I always dealt with them over the counter in Chicago. In those days it was all Warshawsky's and JC Whitney was a less prominent subsidiary or dba.
I got some true junk off of them and some hard to find pearls. The area they were located in on the near south side was at one time a bee hive of auto parts and services providers. Berg the Jeep King. Many truck parts and service places. Rebuilders, etc.
I once went into Warshawsky's trying to buy a driveshaft carrier bearing for the enclosed driveshaft of my 1950 Chevy panel truck. Deep consultations in their catalog and parts manuals demonstrated that they didn't have any part listed for that application but a slew for adjacent years and models. They got on the phone and called a parts guy from their warehouses across the street. It was the first time I realized how huge they were. He came over and took me back across the street to find the part. The other side of the street, a typical mix of two and three story buildings probably from the 1880s, turned out to be almost entirely Warshawsky parts warehouses. He picked a building, led me into the basement with a >flashlight< and found my part among the floor to ceiling shelves in that basement!
