What's the coolest old car you've seen in a junkyard?

A real Shelby Mustang was picked for the Great 8 at Detroit Show in contention for the Ridler. I didn't see it there myself, but it was found in a wrecking yard a little West of where I live.

 

back in the 90's, there was an old yard in Prunedale Ca, ( just north of Salinas)called Abe and Fergies
This was a big yard in the hills, that dated back to 50's at least.
I never saw all of them., and they are all gone now.
57 Stude goldenhawk, complete, minus blower only,
55 Safari, minus rear quarter
A chrysler that still had the 392 hemi in it
55 Studebaker Speedster
Split window bug
3 Goliaths
Henry J with a buick v/8
a non rusty vega
71 road runner
53 Stude coupes
just tons of 30's to late 70s stuff, mostly 50's and 60's stuff. I was doing my Stude for the first time back then, and it was Paradise for me. Closed down by the county in the late 90's.

 

This one was not for sale but at Charles Finley auto salvage in Birmingham .. Charles olds powered dragster sitting in the lot. running gear was removed. He ran in the 8s with this car in the 60s. This dragster was the Albertson Olds when Charles bought it. He moved it to his lake house because every one gave him shit about it rusting away. Some time after his death I was told he sold it and the car was restored to the Albertson Money olds. In early1968 at a scrap yard {Hinds Salvage Huntsville Alabama}what was left of a 289 cobra that had crashed under a 18 wheel trailer and burned. A circle track guy{ Tommy Andrews} purchased it from the ins co for 200 dollars and used the engine and trans then sold the rest for scrap about 2 dollars a hundred at that time.

 

This was probably in the late 50's. I used to go with my dad to a wrecking yard north of Seattle, in Arlington; which was Al's Auto Wrecking. This wrecking yard had been running since about 1938, when Al drug home his first wrecked car.

Anyway when we went up to Al's, I always wondered around in the back of the yard looking at cars. There were lots of very cool cars from the 20's and 30's. Piles of sheet metal that were old GM products that the wood had all rotted away.

There was one car that I wished I had had tried to save, an early 50's Ford sedan that had been chopped. I used to go look at it all of the time in the early 1960's. It wasn't wrecked, had a cool interior in it. It must have had some major mechanical issues, there was no body damage to it at all. Over time the weather had taken it's toll on the car and a lot of parts were removed. Now days it would be saved, but back then they weren't.

 

Once they own it, they can do what they want with it and too bad for the seller. Unless they won't sign the title over and it's a tough state to get a title in. Plus, a car like that a money guy could come in and make them ring it up piece by piece and it probably would still be a deal compared to what they go for say at an auction.


How about a side shot of that thing with the Packard nose?

 

Back in the late 60s "Dollar George" had a complete Henry J in his personal junk yard. He got the nick name dollar George because most anything on the car was priced at a dollar. We did not go there for power train parts but lots of interior parts, chrome trim etc. etc. although I did get a Chevy II V8 rear 10bolt (5lugs) The Henry J disappeared so he must have sold it. His kids got wise and the prices went up in later years. There were some older pieces of early 30s cars but not enough left to identify.

 

That's how my dad purchased his 32 which is still in the family. He was fifteen working in a junk yard in Illinois around 1947. An old man came in said he couldn't drive anymore so he was junking the car. My dad was told to take it in the back and junk it but he asked his boss if he could buy it. My dad bought it for seven dollars.

 

there's a yard here in Michigan that I was able to go in about ten years ago,was closed in the early seventy's,had a 57 corvette setting next to a 34 ford half ton truck both looked like you could put a battery in and drive home there was probably 500+ car.I stopped a half dozen times trying to go inside,after a couple of time stopping and talking with the owner I notice a loot of empty beer cans,came back the next time with 12 cold budlights and I was in,didn't have a camera,I need to take a ride with another 12 pack and camera to see if it's still there,

 

And it's still int the creek why?

 

Late 80's, maybe early 90's: A clean salmon colored '59 Pontiac wagon at Al's in Caldonia.
It looked like someone's project, all the stainless was wrapped up neatly in boxes. I still have a pair of mint clear plastic steering wheel inserts from it.

 

hey rustyNYer-

Was that yard in Middletown called Friar(sp?) Bros? I remember it when i was a kid. That place was awesome. Alot of people stole and the Brothers were in bad shape. Its been gone for a while but that place was loaded. Only real old yard i remember in Middletown.

 

Perfect body 36 Ford coupe in a Hialeah Fla junk yard in 1960 and I bought it for $50 less engine & trans. In the mid 60s I used to drive a tow truck and pulled many hpo Fords, Pontiacs, Chevys & Mopars out of the swamps east of US-1 in N Miami Beach {all condos now}. They would torch everything off and dump the cars up on the side & drag the drivelines out of them. Liteweight 427Galaxies, 426 Ramchargers, 409s etc. I also found a dead 10 year old girl that her uncle killed too in 1965, that wasnt too good of a find

 

More pictures of the Packard thing. It's got a loooonng nose.

 

55 nomad- 25 years ago. It had 2 other cars on top of it, made me sick!

 

Coolest yard I ever saw was a lot used by a Pontiac dealer from circa 1950 - 1980 or so. There was a row of five or six Nomads, all looking fairly complete, but now rotted past hope. Trees growing through the floors, etc.

 

1954 Buick Skylark convertible in a local junkyard,it had most of the Skylark only parts removed when I first seen it then it was gone. Found out someone got it to use for parts.

