Discussion Forum - Northstar Chevelle Club

bowtie · Secretary

CA Performance inventory at auction on K-Bid

SShink · 3K+ Club

Sorry to hear of one of the last performance parts shops in the area closing down. I guess we won't be having any more meetings there... I don't think there are any other performance parts shops left?

Without Auto City Classics for Chevelle/El Camino/Impala parts, that's all I know of.

Lost in the 60s · President

He never did promote the parts side of the business enough to get it off the ground. He only had a part time counter man that worked evenings. I worked for them for a few weeks a couple years ago, trying to put the Duster together but he never had any money for necessary parts.

bowtie · Secretary

There is still http://www.dukesraceshop.com/ up in Elk River (near the 169/hwy split). Without getting into the whole story, as TNT up in Blaine was closing, Jon started up Dukes and has more or less taken over the raceshop business on this end of town. He has a good following from the former TNT customers.

Scott Parkhurst · Super Poster

It's sad but between the prices/shipping of the mail-order guys and the general drop in the number of cars being built, this is the way it is. We're fortunate to have a fair amount of good shops in the area to do custom work. I hope there's still enough business to keep them going for awhile.

bowtie · Secretary

I think there will be good shops still around. For those shops that do good work, it's the skill you're paying for, not necessarily the parts. I think most of them also understsand that we can buy the parts anywhere-especially through mail order, so they aren't as likely to gouge on thier mark-up. Thier customers rely on that experience and thier ability to match parts to the project. Buying parts through trail and error sucks no matter how cheap you can get the parts.

4-door Chevelle · Super Poster

I just did some searching for "performance" and "speed" and came up blank for the state of Minnesota. I just drove by CA yesterday and was telling a friend about it, didn't know they shut down. I did know about Duke's and actually just ordered parts from them.