A visit to Stephen's Performance

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TylerW

TylerW

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I thought I would share my experience visiting the Mopar Mecca that is about 30 minutes from my house. To preface, this isn't a hate post, i don't know the people and I don't sell parts to compete with them.

To begin with, if you've never been to this place and you have a vision of nearly complete, rare Mopars lining the road to the place and beyond, leading up to an a brightly lit, paved lot with lots of smiling faces and people leaving with parts piled in wheelbarrows, you are going to be SEVERELY disappointed. From whichever direction you come from, it's rural two-lane roads with abandoned houses, trashy yards mixed in with some nice scenery. Everything at the location is fenced off and the office is a small frame building with nearly no place to park. I've been there twice and the impression was that wasn't much going on.The first time I stopped in, I wanted a C-body part. they didn't have it. This time I wanted a sedan windshield. They didn't have one of those either.

So, on this visit, there were three people present in addition to myself. I'll refer to myself as The Customer, then there was a Random Guy out Front talking on the Phone. Inside the office, there were two more people. At the right end of the counter was the Younger Guy. To the left was the Older Guy. The Younger Guy was standing doing nothing discernable. The Older Guy was writing Something Important on a piece of paper. The Younger Guy greeted me and asked if he could help me. I stated my request for a windshield. The Younger Guy looks at the Older Guy and asks him, "Is this something you want to do"? What do you mean, something you want to do? I'm not applying for a loan, I came here to buy a windshield.

During the entire time I was inside, the Older Guy never once acknowledged my presence. He kept right on looking at the Important Things on the Paper. He didn't reply to the question of if he wanted to sell me a windshield. The Younger Guy quizzes himself about which would be the correct windshield, like he didn't know. Finally, the Older Guy mutters six words...."not gonna have a used one". Count 'em...six. So, I decided to challenge this bastion of Mopar parts and ask them who sells one new. BTW, I already know who sells them in most parts of the country and how much they are. The Younger Guy replies that "______ in _____ does glass but not sure if they can do those".At that point, I depart, reminding myself to not thank THEM....they didn't help me. As I went back to the car, being an observant person, I spotted a '73 Dart sedan sitting beside and to the rear of the building. Yeah...you didn't have one, huh?

Takeaways from the visit:
1. They couldn't give a sh*t about walk-in customers.
2. I expect that the cars shown on the fluff pieces the mags have done in the past are mostly picked over and the supply of good parts cars is rapidly dwindling.
3. If you are not somebody they "know" in the industry and don't look wealthy, they will NEVER have the part you need because I suspect they have sold it all outside of really rare, Daddy Warbucks-level stuff. I'm sure it's there. When somebody that needs to build a car for a fluff piece or a show needs a part they miraculously have it. I feel like I should have said "Forget the windshield, I also need an NOS, date-coded 1968 Hemi block, do you have one??".

Anyway, just wanted to give the skinny on what a visit to this place is like. I won't be back...not just because of the Older Guy's dismissive attitude, but because I've had far better luck finding parts at local junkyards. Save yourself a trip.
 
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I remember meeting on Jerry from J&J up in Stark we popped in on his business good lord it's probably been 25 or 30 years, they were hospitable, and I tell you what, man that guy had some cars, that were kind of horrible, like a Super Bee, where someone took a stick welder jacked all the way up and tried to change a quarter on it, but also had some killer rides man. He wanted 10 grand for that Super Bee back then, but then again he knew what he had I guess, he had these giant commercial shelves stacked with motors I mean he had the stuff and they are good people. He's still kicking I ran into him at the horse farm show past Don's a couple years ago. It's crazy he looks just the same as he always did, hope they're still around. Just good Southern folks...Ted Steven supposedly was going to buy the interior out of my satellite before I bought the car for $2,500 bucks just for the bucket seats and the Console. I think I had some dealings with his wife at Big Daddy Don's, she was helpful, and, gave me a little discount, cuz I'm a car club member. When I called back up to the shop a week later try to exchange something, or buy something, the people on the other end of the phone, weren't all that cool...
 
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6PakBee said:
When I read posts like this I really miss Ron Slobe at R&R Salvage. Now THAT was a gentleman.
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A lot of the old timers passed away and then the family sold their stuff to Developers there's one guy off of 301, towards Dade City, VW place, but I got a couple buddies play with those, word is he got hit by the county/ state/ insert typical Burocrat Slime, so hard they forced him to crush all his cars.....
 
They might have not liked your attitude. Maybe should tried a jovial greeting instead of standing there with a long face like you entitled to a rare part that you obviously can't buy anywhere else.

Make them love you and want to help you, because there's no shortage of entitled blokes walking through their door and there's more where that came from.

They have the advantage here because they got the good stuff everyone wants, they ain't just some big box store kissing your *** to buy some Chinese junk.

Your presentation probably dictated how this went down and if you really made that comment about not wanting a loan, then it makes complete sense why this went down like this.

By the way, I love your YouTube channel.
 
Sad to hear that. I know the owners Ted and Jackie and they are real good people. Never been to their place and can't speak for their employees.
 
I bought one little part from them, had it shipped, they told me it was perfect, I got it. It’s was a piece of ****. Never again. I think it might’ve came from one of those trashy yards you past.
 
Car Nut said:
I bought one little part from them, had it shipped, they told me it was perfect, I got it. It’s was a piece of ****. Never again. I think it might’ve came from one of those trashy yards you past.
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Damn. . That Sucks , Car Nut! Only thing I bought from them was some repop crap the Chrome on that **** so cheap they say to wax the back side of it before you even put it on your car
 
Well, I'll say it. I don't like Ted. I think he's a jerk. I've called a few times in the past and spoke TO HIM and he always acted like he'd rather be doing anything else in the whole wide world than futzing around with customers on the phone. I've read things like this on many forums about them, too, so I cut them no slack at all. Screw them.
 
RustyRatRod said:
Well, I'll say it. I don't like Ted. I think he's a jerk. I've called a few times in the past and spoke TO HIM and he always acted like he'd rather be doing anything else in the whole wide world than futzing around with customers on the phone. I've read things like this on many forums about them, too, so I cut them no slack at all. Screw them.
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Call it like Ya see it Brother!
 
Over the years, I have seen the rise of the self serve junkyards that completely eliminated the interaction with indifferent parts counter guys.
I don't know what it is about them but at least HALF of the counter guys I've dealt with have had terrible social skills. They are blunt, rude, lazy and ignorant to their own inventory.

Princess Valiant said:
They might have not liked your attitude. Maybe should tried a jovial greeting instead of standing there with a long face like you entitled to a rare part that you obviously can't buy anywhere else.

Make them love you and want to help you, because there's no shortage of entitled blokes walking through their door and there's more where that came from.

They have the advantage here because they got the good stuff everyone wants, they ain't just some big box store kissing your *** to buy some Chinese junk.

Your presentation probably dictated how this went down and if you really made that comment about not wanting a loan, then it makes complete sense why this went down like this.
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How do you know that the OP was to blame?
I've been in the same situation. When I visit a store, I smile and am friendly yet I still sometimes encounter arrogant, sloppy looking, stinky, dirty scumbags behind the counter with a bad attitude.....annoyed at me as if doing their job was too much for them to handle.
 
I'm with RustyRatRod. I got the same treatment from Ted.
By the way he acted I doubt we're the only 2!!!!
 
Wow, here in the Pacific Northwest I guess the parallel place would be Wildcat Auto Wrecking outside Sandy Oregon. They always seem to be busy working on projects, moving things around in the yard and helping customers. I get there about once a year. After they talk to you a bit to make sure you actually are working on Mopars and have a clue, they are happy to let you go through their yard where hundreds of cars (Mopars only) are organized by age, body (A<B>C), and completeness (project cars here, parts cars over there, cars they might cut up for you stacked 3 high over there. It's always fun just walking through the whole place just to see what is there and who knows, you might be able to tell a buddy where he can find a fender for his 57 Fargo truck...

