I did this for years. I went all over the US and bought up old GM, Ford and Mopar dealership left over NOS parts. I found some really neat parts. lots of chrome, lenses, trim you name it i got it. found a lot of parts in the midwest and up north. It blew my mind how much was still out there in the 1980's. I made a living for 23 years doing it. It was the best times of my life. I miss it.
I just got off the phone with Glenn. What a great guy. We talked until he got another call and had to hang up. What a fascinating situation he is in. The story about this place is absolutely hard to believe. He is going to check and see if he has a water pump for my Chrysler. Guys you have to check him out.
At the 14.08 minute mark where you see the Nelson triple tilt windows; that is from the business which occupied the building before Toohey’s. It was the J.T. Nelson company owned by my grandfather and uncle. They made storm windows and doors along with aluminum siding. Very cool seeing inside the building. Thanks for this video. ..
Oh my goodness! He kept that sign all those years! I googled it when we got home but didn't find anything. So I'm guessing the office I saw in the with the title window's, the one I said looked like a house, might have been installed by your grandfather? If so, that's so amazing to think it's still there after all this time! Did he also sell screen doors? That would explain why there where in replace of office doors. Thank you for sharing this with us.
Christina, Yes they did make screen doors also. My father worked there too, and was able to get a set of windows and screens that were measured wrong and were to be destroyed. He used them to screen in the front porch of our home. I also looked the company and could not find anything on the company. I do know that they produced windows for trains and may still. Thanks again for all the videos you all do.
@@richb3179 I find the history behind some of the things we do so fascinating! Your story has added to that. It's so interesting how some of these videos connect in ways never imaged. To think a viewer that commented on the video we did about a 71 Nova would comment months later that we were in a building recording auto parts and that building was his grandfather's before and still contained the sign 70+ years later! And that you helped connect some of the dots in this story is honestly...unbelievable! Do you still live in Louisville? I grew up in Louisville. My daughter's still live there so we visit often.
What an amazing find. I can only imagine the amount of NOS and USA made replacement parts in there. The library alone is worth its weight in gold. There are literally tens of thousands of people out there probably looking for a part that's in there somewhere. Kudos to you and Christina for bringing this video for a potential buyer. The work to inventory that all would be worth it to the right dealer. If I was retired I'd volunteer to help inventory the A/C parts myself. Hopefully it all is saved. 1:06:01
I work for a few inventory companies. We do buy/sells. We go in...inventory the entire place...get a dollar amount for what they have and submit it to the buyer. It's perfect for the buyer. They know what is there and it's in it's prospective bin location. Makes selling an item a whole lot easier for the customers. Awesome find...I'd be a kid in a candy store myself..lol 30 years in the biz.
In the 1960's while I was in High School I worked in a place like that. They also had a small machine shop to rebuild engines, starters and alternators. I learned a lot working there. Good times !!!
All that old merchandise would sell in Cuba. 🎉 I was a counterman at and chain autoparts company in California from 1972- 1979, so this brought back memories.
I can't imagine what it would take to clear out and list the parts. There's so much good old stock in there . Great stuff . I hope someone buys this and brings it all back .
I hope the lots and lots of people find out about this I would hate to see all those parts made in good old U S A be threw away great video guys as always thanks
Thanks for the trip down Memory Lane! I lived in Louisville from 1995 until 2006... I knew George and his son Doug and would hang out at the store once in a while... It was like being in Candy Store! The store was just a few blocks away from my house that was between Iroquois Park and Churchill Downs. I didn't have any contact with them or any of the other incredibly cool employees after I moved away in 2006... I was shocked to learn that Doug followed his dad in passing, only by one year... I think George was in his Eighties when he went... But Doug couldn't have been Sixty. The box from the grill you saw... I think the employees probably burnt out a new grill just about ever six months... as I remember, I think they'd barbeque their lunch almost every day around that joint!😂 Everyone there was an "old time parts man" and could damn near get you parts for a Stanley Steamer if you needed them... No computers and asking "what's this going on?" Or "what model is it?"... I had a '55 Buick Roadmaster coupe that I think I rebuilt half of with parts from Toohey's. One of my friends had a '51 Pontiac hardtop that was in great shape, but the interior was really worn out. He ended up buying a set of incredible PLAID New Old Stock seat covers from Mister George... That was back in the early Nineties. I miss places like that! Cheers
That is great information. I remember those parts stores in the 1970s and 80s that were staffed with older guys who were real car people. No computers, just some catalogs and a lot of knowledge. I am not surprised to hear Tooheys was like that. It is sad to see something that Mr. Toohey must have been proud of, left to decay. Thanks for sharing!
Absolutely amazing!! A veritable time capsule. If you're restoring an old car, those are the parts you need for sure. I hope a lot of people who are looking for these parts find this video.....incredible! Thanks for sharing Richard and Christina!! I don't know a lot of people restoring, but if I do, I'll send them to this video. 👍👍
Wowwwww!!! When I was a kid growing up in Lexington Ky. There were two locations one on South Broadway where my dad used to frequent and the location in North Lexington. The location where you are was identical to what both of the stores looked like when I was a kid in the early 1970s.
