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Coolest thing you have ever found at a wrecking yard???

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by jokerjason, Jul 23, 2009.

  1. CrazyVern
    Joined: Nov 6, 2006
    Posts: 59

    CrazyVern
    Member

    While not Hamb type stuff, my best find was a 69 Camaro endura bumper, rs grill/headlight setup, chin spoiler, rear spoiler and disc brakes. This was when I was in high school during the 80's. I had to borrow the money and if I had been smarter, would have bought the whole car as it was a lot nicer then mine that I was getting the parts for. I continued to pick little pieces off of it for a couple years.
     
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  2. town sedan
    Joined: Aug 18, 2011
    Posts: 1,290

    town sedan
    Member

    In my favorite bone yard about an hour east and a bit north of Kansas City, I found a 1960 Edsel. Even better was when I was able to buy the rear bumper along with some trim for my Fairlane. -Dave.
     
  3. ago
    Joined: Oct 12, 2005
    Posts: 2,199

    ago
    Member
    from pgh. pa.

    Picked up a Franklin QC for $75, and a 4-71 and 6-71 blower in a scrap yard about 4 years ago.
     
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  4. fergusonic
    Joined: Nov 11, 2007
    Posts: 221

    fergusonic
    Member
    from Kokomo, In

    I found that I could not run faster than a junkyard dog that had broken her chain ! When I fell during the run; I yelled NO at the top of my lungs....... fortunately the dog understood English and just turned around and trotted away.
     
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  5. Katuna
    Joined: Feb 25, 2005
    Posts: 1,822

    Katuna
    Member
    from Clovis,Ca.

    I remember my dad and grandfather telling me when I was a kid that they found a complete late 20's/early 30's Pierce Arrow. Said it looked like someone had driven it into the yard and walked away. They had nowhere to put it so they had to walk away too.
     
  6. dan c
    Joined: Jan 30, 2012
    Posts: 2,520

    dan c
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    murphy's junkyard, sunset hills, mo. a 2-story high pile of flatheads. your choice, $10. ahh, the good old days!
     
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  7. raprap
    Joined: Oct 8, 2009
    Posts: 768

    raprap
    Member
    from Ohio

    The year was 1974. While scavenging for some misc. parts, I saw a Mustang with a large hood scoop. I had to have that scoop. Didn't need it but I wanted it. For $20.00 I got it home and my buddy stopped by and said, "Where did you get that Boss Mustang Hood Scoop?" Whaaat? I ran back to the junk yard and the owner said someone just bought that Mustang and was mad as hell that the scoop was missing.
     
    Last edited: Jan 30, 2015
  8. 17dodgebros
    Joined: Oct 10, 2007
    Posts: 40

    17dodgebros
    Member

    10 331 hemis that had always been run on propane. $75 a piece. might as well been $7500 a piece at the time.
     
    Deuces likes this.
  9. tbenvie
    Joined: Sep 21, 2009
    Posts: 54

    tbenvie
    Member

    I used to buy a lot of AMXs and Javelins. There was an all AMC junkyard called Homer Brownings in western MA where he would get an occasional car I might want (2+ hour drive). I opened up the back of an old box truck he had on the yard and it was filled with NOS parts from an old dealership that had closed. Decent amount of parts for me! I also bought a real low mile 74 Bricklin with AMC engine at another junkyard. It was #323 which is my birthday so had to have it (so I told my wife). It ran over a large rock and damaged the front crossmember-it was welded to the frame not bolted and more work than I wanted to do after I had it apart so sold it. Always wondered if it was ever put back together.
     
  10. About two years ago my dad found a 8 lug Pontiac hub and wheel in the scrap yard.
    He spent an hour looking for the other three, No luck!!
    Had to buy it for twice scrap steel value .:D
     
    Maverick Daddy likes this.
  11. Reading this thread reminded me of a cool thing I found in a junkyard. It was way back in 1972 though. I was in San Bernadino visiting relatives when I needed to go to a junkyard for a part for my 66 Fairlane. In the yard stacked up on top of another car was a rust free 57 Tbird. It was mostly a shell and had a lot of parts missing but it wasn't wrecked or rusted. I hated to leave it there but I was 2,000 miles from home.
     