They are pretty proud of their parts and they are priced accordingly, but sometimes you can get a good deal on something not muscle car specific or sometimes you shell out the money because you have been looking for a restorable one of those for 3 years to no avail.

I always feel well treated.
 
Years ago, like 1992, I called and talked to Ted Stephens. I wasn't impressed with the part he sent me, and it took weeks to get it. It was as if he was doing me some kind of favor. Actually, I contacted an advertising sales person from one of the Mopar magazines, they talked to him and Stephen's Performance finally shipped the shitty part. I never dealt with them again.
 
I've actually only had a few dealings with Ted. He has bought a few things from me over the years. The only thing I've ever bought from him was a AMD quarter panel for 1/2 off when they were being discontinued. That handful of transactions went well. I would see him at the shows and he always stopped and chatted for a spell. Was always very nice. Sorry it hasn't gone the same with ya all.
I do know that if you want to pay the most money for a part, Stephens and Darrel Finch out in CA are your guys.
 
str12-340 said:
Wow, here in the Pacific Northwest I guess the parallel place would be Wildcat Auto Wrecking outside Sandy Oregon.


I always feel well treated.
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I was there in 2017. They were quite friendly.

"I do know that if you want to pay the most money for a part, Stephens and Darrel Finch out in CA are your guys".

I agree with this!
I'll admit though that while Finch is sometimes gruff and grouchy, he was willing to work me a deal on a headlight relay one time when I didn't have enough cash to pay full price. Some guys are hard liners that won't budge from a price.
 
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Kern Dog said:
I was there in 2017. They were quite friendly.

"I do know that if you want to pay the most money for a part, Stephens and Darrel Finch out in CA are your guys".

I agree with this!
I'll admit though that while Finch is sometimes gruff and grouchy, he was willing to work me a deal on a headlight relay one time when I didn't have enough cash to pay full price. Some guys are hard liners that won't budge from a price.
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The one, and only Ferd I had was a 300 -6, the head had been pinned! I went to a junkyard with an Irish friend of mine they wanted 50 bucks for this cylinder head my buddy gave him $20 and six or seven brand new shovels....
 
Made 1 purchase from Stephens. Paid pure gold prices and got pure **** parts, way worse then the ones I already had that were in shitty condition.

Then got a bunch of attitude from Ted about how "I'd never find better stuff anywhere" and had to eat their restocking charge.

Seems like they want to reap 10's of thousands of dollars for every $200 piece of junk they part out, while acting like they're doing everyone a favour.

Never again.
 
i agree with RRR and SBeeMan. the owners are bad people from my point of view. would rather flush my money down the chitter than give it to them. Slobe was a great business.
 
2 yrs ago(might be 3) a buddy ordered a bullet hood for his 69 dart. they brought 3 to indy. when he looked at his, it was screwed up, second 1 was screwed up. pulled the 3rd 1 out and it was also messed up. when he asked about a better deal on any 1 of them, they told him that the best they could do was another 50.00 off because that was all AMD would give them. i called BS. he is the biggest or 1 of the biggest dealers for AMD and i don't buy that chit. and don't ask about the guy with the 71 up rr that his hood( supposedly the only 1 left) was dropped off a 10 story building and was as f#$ked up as hogans goat. if'n i was starving and they were paying people to come get their stuff, I WOULD WALK/DRIVE RIGHT ON BY.
 
mcodecuda said:
Maybe if you called ahead they would have pulled it out of the car and had it waiting for you.
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I considered doing that, then I decided that they probably get so many window shoppers calling them that they for sure wouldn't give me the time of day. I wanted to see how they reacted to a cash-paying customer in front of them.
 
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