There’s a few of my friends that I know that were customers also from the Lexington KY area who would probably really love to see this video. If I could help to save any of these parts then I would be very happy. Tooheys usually always had what you needed and you very rarely had to go anywhere else. Most all of the parts shown on this video are of superior quality and of much better quality than the Chinese junk that’s being sold nowadays. I never realized that Tooheys had that many stores in their heyday.
I grew up in Louisville listening to Toohey commercials. When we came across that guy with a truck of parts at the NSRA swap meet and saw it was Toohey's, followed by him telling us about the warehouse! The words "can we come record it for our youtube channel " immediately flowed from my lips! It's one of those places only people who grew up with it understand. Please share the video and tell friends 🙏 We appreciate all help in saving these parts! Thanks so much!
@@christinarust6957 Hello Christina, I visited Louisville many times as a child due to the fact that my aunt and uncle lived just off of Preston Highway near Lynwood shopping center was if you are familiar. Their house was demolished due to the airport expansion several years ago. Wow, It’s a small world. We always loved visiting Louisville because we used to go to the White Castle that was at the intersection of Preston ST & 4th Street next to the old St Joseph Hospital. Are you familiar with where I am thinking of?
Yes I do! I was telling Richard about how many houses and neighborhoods were gone from airport expansion after we left Toohey's. Are you referring to the White Castle off of Broadway? Funny they don't have White Castle in Tennessee. My first few years here whenever I was driving to Louisville, to visit my daughter's and grandson's, I'd always stop at the White Castle in Bowling Green. I always had this odd White Castle craving! So funny!
@@christinarust6957 Well, Maybe that was Broadway instead of 4th Street. I do know that WC was directly across from the old hospital. I remember that the original WC was demolished and the new WC was built where the parking lot was and the parking lot was where the WC had been. It seemed like that I also remember a WC that we used to go to that was around Okalona just off of Preston Highway. Sometimes we would go on to Shepherdsville to visit with my relatives there. That was several years ago and I think just about all of them are now deceased. I do remember as a kid going to a DAV thrift store which I think was around the east end of Louisville that had absolutely everything that you could imagine. My uncle worked at Vulcan-Harr where they manufactured the commercial kitchen stuff. This thrift store was not too far from where my uncle worked. The cemetery across Preston Highway and next to Louisville Male or Durrett as I remember is where Wilson Pickett is interred in one of the mausoleum’s. I remember the tornado in 1974 damaged some of the cemetery.
WOW! I hope all the stuff, finds a home. Thousands of dollars of stuff. Just so time consuming to go through all of it. Yea got to wonder how much of that goes to the scrape yard. Could be a gold mine but who has the time. This just blows my mind. Thank you for sharing this with us. love the vid.
The building I use for my bike shop was an old auto parts store. It operated from 1925 thru 2008, when they locked the door and walked away. I purchased the building in 2017 and it still had all the inventory on the shelves. Much smaller scale than Toohey’s, but your tour reminds me a lot of our building, when we got it.
@@whattherust I kept everything for a few months, while we recorded part numbers and made a spreadsheet of what we had. Over 12,000 parts. I kept the really old parts, but most everything was sold to a small auto parts supplier in Alabama. This all happened before I started a UA-cam channel. I wish I had recorded and documented what we had when we bought the place. I’ll make a video of what I kept and tag you guys.
This is freaking awesome. Send it to my brother, who's a mechanic. I have never seen that much stuff. That's a one big building. It's like a time capsule.❤
I really do hope you guys can save as much of this inventory as possible ! There is so much stuff here that you will never see anywhere else ! This building is looking like it doesn't have much time left before the roof caves in and the whole thing goes away.
Dear Lord ,brother. There is so much to unpack in this video, lol. With our 5 cars in the yard, we could do so much if we lived there and had some good money and shopping carts,lol. Great video, save it all.
As someone trying to keep my 1955 chevy 4 door 235/2sp power glide With all original parts I would give almost anything to go through that place. Awesome man just plain awesome.
That place is so cool! It would feel like when I go to a new junk yard with hundreds of car it is just so much fun and overwhelming at all of these good parts!!
I dream of places like this. Thought they were all gone. My family was in the auto parts business. My dad started his repair business in 1946. I do have some memories of them.
I was going to say there is a small fortune in merchandise just waiting to be sold. I stand corrected. That warehouse is a gold mine of everything automotive.
Incredible happening ....1954 inventory of automobile ...wow that is treasure for many vintage car lovers may be even motorcycle parts that surely should elevate spirits of many enthusiasts who can revamp their parts.
Please share this video! We aren't sponsored by the seller, nor are we getting a cut of the sales. We just want these parts saved! If you are interested in purchasing something, contact Glenn at 502.664.2778
I shared this with a well known car Collector. The inside of this building has dollar bill signs written everywhere. Pallets will be easy to rid of. Just put them outside with a sign saying FREE!
I would like to know if I could buy some parts.1959 3 quarter ton brake shoes brake drums. Wheel cylinders front and back and bearings inside and out. How can we contact you?
Wow, just wow. Absolutely incredible. I could spend weeks crawling through there just to see what's what. If it was closer to Boise Idaho I most certainly would 😋
All those manuals alone are priceles. Some maybe the only one left in existance. That one from 1940 could be worth a small fortune. It belongs in a museum.
