Long gone dealers of military and useful stuff

[Mike K]

Towards the last days of the laneway warehouse where Keith worked , I was there and bought four NOS Ford cab 12 doors - while browsing I spotted a pile of manuals on the table and Jack O'Donnell said to me "they are for sale" . I purchased a C8 parts book with "W Hancock" hand written on the cover and a few other manuals too . The doors were ten bucks each . BTW the original green paint on those doors was applied straight over the bare metal , no primer !

Keith Downey was on the counter there near the end . He moved the business to another shop , was it called Power train ?

[Keith Webb]

Yes he set up Power Train Products which closed a few years ago. I bought a large batch of parts books from his son I think it was including some I had handled as a young worker at Hunter Road.

Originally Posted by Mike Kelly

Towards the last days of the laneway warehouse where Keith worked , I was there and bought four NOS Ford cab 12 doors - while browsing I spotted a pile of manuals on the table and Jack O'Donnell said to me "they are for sale" . I purchased a C8 parts book with "W Hancock" hand written on the cover and a few other manuals too . The doors were ten bucks each . BTW the original green paint on those doors was applied straight over the bare metal , no primer !

Keith Downey was on the counter there near the end . He moved the business to another shop , was it called Power train ?

[Mike K]

J O'D was a bit of a scoundrel . While I was there looking around, a guy from Tasmania rang and asked about a gear for a Chev gearbox . Jack said " I will look up the price " - he grabbed a newspaper and squashed it a bit, it made the noise of rustling paperwork " oh yes that gear is 85 bucks" he told the unsuspecting customer .

They were selling cheap repro Jeep parts too . They were getting desperate as the end of the business was inevitable . One time I was there , there were 2 guys throwing parts into a big industrial waste bin - new CV joints etc .

One of the first times I went there, I bought a heap of NOS USA blackout light inserts , 50 cents each . The price depended on who served you, the other Jack was great, he almost gave the stuff to you .

On a shelf there were hundreds of packets of Jeep front axle rebuild kits with " Canadian cycle company " printed on the label . These were only 5 bucks or similar. I scored some 1/2 Ton Dodge front axle CV joint bits on one occasion .

[Keith Webb]

Yes Jack White was great and more than realistic with prices. He also knew where every part was and often it's number without looking it up. He was a pipe smoker so time in the lunch room (Jack's office) were spent in a permanent fug of thick smoke.
If you're wondering what Jack O'Donnell looked and sounded like think of Elmer Fudd which was his nick name among many of the collectors: "Wet's 'ave a wook ova 'ere".
His other forte was to 'Wee-condition" parts by getting me to wash them in the kerosene washer and he'd then spray them black, good as new!