Thought I would share this receipt I found in the garage looking thru many receipts I have accumulated since my gear head endeavors. This is from a time you could walk into a local hi performance parts superstore long time ago far far away.
This receipt was from the Burbank Illinois Super Shops store. I remembered I purchased these wires after I bought a Mallory Hyfire ignition box. I had a 1978 Caprice Coupe with a Healthy 350 at this time.

 

Great Video of inside the store. I believe all the stores were built and inventoried exactly the same. This is what the store looked like in Burbank Illinois.

 

While Super Shops is gone, there are still speed shops around, Summit has a DFW store. Don't know if Harry's Hot Rod shop is still open in Grand Praire. Jeggs, Speedway, and some of the others still have brick and mortar stores.

 

Super Shops was just a Tire Store that sold Chevy parts. Never could find an Olds part in stock.

 

Chevy and Ford mostly.

In 93 I was working at the Mt. Prospect Il store on Elmhurst Rd. I built my 455 with parts from that store, though I did have to special order most of them.
TRW L2323 .030 pistons (not speed pro) and they weren't forged.
TRW rings
Clevite bearings .010/.010 under main and rods
Mister Gasket gasket kit (the head gaskets SUCKED and I ended up replacing them with Fel Pro about 6 months after I built the engine)
Erson JB100 cam (in stock on the shelf)
Erson double roller timing chain set
Erson pushrods
Melling oil pump and pickup
Mallory unilite distributor (small cap w/vacuum advance)
Mallory Pro sidewinder wires
I picked up a used performer intake for $75
Edelbrock 1407 Carb

The only other cam for Olds that we stocked was the TQ20 which is Erson's 214/214 cam grind.

I had a lot of fun working there and made some good friends, unfortunately I have lost touch with most of them. Such is life I guess.

 

Oh....I forgot about this.

One day a guy came into the store asking about headers for a 78 T/A that he was dropping an Olds 455 into. I had been perusing the catalogs over the time that I worked there and had noticed that the same headers that fit a 350 Cutlass also fit a 403 T/A. So I set him up with a set of 3101's. He told me that he would let me know how they fit and didn't care if he needed to "make them fit" so long as he had a good starting point.
About a month or so later he came in and told me that they fit like they were made for the car and was very appreciative for my help. I sent the information up the chain and the next hooker catalog had those headers in the engine swap section for an Old 455 in a T/A.

They don't show up in the online catalog now. My guess is with Holley purchasing the company and the move to digital ,they didn't feel it necessary to include some of the older and less popular swaps.

 

They stocked a fair amount of hi-po Mopar stuff too - I remember them from my Atlanta days when I ran a 440 '68 Charger R/T clone with my Mopar crowd - I remember the huge circus that followed in the late 90's when they announced they were closing shop. Was a great local hangout while it lasted!

 

I Know off subject.I bought a holley carburetor from that Mt Prospect Il store in the late 80's.That store was a Sambos restaurant in the late 70's i worked there one summer.Nick

 

Our local store was known as "Stupor Shops" due to the lack of knowledge of many employees.

 

I knew that it used to be a restaurant. They have since torn the building down and built a bank on the site.

 

I still go to the winners circle speed & custom in Joliet IL. It's about an hr. Drive its worth it when I need something on the spot. They are well stocked and prices will match any big box vendor.