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Old 01-10-2014, 07:28 AM   #1
raceron1120
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Default Old Parts Department photo

Oh how I'd love to have a way-back machine! This looks to be mid/late 40s, maybe a bit earlier.


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Old 01-10-2014, 08:14 AM   #2
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Default Re: Old Parts Department photo

Interesting layout. No real parts counter. I see the cashier"s office on the left. They also sold a bit of non Ford parts. Very common back then. Nowadays, they're leaned on to stay strictly Ford.
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Old 01-10-2014, 03:02 PM   #3
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Thanks...cool pic!
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Old 01-10-2014, 11:01 PM   #4
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I love old parts stores. The first time I went into Ford Obsolete in Long Beach, CA I thought I had found wrench Disneyland.
Interesting factoid; Bob Drake took me there. Introduced me to the guys in the shop. We were in our early 20s then. Don't know him now. It's been more than 40 years ago.
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Old 01-10-2014, 11:27 PM   #5
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I don't have any photos but have memories. I bought my first car a 35 Ford coupe for $7.50 in 1948. The engine smoked bad and I was rebuilding the engine with instructions from the Ford mechanics at the local dealership Albertini Ford in Pa. I would walk about 2 miles through the cornfield and get info and parts, they also lent me tools like a spline shaft to align the clutch plate. One day the parts guy ED Broffy(not sure of spelling) said here kid take this home and hang it up in your garage it's been sitting around here for years. It was a brand new Ford oval sign about 2 feet long from I guess the 30's. I hung it in the garage and still have it in my current garage in Pa. I guess I should print the history of it and attach it to the sign. G.M.
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Old 01-11-2014, 03:38 AM   #6
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Like GM I bought my first Ford, a UK 8hp Y-Type for ten shillings....that's less than a dollar ! It had no brakes to speak of; about six inches free play on the steering wheel, a hole in the wooden floor just above the hole in the exhaust. Death wobble over 25mph. The lights worked.....well sort of . I called it Nicola after my current girlfriend.
We parted shortly after.....

"Hoppy Hopkins" our local Ford parts man knew virtually every pre war parts number in his head. You'd ask him for a part....he'd write the number on the back of his hand and appear with it. Shortly after the advent of the computer he retired.
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Old 01-11-2014, 10:10 AM   #7
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Default Re: Old Parts Department photo

Cool pic Ron. They sure don't make em' like that anymore.

As far as Ford not wanting dealers selling non-Ford parts, what about all the dealers that have a NAPA store attached to them now.

I also have one of those Ford oval signs from a parts dept. Picked mine up back in 68 at the 1st Ford dealer I worked at. Hettche Ford, Detroit. They were just going to throw it out. No telling how old it is.
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Old 01-11-2014, 11:24 AM   #8
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I have not been in Little Dearborn since I moved south 15 years ago. At that time, stepping through the front door was like going back to that time. If your travels take you through Minneapolis, look into a stop. They are easy to find, just a few blocks off the Interstate. Very nice people to do business with too.
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Old 01-11-2014, 07:18 PM   #9
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Brighton (MI) Ford is affiliated with the NAPA store, not sure how though. I worked as counterman and Parts Manager at several dealerships over the years. Everything from cars to line-haul heavy truck parts. When in heavy truck Ford had partnerships with the suppliers (Rockwell, Eaton, Fuller, New Holland, etc.); orders went thru Supplier Direct Ship - the stuff came in vendor packaging but invoices from Ford. And the Ford district parts rep would come in to the department and sometimes comment on the non-Ford car parts. I pretty-much told him if Ford could provide like-items at competitive pricing I would certainly stock it. Not much was said after that.

Another short story, I worked at a small dealership in northern Michigan in the 70s; often the former parts guy (he was in his 70s or 80s at the time) would stop by to BS, he'd tell about how parts came in via train and they'd park a train-car behind the shop on a siding to unload. He said in the 30s, they could nearly build an entire vehicle out of the parts department if necessary. That old dealership building still had a stash of obsolete parts tucked away in the rafters upstairs. Most of it ended up in the dumpster when they moved to another building. I cringe to think what stuff was up there that ended up in the landfill.

But I loved listening to Ernie's stories about 'the good old days'.
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Old 01-11-2014, 09:29 PM   #10
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Default Re: Old Parts Department photo

The parts had no value at the time they were scrapped. Today all metal parts such as hoods, quarter panels, bumper reinforcements , etc... are scrapped at the dealer's facing parts depot. All gets shredded. That way Ford can say they recycle and save the expense of returning heavy parts to the National parts depot in Detroit where sheetmetal is originally shipped from.
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Old 01-12-2014, 04:59 AM   #11
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I sent many $$$ worth of "PIPP" stuff to NPD, also delivered much of it there myself. Saw hundreds of metal cage/bins loaded with 'scrap' awaiting its disposition.

Much of the stuff in that old dealership I mention earlier didn't include very much sheet metal. I went thru some of the boxes, - tail lights, headlight assemblies, vent window assemblies, engine overhaul kits in wooden boxes...And the books! - Yes I agree, it wasn't worth much at the time.
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Old 01-12-2014, 03:57 PM   #12
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Default Re: Old Parts Department photo

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bolts View Post
I love old parts stores. The first time I went into Ford Obsolete in Long Beach, CA I thought I had found wrench Disneyland.
Interesting factoid; Bob Drake took me there. Introduced me to the guys in the shop. We were in our early 20s then. Don't know him now. It's been more than 40 years ago.
Hey Bolts; If you walked in Obsolete Ford parts, and turned right to the front counter you were face to face with MY BROTHER Charley and a good fiend of Bob Drake, he sold Bobs home made glove box's and took order for them, and how Bob got started ?? and talk about NOS stuff Charley had first change at all that came in the back door. someday there will be a big yard sale at his 21 stud shop....OLD....BILL
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Old 01-13-2014, 04:12 PM   #13
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Default Re: Old Parts Department photo

I agree the picture looks like the Little Dearborn store in Minneapolis today.
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Old 01-13-2014, 05:33 PM   #14
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I started at Sample-Hart Ford in 1973 at the parts counter. Then it was the oldest Ford dealer in Nebraska. It was started about 1910-1912 by W.C. Sample. When I started, WC was in his 90's but still came in at least once a week. He knew Henry personally and loved telling us young whippersnapppers stories about him. Now I'm 61 and working there again after an early retirement from a local gov't job.
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Old 01-20-2014, 07:33 PM   #15
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Default Re: Old Parts Department photo

Another old Ford Dealership Parts Department photo. I don't remember where I found it online:


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Old 01-21-2014, 12:49 AM   #16
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If I could turn all this stuff and cram it into a time machine, it would turn up at my place just as I cracked the top off a cold beer and tuned the radio ( as my old flattie farted and gurgled in the background ) to Eric Clapton playing Layla! You old guys seem to have the cars AND THE STORIES!
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