Anybody know status of Doc & Cy's in Indianapolis?

73911guy · 10-24-2003, 01:21 PM

Doc and Cy's was a purveyor of new and used Porsche parts in Indianapolis. Lately, their 800 goes unanswered, their local phone number has been changed to another number that also goes unanswered, etc. I ordered some parts in June from them that weren't available from Pelican because they seemed to have the inside track on getting the parts from Tasker Metal Products. They didn't deliver and the order was cancelled. However, at some point my credit card was charged. I've got a temporary credit from Citibank but I'm wondering if Doc and Cy's closed doors and I'm out the bucks. Anybody got any insight as to what is going on?

Thanks

Jim

SpeedracerIndy · 01:45 PM

Wow, that's a little disturbing to hear. I was just there a few weeks ago and saw Doc at their swap meet. The only thing I know about the business is that he had hired a guy to do a lot of the leg work and then shortly fired him. I got the feeling it wasn't under good terms. Maybe that has something to do with your transaction. I know that the business is more of a hobby for them. When I last was there, it seemed as if it was business as usual with the exception of the one they let go. I have a local phone number for them I can PM you that you might try. I will be willing to go in there for you on Monday (on that side of town for work) if you like and try to find out some info. I hate to see these guys get a bad rep from a few mix ups. They have always treated me very well in the past.

Jack Olsen · 10-24-2003, 02:29 PM

I think that Cy died a little while ago (my apologies to Cy and Doc if I've got that wrong). I also had an order of some specialty stuff that took a long time -- as thought they weren't operating normally.

Let us know what you find out. They've been a good source for some otherwise-hard-to-get early parts.

SpeedracerIndy · 10-24-2003, 02:58 PM

Well, they were both at the swap meet in late september. I hope that's not what happened! I will make a point to stop by there on Monday after work, or this weekend if I can make it. If I talk to either of them I'll make sure to get updated contact info.

Jack Olsen · 10-24-2003, 03:36 PM

Jeez, okay. Well, I'll assume I heard wrong. And again, my sincere apologies for even suggesting it mistakenly.

(I remember when the true-crime author Jack Olsen died, and there were suddenly rumors about my own death that were mistakenly circulating.)

Tyson Schmidt · 10-24-2003, 04:24 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by JackOlsen
Jeez, okay. Well, I'll assume I heard wrong. And again, my sincere apologies for even suggesting it mistakenly.

(I remember when the true-crime author Jack Olsen died, and there were suddenly rumors about my own death that were mistakenly circulating.)

Were they exaggerated?

Wayne 962 · Wayne 962's Garage

And greatly?

-Wayne

RarlyL8 · RarlyL8's Garage

Both fellas (Doc & Cy) have spread themselves pretty thin. They are into everything. Could be that the folks left minding the (Porsche) shop aren't doing such a good job. That would be a shame. They're both great guys and true enthusiasts.

Doug E · 10-24-2003, 06:37 PM

D&C usually are a staple at the Potomac swap meet but this year (swap meet was last weekend) they weren't here. Wonder if it was connected ...

Jim Richards · 10-24-2003, 07:23 PM

Cy told me recently that he wasn't going to the Potomac swap meet due to the poor attendance that past few years. This year's better attendance might've changed his mind, had he made it.

73911guy · 10-27-2003, 06:41 AM

The phone numbers I've been able to find through the internet and the phone company are:

800-950-0356 no longer in use, no other toll free number available

317-926-6818 changed to 765-344-0081, which nobody answers

317-283-2033 call cannot be completed

They are not members of the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce.

Any help anyone can give will be appreciated. I'm not out a fortune, I'm just out more than I'd like to give away.

My home email is dasher-j@insightbb.com if anyone has some info to share privately.

Thanks

Jim Dasher

SpeedracerIndy · 10-27-2003, 08:11 AM

Well, here's the scoop. I stoped by after lunch today and spoke with Doc. The bad news is that Doc, the official owner, has dissolved the Porsche business. He said that it was costing him more to run the business than he was making. The Porsche business has always been a hobby for them. The main business is an antique store, along with a construction and home restoration shop. Doc said that Cy was just not a business man and basically didn't charge enough for parts to make the business make any money. He said they were loosing something like $150,000 per year just on teh P-car shop. I find that hard to believe, but on the other hand, I know I could get P-car parts from them FAR cheeper than anywhere else so it doesn't suprise me that much. The good news is that I asked him if they would ever be able to offer parts. I explained that there were a lot of people who relied on them for hard to find parts. He said they would be able to order parts to people on a limited basis. He said he would not be able to offer small orders like oil/fuel filter etc, but if you were restoring a 911, 912 or 356, he would be more than happy to supply you with parts for larger orders.

