After Pep Boys and Allied but went belly up before Auto Zone and O'Reilly. I really liked that store, but I can't remember its name. I THINK it was national, but maybe only California.
Anybody know what it was?
NAPA?
I don't but I miss my midwest regional parts house Ridge Auto... And J C Whitney too.
Check here maybe?
We went to JCWhitney when we were in Chicago once. Bare wood floors, high ceilings. We felt it was our duty to see it after having enjoyed the catalogs for so many years and having even BOUGHT stuff every once in a while. I still remember the leather "flight helmet" that seemed to be worn by a chimp rather than a man...
TRAK AUTO! Thank you!
I think over the decades we've bought more stuff from Pep Boys than anywhere else. I was really bitter that my Sentra (couldn't pass the smog tests any more) went to the knackers with a LOT of lifetime parts. They sold lifetime brake pads/shoes, for Chrissake!
And remember Lifetime batteries? We still have one that we bought in maybe 1967 and which has been replaced twice. Have to jump through hoops, of course, but if we were willing to go to the trouble we could keep getting them for maybe the next 30 years -- yeah, I plan on living that long just to spite the bastards!
Are you thinking of Strauss Auto Stores (aka R&S Strauss)? They were actually related to Pep Boys. Strauss Auto was founded by Issac (Izzy) M. Strauss, brother of Maurice (Moe) Strauss of Manny, Moe, & Jack. They were mainly in the New York and Philadelphia areas though. The company closed down abruptly in 2012.
As mentioned by someone else, Trak Auto.
Nope, totally unfamiliar. I seem to remember that long ago Pep Boys claimed coast-to-coast service even though all stores were in California except for ONE in New York. Perhaps it was another chain, but I THINK it was Pep Boys.
On the third battery since 1967?? Wow, that must be a darn-good battery. How do you get a car battery to last over a decade?
By not driving the car :-) It hasn't moved for quite a while, but that's irrelevant. Penney's sold their auto department to Firestone. Firestone tried to make me bring the van in for an inspection of the electrical system. I asked him to show me that requirement in the original contract. He just gave us a new battery.
Next time he tried to convince us to change the lifetime battery for a much better super-duper 3-year battery. No. Then he wanted to take out paperwork into the back room to xerox it. No, but I'd be happy to go back and xerox it for him myself. He gave us a new battery.
"Lifetime" is as long as we own the car. I brought the pink slip (Kalifornia ownership cert) with me last time.
I should do it again, but it's stressful and tedious and we don't actually NEED the battery, which is probably too big to fit in our cars anyway.
Still, that's almost 14 years per battery; very impressive! I don't blame you for hanging onto the paperwork. Might as well get one more out of them, stress or not!!
MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.