Levy Auto Parts

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

My recollection of Levy's is that they were of no help to vehicle restorers; they simply wouldn't deal with you for a handful of parts. They had a pattern room with treasure you could look at but not buy.

That all changed when they decided to close shop and sell the land for condominiums. Then it became how fast can we download all this crap. Tons and tons of new in the box parts were stored in disintegrating wood buildings. Each had multiple low, narrow isles, often with the roof falling in, with floor to ceiling bins full of parts on either side. When Levy's opened it up it was a mad panic to look in each bin, try to identify the part and put it in a pile for purchase if it was something you needed. I paid $250 for a mound of parts that I'm still working on.

The worst part was that just behind us MV scroungers were the scrappies. Whereas we were looking in the bins for parts, they were checking whether it was steel, brass or aluminum and throwing it into the corresponding roll off bin for melting down.