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Another Happy Customer!

Very quick and easy to get the parts I needed for my car without searching through thousands of parts and looking at small print just to see if the part was right for my make and model.

Thank you for making it smart and easy!

Darla in West Virginia

 

Upcoming Events
If you would like your event featured here, email us with details.

Monster Mash Car Bash
10/22/2011
Las Vegas, NV
e-mail

Harmony Car Show
10/22/2011
Monterey Park, CA
e-mail

Dixie Olds Chapter "The Gathering"
10/22/2011
Cartersville, GA
e-mail

Cub Scout Pack 18 Car Show
10/22/2011
Grand Bay, AL
e-mail

3rd Annual Open Car Show
10/22/2011
Buda, TX
e-mail

56th Annual Florida Forest Festival Car Show
10/22/2011
Perry, FL
e-mail

2011 King of the Road All Wheels Car Show
10/22/2011
Erick, OK
e-mail

Shirley Looney Memorial Car Show
10/22/2011
Mobile, AL
e-mail

Young Farmers A&M Consolidated Car Show
10/22/2011
College Station, TX
e-mail

Wagonfest
10/22/2011
Bentonville, VA
e-mail

14th Annual BACC Dimmitt Corvette Show
10/22/2011
St. Petersburg, FL
e-mail

Classics on the Green Lumberton Historical Society's 5th Annual Car Show
10/22/2011
Lumberton, NJ
e-mail

5th Annual Tucson Classics Car Show
10/22/2011
Tucson, AZ
e-mail

First State Mustang & Ford Cruise
10/22/2011
Wilmington, DE
e-mail

Annual Chili Cruise Day
10/22/2011
Hughes Springs, TX
e-mail

4th Annual Halloween Classic Car Show
10/22/2011
Humble, TX
e-mail

Berkeley College 7th Annual Charity Car Show
10/23/2011
Paramus, NJ
e-mail

22nd Annual American Legends at Long's Park Corvette & GM Show
10/23/2011
Lancaster, PA
e-mail

Golden Gears Last Chance Fun Run
10/28/2011
Alamogordo, NM
e-mail

Benefit Car Show/Drive In Movie Event
10/29/2011
Mooresville, NC
e-mail

Halloween Cruise-In
10/29/2011
Stevensville, MD
e-mail

Mustang's vs Camaro's
10/29/2011
Spring, TX
e-mail

Moulton Speedway-End of the Year Banquet
10/29/2011
Daniville, AL
e-mail

Roadsters Rock the Islands 2011
11/4/2011
Merritt Island, FL
e-mail

Golden Sands Speedway
11/4/2011
Wisconsin Rapids, WI
e-mail

1st Annual Lovely Ladies Car Show
11/5/2011
Harker Heights, TX
e-mail

Knights of Columbus Council 3150 Car/Bike Show
11/5/2011
Galliano, LA
e-mail

SHPHC 4th Annual Car/Truck Show
11/5/2011
Middlesex, NC
e-mail

Christmas Cruise at the Creek 3
11/5/2011
Murrells Inlet, SC
e-mail

Speedway 95-End of the Year Banquet
11/5/2011
Bangor, ME
e-mail

Orland Chamber of Commerce Annual Car Show
11/5/2011
Orland, CA
e-mail

Celebration of the Automobile & Race Reunion
11/5/2011
Efland, NC
e-mail

Lake Erie Speedway-End of the Year Banquet
11/5/2011
North East, PA
e-mail

Annual All-AMC Car Show
11/5/2011
Boulder City, NV
e-mail

Salute to the Veterans Car Show
11/5/2011
Asheville, NC
e-mail

Stars & Stripes Wheel Show & Cruise
11/5/2011
Cullman, AL
e-mail

Bradford County Relay for Life
11/5/2011
Starke, FL
e-mail

Trip to the Farm Car Show
11/5/2011
Hubert, NC
e-mail

Corvette Owners Club of Houston-Annual Charity Car Show
11/5/2011
Houston, TX
e-mail

Tank Museum 8th Annual Indoor Car & Bike Show
11/5/2011
Danville, VA
e-mail

American Hero's Car Show
11/5/2011
Bakersfield, CA
e-mail

Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex-End of the Year Banquet
11/6/2011
Sweet Springs, MO
e-mail

