The Autopian has an awesomely diverse readership of people across all sorts of disciplines in all kinds of industries. Usually, this means that there’s almost always a reader who is an expert in something that we write about. Sometimes, it also means that industry news makes a material difference to our readers.
Thomas wrote a Morning Dump that includes a story about how O’Reilly Auto Parts seems to be interested in NAPA Auto Parts. Resident NAPA person Matt Sexton chimes in:
Firstly, independent NAPA stores are not franchises. NAPA is an association, like Ace Hardware. I don’t pay a franchise fee.
Secondly, you all think I might have some insider info on this, but sadly I don’t. No one seems to be talking, but where there’s smoke, there’s fire. GPC’s earnings call is July 21 so if you’re looking for something I’d start there.
What it would mean for us independently-owned stores, I have no idea. Many towns where O’Reilly operates have NAPA stores. All O’Reilly’s are corporate-owned, most NAPA stores are not. For guidance I look to the CarQuest retreat on the west coast, where the independents that were left, were all basically just left holding the bag.
Fun times for me.
In other news, Jason wrote about the HVAC controls of air-cooled Porsches. Trust Doesn’t Rust:
Most people assumed Porsche drivers lost control and crashed their cars because of the rear-engine design and difficulty to drive at the limit.
Nope.
They were trying to figure out the HVAC.
If you thought the 912E was bad, ADDvanced has some news for you:
Pretty sure most air-cooled 911s are like this, not just the 912.
Boy do I have an infographic you need to add to this post.
I have owned my 77 911 since 2013, and I still have no idea how it works, lmao.
Andy Individual:
Oh how far we have come. Modern innovation:
Stab, I said stab, touchscreen
Stab ‘car’ icon. Stab again
OK now stab ‘setting’ icon
Stab climate ‘icon’
Stab again, oops, hit a bump, stab ‘back’
Stab ‘left’, ‘right’, ‘front’ or ‘rear’ motorized vent icon
Stab ‘defrost’
Stab ‘defrost’ again, oops hit a bump, stab ‘back’, oh no, not home screen!
Start over
And so on…
Hoonicus:
German engineers get a bad rep. They knew any usable heat from an air cooled engine heat exchangers in freezing temperatures was merely a suggestion, and the best way to warm occupants was to amp up frustration, physical thrashing, and head steaming.
( my 71 Karmann Ghia Conv., friends 72?bus, 912E that came into the shop, granted my KG was rotted out, and replaced with 4 outlet Monza exhaust that eliminated the shot exchangers).
Finally, Thomas wrote about the price of the Fiat Topolino. Burt Curry:
I live in a 34 lot subdivision with private roads, and this would be perfect for going up to the highway with my trash, or going to the group mailboxes, or down to my creekside campsite! I assume I can charge it at home?
Younork:
No, unfortunately, you’re going to need to ship it back to Italy for each and every charge.
Have a great evening, everyone!
Top graphic image: NAPA
My local NAPA is only open from 8-5, Monday through Friday. They do not care about non-commercial customers which tracks with what has been said about them here.
I went to local NAPA to get some spark plugs for father-in-law’s 1967 IH tractor. Not only was it in their computer, they were in stock!
Not so lucky with a ‘pre-cut’ set of spark plug wires for a standard Ford 302 (68 Cougar). Nope. They only made millions of that setup.
I always felt like Napa’s house brand of parts was higher quality. I’m sure they don’t make them themselves, but perhaps that’s what O’Reilly’s is after.
Now we just need someone in the NAPA ecosystem to pull a Tommy Callahan and make sure O’Reilly’s (CEO played by Dan Akroyd) doesnt just put their crap parts in the NAPA box.
At least for batteries I heard the NAPA ones were Interstate brand. I still like NAPA brand parts in general but the cheaply made stuff seems to be creeping in more and more.
NAPA’s batteries are made by East Penn, of the Deka brand.
West coast NAPA’s don’t use Deka though. Johnson Controls, I believe?
Yes you are correct, I forgot the country was split.
O’Reilly sells lots of Chinese-manufactured parts, particularly in their house brand. The margin is much higher on those, even if they don’t last as long as the national name brands. They are expanding like crazy, and the independent stores and smaller chains are getting crowded out.
Amazon, Ebay and Rock Auto are also strong players in the market. Personally, I would prefer to get a fair price on good quality than pay just as much for reverse-engineered copies.