As far as the missing order, I didn't go into anything like that with him. I wouldn't be suprised if the guy who was let go was the reason for orders comming up missing and Doc or Cy probably don't know anything about it. I got phone numbers for the antique store where the business was run from. Doc told me if I had parts questions to call there and ask for either Doc or Cy. Here are the numbers:

White River Arcitectural Salvagge & Antique
317-924-4000
317-590-8296
800-262-3389

Hope that is of some help. If I can help any more let me know.

Rot 911 · 10-27-2003, 08:47 AM

Nice detective work Casey!

Jack Olsen · 10-27-2003, 09:07 AM

Glad to hear that they're all alive, but it's a shame they're going out of the parts business.

And I hope them make good on Jim's order.

73911guy · 10-27-2003, 10:58 AM

Thanks, Casey, for going above and beyond what I ever imagined anyone doing.

I've got a call in for Doc now, and I'll let everyone know what the outcome is.

Thanks again, Casey.

Jim Dasher

73911guy · 10-27-2003, 11:00 AM

Just got a call from Doc - he is going to have Cy look into it and get back to me. He hopes to have it wrapped up in a week to 10 days. Sounds like I'm not alone in this though.

I'll let everyone know the outcome.

Thanks

Jim Dasher

Mukilteo911 · 10-27-2003, 11:08 AM

Something we should all consider in the used parts market is that if there is no profit in used parts ( because people willing to sell them under value ) then eventually professional sources will disapear leaving it difficut to find already hard to find used parts. So try sell your stuff a price that reflects what it is worth so people will continue to invest the time in finding the parts and selling them to us so we can keep our cars running. Not to mention that ity also keep people from crushing them which has happened very recently here in the NW, because there was no reason profit wise to keep the cars. Good tubs and suspensions crushed, dam shame.

TRE Cup · TRE Cup's Garage

What mukilteo says is accurate- Aase Bros ended up crushing a bunch of shells, due to lack of profit , when they closed up.
. The internet has been a boon for the used parts hunter. There always seems to be someone just about giving their parts away. It makes it very hard on us that depend on it for a living. We recently sent 6 tons of parts to the grave because of low pricing. It just was not worth making a parts list, cleaning and inventoring everything for the measly profit we may have realized , if they ever sold. We've kept the best stuff , of course , but have shifted our business towards new specialty parts, repairs, and performance upgrades
Kind of like that IBM commercial and the "antiquated exec" You need to anticipate the changes in order to survive

barlowdo · 10-31-2003, 10:14 AM

I guess I thought Doc and Cye sold new parts not used parts. I never saw used parts in their catalog or at Hershey where the attended.

My experience was they let this guy go- and I won't mention his name . I guess orders were not getting filled, getting lost and what ever. Also I was told they had a hard drive crash. Than they replaced the guy that was let go by another peroson who didn't seem to do much better at filling orders.

-Don

sammyg2 · 10-31-2003, 11:15 AM

I bought some stuff from Aase bros in 1980, felt like I got ripped off but at the time I didn't have another source. They charged me $175 for a used 914 window regulator.

I went by there many times over the next 20 years but never bought anything because the price they wanted was what I considered to be at least twice what it was worth to me, sometimes closer to 10 times.

IMO they priced themselves right out of business.
Einmalig and another place in stanton (can't remember the name right now) bought alot of their stuff. The place in stanton went belly up for probably the same reason, they thought their stuff was solid gold and would rather sit on it than let it go for anything less than top dollar.
Einmail will probably suffer the same fate.

If processing the parts costs too much, streamline the process or offer a less labor intensive option, similar to what pick-a-part does. Let the customer do some of the sorting and cleaning and catagorizing in exchange for a discount.

Rule of thumb in the parts business: it is much better to run out of inventory than to run out of customers.