Excellent video Christine :) , Richard :) also that so cool for Automotive Restoration companies and all parts maybe need even ones do on own owner of vehicles parts hard to get in this present years on old vechiles too! Hopefully you bought some parts you need too for project your working on Richard :) !
Although you probably didn't have time, y'all should've gotten one of the urban explorerer guys from UA-cam to document this. Most of them have high quality cameras and lighting. That would been handy for the office areas.
We found out about this while at NSRA and was there a few hours later. Then diving home the next day. We had no idea what we were about to walk into! Definitely something we'll never see again! Thanks so much!
I found out about it last weekend when we were at the swap meet at NSRA. Being from Louisville I grew up listening to Toohey commercials 🤣 I asked if we could please come record it for our channel and luckily he agreed 👍 His name and number are in the about section of this video. Please spread the word and help find these parts a home! Thanks so much!
Holy cow! Richard, at 2:10 when you flipped the card and read the (truly odd) message on the back, I almost busted a gut. I’m not sure why I found it so funny, but I think it was your somewhat perplexed tone as you deadpanned “I don’t know what that’s all about” instead of opting for the “What the hell??” that you were probably actually thinking. 😂😂😂 Anyway, it probably wasn’t intentional, but it absolutely killed me…and I’m still cracking up. Thanks for the laugh! I needed that! 😂
So funny! I literally said the exact same words to Richard when we were editing the video! I read him your comment and we both laughed so hard! Glad it wasn't just me!
Man. That's awesome!! Jeez over wellming ,but I've actually seen this type of place before. A couple years ago. A big store ,& machine shop that closed its doors 1 day!!
Wow !!! I hope most of this gets saved. It would be very sad to see it go to a landfill. As always Guys I liked and shared. All my very best. One of a very few times I wished I were rich. : )
WOW! I don't know where to start. I have a '54 Ford, a '61 Mercury and a '65 T-Bird. I'm always doing something to them, but they're largely done with their mechanical refurbishment. I do need a power steering pump to the '61 FE powered Mercury, so I need to give them a call. I just hope they have a working inventory system that will get me the correct part for my application. A million thanks for the heads up on this incredible old parts warehouse.
I just skimmed this video. I worked in an old parts department in a vintage chevy dealer from 76 to 78. Many of the aftermarket things on this video are frim the late 70s to early 80s. I can tell by the boxes. They must have closed this place decades after 64. Its gonna be hard to sell those parts good luck
Wow!! This just made my day! George Toohey is my grandpa and I grew up essentially next door to this location. I used to play hide and go seek in the mazes of shelves as a little girl and spent a good chunk of time bugging Marie, grandpa, and the mechanics out back for candy and grape coke. The part of the video of you walking through that from office area.. I haven't had that view in nearly 30 years. Thank you so much for sharing ❤
The wrapped box's, cash registers, Pepsi machines ers are all stuff picked up from the 1@storez they closed. I'd say the new warehouse stock was returned to vendors at the last moment... iv worked for regional parts stores and closed stores
What an amazing place! I hope they can sell most of the parts before the rest are destroyed! I wish I was close to there. I would spend all day looking through all that stuff for my '54 Chevy Bel-Air!! Thanks for the tour!
There are people in the business of liquidating inventory like this, I’m confident someone is going to make some money, looks like there is a lot of good stuff in here.
The random scattering of parts combined with the cash registers and phones seems to indicate that those pallets of boxes of parts are what was returned here as the stores were closed.
WoW! Just Incredible! You need to get hold of people who do car shoes & not just swap meets! Am sure there's people out there who been lookin high & low for some of that stuff! ❤
This reminds me of the auto part stores of my youth. I'd go with my Dad on a Saturday morning to get tune up parts for our car. My Dads' high school buddy was behind the counter. No computers, just parts books & old time cash registers.
I worked in the auto parts industry for over 60 years. Stated out as a driver and ended up owner m6 own store chain. It was a great business. I miss it a lot . Would go crazy trying to get this cleaned up and selling off the parts. Good luck to the people who have to get this cleaned up. Don
You have a good story there, Don. You would understand the working of that warehouse, and the work it took to keep the chain of stores going. Thanks for watching.
They should put out an ad, all you can carry for a Hundred Bucks, you'll get rid of it pretty quick. I know I would fill up my Truck, specially the vintage stuff.
What was awesome u can pretty much almost build u a hot rod a couple of times over im super jelly I totally would turn back into a little boy again I see Richard had that glow and tweekle in his eye I but he felt like a teenager rlinf about with his buddy's life in your guises last video when u were working on that 1928 or 1930 wasn't sure on the year sorry for the ear full I get so happy and warm inside to see u two keeping us happy and finding the time to do this while working full-time and family time to thank u thank u thank u u did a aweso.e job too Christina by wife have not stepped on foot in there because of the 🐀 or mouse hahahahha
I used to tow for George and bought many parts from him.. I brought a lot of people over to Woodlawn location in Louisville.. great stuff was there and great people
Perfect analogy. The automotive hidden valley of the kings...and I've sort of driven by this place on the Watterson expressway countless times. And didn't know and man that just makes ya wanna kick yourself.
