Eastern Auto Supply Sold Early Hot Rod Goodies
By noderel:
Eastern Auto Supply was a West Coast business. Amazingly, the company was 40 years old when its Catalog No. 103 was mailed in 1949. It offered California custom accessories to rodders nationwide. Rodders of today would love to find some parts in that catalog, much less get them at ‘49 prices.
Custom steering wheels came in Deluxe ($8.95) and Super Deluxe ($13.95-$15.95 versions. Rippled Disc wheel covers came with ($14.95) or without ($13.95) cross bars. “The Aristocrat of Modern Accessories is how Eastern Auto Supply promoted fender skirts. You could get Teardrop, Box, Glider, Fleetline and ‘49er style skirts. The last two types fit Chevy fastbacks and the latest Fords, respectively. The price for any style was $14.95 per pair.
Eastern Auto had a few accessories for specific body styles. They included Station Wagon Stacks that were tailor made for Ford and Mercury woodies, but could also be adapted to other wagons. They came in painted ($9.75) or chrome finish ($14.95) and looked like vertical semi exhaust stacks.
In addition to dress-up goodies, the catalog had many suspension and drive train parts for sale. Dual coil ignitions made by Roemer and Spalding were listed for $29.50 and $48.00, respectively. Lowering kits were available for 1932-1947 Fords and Mercurys, 1935-1949 Chevrolets and 1935-1949 Plymouths and Dodges for $4,95 a set. Eastern Auto Supply offered a complete kit to convert Fords from mechanical to hydraulic brakes. The 54-piece kit sold for $65 exchange ($75 outright) and that included 20-ft. of copper hydraulic tubing!
Eastern Auto sold a lot of Ford and Mercury flathead parts. They included chrome fuel pumps ($3.95-$5.45), chrome carburetors ($10-$15) and chrome oil breather caps ($1.45), Weiand and Edelbrock dual carburetor manifolds were available for $44.50-$47.25. A speed cam kit was $49.50, Edelbrock heads cost ($75), “Eastern Auto” manufactured its own Y-shaped Dual Adapter exhaust manifold extension for $4.95, dual carburetor linkages for $1.95-$2.75 and black or chrome dual air cleaners for $3.50-$5.45.
For hot rodders who wanted to “develop pride in your club” Eastern Auto custom-made club license plates in three different sizes: 4-7/8 x 8-3/4 in., 5 x 9 in. and 5-1/8 x 10-1/8 in. The initial pattern cost was $7.50 for four design variations with letters and numbers only or $9.50 for a fifth selection that also included the image of a hot rod. After a club had its initial pattern made up, the plates cost $2.25 each for all-letter designs and $2.50 if the hot rod image was added. Clubs had to pay half up front and pay the balance upon delivery, which was advertised to take two weeks. Clubs were urged to be careful with spelling!
These dual-carb intakes would be worth a bunch today.
Flathead Ford V-8 parts were plentiful.
Club license plates and a variety of carburetor parts.