5th Annual Veterans Appreciation Car Show
11/6/2011
Baltimore, MD
e-mail

4th Annual SoCalROC Show & Shine Toy Drive
11/6/2011
Woodcrest, CA
e-mail

Marshfield Motor Speedway
11/11/2011
Fairchild, WI
e-mail

Big Diamond Speedway-Banquet
11/11/2011
Minersville, PA
e-mail

Holland Motorsports Complex
11/18/2011
Holland, NY
e-mail

Lake Area Cruisers 11th Annual Rod Run
11/18/2011
Jasper, TX
e-mail

Cars vs Cancer
11/19/2011
Carolina Beach, NC
e-mail

Carolina Collector Auto Fest-Fall
11/30/2011
Hillsborough, NC
e-mail

Marble Falls Noon Lions Club Show n Shine Car Show
11/30/2011
Marble Falls, TX
e-mail

 

Simplified Catalog Listings

Simplified Catalog Listings

To help make our catalog easier and faster to navigate, we are updating it to stop separating vehicles based on trim differences and engine codes. For example, instead of listing "Integra LS," "Integra GS," "Integra GS-R," and "Integra Type R," we will have just one entry for "Integra."

We realized that, in many cases, the same parts fit all trim levels so we were asking customers to make unnecessary choices. And we know it may not be easy to tell if your car is a “Special Edition” after it has been repainted or to unnecessarily read codes on a faded engine sticker.

In cases where different trim levels or engine versions do require different parts, our catalog will include a note like "GS Model" or "Engine VIN X" to indicate which version the part fits, as shown in these listings:

Simplified Catalog Listings

As with all catalog notes, please make sure they describe your vehicle to ensure you are ordering the exact part your vehicle needs.

We appreciate your continued business and hope you find our new, simpler format makes it even easier to find all the parts your car will ever need!

 

 

Forum of the Month

TheOldCarForum.com

TheOldCarForum.com is the place where old car owners and fans alike get together to have a good time. This is the place to show off your ride, read and post tech articles, use the classifieds, read and post in the event calendars and much, much more! We will also have event coverage, write ups and a wide variety of classics, muscle cars, hot rods and more on our home page. Tell your friends, tell your neighbors, and help us grow this site into something great!

If you are the administrator or member of a forum and you would like to see your website featured in an upcoming newsletter and receive a discount code to share with your members, contact cynthia@rockauto.com.

 

 

Repair Mistakes & Blunders

Ouch!

Years ago, when I was a super brilliant teenager, my father told me to clean up the rather large oil spot that I had left on his driveway after working on my engine. Being the super bright teenager that I was, I thought to myself, this will be easy. I will just pour some gas on it and burn off the oil. Well, I poured the gas on it and let it sit a few minutes to fully dissolve the oil and then I lit the gas.

Now, the driveway at my parents house is about a hundred feet long and slopes gently towards the street. When I lit the gas, a huge fireball about the size of a UPS truck took off down the driveway and out into the street. Amidst the screeching tires, you could hear people yelling "WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT?!" Luckily, no one was hurt and no property was damaged.

I still work on my own automobiles, but I am very careful now since I am not nearly as brilliant as I was when I was a teenager.

I order all my parts from RockAuto because of their great prices and service. NOW THAT'S BRILLIANT!

Billy in South Carolina

 

Tell us about your most infamous auto repair blunder or unconventional fix. Use your woe to help others avoid similar mistakes or share off-the-wall solutions that worked (at least for awhile!). Please email your story to flamur@rockauto.com. Include your mailing address and shirt size (large or extra large) and we will mail you a RockAuto "Do it yourself?" t-shirt if we publish your story (see the t-shirts under Extras in the catalog). The story will be credited using only your first name and your vague geographic location (state, province, country, continent, etc.) so you can remain semi-anonymous!

 

 

Automotive Trivia

Automotive Trivia

Sealed beam headlight bulbs are a bulb, reflector and lens all in one sealed unit usually made of glass. Manufacturers building cars for North America started to switch from sealed beams to plastic or glass headlamp assemblies with a separate, removable bulb in the 1980s. Why did they switch?

A. Government regulations changed in 1983 and sealed beam headlight bulbs were no longer required. Manufacturers embraced headlamp assemblies primarily because they offered car designers more options for styling and aerodynamics.

B. Government regulations required car manufacturers to completely phase out sealed beam headlight bulbs by the 1993 model year because headlamp assemblies cause fewer injuries in vehicle/pedestrian collisions.

C. Headlamp assemblies inherently have better lighting characteristics (asymmetric cutoff, backdazzle, etc.) than both round and rectangular sealed beam headlight bulbs.