All those parts books should make it possible to identify exactly what's there. What a job that will be. Wish I could see the labels on the boxes. Some I could see, most not so.
Wow, that's our old auto parts store around here back in the 70's , " When your car goes phooey, call Tooheys"! I liked Tooheys better than any auto parts houses nowadays, know what I mean? Those ol boys that worked there, our Tooheys anyway, took pride in their work and job. They had a store right down here on the corner of Limestone and Carlisle Ave.
Yes, I know exactly what you mean. When I was younger there was a NAPA store in town and every person that worked there was older and knew their stuff. It is very different now, where the O'Reillys clerk tried to sell me a piece of fuel filler hose as a radiator hose.
@@whattherust - hahaha, Lord have mercy, mmm mmm mmm, geez, you'd think those auto parts houses would somewhat train their employees, Jesus! I know probably when Auto Zone first started opening stores, well for the first few years, they would train people, at least some of the stores did but that probably didn't last long I'd say.
I did this for years. I went all over the US and bought up old GM, Ford and Mopar dealership left over NOS parts. I found some really neat parts. lots of chrome, lenses, trim you name it i got it. found a lot of parts in the midwest and up north. It blew my mind how much was still out there in the 1980's. I made a living for 23 years doing it. It was the best times of my life. I miss it.
What a cool job! Richard and I can only imagine the fun you had!
It was fun for sure. Keep up the great work you do on your videos. thank you. 🥰@@christinarust6957
Hopefully there are, Grand National master brake cylinder and raditor, any Caddilac parts. And C10 Truck parts. just a name a few.
did you sell all parts or do you still have also a building full of ??
sorry all gone.@@miebrus79
I just got off the phone with Glenn. What a great guy. We talked until he got another call and had to hang up. What a fascinating situation he is in. The story about this place is absolutely hard to believe.
He is going to check and see if he has a water pump for my Chrysler.
Guys you have to check him out.
He is a great guy, and super knowledgeable. I hope he finds what you need. There are a lot of old water pumps in stock.
At the 14.08 minute mark where you see the Nelson triple tilt windows; that is from the business which occupied the building before Toohey’s. It was the J.T. Nelson company owned by my grandfather and uncle. They made storm windows and doors along with aluminum siding. Very cool seeing inside the building. Thanks for this video.
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Oh my goodness! He kept that sign all those years! I googled it when we got home but didn't find anything. So I'm guessing the office I saw in the with the title window's, the one I said looked like a house, might have been installed by your grandfather? If so, that's so amazing to think it's still there after all this time! Did he also sell screen doors? That would explain why there where in replace of office doors. Thank you for sharing this with us.
Christina, Yes they did make screen doors also. My father worked there too, and was able to get a set of windows and screens that were measured wrong and were to be destroyed. He used them to screen in the front porch of our home. I also looked the company and could not find anything on the company. I do know that they produced windows for trains and may still. Thanks again for all the videos you all do.
@@richb3179 I find the history behind some of the things we do so fascinating! Your story has added to that. It's so interesting how some of these videos connect in ways never imaged. To think a viewer that commented on the video we did about a 71 Nova would comment months later that we were in a building recording auto parts and that building was his grandfather's before and still contained the sign 70+ years later! And that you helped connect some of the dots in this story is honestly...unbelievable! Do you still live in Louisville? I grew up in Louisville. My daughter's still live there so we visit often.
At 34:00, the flute playing is Ian Anderson from Jethro Tull, making a comeback.
What an amazing find. I can only imagine the amount of NOS and USA made replacement parts in there.
The library alone is worth its weight in gold. There are literally tens of thousands of people out there probably looking for a part that's in there somewhere.
Kudos to you and Christina for bringing this video for a potential buyer.
The work to inventory that all would be worth it to the right dealer. If I was retired I'd volunteer to help inventory the A/C parts myself. Hopefully it all is saved. 1:06:01
Gary you nailed it!
I work for a few inventory companies. We do buy/sells. We go in...inventory the entire place...get a dollar amount for what they have and submit it to the buyer. It's perfect for the buyer. They know what is there and it's in it's prospective bin location. Makes selling an item a whole lot easier for the customers.
Awesome find...I'd be a kid in a candy store myself..lol
30 years in the biz.
In the 1960's while I was in High School I worked in a place like that. They also had a small machine shop to rebuild engines, starters and alternators. I learned a lot working there. Good times !!!
How do you contact someone to buy some parts?
Mr. B. Here ! That is a Time Machine to the Pass ! When the small guy could build a life for his and his hometown !
National treasure depository; classic auto parts companies need to get together and inventory this building.
It's like a complete set of parts for almost any make and model for any car!
All that old merchandise would sell in Cuba. 🎉 I was a counterman at and chain autoparts company in California from 1972- 1979, so this brought back memories.
At one point in this process that's what was going to happen
A time capsule in deed.amazing find hope all is saved and used where needed😎
I worked on more than a few cars it that parking lot…..they were open late, kept me on the road. Thanks THOOEYS.
G'day from West Australia😉
The owner is sitting on a literal gold mine of parts.
