Howza Folks, As the newest counter man at AAC I want everyone to know that what the latest of the yard is. YES, there has been a shake up on the land we have had. NO, we are no closing. NO Todd is not doing such as scrap prices have recently climbed. HELL NO. Geeezus, this guy still has his first car! What is happening is as follows. It’s with some sadness that I learned this week about the downsizing at @allamericanclassicsinc - a great working yard that I’ve only been to once but which I’d been meaning to revisit. All American is *NOT CLOSING* - they’re just reducing their footprint - so I’ll still get the chance, but they are going down from 20 acres to 5. AAC faces a problem that almost all old-school yards anywhere near urban centers are facing, though it’s more acute in some places than others. The growth of urban areas - particularly here on the west coast, has pushed far beyond the boundaries that were common when the yards were founded. AAC is a modern yard - founded in 1989 on what had been a dairy farm out in Vancouver, Wa. At that time about 480,000 people lived in Portland, Ore., about 15 miles away. Today almost 650,000 people live in Portland. As PDX has grown, so have its suburbs - placing development ever closer to AAC and making land more valuable (and therefore property taxes higher). One reason why modern salvage yards are high-turn is that it’s just hard to justify a car sitting for 20 years - a car that is not yielding parts is not earning. That’s okay if costs are low, but most old-school salvage yards are caught in the bind of having to meet increasing costs while trying to provide that rare part only needed once in a blue moon. Hence, most modern yards are high turn - which wastes alot of esoterica, because nobody knows it’s there and there isn’t enough time in six weeks to pull what you might need if a yard is halfway across the country. We’re lucky to have places like AAC, so even though I’m sad I won’t get to revisit it as it was, it’ll still be there helping people keep older cars (including 1962 #Chevy #Impala hardtops, like this one) on the road - AAC is doing what it presumably needs to do to thrive. The population in places like Portland is only going to go up - as will the spread of urban areas, so patronize and visit these businesses if you can. What we have done is shrunk it down from the over the top 20 acres to a very manageable 5 acres. Yes, there were some cars that I watched and cringed as the bitter end was done, but as the invoices tell the tale, that car had been there for two decades and had not basically paid for its space. So we are here. We will be here. AAC has a footprint and will have 500 cars ready to be parted out and still have cars ready to be bought to be ready for your next dream car. Call us at (360) 254-8850 Thank you to all who have been to us and who visit us as time goes on.
Thanks Spooky for posting this. I have put a few laps around that yard over years. Well said. Glad its staying.
It's sad, but it's still better than closing the doors. Thanks for getting the real word out. Heard any good stories lately?
Sucks about the downsizing, but you have to do what you have to do. I'm just happy to hear you guys aren't closing.
So what happened to the 15 acres of cars that you got rid of? Did you sell them, scrap them or give them away?
Todd is a good guy, a few years ago he came across a legit, numbers matching, special edition trans am. He knew who to call. He gave me a good shake on it and even had one of the boys drop it off at my house on the roll back. I built that bandit and sent it down the road last year. Tell him I said hi Spooky and thanks for the intel. Next time I'm up there I'll say howdy.
Good words....started crushing cars at 15 years old in the early 70's....it was money for a kid with a motorcycle working towards a car. Most just don't understand the land thing....seen a lot go...but as owners say - I've got bills to pay.
Always liked the overhead photo of that entire business/yard used in advetising it. It's probably the closest thing in the PNW to that similar yard in Arizona. With the CoPart deal and Englishtown, the stage is set..... MONEY always trumps everything else; and right behind money is greed. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.
I've walked the yard at AAC a number of times. It seemed pretty big but I didn't realize it was 20 acres. It's a shame it's downsized to only 5 acres. That's not that much for storing cars. I've seen a lot of development in that immediate area in the last couple of years. Less than a mile east off AAC, on the same road, there was another fairly large yard that liquidated everything about 10-15 years ago and still remains empty to this day.
Say man, I know....I know. We will still have 600 cars. That and NOS parts, fenders, bumpers, decklids and such that are NOT on inventory.
Stopped by over the weekend to look around and I was surprised to see how much vintage Iron has moved out in the last 2 years. Maybe 25%? The good news is that they have a ton of stuff pulled but the bad news is that there is a major condo project going in across the street I suspect that with Covid, there has been a ton of happy customers lately? Let's hope so!
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