My first job, I worked at one of the big corporate Napa stores for a while (attached to a distribution center/warehouse where we also helped with inventory and stuff). It was a fun environment and I learned a lot. Where I live now, the indie Napa stores tend to be pretty poorly stocked for consumers, and catered mainly toward the local commercial customers…I’m also pretty far from a warehouse so kinda makes sense. The Indie shops are hit or miss. And these days, when you can get literally the same ordered part the next day from Rock Auto for half the price, its hard to justify the retail outlets.
I get trade pricing at my local napa which is generally really close to rock auto. If they don’t have it on the shelf that day I get it by the next morning for the most part. But yes, they are very focused on the local commercial customers.
When you get into the higher grade parts, I don’t find prices at rock are particularly lower.
I like my closest Napa. Needed a specific battery size, one that’s not used in that many cars, and so the ones they had were all a few months old. The guy told me to come back that afternoon and he’d have a new one for me and he did. This was after going to Autozone and O’Reilly’s and being told they have what they have.
Ah the Porsche climate control is fitting considering I’m coming off a weekend of driving a rental Tesla Model 3. Whoever designed all of that control interface needs to be fired out of a canon. If someone with 30 years of vehicle operating experience needs to Google where the damn vehicle controls are, you failed…
I also found another problem with glass interfaces. The combination of late-40’s eyes and a long travel day combined to require reading glasses to change anything while driving. This feels like a serious problem that Torch touched on while writing about the shortcomings of video rearview mirrors.
Sounds like reading monocles for old Tesla drivers could be big business. Let’s you read the interface while keeping an eye on the road!
Get progressive reading sunglasses. No correction straight ahead, but you can get correction on the bottom. There even sexy styles for us olds.
You can buy a box of various + bifocal no correction top z87 wrap arounds dirt cheap. Alot of shops with older guys throw a box on the wall.
I once went to a NAPA back in the early ’90s to get either a 180º or 195º thermostat for a Chevy 350. I was told, “We don’t have either one of those in stock, but we can order you one and it will be here in a couple of days.”
WTF??? The most common thermostats for the mt common engines back in stock and they didn’t keep enough in stock?
NAPA –
Never
Any
Parts
Available.
lol i remember just out of high school going into a western auto and asking the guy about my age for a serpentine belt for my truck. told him i got a 1990 ss 454 pickup. he punches in the keys and asks is it 4×4 or 4×2. caught off guard as to why that matters i was like “uh rwd?”. dismissively he quips ah, 4×2. he then proceeds to ask what i considered the dumbest question that could have left his mouth. “is that a v8 or a v6?” i noticed the 2 older guys behind the counter stop their conversation after hearing that so i obliged and said what they were probably thinking. “pretty sure chevy didnt make a 454 cubic inch V6 chief.” red in the face. got me my belt and as i was headed out the door them 2 old dudes died laughing.
Man, I haven’t seen an online post in a while making fun of the poor stupid kids working behind the counter at the auto parts store. Thanks for that.
That’s sarcasm, btw.
lol, well if youll notice i said the dude was a little older than i was and i was just out of high school. so i guess that makes me the kid in the situation? i was the one originally treated as the know nothing kid for not understanding 4×4 vs 4×2. i just handed him a slice of humble pie in front of his coworkers for not knowing an iconic engine in the automotive world was a V8. maybe if he hadnt made fun of this poor stupid kid first my 19 year old self would have shown a little more restraint on my sarcasm.
Depends on the NAPA. If it’s an old grungy one in a metal shed on a backstreet with geezers at the desk using dogeared paper parts references, it’s a good one. If it’s new and shiny and has young guys behind computers, it’s probably going to be useless.
If you want confusing HVAC, look no further than a Rover Mini equipped with factory A/C.
Normally, you’d swap the heat-only assembly for one with an integrated evaporator core. Not Rover!
No, instead they bolted in a completely separate box with it’s own evap core, blower motor, controls, and even dash vents.
In a Mini. Where space is already at a premium.
British Engineering knows no bounds.
I enjoy pointing out to people that my Mini has 3 separate sets of vents, none of which are connected to each other. Two vents in the middle just for AC, floor and windscreen vents for just heat, and two vents near the doors for just fresh air.
Madness.
Yeah, my plan when I do the Honda swap in a few years is to mount the smallest all-in-one HVAC unit I can find and route all the vents properly. I’m gonna use a 12V compressor for packaging purposes.
I’ll probably page-1 rewrite the entire body harness and make use of a PDM at the same time. I haven’t had an excuse to make a complete harness yet, so this will be it.
Sounds like some work!
I need SOMETHING to do during the winter.
Well, that’s so they can sell you 2 versions of “replacement smoke” instead of 1!