Wish I was a billionaire😊
Thanks!
Terry, as always, thank you for your generosity and support of our channel ❤️ It's greatly appreciated.
Wow! Wow!
Some of these stuff, I haven't seen in 40 years!
Brings back memories!
There is a lot money in here!
Specially for restorers!
Definitely! The video is generating a lot of interest, so I think a lot of this stuff will be saved.
I live 10 minutes away. What is there is pure gold! Pure gold!
It sure is!
I can't imagine what it would take to clear out and list the parts. There's so much good old stock in there . Great stuff . I hope someone buys this and brings it all back .
Definitely need a couple of those FE fuel pumps!
I've got you covered. If they are in there I'll find them.
YES! SAVE THOSE PARTS!!! Randy from Chattanooga, Tennessee said it.
I hope the lots and lots of people find out about this I would hate to see all those parts made in good old U S A be threw away great video guys as always thanks
Thanks Dale. We are hoping for the same.
Thanks for the trip down Memory Lane!
I lived in Louisville from 1995 until 2006...
I knew George and his son Doug and would hang out at the store once in a while... It was like being in Candy Store!
The store was just a few blocks away from my house that was between Iroquois Park and Churchill Downs.
I didn't have any contact with them or any of the other incredibly cool employees after I moved away in 2006...
I was shocked to learn that Doug followed his dad in passing, only by one year... I think George was in his Eighties when he went... But Doug couldn't have been Sixty.
The box from the grill you saw... I think the employees probably burnt out a new grill just about ever six months... as I remember, I think they'd barbeque their lunch almost every day around that joint!😂
Everyone there was an "old time parts man" and could damn near get you parts for a Stanley Steamer if you needed them... No computers and asking "what's this going on?" Or "what model is it?"...
I had a '55 Buick Roadmaster coupe that I think I rebuilt half of with parts from Toohey's.
One of my friends had a '51 Pontiac hardtop that was in great shape, but the interior was really worn out. He ended up buying a set of incredible PLAID New Old Stock seat covers from Mister George... That was back in the early Nineties.
I miss places like that!
Cheers
That is great information. I remember those parts stores in the 1970s and 80s that were staffed with older guys who were real car people. No computers, just some catalogs and a lot of knowledge. I am not surprised to hear Tooheys was like that. It is sad to see something that Mr. Toohey must have been proud of, left to decay. Thanks for sharing!
Absolutely amazing!! A veritable time capsule. If you're restoring an old car, those are the parts you need for sure. I hope a lot of people who are looking for these parts find this video.....incredible! Thanks for sharing Richard and Christina!! I don't know a lot of people restoring, but if I do, I'll send them to this video. 👍👍
Thanks David! Every share of the video helps save some of the parts and the history that goes with them.
The way to watch this video is mute the sound and run it at 1/4 speed. Solid gold find from back when aftermarket parts where actually well made!
Wowwwww!!! When I was a kid growing up in Lexington Ky. There were two locations one on South Broadway where my dad used to frequent and the location in North Lexington. The location where you are was identical to what both of the stores looked like when I was a kid in the early 1970s.
There’s a few of my friends that I know that were customers also from the Lexington KY area who would probably really love to see this video.
If I could help to save any of these parts then I would be very happy.
Tooheys usually always had what you needed and you very rarely had to go anywhere else. Most all of the parts shown on this video are of superior quality and of much better quality than the Chinese junk that’s being sold nowadays. I never realized that Tooheys had that many stores in their heyday.
I grew up in Louisville listening to Toohey commercials. When we came across that guy with a truck of parts at the NSRA swap meet and saw it was Toohey's, followed by him telling us about the warehouse! The words "can we come record it for our youtube channel " immediately flowed from my lips! It's one of those places only people who grew up with it understand. Please share the video and tell friends 🙏 We appreciate all help in saving these parts! Thanks so much!
@@christinarust6957 Hello Christina, I visited Louisville many times as a child due to the fact that my aunt and uncle lived just off of Preston Highway near Lynwood shopping center was if you are familiar. Their house was demolished due to the airport expansion several years ago. Wow, It’s a small world. We always loved visiting Louisville because we used to go to the White Castle that was at the intersection of Preston ST & 4th Street next to the old St Joseph Hospital. Are you familiar with where I am thinking of?
Yes I do! I was telling Richard about how many houses and neighborhoods were gone from airport expansion after we left Toohey's. Are you referring to the White Castle off of Broadway? Funny they don't have White Castle in Tennessee. My first few years here whenever I was driving to Louisville, to visit my daughter's and grandson's, I'd always stop at the White Castle in Bowling Green. I always had this odd White Castle craving! So funny!
@@christinarust6957 Well, Maybe that was Broadway instead of 4th Street. I do know that WC was directly across from the old hospital. I remember that the original WC was demolished and the new WC was built where the parking lot was and the parking lot was where the WC had been.
It seemed like that I also remember a WC that we used to go to that was around Okalona just off of Preston Highway. Sometimes we would go on to Shepherdsville to visit with my relatives there. That was several years ago and I think just about all of them are now deceased.
