As this is written by yer humble servant Bubba (Shut up, Bubba, n git to the point – Earl) we’re real small, and willing to admit that we ain’t real sure about what y’all want.

BUT, we’re listening.

What we’ve done is thunk up (and done) some stuff that we couldn’t find nowhere’s else. When we got done with whatever it was, we thought that y’all might want to try some of it out fer your own selfs. Further, we’re getting’ some idears about our local parts houses, dealer parts guys, and the chain stores. We’re also getting’ some idears about thisyere new-fangled Internet thing, too. We’ve been learnin’ that the local parts houses really deal with the service pros, and handles us shadetrees as a second line. The service pros pay way less than you do for the same parts, and then (if they installed ‘em) mark them up on top of that!. Don’t be gettin’ us wrong, Mom and Pop Auto is invaluable for their knowledge and ordering skills, but they ain’t cheap.

We found out that lots of dealers’ parts guys are workin’ on a commission basis, and would rather sell you a tranny for your Mom’s Impala than look up an interior trim paint code for your ’88 Firebird. They’re just not interested in crackin’ the books. Evr’ once in a while, you can find a good guy, or a bored one, who’ll spend the time with you to find that insignificant part that you jest gotta have to finish buttoning up that interior.

The chain stores are pretty decent on the whole, but if they ain’t got it in stock, good luck. Some of them even claim that if it’s out "on the floor" – they can’t order it, that’s all decided by the regional office. So, you get to make eight trips just to get a full set of bumper bolts for your ’74 Dodge Monaco just to stimulate their computer system to order up some stock (true story! -- Earl).

The internet is just great, if ya wanna do some research or buy some wheels for your particular Redeneck Ride, but if what yer lookin’ fer is a hard part, well, pardner, good luck. IF what yer lookin’ fer is available, we think yer gonna find that the shipping is gonna eat up any savings you’d realize from seeing your local suppliers. And on the small stuff – they want you to buy a gross of the darn things just to make the shipping and handling worth it.

Alrighty, that’s them. This is us.

We’re P.O.’ed about the near-complete lack of automotive hardware and stainless at our local suppliers. The Duplicolor automotive paint line is carried only as an afterthought. Help/Motormite’s line is excrutiatingly handy, but ya can’t get anything ordered. Y’all may (or may not) know what they make, but can’t get it either locally, or even online. After payin’ a visit to the 2002 SEMA Show in Vegas (No comment on Bubba’s behavior. – Earl), we’un’s got to thinkin’ about the possibility of carryin’ this kinda stuff our own selves.

So we’re thinkin’ about fillin’ in those holes. (Always KNEW we’d be good fer somethin’, even if it was just fill dirt! – Earl) More’n that, we got the ears of a small, highly flexible, short-run manufacturer, and can build some stuff on our own. We’re already doin’ some of that.

We done covered "them", and "us" – now let’s hear from YOU.

We sorta doubt that you’re drivin’ a tricked-out Honda, or a gold-plated ‘64 Impala, but we’d love to help anybody that we can. We love research and development. If we can help, we’ll git right on it. If we can’t, or we find out that someone else can help you better, we tell you that so’s you kin git yer ride to where your imagination (and your racing timeslips) says it needs to be. Sure, we’d like to lighten your wallet some for our efforts, but we’re not gonna take none-a your fun tickets if we ain’t earned ‘em, or if someone else can do you right better’n we can.

We’re gonna keep researchin’ and puttin’ stuff up here, but in the long run, it’s gonna be up to y’all to be tellin’ us where you need ol’ Bubba n’ Earl to be. If’n y’all could, though, keep it "clean" when ya tell us where to go – Earl’s "virgin ears" an’ all! (You’ll pay for that Bubba! – Earl)

Let us know what y’all think, ya hear?

Looking forward to a whole mess of e-mails,