Warshawsky = JC Whitney - this is the end, my friends. Jim Morrison

In the 1970s someone told me Warshawski  was Whitney's brother in law.  No Google back then to verify.

I don't know what the world is coming to and I really don't like it either ..young people are working on cars with laptops instead of wrenches and now they've pushed one of the best childhood memorys and icon out of the business.. This is really upsetting!! I feel like a part of my teenage years have just died.On rainy day Saturdays I would sit down with my father and we would plan on what we were going to do next on our VW dune buggies.... My father's gone .....now unfortunately now JC Whitney is on its way too ....

My brother rebuilt a Jaguar 3.8 XK150 engine with parts from them in the early 70s.

Beagleman said:

 ..young people are working on cars with laptops instead of wrenches...

I am not a young man anymore. I feel like I should be, but I am not. JC Whitney was an out of touch crap filled catalog when I was a teenager. It was where the Honda boys bought their Alteza taillights and in line electric superchargers. They sold the ABS plastic body kits for your cavalier and light up washer nozzs for your mom's hand me down Camry.

Nobody who rook themselves seriously ordered from them. Not when Jegs and Summit could get you real parts in just a few days.

Now be honest. It was always this way. Be fore the rice tripe, it was barefoot pedals, Aoogah horns and suspension lift shackles for your 6 cylinder Nova.

It's been dead for a long time. Put it in the ground.

In reply to AClockworkGarage :

Yeah, it had lots of crap but I bought an Ansa cat back exhaust and an Autopower 4-point show bar for my '85 Nissan 200SX.  Not total crap, I'd say but the light up cat eye thing was cheesy. 

The first car I owned, a $106 1957 Volvo 444, got a completely rebuilt engine, a new clutch, and all new brakes courtesy of JC Whitney. All the parts fit and worked properly. Most of them were the same brands I later got from the import parts house a couple of towns over.

Someone mentioned the horsepower adders.  My brother and I wondered about the fuel economy gadgets - we figured if you added them all, you'd have to haul a trailer around with a big gas can in it to hold all the gas you'd be making.

AClockworkGarage said:

Nobody who rook themselves seriously ordered from them. Not when Jegs and Summit could get you real parts in just a few days.

Now be honest. It was always this way. Be fore the rice tripe, it was barefoot pedals, Aoogah horns and suspension lift shackles for your 6 cylinder Nova.

There was a time before Jegs and Summit existed, and J.C. Whitney was pretty much the only choice.  I once bought a replacement convertible top from them, it fit well and was very good quality.

In reply to stuart in mn :

And even in that time, you just got the PAW catalog! 



This was the go-to if you were doing serious engine building for a while. JC Whitney did have the market cornered for the import stuff though. 

Patrick said:

PAW was the same, when everyone else was setting up online stores they were still catalog/phone only

My 383 SBC kit came from PAW in 1989

Wow, PAW. Kicking it old school. Do we add Super Shops to the discussion? 

And bonus points for mentioning Aoogah horns. 

In reply to David S. Wallens :

Don't forget the chrome organ pipes for the 6x9's for your rear package tray! 

I had these from JC Whitney on my first truck, a 1/2 ton Chevy square body  

In reply to Tony Sestito :

Another classic.

I wonder if I still have a JC Whitney catalog somewhere.

I bought a muffler for my 1970 Citroen D Special from them. If fit perfectly, and looked exactly like the factory part, just sold by them. Imagine - a muffler for a Citroen in stock at JC Whitney?

Oh, and I think it cost $22 shipped.

TJL (Forum Supporter) said:

when i see an "old man truck" with generic accessories all over it, I still call it a "jc Whitney special". 

All you darn kids, out there in the driveway installing fake side pipes and continental spare tire kits with those confounded laptops!

Just gonna leave this here... 

I mean, they did have some stuff that was tough to get elsewhere - especially in a remote little nowheresville like I grew up in - but there was just so much garbage.  And they didn't list brand names, so you never knew whose product they were selling.  Was the carpet set from ACC or some mystery outfit?  Were the shocks Gabriel or Koni or Mush-O-Matic?  Were the pistons made by TRW, or just some dude pouring melted Stroh's cans into a sand pit in his backyard?  And who, exactly, was  still buying those stick-on van bubble windows in 1991?

They failed because they kept trying to sell old-fashioned novelty junk in a way that had become an old-fashioned novelty.  The kids and their laptops had nothing to do with it.

DarkMonohue said:

TJL (Forum Supporter) said:

when i see an "old man truck" with generic accessories all over it, I still call it a "jc Whitney special". 

  And who, exactly, was  still buying those stick-on van bubble windows in 1991?

 

:timidly raises hand:.....

Tony Sestito said:

In reply to stuart in mn :

And even in that time, you just got the PAW catalog! 

There was a time before PAW too.