I do remember as a kid going to a DAV thrift store which I think was around the east end of Louisville that had absolutely everything that you could imagine. My uncle worked at Vulcan-Harr where they manufactured the commercial kitchen stuff. This thrift store was not too far from where my uncle worked. The cemetery across Preston Highway and next to Louisville Male or Durrett as I remember is where Wilson Pickett is interred in one of the mausoleum’s. I remember the tornado in 1974 damaged some of the cemetery.
I’m 70 and I bought parts there in Louisville . “When your car goes phooey call Toohey!
It always amazes me what gets left behind.
So true!
Auto parts gold mine.
WOW! I hope all the stuff, finds a home. Thousands of dollars of stuff. Just so time consuming to go through all of it. Yea got to wonder how much of that goes to the scrape yard. Could be a gold mine but who has the time. This just blows my mind. Thank you for sharing this with us. love the vid.
You're welcome! My hope is that someone buys it all.
Wow that's astonishing a warehouse is gonna be needed to store a warehouse 😮
A serious amount of value sits there.
The building I use for my bike shop was an old auto parts store. It operated from 1925 thru 2008, when they locked the door and walked away. I purchased the building in 2017 and it still had all the inventory on the shelves. Much smaller scale than Toohey’s, but your tour reminds me a lot of our building, when we got it.
Nice! What happened to the inventory?
@@whattherust I kept everything for a few months, while we recorded part numbers and made a spreadsheet of what we had. Over 12,000 parts. I kept the really old parts, but most everything was sold to a small auto parts supplier in Alabama. This all happened before I started a UA-cam channel. I wish I had recorded and documented what we had when we bought the place. I’ll make a video of what I kept and tag you guys.
@@MiniBikeMike Nice. You took good care of that inventory. Definitely let us know when you make the video!
This is freaking awesome. Send it to my brother, who's a mechanic. I have never seen that much stuff. That's a one big building. It's like a time capsule.❤
It sure is. There is so much we didn't have time to see, but we have another video coming soon from our second visit.
OMG! This has to be the most amazing content that’s been posted in a long time! AMAZING!! Thank you!
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks so much! Hopefully we help save it.
When I see old buildings or houses I think if they could talk what stories they would tell I like hearing about stuff like this
If they could talk to each other they would probably say, boy people sure do batch more than they used to
I really do hope you guys can save as much of this inventory as possible ! There is so much stuff here that you will never see anywhere else ! This building is looking like it doesn't have much time left before the roof caves in and the whole thing goes away.
I hope we've helped. We were told yesterday he's received many calls already. The roof! Didn't think of that. So true, that could happen.
Dear Lord ,brother. There is so much to unpack in this video, lol. With our 5 cars in the yard, we could do so much if we lived there and had some good money and shopping carts,lol. Great video, save it all.
Thanks Quentin. Let me know if you need anything specific.
@whattherust we have a list, lol. I can send a picture to Christina.
@@rescuedandrestoredgarage Sounds good my friend. Do it before Saturday.
@@whattherust it has been sent, brother.
As someone trying to keep my 1955 chevy 4 door 235/2sp power glide With all original parts I would give almost anything to go through that place. Awesome man just plain awesome.
Thanks. Please spread the word.
That is all aftermarket parts not original
That place is so cool! It would feel like when I go to a new junk yard with hundreds of car it is just so much fun and overwhelming at all of these good parts!!
Yes, exactly!
Oh man !!!!!! there is a god !!!!!!! Merry automotive christmas !!!!!!!
wow a lot of vintage parts! Thanks for making the video and making these parts known.
Thanks for watching!
What a freaking gold mine that is! WOW!
I dream of places like this. Thought they were all gone. My family was in the auto parts business. My dad started his repair business in 1946. I do have some memories of them.
Glad the video brought back some memories. Thanks for watching.
Richard, buy Christina a flashlight!! LOL
Cold war motors would love this stuff
I was going to say there is a small fortune in merchandise just waiting to be sold. I stand corrected. That warehouse is a gold mine of everything automotive.
That's right. There is stuff there that hasn't been made in decades.
Incredible happening ....1954 inventory of automobile ...wow that is treasure for many vintage car lovers may be even motorcycle parts that surely should elevate spirits of many enthusiasts who can revamp their parts.
I worked at an auto part house in the early 70’s in Alexandria,La. The building was a nice quite unique as was an old motorcar sales from the 20’s.
Please share this video! We aren't sponsored by the seller, nor are we getting a cut of the sales. We just want these parts saved! If you are interested in purchasing something, contact Glenn at 502.664.2778
You got anything for a 57 Corvet in there? My brother would be interested in that.
I shared this with a well known car Collector. The inside of this building has dollar bill signs written everywhere. Pallets will be easy to rid of. Just put them outside with a sign saying FREE!
PackRat Heaven.
I would like to know if I could buy some parts.1959 3 quarter ton brake shoes brake drums. Wheel cylinders front and back and bearings inside and out. How can we contact you?
Wow, just wow. Absolutely incredible. I could spend weeks crawling through there just to see what's what. If it was closer to Boise Idaho I most certainly would 😋
I know how you feel. There was so much more to see that we did not have the time to show.
I know of one UA-cam that might buy the entire inventory or large portion of it. HeavyD sparks.
