^^^^ The REAL money the dealerships are after are on sales of new(er) vehicles. They don't want to pay staff to work on or support older vehicles, because that doesn't encourage owners to trade in, sell or junk their vehicles and come in to buy something newer. Their other big money is service on newer vehicles, which is always more expensive. So they only train their staff to work on vehicles less than about 10 years old, which is about the oldest used vehicle they sell.

As for the chain parts stores, here's my short play again:

SCENE: Local AutoZtoned, 3:15 PM
Man (running into store, out of breath): QUICK! Call the Fire Department. My CAR's on FIRE!!!
AutoZtoner (behind counter, hand on mouse): Year, make and model?
(Curtain)

 

i like going into a parts store and asking the counter monkey for a distributor cap for a 1983 corvette!!!

 

OP needs to buy the Ford Service Manual CD on ebay. It's extensive and has most of the part numbers and actual names.

Also, ebay has lots of N.O.S. (New old stock) parts for these old IDI's. As far as I'm concerned, an IDI truck owner should be giddy about the availability of parts for their trucks. They don't know the tribulations of finding parts for the IDI van's and motorhomes.

 

Next time ask them for u-joints for a 75 Cadillac el dorado, it is doubtful they will know something that old is front wheel drive.

 

about 10 years ago i went into an autozoo and asked ht ecouhtr monkey for a T15 torx driver.
he gave me the year make model crap. instantly i said 1956 VW beetle.....and while you are at it, i need a thermostat for it too.
10 minutes later the store manager came out to see why i was still waiting. the counter monkey told him he was trying to find a thermostat and t-15 torx for a 56 VW.
manager shook his head and grabbed the t-15 off the shelf rite behind the counter monkey and started giving me a hard time. i told him "what would you expect? he wants to know year make and model when i ask for a freakin screwdriver"
paid the $4.95 and walked out

 

I use to work at Advance. Now I drive past Advance to go to Orileys even then I am selective who I deal with. I have a commericial account so I can research my own parts. Walked in the other day told the guy I need to order this part # started the year make bs. I also needed a valve stem for my tractor. Fortunately the true parts person(female) that I have known for years was there.

 

I went to Home Depot the other day to get some flashing for my house. The 10ft piece wouldn't fit in my car, and I only needed 6 feet of it, so I approached a woman in that dept for a tin-snips. She insisted they don't have that sort of thing. I asked her if I could just get a tin-snips from the tool dept, and she insisted they don't have a tin snips. She said I could go to the wood miter saw and cut it there. Almost in complete disbelief of her ineptitude, I rebounded that I needed a tin-snips. She continued to argue with me that they don't have tin-snips.

A male employee probably half her age saw the escalation of our argument, and he interrupted. He said to take the flashing down to the tool rental dept and they have a tin-snips I can use for free. Why do they hire such idiots? I hope she wasn't getting paid and was a volunteer.

 

I hate that crap and putting one thing you need and something that goes with it in another part of the store

 

i do not deal with home ripoff because of the idgiots they have working there.
we have a lowes 1/2 mile farther away, and all the people at lowes are retired trade workers. electricians in the electrical dept, plumbers in plumbing, carpenters in the wood dept running the saws, and building contractors in the various other departments.
if you ask a question, you get the proper answer from someone that has been there and done it many times over.

 

Well, here in Los Angeles, even the Lowe's has incompetent idiots as well. I figure I know all the **** I need to know (I'm an architect and worked in construction), so I'll just go to the closest place (Home Depot) and not deal with the staff. However, I just assumed a tin-snips was common knowledge. I guess not.

 

if it just a run in for something small HD here in town. Anything else drive 30 miles to Lowes. Plus lowes does 10% military discount on everything not the selective crap hd does.

 

There isn't a Lowe's in this area (I don't think....). Only time I go into Home Despot if if I stumble on an online ad for a steal of a deal. I'm in, get the item, and I'm out.

For pretty-much everything else home/cabin/land related, it's either Farm & Fleet or the local Ace. F&F is huge, but it's a Wisconsin family-owned business, they hire people who can find their @$$ with both hands, even the auto service and checkout people recognize you sometimes. The Ace is an OLD store, been there since 1911 or some such, same family ops for at least the last 40 years. Still have real narrow aisles and old wood floors. The old black dog sleeping under the counter died a few years ago.

There's also a Tractor Supply and a big True Value in the "big" (I think they're up to four traffic lights...) city out where our land is. TV is a major farm supply and rental place, so there's always knowledgeable people there.

 

I grew up in northern Wisconsin (Wausau) and I miss Fleet Farm, Farm & Fleet, Menards (before it went to *****), and Ace. They don't have any of these caliber places here in Los Angeles. It's aggrevating to have such great tool, automotive, and DIY resources for two decades, and then move to a town with 100x the people but 1/100th of the intelligence. There was a study done a while back that showed the more people occupying the room, the more likely the average IQ drops. That describes Los Angeles (and other metro areas) to a certainty.

 

Why you will not catch me living in the city

 

hey thank you for referring me to fordpartsgiant.com I seem to have better luck looking up part numbers there