When I first started working on my own cars, I did most of my business with a small independent jobber that carried name brand parts and catered to the installer trade. If I needed a part on a Sunday or wanted something cheaper, I had another option. They sold stuff that today might be considered appearance or specialty items, like chrome exhaust tips, Hollywood glasspacks, babymoon hubcaps and floor mats.

They also covered hard parts with things like oil filters for under $1, motor oil and a lot of stuff by manufacturers that I had never heard of in plain white boxes.

The place reminded me of a walk-in version of the catalogs I used to get in the mail from those discounters that sold everything for every vehicle ever built over the last 75 years. That store is long gone, and I don't remember a whole lot of other discount parts houses back then, so I'm not sure how unique the place really was, but it was always an interesting trip when I went.

What brought it back to mind was a simple request for brake parts. I was asked for a complete set of brakes, drums, rotors, hardware and wheel cylinders for an '86 Celebrity wagon. Not only was it all in stock, but we also had four grades of friction material and a choice of premium brand name drums, rotors, hydraulics and hardware, or you could have it all in the value priced line. Not bad considering GM stopped using that brake setup in 1991. It's also something that I don't think I would have been able to do in my store when I started there back in 1983.

Being an independent jobber can be a pretty rough road to travel. Being an independent jobber without some sort of group affiliation these days has almost certainly got to be the road to ruin. Belonging to a group such as Parts Plus or NAPA brings with it an identity as well as buying power, and a big part of that identity is group branded parts. While many of these parts are top quality name brand items, many are not. I don't mean to say that company or group branded parts are inferior, or not up to the job they were designed for, but there are differences.

What can be difficult to explain, however, is why a premium brake rotor that sells for $50 can be replaced with one that sells for $9.98. Trying to play up quality can give consumers the impression that the less expensive parts are junk, while playing up price can make it look like you overcharge for the premium line. Sometimes the whole concept can be hard for a customer to understand, especially on something as seemingly one-dimensional as a brake rotor.

Today's consumers have become accustomed to being offered choices in price and quality levels in almost everything they buy. The idea of a good-better-best, or store brand vs. nationally known brand, has become ingrained in most consumers' buying consciousness. Having it all in one store means you stand a 50-percent better chance of making the sale than the two owners of the stores I used to deal with when I was younger.

I now get to wear both the hats that they did, often at the same time, which sometimes means 50 percent more work for the sale. It's all part of the price of doing business today I guess. The only thing I'm having trouble with, though, is finding a wolf whistle horn for my '31 Ford. Just can't seem to find a listing for it anywhere.

Mike Gordon, a 20-year counter sales veteran, works the counter at Sanel Auto Parts, Concord, N.H.