All those manuals alone are priceles. Some maybe the only one left in existance. That one from 1940 could be worth a small fortune. It belongs in a museum.
@@benjamin5028 absolutely agreed, and to quote from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. " show do you Doctor Jones so do you 🤣🤣🤣🤣 ...
Excellent video Christine :) , Richard :) also that so cool for Automotive Restoration companies and all parts maybe need even ones do on own owner of vehicles parts hard to get in this present years on old vechiles too! Hopefully you bought some parts you need too for project your working on Richard :) !
Hi Andrew! Of course he did! I do hope most parts find a home. Thanks!
@@christinarust6957 excellent to hear Lol and I know Richard would!
Although you probably didn't have time, y'all should've gotten one of the urban explorerer guys from UA-cam to document this. Most of them have high quality cameras and lighting. That would been handy for the office areas.
We found out about this while at NSRA and was there a few hours later. Then diving home the next day. We had no idea what we were about to walk into! Definitely something we'll never see again! Thanks so much!
WOWZA ! Someone surely will come in and buy whats usable in the collector car market.
I hope so!
Holy crap! You were 2 miles from my house. I'm not sure when you shot this but I was in it last year and bought some cool stuff out of there.
I found out about it last weekend when we were at the swap meet at NSRA. Being from Louisville I grew up listening to Toohey commercials 🤣 I asked if we could please come record it for our channel and luckily he agreed 👍 His name and number are in the about section of this video. Please spread the word and help find these parts a home! Thanks so much!
Oh I know who owns it. I wish you all would have seen it a year ago and I wish I would have seen you all at the nationals.
Holy cow! Richard, at 2:10 when you flipped the card and read the (truly odd) message on the back, I almost busted a gut. I’m not sure why I found it so funny, but I think it was your somewhat perplexed tone as you deadpanned “I don’t know what that’s all about” instead of opting for the “What the hell??” that you were probably actually thinking. 😂😂😂
Anyway, it probably wasn’t intentional, but it absolutely killed me…and I’m still cracking up. Thanks for the laugh! I needed that! 😂
So funny! I literally said the exact same words to Richard when we were editing the video! I read him your comment and we both laughed so hard! Glad it wasn't just me!
@@christinarust6957 😂
Glad you enjoyed it Ronnie. Perplexed is definitely the right word!
Jay Leno would be the guy to get these parts out to the masses.
Nah. Jay would just hoard them all.😂
A candy store for gear heads. Very cool.
Exactly.
Man. That's awesome!! Jeez over wellming ,but I've actually seen this type of place before. A couple years ago. A big store ,& machine shop that closed its doors 1 day!!
Wow !!! I hope most of this gets saved. It would be very sad to see it go to a landfill. As always Guys I liked and shared. All my very best. One of a very few times I wished I were rich. : )
We hope so as well. Hopefully this video helps. Thanks so much 🙏
I've always dreamed of owning something like that... 100% awesome
WOW! I don't know where to start. I have a '54 Ford, a '61 Mercury and a '65 T-Bird. I'm always doing something to them, but they're largely done with their mechanical refurbishment. I do need a power steering pump to the '61 FE powered Mercury, so I need to give them a call. I just hope they have a working inventory system that will get me the correct part for my application. A million thanks for the heads up on this incredible old parts warehouse.
You're very welcome.
I remember one over in Louisville KY.
I’d love to be able to go back in there again. A lot of the stuff was sold earlier this year but I’ve been trying to get ahold of people to go back
We went back a couple of weeks ago, There is still so much stuff in there that 5 hours was not enough to see it all.
I just skimmed this video. I worked in an old parts department in a vintage chevy dealer from 76 to 78. Many of the aftermarket things on this video are frim the late 70s to early 80s. I can tell by the boxes. They must have closed this place decades after 64. Its gonna be hard to sell those parts good luck
Wow!! This just made my day! George Toohey is my grandpa and I grew up essentially next door to this location. I used to play hide and go seek in the mazes of shelves as a little girl and spent a good chunk of time bugging Marie, grandpa, and the mechanics out back for candy and grape coke. The part of the video of you walking through that from office area.. I haven't had that view in nearly 30 years. Thank you so much for sharing ❤
We are so glad you found the video. It is an amazing place, and it still shows a lot of pride in what Mr. Toohey built.
impressed me this warehouse unbelievable 😮 they have more then a million auto parts incredible Richard. thanks for sharing this information
I am now 72 and worked in auto parts since I was 14 so a breath from the past
The wrapped box's, cash registers, Pepsi machines ers are all stuff picked up from the 1@storez they closed. I'd say the new warehouse stock was returned to vendors at the last moment... iv worked for regional parts stores and closed stores
Makes sense.
Nothing was ever returned and George would buy big boxes of Sorensen from closing warehouses and stores and re box it.
What an amazing place! I hope they can sell most of the parts before the rest are destroyed! I wish I was close to there. I would spend all day looking through all that stuff for my '54 Chevy Bel-Air!! Thanks for the tour!
You're welcome!
wow what a gold mine its to bad someone cant restore and clean it up as a parts store thank you for sharing
You're welcome. Thanks for watching.
