47-55.1 Aftermarket Parts

[Laid_Out_50]

Where do you guys like to get your aftermarket parts. Im looking for interior door handles for my ‘50 pickup. The one on the passenger side seems to have stripped internally and won’t engage with the latch relay

[mr48chev]

Most of the truck trinket vendors sell replacement parts that are made by a small handful of manufactures. I don't know who is selling the better quality handles though.

I haven't bought much from Brothers as their old online catalog drove me to distracton but right now if the sale price holds they have bothh door handles and window crank handles on sale for 12.99 each https://www.holley.com/products/inte.../parts/IDH4766
That is as of today 11/04/2022.

Classic parts has them for less than that and they ship small items in what ever size of priority mail box the pieces fit in and if you need a lot of small pieces they go in what ever size priority box they fit in and you just pay for that size of box. 2 or three days to get your parts rather than tracking it while it takes the scenic route around the country like a piece I bought for my OT car did last week. https://www.classicparts.com/Inside-.../products/820/

[mobileortho]

I've use these with good success:

1. Classic Parts
2. Chevys of the 40's
3. Brothers
4. Performance Online
5. LMC
6. Speedway Motors
7. Amazon
8. EBay

I do a lot of comparison before I purchase. Like mr48chev said, most are made by the same manufacturer, but prices vary from vender to vendor.

[mr48chev]

Shipping and handling is one thing you really want to watch with vendors.

As Mibileortho said, shop several vendors, just as I showed above, Brother's sale price is a couple of bucks each higher on the handles than Classic parts every day price.

You can often check The Filling station Fillingstation.com To see if a part exists as far as repro parts go as they list a lot of stuff once you figure out how to find it in their catalog. (vague search works better) They want 9.95 for the inside door handle. https://store.fillingstation.com/sho...&searchtype=FT

My experience with them says that they may not have a huge inventory and outside of fast moving items often order a part you ordered in on a stock order and then send it out. I ordered a park light lens for my 77 from them and waited around a month until it showed up but it is a very nice part. Meaning that if you are in a hurry you might be better off to buy from another vendor unless you confirm they have it in stock in the store.

Chevs of the 40's carries top quality parts but they will almost always be more expensive than other vendors. Here they want 15.95 for their door handle.
https://www.chevsofthe40s.com/dept/D...+Interior.html

Or if you really want to spend money some guy on Ebay says he has pairs of oem GM handles for 55 a pair plus shipping. https://www.ebay.com/p/656088948

[NWA58]

Brother’s trucks is dead to me now that Holley bought them. They had a great print catalog, good website and ran good sales, but they are now unshopable online.

[joedoh]

I like bowtiebits.com , mostly because they WERE local, but they have moved to mena AR. but their prices havent gone up as much as other places, I dont know if I will make the 5 1/2 hr drive now but I will miss hanging out there. they are in the middle of their move so back and forth a lot but that shouldnt affect the part sales.

[mr48chev]

Originally Posted by NWA58

Brother’s trucks is dead to me now that Holley bought them. They had a great print catalog, good website and ran good sales, but they are now unshopable online.

I've never been able to navigate what they call an online catalog. I found the door handles in the link I posted early by putting door handles in the search rather than going page by page.

[vintovka]

All the handles inside and out are "just" ok IMHO. Most are made with chromed pot metal whose finish is thin and does not hold up well against the elements despite waxing. The other issue is the both the handles and the tightening screws are soft and can strip easily. I replaced both inside and outside screws with good quality allen heads. Easier to use and less liable to strip. Even so i carry the right sized wrench in the glove compartment to tighten them up as needed.

[62c30]

Originally Posted by joedoh

I like bowtiebits.com , mostly because they WERE local, but they have moved to mena AR. but their prices havent gone up as much as other places, I dont know if I will make the 5 1/2 hr drive now but I will miss hanging out there. they are in the middle of their move so back and forth a lot but that shouldnt affect the part sales.