  12. I had a man give me a late Merc. flathead, he was going to scrap. The block was junk but the crank was good.:D
    However I had to remove the used (worn out) clutch and pressure plate for him reuse before I left.o_O:confused:
     
    volvobrynk likes this.
  13. I just remembered this one. Not in a junk yard...
    I had a man give me in his words " The two old Ford flatheads in the barn, one has some kind of strange distributer and coil"
    The distributer was a vintage Mallory YCM and a Mallory Mag-Spark coil
     
  14. treb11
    Joined: Jan 21, 2006
    Posts: 3,948

    treb11
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Ahhh..... no space or money. Have passed on a 1970 Boss 302. A 67 GT/CS Stang. A complete solid Sunbeam Tiger and worst of all a 40 Ford coupe
     
    Deuces likes this.
  15. A 1966-67 fiberglass Comet funny car body sitting real pretty on top of wood bldg. in a junk yard in N.E. Ohio, the owner said it was not for sale! said to have been one of Ed Shartmans spares. 20 miles from there, also on top of a bldg. was a Logghe Chassis Anglia Gasser(now restored) it was a lot more fun a few years ago, but I'm still looking!
     
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  16. 56sedandelivery
    Joined: Nov 21, 2006
    Posts: 6,695

    56sedandelivery
    Member Emeritus

    1983, in X-Ray school, Tyler, Tx. Room mate was always running late, and we we're taking my car most of the time. In my "haste" to get to the hospital and parked, as I backed into a parking space, I crunched the drivers side door into the concrete stand a light-pole was on. My college car was a new, 82 Chevette. I decided to replace the door myself, and we went to a wrecking yard for a door. After we got back to the house, while taking the door apart, I found a .22 Magnum Derringer in the door (???). Still have it, and it's in a holster on my belt right now (got my Concealed Pistol License in the mail last week, and need to get a "respectable" firearm). Had the Chevrolet dealership in town paint the door to match the car; car was a silver color I started saying was "gun metal grey". I am Butch/56sedandelivery.
     
    jadegrenade 51 likes this.
  17. Justin Rousselot
    Joined: Jun 26, 2014
    Posts: 87

    Justin Rousselot
    Member

    I worked at a junkyard in high school doing their computer stuff and online sales but the owner always used to give me and my friend free run of the cars we found a truck load of..... What's a polite way to put it.... Women's pleasure devices... Some of them very unrealistic in size! Also found a boot with a foot in it from a truck that had been in a head on collision surprisingly the guy lived but lost his leg and we found the foot that was attached to said leg by the time we found it it was skeletonized and the guy came and picked up the bones so he could put them in a box to remember the foot and leg that he lost in the accident
     
    Pinstriper40 likes this.
  18. Right out of high school in 1959 I went to work at a wrecking yard that only scrapped, didn't sell parts. The boss did save a couple unusual items, one of which was a Cadillac V-12 OHV all aluminum engine. Supposedly a 1932. Also had an aluminum cased 3 speed that was so heavy, one guy could hardly lift it.
     
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  19. 270dodge
    Joined: Feb 11, 2012
    Posts: 742

    270dodge
    Member
    from Ohio

    I bought 3 Chrysler 392 engines in Kentucky and after we had them loaded the cat said " how about another?"
    I thought that I had enough in my pickup already and declined at the same time thinking of additional expense (they were $600 each). He told me that it was free and we loaded it. It turned out to be a cherry 300C engine that I still have. It is all correct and never rodded or changed, standard bore and crank. Those very special valve covers are still there.












    I bought 3
     
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  20. 13lav
    Joined: Jan 25, 2008
    Posts: 9

    13lav
    Member
    from San Diego

    My buddy and I found a hidden junkyard in Arizona in Dec 19. Out of all the jewels out there the guy had two 58 Pontiac Bonnevilles!! I was going to make a offer but he had some ridiculous prices. [​IMG][​IMG]


    Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
     
    kidcampbell71 likes this.
  21. Porsche 912 steering gear. Had been heartburning for months on what to use as a center steering gear foe my Mysterion clone. Ed Roth used some sort of linear actuator on the original car (doesn't look like a steering gear) Plus there weren't a lot of R&P auto options in '62!!