I am blown away amazing i could spend all year in there.
I know what you mean. On our second trip, we spent 5 hours there and saw a fraction of what is in there.
I love places like that. Time capsule museum. However , its sad.
amazing just amazing
There are people in the business of liquidating inventory like this, I’m confident someone is going to make some money, looks like there is a lot of good stuff in here.
I agree. It is looking like a lot is going to be sold fast.
If they take their time and let the word spread across the country, I believe they will recieve multple offers.
The random scattering of parts combined with the cash registers and phones seems to indicate that those pallets of boxes of parts are what was returned here as the stores were closed.
I agree.
I have never seen a parts warehouse that huge, it had to be the main supplier of the satellite parts store of the same name.
At 48:30 in this video the modulator he holds up is for the 1986 F 150. It went on the driver side of your block just above the oil pan.
Freaking amazing i hope this inventory get saved
looks like some one was in there that shouldnt have been there.
what an awsome find.
A good checker could beat a good scanner.
WoW! Just Incredible! You need to get hold of people who do car shoes & not just swap meets! Am sure there's people out there who been lookin high & low for some of that stuff! ❤
Right, no doubt about it.
What an amazing place. Great video.
Thanks!
I just watched this i beleive thats all the stuff left from all the stores combined leftover😊
This reminds me of the auto part stores of my youth. I'd go with my Dad on a Saturday morning to get tune up parts for our car. My Dads' high school buddy was behind the counter. No computers, just parts books & old time cash registers.
That's right. I remeber these well.
I worked in the auto parts industry for over 60 years. Stated out as a driver and ended up owner m6 own store chain. It was a great business. I miss it a lot . Would go crazy trying to get this cleaned up and selling off the parts. Good luck to the people who have to get this cleaned up. Don
You have a good story there, Don. You would understand the working of that warehouse, and the work it took to keep the chain of stores going. Thanks for watching.
10-1/2 sparkplug looked similar to what plug is used in Ford AA from 1927 to 1931.
Thanks for the info!
They should put out an ad, all you can carry for a Hundred Bucks, you'll get rid of it pretty quick. I know I would fill up my Truck, specially the vintage stuff.
I would love to spend a weekend going thru that stuff ! Going to give that guy a call !!
So would I! I love stuff like this! But it was very scary in there.
What was awesome u can pretty much almost build u a hot rod a couple of times over im super jelly I totally would turn back into a little boy again I see Richard had that glow and tweekle in his eye I but he felt like a teenager rlinf about with his buddy's life in your guises last video when u were working on that 1928 or 1930 wasn't sure on the year sorry for the ear full I get so happy and warm inside to see u two keeping us happy and finding the time to do this while working full-time and family time to thank u thank u thank u u did a aweso.e job too Christina by wife have not stepped on foot in there because of the 🐀 or mouse hahahahha
Thanks Tanner! Agree many cars over! We see so many mice, rats and snakes I don't even think about any more.
I used to tow for George and bought many parts from him.. I brought a lot of people over to Woodlawn location in Louisville.. great stuff was there and great people
Nice! We have heard from others who worked there or knew the family. Everyone has fond memories of the company and the people.
I remember my dad going here to buy parts. My late ex-husband used to as well.
It seems to have been a popular place. Many people are recalling their time in that place. Thanks for watching.
Rock Auto would probably buy all of it.
Would love to buy up their stock of old (pre 2000's) glass packs, especially any old Cherry Bomb or Thrush mufflers.
I looked all over and didn't find a single glass pack!
Hope you all can save those parts it would be such a shame from to be to away in the trash
Hopefully this video helps. Thanks for watching.
The Aladdins Cave. I bet that feels the same as being an explorer of an Egyptian tomb.
Right!
Perfect analogy. The automotive hidden valley of the kings...and I've sort of driven by this place on the Watterson expressway countless times. And didn't know and man that just makes ya wanna kick yourself.
I bought many parts from that very Tooheys back in the 80's
Really cool episode!
Glad you liked it!
It would be nice to see a lot of those parts go to some old hot-rodders that could use those old parts
I am hopeful that is what happens.
All those parts books should make it possible to identify exactly what's there. What a job that will be. Wish I could see the labels on the boxes. Some I could see, most not so.
Exactly. Those books cover nearly everything in there.
OOH THIS HURTS MY HEAD! So many parts that are just not available anymore . Somebody save this.
Wow, that's our old auto parts store around here back in the 70's , " When your car goes phooey, call Tooheys"! I liked Tooheys better than any auto parts houses nowadays, know what I mean? Those ol boys that worked there, our Tooheys anyway, took pride in their work and job. They had a store right down here on the corner of Limestone and Carlisle Ave.
Yes, I know exactly what you mean. When I was younger there was a NAPA store in town and every person that worked there was older and knew their stuff. It is very different now, where the O'Reillys clerk tried to sell me a piece of fuel filler hose as a radiator hose.
@@whattherust - hahaha, Lord have mercy, mmm mmm mmm, geez, you'd think those auto parts houses would somewhat train their employees, Jesus! I know probably when Auto Zone first started opening stores, well for the first few years, they would train people, at least some of the stores did but that probably didn't last long I'd say.