I didn't know they were moving. I would go in there or call every few years since he had the place in Park City and they never seemed to have anything in stock and I could never get a call back about parts.

[mick53]

I have a pile of Summit hats that I bought to get me over the $99 limit to get free shipping at Summit. IMHO if summit has it they are probably your best bet. My experience with their customer service has been great. They saved me $650 off of $6600 on my brakes over the Wilwood site. Wilwood actually told me to go to them to save money. I asked the Wilwood rep at PRI how they could sell them cheaper than Wilwood and he said "they sell a lot of brakes". Thank you for your time.

[vintovka]

Originally Posted by joedoh

I like bowtiebits.com ,.

Wow, Been 2 years and prices are nuts. Since when did the $5 instrument decal sheet go to $18?????

[mr48chev]

Originally Posted by mick53

I have a pile of Summit hats that I bought to get me over the $99 limit to get free shipping at Summit. IMHO if summit has it they are probably your best bet. My experience with their customer service has been great. They saved me $650 off of $6600 on my brakes over the Wilwood site. Wilwood actually told me to go to them to save money. I asked the Wilwood rep at PRI how they could sell them cheaper than Wilwood and he said "they sell a lot of brakes". Thank you for your time.

Actually a good thing with Wildwood. If you buy direct you pay full list price for the privlege as they aren't going to undersell their vendors.

A number of manufactures with Offenhauser at the top of the list won't sell direct at all. Several will sell direct but you pay their full list price. Some like Wldwood will send you to a dealer that you can either get better deal with or just as often is the dealer that they prefer to deal with.

I used to work in a large fruit processing plant that made grape and apple juice and apple sauce among other products. I did the maintenance purchasing and was the parts man for the plant. Quite often I would call a manufacture about a part and be told that they wouldn't sell direct and I would ask who their distributor/vendor was in my area and they would direct me to the distributor in this area and talking to that distributor I would find that they delt with one of my regular vendors who called on me each week. No one undercut the people that they sold through.

[dsraven]

anybody ever dealt with the guys in vegas? tuckers classic truck parts I think. been a few yearts but the fella i dealt with on the phone knew his stuff and the prices then were good. dunno if theyre still around or not.
I have had dynacorn, goodmark and oer(?), they all seemed to fit about the same.

[dsraven]

make it custom has a youtube on getting an aftermarket door to fit properly. its about the skin fitting the door shell frame and how it can be shifted to fit better. worth a view just for giggles. he has some nice videos if you like that kinda thing. japhands customs is also him.

[mobileortho]

Originally Posted by mr48chev

I've never been able to navigate what they call an online catalog. I found the door handles in the link I posted early by putting door handles in the search rather than going page by page.

I agree, their website is not very user friendly!

[fauXGT]

I've had alot of 'not caring much' from Brothers. They might send out a email after the order stating that the item(s) are backordered, sending the wrong quantity and then told the rest is indeffinatly on backorder. If you are NOT in a hurry, they can maybe give you a better price.
I prefer 'Classic' and 'Speedway' and others for specialty parts. Sometimes Ebay has stuff, also.

[mr48chev]

Speedway and several other name vendors sell on Ebay and on Amazon.

I've always had good service from Classic parts. I can drive to Vancouver Wa or Olympia to pick up and order from Chevs of the 40's or from Classic Heartbeat or even place and pay for the order and get my brother to run down to Oly to pick up an order from Wes if it is items that cost a bunch to ship. Wes isn't going too be the lowest price on anything but he gives personal service and is seriously picky about what he sells. If he won't use it on the builds he does he won't sell it.

[joedoh]

bowtiebits, especially if you need original/rebuilt parts. I did a 41 and bought a complete windshield with glass. do a search for A N Y O N E else that offers that. the next 41 i tried rebuilding the windshield myself to save a little money and he had all the parts to do it, even the connectors for the halves, and let me tell you i will never do that again. rebuilt gauges, etc, he makes a TON of parts in house.

he is closed right now, moving shop to mena arkansas, but still one of the best guys ever.