 

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About 7 years ago I saw this 57 dodge sweptside at DVAP in Deervalley,AZ and i fell in love with everything about it, i tried to buy it at the time but did not have the funding. They were only asking $3500 for it (im kicking myself now). about a year later i bought my 57 dodge D100 stepside. and about a year after that I saw a article in a Mopar magazine i subscribe to with a whole story on that truck with this picture (that i dug off google images). saddly for me the truck has been snached up, maybe some day i will have a sweptside they are so perfect looking and very under appreciated.

 

Saw a 1949 Merc at a yard yesterday.

 

I love trucks, but this is the butt-ugliest one I have seen in a long time. Its home made, right? Doesn't look like something the factory would have made.

 

One weekend in 1971 I was at a junkyard between Pascagoula and Mobile just north of highway 90. I asked the proprietor if he had any interesting junkers for sale. He asked me if I was familiar with the TV show, "Tales of Wells Fargo" starring Dale Robertson. I told him I had been a big fan of the show. The show had been on from 1957 through 1962. I recall that it was on Monday evening. The junkyard man motioned for me to follow him.

We proceeded to the back of the property where there were a couple of decrepit steel shanties. Under a roof extension on one of these buildings was a large car covered by a canvas tarp. He pulled the tarp aside and revealed a 1958 Buick Limited convertible unlike anything I had seen before. It was in extremely run-down condition with much of the floorboard rusted away. The top was a tattered lacework. At some point the rain had saturated the ornately tooled saddle leather upholstery and the resulting shrinkage had torn most of the seams. The stuffing was oozing out of the cushions.

The hood had a strange ornament resembling a longhorn steer. The doors had holsters on the insides and ornate rear view mirror/spotlights on the outsides. The rear fenders were covered with a wood veneer and had the words "Wells Fargo" emblazoned in bold chrome block letters. Then the gentleman told me the story.

It seems that Buick was the main sponsor of the Wells Fargo show in 1958. Buick Motor Division decided to produce a one-off Buick to present to Dale Robertson and then use as a publicity car to be shown at major dealerships around the country. When the publicity tour was completed, according to this gentleman, the car was given to Robertson. He drove the car for a couple of years, after which he gave it to his sister who lived in southern Mississippi, not far from Pascagoula. She briefly drove the car, but it was a financial burden so she parked it on her property in about 1963, whereupon the roof deteriorated, the interior got ruined, and the body rusted badly. It had ended up in this junkyard and the owner wanted $1,000 for the car.

$1,000 seemed like a lot to pay for a car that was going to be a nightmare to restore and could well become a money pit. I declined the opportunity to buy it. The next time I heard of the car was in the late '70's or early 1980's. I saw an ad in Old Cars Weekly magazine. The "fabulous Dale Robertson Buick" was going to be offered in the Atlantic City Auction by one of the major classic car auction companies. I don't recall what the car sold for in that auction. I doubt if the buyer had any idea how far the car had deteriorated before it was restored.

 

Ray was a character for sure, In a fenced area to the East of his office, he had a Kaiser Darrin just rotting away, not far from it was a retractible roof Plymouth. There was a custom 49-52 chevy hardtop on the West side of the office piled up on top of a few other cars. I remember stacks of old mercurys too.

 

There's nothing ugly about those trucks, and no it's not homemade.

 

I've seen a Shelby Cobra in a junk yard, I'm pretty sure its still there too. When I saw it there wasn't much left, just a couple smashed up aluminum panels and a rusted up chassis. I didn't even try to buy it, I don't know the first thing about them.

Other than that I saw a really bitchin channeled 31 Model A coupe a few weeks ago. The old timer who owned it said he built it in the 50s. He asked me not to take any pictures on his property because he was having trouble with people coming into his yard and vandalizing/ stealing stuff. Its really rough but I'm thinking about going to try and see if he still wants to sell it next spring when I have the cash.

 

Can you send me the name and number of the junkyard.

 

Along time ago in a yard in western NY. A Chrysler Airflow.Wish I knew then what I know now!!

 

I found a 32 ford 5 window in a junkyard about 4 years ago.

 

A 1925 Renault Limousine, with only 7000 km on the dial, original tires, silver window trim signed by the silversmiths, etc. Actually only abandoned in someone's yard, not a real junk yard.

 

You're half right, but it is factory made.

A poor answer to the Cameo.

 

Not in a wrecking yard, but in
a metal recycling - ie - scrap
yard - a complete and not rusty
or otherwise visibly damaged
1960 Edsel wagon. That was back
in the late 1970's in Hamilton
Ontario. I had never seen a '60
Edsel before, let alone a '60 Edsel
wagon. I was there hauling a '64
Olds 98 that I had bought for
scrap, over the scales. I dropped
the Olds in the yard, next to the
Edsel, in a line of cars that were
being picked up by a crane with
an electro-magnet and being fed,
one by one, into the shredder.
I remember my buddy having to
hold off the crane operator while
I rushed to yank the 'Town &
Country' radio out of the Edsel's
dash and to pull the Holley 4-bbl
off of the 352 V8. I could have
bought the car on the spot, with
the scrap payout from the Olds
and it was so intact, I'll bet if I had
bought it, just by throwing a battery
in it and putting the wheels and
tires back on, I probably could
have driven it out the yard! Damn,
I wish I'd known then what I know
now about how rare '60 Edsels -
and particularly the wagons are
- and how collectable they would
become in a few more years. A
classic case of "coulda', woulda',
shoulda" on my part.. My bad for
not saving it.

Mart3406
=====================

 

Just guessing that the coupe portion is like 33-34 Hudson or Terraplane, which is pretty rare in and of itself. Enough there for a stock car if nothing else, but if you were to round up a sedan somewhere to get a cowl and nose from, I can see a neat little hot rod too.

Looks like someone's home attempt at a rebody job like they sometimes did with older classics in the 30s. Except I'd guess this was done in the 40s and they made a truck out of it to get a better gas card.