flood of catalogs.
If you bought something like $200 from them, you got catalogs
for several years.

On my first trip ever to Chicago, the main site to visit was
the J C Whitney location on Archer Ave....took up the entire
city block! Back then, I was not aware that it was in a two
gun neighborhood (two guns minimum to get in and out)

mike in tucson

If my memory serves me right, the catalogs were illustrated. No photos. All black and white and on newsprint. I ordered my first parts from there as soon as I was able.

I just bought some JC parts this morning; they've got a pretty good selection of weatherstripping; OEM and aftermarket.

having lived all my life(or first 50 years) in Chicago that was a place often visited but if memory serves me it used to be called Warshaskies before JCWittney they moved out to a south west suburb out side chicago don't remember where somthing like Burbonaies???

Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

Well now, see, right there is your problem Bob. You are supposed to buy JUST THE TAIL, not the whole coon! (And not liking fuzzy dice is just about un-American!)

Don

That's a pretty decent Daniel Boone impression there, Uncle Bob.

If you went in one door it was JC Whitney. Go around the block to the other door and you were in Warshawsky.

Back in the 50's and 60's, J.C. Whitney, Co., and Warshawsky and Co. catalogs were frequent arrivers at our P.O. Box. I bought the pistons and rings for my 8BA from Warshawsky, and some gauges, and a shift knob, and ..... and.... just for Uncle Bob, a pair of "Coon Tails". The grab straps on the B pillars in my '51 Ford had been removed before I bought the car, and the light housings that they were a part of were begging for something to be hung there; those tails just seemed to look right hanging in their place. Some colored bulbs in the interior lights came from Whitney/Warshawsky too. Now that I am talking about it, it sort'a seems like I made it into a late fifties pimpmobile ----- sort'a, I say, sort'a.

Seems to me they had stuff no one else sold. I purchased parts from them yrs ago for my A Bone.

Keith

Originally Posted by NTFDAY

That's a pretty decent Daniel Boone impression there, Uncle Bob.

Yeah, I told Pops he needed to get some tail and he just looked at me all kinda confused like.