Today I cleaned up a distributor, the later model with triangular stem.  The wife was going to town and asked if I needed anything.  I gave her the distributor in a sack, and wrote on the sack "Primary wire for 1964 Ford 292 or early model Mustang"to remind her what to ask for.  "This is simple, and wont cost very much" I said. 

The dist. had cap off, primary wire removed but not included, nice big hole in its side where the rubber grommet goes.  The man at the NAPA desk said he had no idea what I was talking about!  She pointed to the hole and said the wire went through there, but no help.  Autozone clerks just went up a notch!

Mike, located in the Siskiyou mountains, Southern, OR 292 powered 1946 Ford 1/2 ton, '62 Mercury Meteor, '55 Country Squire (parting out), '64 Falcon, '54 Ford 600 tractor.

We are living in sad days when it comes to our expectations at the parts counter. Our local NAPA...I went in to get a thermostat for my 292 y block...simply asked the fella (ironically, this was someone older than me) to give me a thermostat for a 1964 Ford F100 with a 292. Wanted a 190 degree thermostat. He hit some buttons on the button on the computer and he told me, "We don't sell those at all."

I went home, looked up the part number online, and then went back to the store. Same guy. Can you give me this thermostat? (showed him the part number I needed). His reply, "Oh yes, we have plenty of those in stock."

I just walked out and shook my head.

Sometimes it is hit or miss. My local Carquest does pretty good, but they have some old timers in there right now who know what they are doing. They can do the computer thing, but the also know HOW TO USE A PARTS MANUAL!

Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

aka "The Hot Rod Reverend"
check out the 1955 Ford Fairlane build at www.hotrodreverend.com

What year did most manufacturers stop using conventional distributors?Likely the guy at Napa had never seen one and didn't know what it was maybe.Anyway I find the Napaonline website  very handy for looking up my own part#'s as Daniel mentions.

  

Points became a thing of the past in the early 70's. That's about 40 years ago. How many parts men do you see that were even born 40 years ago? We are lucky to have a Carquest here that is owned by a guy in his 70's. His best counter man is a guy that drives a mid 60's Fairlane that looks like new. Carquest goes back to about 62 in the computer, but they still have books and the stuff is still available. I still remember when the owner bought a new 56 Ford. I drooled over it for about 5 years until I was able to buy a used 56 Ford for $300.

Kenneth

Fredricksburg, Texas

Then there was the time I went into Autozone, gave the kid the part number I wanted, he walked up to his computer and asked, "what's it for?".

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

We have quite a few of those primary wires in old Eclin boxes still on the shelf at our shop, too bad the old man would just run you off if you asked for one.  "we're just a machine shop now, go to NAPA"

He sold the NAPA franchise 12 years back and doesn't like the new store in town so he takes it out on the customers, He's 90. We used to have parts men that you could put your old part on the counter (it's well worn wood with cash drawers and no registers, change was made in the mind ), the counter man would go in back, come out in a few minutes with what you want no questions asked.

   God Bless.   Tim                           http://yblockguy.com/

350ci Y-Block FED "Elwood", 301ci Y-Block Unibody LSR "Jake", 312ci Y-Block '58 F-100, 338ci Y-Block powered Model A Tudor

tim@yblockguy.com  Visalia, California    Just west of the Sequoias

The old school/new school explanation doesnt or shouldnt hold up here.  Even though the Medford Grants Pass area is small compared to big cities, there are old car and trucks all over.  Slick Sixty pickups are quite common.  Bob Drake Co., producer of Ford reproduction parts, is in Grants Pass.  It will be interesting when I take the same distributor in today and provide the same information.

I did discover that the C5JF dist. takes a larger gromet than the earlier models. 

Mike, located in the Siskiyou mountains, Southern, OR 292 powered 1946 Ford 1/2 ton, '62 Mercury Meteor, '55 Country Squire (parting out), '64 Falcon, '54 Ford 600 tractor.

Good luck finding distributor cam grease at NAPA. I guess tiny capsule/packets do come with the points they sell now, but when I tried to buy a tube, NO ONE in any of the three nearest stores knew what the hell I was talking about!

6 VOLTS/POS. GRD. NW INDIANA

Here in NC Pep Boys is the place to go to be waited on by the village idiot. I went there some time ago and asked for some plug wires and afetr a few minutes the guy aske me if the engine had air conditioning. Things are different now than when Dad had his parts store.

55Birdman  Hickory NC

Daniel, I ordered a tube of cam grease, primary wire, and new cam gear from Mac's today.  Also have the primary wire on order at NAPA (and the only problem was a grumble about the wire not being in the computer).  Needed two anyway.

Mike, located in the Siskiyou mountains, Southern, OR 292 powered 1946 Ford 1/2 ton, '62 Mercury Meteor, '55 Country Squire (parting out), '64 Falcon, '54 Ford 600 tractor.