Ted Holcombe?

[Kevin Bielinski #13320]

i he still in business? At one point he was selling a lot of stuff on eBay

[Jeff Wilk]

Yes he is.  ebay name is hcadparts.  I just got some incredible 75 Eldo bumper guard inserts from him.

Jeff

[Derek Sherwood]

I spoke with him about 3 weeks ago and he said they are in the process of liquidating what they have and are planning to get out of the business. Apparently they still have a lot of inventory but they are not ordering things, etc. to replenish.

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

One of the troubles with getting old I suppose, and wanting to retire, if that is what he is wanting to do.

I find that a lot of my suppliers are getting out of their businesses.

Bruce.

[Kevin Bielinski #13320]

I enjoyed doing business with him.

[veesixteen]

Yes, Bruce, getting old is a bee-itch. I am sufferring the symptoms daily. I find it more and more difficult just (physically) getting out of bed in the morning ... and yet I'm "only" 71 !  All my fault, of course, for having spent too much time at the computer and not enough (in fact, none at all!) at the gym.

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

G'day Yann,

At least, when one retires, or as I call it, "Getting a Life", one can get out of bed when they want to, or when nature enforces it.

Bruce.

[FREDS64FLEETWOOD]

I do not mean to necro post by reviving this thread from the dead but I wanted you all to know that I spoke with him today and this is January 2016 to order some parts from him.

[Scot Minesinger]

Does he have a website?  What parts did he specialize in?

[Roger Zimmermann]

As far as I know, he has no website. He has his inventory in the head...Incredible. Once, I asked for a part and he told me: is that part number xxxxx? It was! He has parts from the fifties to the seventies but no sheetmetal anymore. Each time I'm asking for something I'm sure he will not have, he mostly has with 2 or 3 options between NOS, excellent or good.
He is expensive compared to others, but if he say: there is one dent on that long molding, there is just that dent and not 5 or 10 other ones.
I'm buying parts from him since about 30 years; hardly had a problem and, when he did an error, he find a way to correct it.
To me, this is the best supplier for Cadillac parts. Unfortunately, his inventory is getting smaller and smaller...
Bob Hoffman knows him well: they were once associated.

[76eldo]

I have an office in Bensalem about 10 minutes from Ted.

Ironically I never met him until about 3 years ago when I needed a part for a 70 DeVille I had just purchased.  He had the part, price was good, and I went to his house to pick it up.

I told him I had a few Caddy's from 1960 to 1985 and if I could browse his building I would probably want to buy a serious amount of stuff.  He doesn't allow that and prefers to just provide what you need if he has it.  Very nice guy and judging from the size of the storage building behind his house he has a lot of great stuff.

Brian

[Walter Youshock]

When the time came to finally replace the original power steering hose on the '57, I looked everywhere.  Of course it is one of the many 1957-Cadillac-only parts.  Ted had a nos in the Cadillac tube.  I felt guilty putting it on the car...

[cadillac ken]

Every time I hear of another great supplier "getting out of the business" it worries me.  I question where this old cadillac hobby is headed. I love my Caddys and each year the old pros seem to be simply retiring with no young guys to take over the business.

[gouldsom]

Ted Holcombe is a great guy, grumpy just like me. I live in New Zealand and have bought thousands of dollars of 59 stuff over the years off him. Sure he was expensive but the pain of dollars is soon forgotten, the pleasure of great nos lasts forever. Don't go looking for 59 parts cause I bought all of the last of it. My only regret is that I didn't start dealing with him earlier, when he had everything. I bought a nos 59 convertible rear speaker grill off him, he said that in 35 years of dealing in nos that was the only one he had ever seen, new in the box, $700 please.
After years of knowing him, I discovered we had a mutual love of vinyl records, after that we really got on. He would tell me great stories of how he got into the parts business, going all over the Country buying out Dealerships. He said in his prime he had a climate controlled 2 story warehouse, so crammed with new parts he could barely walk down the isles.
A real character, I only caught him out once, over some nos 59 axles I bought off him. even he didn't know they had carbon brushes early on and eliminated them later on. If Ted said it was right, it was right.
Richard

[Roger Zimmermann]

Richard, as you bought so many part from Ted, you failed to note how well the parts were packed. Even for not so critical parts, he used ton of pack paper. Most of the time, when all parts were out of the box, I had great difficulties to put his pack paper back in the box!

[gouldsom]

Yes Roger, the packing was a work of art, there was never any damage when Ted packed things.
Every item was wrapped separately, some items were wrapped in little cardboard inserts.
Like I said I wished I had contacted him earlier, he had grills, gas tanks, everything.
He once told me he could almost build any 50s Cadillac from a chassis and the tub upwards.
When I got serious with him, he was selling stuff he had saved for his own 59 convertible, but he had sold it and didn't need the bits anymore.
He certainly was not cheap, but that never worried me, half my wages went to him for a few years.
I agreed with his philosophy, "once its gone, its gone forever', I hate to even use a lot of it cos of the great boxes. The last thing I got off him was a nos Cruise control, it was not complete, but with that and a lot of cruise bits I got off "Cosmo " in California, I have the complete set up.
Does anyone remember Cosmo, another character, difficult to deal with, but could be worth the effort. His uncle had a Cadillac dealership and had left him some great parts, including I believe about 12 complete cruise control set ups.
Ah those were the days, now E bay is just rubbish for Cadillac parts, it all seemed to dry up a few years back.

[Quentin Hall]

I miss "The Zonz" . Now they were fun times.

[Jay Friedman]

I too bought a number of parts from Ted back in the 80s and 90s.  Most notable was a NOS steering knuckle support for my '49 which even had a taped on sticker with a Cadillac logo and script on it.  I also felt guilty installing it on the car.  It's still there, with the sticker too.

[cadman56]

I got to spend a couple of days with Ted back in the early 90's.  He took my wife & I through historic Philadelphia & the next day He took us up to Steamtown to see the steam trains.  He & his wife Jane are delightful people.  I haven't talked to him or Jane now for several years as I have lost his contact information.  Last conversation with Ted is he was trying to retire & he didn't have new body mounts for my 68 convertible.  Rats.
Larry

[Scot Minesinger]

Ken and all,

Yes, it seems like more people are getting out of the business than getting in.  I think the classic car hobby is beginning to wane unfortunately.  However, people still enjoy classic cars, even the young.  Hoping Cadillac gets a boost.  Would you rather drive a smooth comfortable 1968 Cadillac with a/c, tilt, power everything and lots of room, or a 1968 Chevy that is a second quicker zero to 60mph (slow by todays standards) and otherwise very unpleasant to drive - noisy, rough riding, hot and etc.?  This is probably a good time to leave the business.

Larry,

I used an alternate body mounts for all three of my 1970 Cadillacs, which should be similar to a 1968 Cadillac.  e-mail me at rscotm@cox.net if you want the source and article - you may have it already.