    Was cruising the junk yard when I glanced in the front trunk of a VW bug and spied this. Someone had removed it frm a Porsche and dumped it there. Not an exact match but I am 100% sure it is what Ed would have used if it was available in the day.

    12-31-2014 8-54-52 AM.jpg suspension steering gear.jpg chassis mockup1.JPG
     
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  22. c57heaven
    Joined: Feb 22, 2008
    Posts: 544

    c57heaven
    Member

    el camino there too. would be fun to walk the place for sure.
     
  23. sliceddeuce
    Joined: Aug 15, 2017
    Posts: 2,981

    sliceddeuce
    Member

    40 Ford woodie rear fenders. Just sitting there atop a clapped out Toyota.
     
  24. Several years ago, I went to Elyria, Ohio to conduct some business with the late Chuck Finders. He took me to a junk yard that had a neon Willys sign sitting on top of an eighteen wheeler trailer box. Long story short, I bought it and then the local Willys guys were pissed at me because they thought that they should have gotten the sign. You snooze, you lose.
     
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  25. greenie-reddy
    Joined: Nov 23, 2009
    Posts: 1,032

    greenie-reddy
    Member
    from maryland

    12 years ago, while my youngest son was playing LL baseball, I discovered several 40’s to 50’s cars, wrecked and abandoned in a thick woods well beyond the outfield fence. When the field was built, about 25’ of fill dirt was imported- basically trapping the wrecked cars. During a boring practice, I picked my way thru the trees and inspected the cars. Most were rotting and slowly settling into the earth. One was a ‘49-‘50 Cadillac convertible. The sheet metal was rusted to the thickness of tinfoil. The front seats were just about flush with the fusing earth. Then I spotted the stainless steel trim band that ran over the top of the windshield. Over the next few practice days, I used nut buster and a variety of screw drivers and other tools to free the SS parts from the rotting hulk. I finally got it all loose and soon sold it to a happy buyer in Arizona. My kid thought I was weird- coming home after his BB practice covered with mud!
     
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  26. Fordors
    Joined: Sep 22, 2016
    Posts: 5,373

    Fordors
    Member

    There is a ‘56 Lincoln Mk. II in that yard too. That makes the Bonneville pale by comparison.
     
    chevy57dude likes this.
  27. Stan Back
    Joined: Mar 9, 2007
    Posts: 2,179

    Stan Back
    Member
    from California

    60+ years ago I was in San Bernardino looking for Model A parts, and, in a separate fenced-in area was a maroon customized 39-40 Ford (maybe Merc.) 4-door convertible with full interior and chopped Carson-style top. I asked if I could buy it and was told it had no title and was in a storage part of the lot because of that (?). I checked two weeks later and was told it was sent to the crusher.
     
  28. Desmodromic
    Joined: Sep 25, 2010
    Posts: 571

    Desmodromic
    Member

    A set of four Aston Martin Borrani 16" chromed-spoked aluminum-rimmed wire wheels with good tires for $50. There wasn't another foreign car or part in the yard.
     
  29. wicarnut
    Joined: Oct 29, 2009
    Posts: 9,052

    wicarnut
    Member

    Back in the day 1964, went to a junkyard looking for a V8 chevy engine for my 57 210 2 door sedan I purchased minus engine and transmission. They had just brought in a wrecked 59 Impala ragtop, 348 Tri Carb, 3 speed manual with OD, 50k miles, made the deal for $150, came back the next day, picked it up and my first car adventure was on. gave it the spray can rebuild, mechanical progressive linkage, chrome air cleaners, Hurst shifter and my first Hot Rod was alive, have many good stories/memories from this car, sidenote, many trips back to same yard for trannys, 4:11 pumpkins, axels, tires, etc. The pic attached is not my car, but just like what I had only Way Nicer, I wished mine was this cherry, being a Wisconsin guy, rust was/is always an issue/PIA with all cars. 57 Chevy 210 .jpg
     
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  30. THE FRENCHTOWN FLYER
    Joined: Jun 6, 2007
    Posts: 5,367

    THE FRENCHTOWN FLYER
    Member
    from FRENCHTOWN

    Four wooden metal clad doors from what turned out to be a 1916 Maxwell. My bud bet me I couldn't make something cool out of them.
    HOT TUB

    hottub01.jpg tuboflo01.jpg
     
    The Arizona Old Crow likes this.

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