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Missing the tacky crap in jc whitney!

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  • Missing the tacky crap in jc whitney!

    What happened to JC Whitney? they used to sell the most tacky car related crap in the world, all kinds of crazy horns and bizarro trim things I miss looking at all that stuff!
    That awkward moment when you realize it IS your circus and those ARE your monkeys!

  • #2
    Probably several reasons . . .

    1. America doesn't make as much "tacky crap" for cars as it used to.

    2. J.C. Whitney is more far removed from its original entrepreneurs (Israel and Roy Warshawsky) and is now part of a big corporate conglomerate, and the result is committee-driven blandness and conservatism.

    3. J.C. Whitney's old business model (mail order from catalogs) was subplanted by chain stores (Pep Boys, AutoZone, Advance), eBay and internet retailing.

    4. Like other old mail order outfits (e.g. Sears, Speigel, Montgomery Ward, J.C. Penney's), J.C. Whitney probably hasn't adapted or invested enough to stay on top.

    5. The accountants have apparently reduced the number of "SKUs" (retailspeak for items offered for sale.) in the J.C. Whitney catalog to cut overhead.

    6. Debt -- the company has been sold several times since the original family got out, most likely saddling the company with a lot of debt.

    7. Overall blandness in the new car market -- J.C. Whitney started (much like George Pepperdine's Western Auto) selling Model T parts . . . a simple car to modify and customize . . . and then prospered selling accessories for a much less diverse group of new car offerings to a general public that was more "hands-on". . . . Now the market is flooded with a proliferation of bland, "fully-loaded" vehicles that often intimidate consumers from modification.

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    • #3

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        • #5
          I grew up south of chicago and always spent lots of time looking through those catalogues - they seemed to come in the mail about as often as the hotrod magazines I started getting in '79 - far before I had any idea what I was reading.
          There's always something new to learn.

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          • #6

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            • #7
              http://www.flickr.com/photos/2982194...n/photostream/

              Photo thread of the demolition of the original Warshawsky/ J.C. Whitney building back in 2000. The end of an era.

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              • #8
                I want that chrome plated distributor cap!
                Escaped on a technicality.

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by The Outsider View Post
                  heh.....that's my picture. I am selectric.org.
                  My fabulous web page

                  "If it don't go, chrome it!" --Stroker McGurk

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                  • #10
                    I have a pair of those cast iron cut outs! NOS!
                    There's always something new to learn.

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by TheSilverBuick View Post
                      I want that chrome plated distributor cap!
                      I'm leaning toward a car club plaque and some racing wheel discs.

                      I have several old Warshawsky and J.C. Whitney catalogs in my collection . . . they're packed with hundreds of pages cool stuff I wish was still sold today. For example, a circa 1963 catalog I have is over 300 pages . . . probably half a dozen of 'em on '50s-style custom fender skirts alone.

                      J.C. Whitney and Mechanix Illustrated . . . my first exposures to the world of hot rodding . . . and bathroom reading.

                      I once "spec'd out" an entire '63 Impala hot rod out of Dad's J.C. Whitney catalog when I was in elementary school. Mom kept wondering why I was taking so long in the bathroom after school . . . . She didn't understand that "throne racing" a J.C. Whitney build takes time.
                      Last edited by 38P; January 18, 2013, 10:49 AM.

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by milner351 View Post
                        I have a pair of those cast iron cut outs! NOS!
                        Dick Datson says you can use 'em to manage flow to turbochargers . . . I'm skeptical because of their reputation for leakage. But I've almost ordered some to play with at least 25 times over the years . . . . Never placed the order, though.

                        BTW, My DW2012 entry had parts from J.C. Whitney on it (Airlift "drag bags") . . . I would have run J.C. Whitney decals but the order taker said they didn't have any.

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                        • #13
                          I want to mount the all purpose illuminated compass on Red's roof so everybody else around me can see which way I'm going...
                          Charter member of the Turd Nuggets

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                          • #14
                            Originally posted by peewee View Post
                            I want to mount the all purpose illuminated compass on Red's roof so everybody else around me can see which way I'm going...
                            You mean so everyone can tell you which way to go?

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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Deaf Bob View Post
                              You mean so everyone can tell you which way to go?
                              Folks stopped telling me years ago which way to go because they all knew I wouldn't heed their advice.
                              Charter member of the Turd Nuggets

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