Any remember buying parts from either mail order place?

Whitney always seemed fine to me. Almost everything I bought was quality.

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!

Back in the day, I bought stuff from JC Whitney. Seemed to be good stuff and don’t recall anything but good experiences with them.l

A friend of mine and I always got a chuckle out of the "engine overhaul pills" in the J C Whitney catalog.

Good place to order model A ford parts.

Those two places were always good to order Porta Walls and baby moon hub caps from.

The main mail order location was on Cermak in Chicago.

Warshawsky had a fabulous car collection/ museum in the basement.

The first car you saw when you walked in was a Gull Wing Mercedes.

Opera cars, sports cars, fire trucks, old cobblestone floor. old gas pumps , old garage.

Very few knew this collection was in the basement...I knew the fulltime mechanic that worked for Warshawsky.

Last time I was there was 30??? years ago....all gone.

I had some pix.....

Bought some stuff from J.C. Whitney in the latter 60's and early 70's. Never had a problem and was always satisfied. As a car crazy kid I spent a good deal of time poring over those old J.C. Whitney catalogs.

Yes, and the Herter's catalogs.

Bought some stuff from them in the 80's when you filled out the order form and mailed it in. Never had an issue, typically a good deal as long as you realized you weren't getting top quality for super cheap. That was when the chinese tools really started to get imported, socket sets for $2, some outfits threw them in for free with a purchase. They were horrible quality though. Many of the cheap combination wrenches were so soft that you could bend them with your hands.

Whitney's is still in business

They sold those right next to the Motor Honey at CarQuest.

I drove past the new Whitney warehouse last Saturday on Interstate 80 in Illinois.

Same here.

L.W.

Quality kinda like Harbor Freight.

....... Amazing, ain't it? You can check them out at : jcwhitney.com

Is Motor Honey a magazine?

I bought an under bumper from them a few years ago. It's still in service.

I bought a rear end for a VW bus...... torch cut thru the shocks and torsion bars....lol

whitney had everything. they were like the amazon of that era. some junk, but a lot of stuff for sure. you could buy everything to completely rebuild the old willys jeeps. bodies, fenders, etc. my brother rebuilt a couple of my dads old willys from whitneys. mcmaster carr was another one. i used their catalogs a lot when i started working in the field.

Western Auto as well.

Last couple of things I recall ordering from J.C. Whitney was a new seat cover for a mid 70's vertical twin Yamaha motorcycle and brake shoes for a Honda 'Big Red'.

Bought a replacement sealed beam headlight for the same Yamaha cycle from Western Auto.The replacement headlight was actually a Chevrolet part but was an exact match except for the branding logo and cost a good bit less than half what an original did from a Yamaha shop.

the whitney catalog was good reading material for the throne too.