Answer below

 

 

Another Thing to Consider

RockAuto

 

The big, sparkling, beautiful headlamp assemblies on that new car are drawing me in. They are like works of art. But I have engineer in my genes. Instead of simply swooning, I wonder how much do those beauties cost to replace!

Almost every vehicle has at least one relatively expensive repair surprise that crops up down the road. The repair cost may have been so cheap on your last car that you never thought to consider those parts when you bought your next car. The RockAuto Repair Index can help prevent surprises by automatically comparing the cost of hundreds of commonly replaced parts for two vehicles.

Sometimes it turns out the surprises are not so bad after all because the aftermarket parts industry came to the rescue with lower cost options. A Cadillac owner might think, “New Monroe shock absorbers for my 1987 Cadillac DeVille cost $11 each. How can Monroe shocks for my 2004 DeVille possibly cost more than $400 each!” Luckily Monroe gives Cadillac (Lincoln, etc.) owners a choice by making both the $400+ original electronic adjustable shocks and a conversion kit that replaces the air suspension with two conventional Sensa-Trac shocks for $100+.

So what about those big headlamp assemblies that come on some new vehicles? Even with RockAuto’s low prices, those large headlamp assemblies turn out to sometimes cost hundreds of dollars. For some vehicles, a new headlamp costs much more than a new fender, grille, or hood!

A replacement old fashioned glass headlight for my 1979 Chrysler 300 currently starts at $1.83. There is no “assembly”, just four headlight bulbs brazenly displayed. It is not any darker at night than it was in ’79. Rocks still kick up off the road and break things like they did in ’79.

Will there be lower cost options for replacing broken, large headlamp assemblies down the road? Maybe a kit to retrofit cars with inexpensive sealed beam bulbs like those on my old 300? The answer is probably no. There are all sorts of government regulations governing a car's front end (crash testing, headlight aim, etc.) so it is unlikely that reputable aftermarket manufacturers will rush to take on the job of altering the front ends of individual car models with smaller, less expensive replacement lights and housings. RockAuto's OE specification headlamp assemblies are the most cost effective solution.

The potential cost of replacement headlamp assemblies is just another thing to consider when shopping for that next car. Big is beautiful, but beady might be cheaper to live with. See headlamp assemblies under “Body-Exterior” in the catalog. Replacement headlight bulbs are under “Electrical-Lamp & Socket”.

Tom Taylor,
RockAuto.com

 

 

John's 1969 Rambler Scrambler

John's 1969 Rambler Scrambler

I purchased this 1969 Rambler Scrambler new from Randall Rambler in Mesa Arizona. As a young kid I terrorized the streets of Phoenix and an occasional trip to the local dragstrip. After years of use the car became impractical for a young family man and it sat for about 25 years. The Arizona sun took its toll on the paint and interior. I was finally at the point in my life to resurrect the Scrambler and recently completed a total restoration.

I am now enjoying the car attending many shows and cruise nights. Many parts were purchased from RockAuto for the restoration including most of the suspension parts.

Regards,
John in Arizona

 

Share Your Hard Work

Do you purchase parts from RockAuto? If so, RockAuto would like to feature you & your car or truck in our monthly newsletter. New, old, daily driver, trailer queen, classic, antique, we want to see them all! Please e-mail flamur@rockauto.com with your vehicle's history, interesting details, and what parts from RockAuto you have used.

 

 

Let RockAuto Help

Are you organizing a car show or other auto related event?

Are you organizing a car show or other auto related event? From goody bag stuffers to gift certificates...we can help. We can even publicize your event in our newsletter.

Just send us an email with information about your show.

 

 

Automotive Trivia Answer

Automotive Trivia

Sealed beam headlight bulbs are a bulb, reflector and lens all in one sealed unit usually made of glass. Manufacturers building cars for North America started to switch from sealed beams to plastic or glass headlamp assemblies with a separate, removable bulb in the 1980s. Why did they switch?

Answer: A. Government regulations changed in 1983 and sealed beam headlight bulbs were no longer required. Manufacturers embraced headlamp assemblies primarily because they offered car designers more options for styling and aerodynamics.

Sealed beam headlight bulbs were installed in some new vehicles until at least the 2006 model year and could reappear in future designs. The 2006 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon uses the same sealed beam headlight bulb as the 1970 Jeep CJ6.

Omix-ADA sealed beam headlight bulb Part # 1240904 for various Jeep years and models

Back up to trivia question

 

 

 

 

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