ABOUT US

Well, for the sake of accuracy, in a sense "us" is really just "me", Gary Hurst, aka Jabba.  Like many Americans, I was always a supporter of the American car, particularly full sized body on frame cars from General Motors.  By the mid 80s, this had already made me a bit of an oddball and a decade later it made me a downright freak in some circles.  I was, however, devoted to them as my primary automotive interest, although I would foray into the odd Volkswagen from time to time.

In 1998, we were hit by a tornado here in metro Atlanta that did quite a bit of damage.  I knew there was trouble when i felt cold that night and felt a tree in my bedroom as I reached over to "close the window."  Sadly, there was no window left to close at all!  I went outside and the damage was considerable. Although my dwelling was possibly destroyed, my thoughts turned immediately to the cars:

1977 Buick Lesabre 2 door  ---  destroyed
1975 Cadillac Sedan Deville  --  destroyed
1978 VW Rabbit  --   destroyed

I loved all 3 of these cars.  The Buick was practically in dead mint condition, with 350 V8 and THM 350 transmission, both built in house by Buick.  One of the last examples of independent divisions in GM before they went purely to differentiation by badges.  The Cadillac was a special edition University of Tennessee car, burnt orange with a cloth houndstooth interior, used primarily to drive a booster to games from Memphis.  The VW was also the last of the breed, German built with mechanical fuel injection but no power boost for steering or brakes.  Three brilliant cars that were no more.

Needless to say, I needed something cool in a hurry and, outside of the odd old Mary Kay car, it was getting harder and harder to find that in my tradition niche.  For the first time, I looked outside for cool and what I found was a 1971 250 Mercedes.  It just oozed quality and personality and I could not wait to set it right!  A funny thing happened though as I visited my favorite NAPA store, which was connected to the main Atlanta warehouse  . It seemed they had no parts to help me with
this car and that only the dealer could help me.  

Hmm, the dealer -- this didn't sound promising, but maybe it was better with those Euro cars than it was with old Detroit Iron.  Off I went to RBM of Atlanta!  Things were even worse than I could have imagined.  Usually when you pulled into an American car dealership with you old POS Detroit car, you'd get a few smiles and some stories about when they had one of those.  At RBM, I was being looked at with this "what they hell did you bring this garbage on our lot" look.  I've been a pariah before, though, so I can live with that.  Then i learned something really shocking:  an air filter for my car was over $50!  Something was desperately wrong here.

BuyMBparts.com was invented as a reaction to this situation back when the internet was still largely a device for self publishing.  Along with a few others, we created a revolution in retailing auto parts by offering deeply discounted OEM parts to supply end users with the same parts the dealer was selling at insane prices for the sorts of prices the local parts chains would be selling inferior quality part for if they were carrying these lines.  This was met with great acclaim by those on the internet at the time and we would, albeit for a short while,  rule the enthusiast world for Mercedes Parts and Classic Mercedes culture.  

Today is a different world online.   Just as in the external world, Walmart has triumphed over Main Street.  The vast majority of the first generation that brought the online parts revolution is now dead or morphed into something unrecognizable and BuyMBparts.com has been no exception to this.  When you call a parts vendor today, you are far more likely to have your call picked up by some transient ne'er do well working out of a large call center than sells a little bit of everything than to find a dedicated professional who knows and loves your car.  It is simply a consequence of the broadening of the internet to where it is truly now about the ordinary and not the avant garde .  When I started BuyMBparts.com, the typical Mercedes owner on the internet was mostly about keeping his finely engineered machine running as it was originally designed to run in Stuttgart.  Today, he is mostly about trying to make his 1999 ML look like a 2004.  He owns a European car strictly for status and with no love of the engineering tradition and quality history of these fine marques.  

Today I am essentially starting all over again with BuyEUROparts.com.  I think for hours every day about how to create a new Main Street revolution to energize this way of doing business, but the task may prove too difficult.  For the most part, the best I can offer is to hang on to the old principles of Main Street and direct customer service for those of you who still love the quality of the cars and want to keep them up as well as you can.  Just like the old guy who keeps the old hardware store alive downtown, I have no illusions that the world has passed me by (although I cannot for the life of me see how this is an improvement) and continue to struggle to keep the old ways of quality and service and value in a world that seems to be demanding junk and madness.  Will you join me in this quest against the trend?

As for me personally, i have been mostly a Mercedes enthusiast for the last decade, but I'm currently head over heels in love with the E30 BMW 3 series convertible that is now my constant companion.  I very much desire a Porsche as well, but those seem to fall outside of my finances, particularly during this economic malaise we are in.  I also still have a soft spot in my heart for many old Volvos and VWs as well as for a lot of the more current offerings from VW/Audi.  

My interests are broad, so much so that I probably best understood as a dilettante.  I have a love for antique cameras, watches, hats, films, guitars & amps, guns & ammo, etc.  I am passionately and enthusiastically involved with my kid and mostly like to travel to places of natural beauty or  that are important in popular American culture.  

I will be adding links below to give you a better of idea of BuyEUROparts.com as a culture and as a business.  I hope I can be of service to you in the old "boss to boss" fashion and can continue on providing value for European car enthusiasts like myself.  Feel free to call, email or message me about anything at all!

gary hurst
snellville, GA

LINKS

It has always been my thought that the best source of objective feedback is Ebay feedback.  While the system is far from perfect, it's something you can't really fudge over a long period of time.



I really have never been much for legalize.  In fact, I've always not liked it much at all as it seems to only benefit lawyers and the courts and those who have the money to pay to buy lawyers and courts.  It is my belief that if we ever have an issue, we can work it out resonably between us.  But in the interest of thoroughness, I share the following with you: