History Drying up all over the country

When I was in my teens we have several junk yards that would allow you to go out and look for parts in the rows and rows of wrecked and junked cars & trucks, I vividly remember going to Ed Powells and finding a '62 390 & automatic transmission for my '54 Ford and later own searching for parts to use on my Model A pickup.

Ed's conracted with a company that comes ever so often and crushes everything in sight and after he passed away his son's crushed all the old cars,truck, vans & buses. a lot of treasures went to the big salvage yard in the sky.

At that time we were free to roam the 100 plus acres to our hearts content, many a Saturday was spent in and under junk cars removing parts.

Today none of the yards will allow people to walk freely through the yards here, it seems they are concerned with steeling or someone getting hurt, or in our area snake bit!.

I was allow to join one of the workers recently to get a bronco rear axle and while he was pulling it I did a little window shopping.

The only one I am aware of now is Temples in the middle of the state, Randay Nash took me there several times and I purchased several parts from them.

How about you guys is there any yards left in your area that you can do your parts shopping? HRP

 

The yards with classic cars are getting pretty scarce around here. The vast majority of yards around here are pick-n-pull yards usually you have to sign their waiver and pay them $2 to get in.

 

I have one a few miles from here that is closed, but I know the owner and can search it a bit. There is one in Evanston that you can walk through, and buy stuff from, and a huge one east of Rock Springs that only wants to sell on ebay. Trying to buy stuff there, to me anyway, is a waste of time.

 

It's been years since I've even tried. We have the internet and craigslist now, and most of the cars in junkyards are a few decades too new for what I want, it's a waste of time.

 

What he said ^ although every once in a while a gem turns up in a pile of turds, my buddy found a 1957 Ford Crown Victoria in the Stockton Pick-N-Pull yesterday. Rear axle was already gone but he’s going back today for the front clip.

 

I saw that car Wednesday.

Seems wrecking yards have always kept cars 20-25 years old and newer.

 

Yes, there are less and less... this one 30 miles from me is still my favorite. I try to show my face every couple months and always pay with cash, keeps them on first name basis...
https://www.oldcarsweekly.com/blogs/salvage-yard-ron/easyjack_yard

 

We have a local yard called McKee's auto parts that I used to go to a lot ,they had a section for the older cars, like 70 and older. Up until a few years ago they let me roam around all day if I wanted, even drive my truck back in the yard. I would take off the parts I wanted , they would come out and look in the bed of the truck and tell me what I owed them, always got a great deal. Then all at once NOBODY was allowed in the yard except their workers, they gave the old insurance regulations excuse. One of their guys had to take the part off and bring it to the building, prices went through the roof too. I don't go there any more

 

We have a couple pick n pull type yards that still let you wander around and remove stuff, but will pull it for you if its an engine or something bigger that they don't want you futzing up, but as previously mentioned, its mostly stuff from the 90s and up, maybe a couple of cars from the 80s and anything before that is pretty rare to find. There are a few parts/salvage yards that cater to the older stuff, like Chevy Supply of Assonet, MA, and I've stumbled over them in Maine and New Hampshire, but with all of the seasons this region has, pickings can be slim for usable stuff that is left outside

 

All of the yards around here were closed and crushed in the early 80's. Thanks to ridiculous zoning changes. That's almost 40 years ago.

I have 1 yard and he only does late model trucks and SUVs. He makes most of his money making custom trailer axles and used rims. They match the bolt pattern on the hubs to your pickup. So you can use the spare on the trailer in a pinch.

 

Nope, not much here anymore either but I've been out of that mode for a while, the land of the few small independent yards we had are now subdivisions and strip malls.
Mostly Pick A Part type places that cater to the late models.
The only place in the Portland metro area that actively stocks HAMB type cars and parts is All American Classics across the Columbia river in Vancouver Washington.

 

Thirty five years ago I moved to my little town for several reasons but the bonus was ther was two vintage salvage yards in town and I got along with both of them! Free to roam I would spend hours digging for treasure. One guy was so good to me that when I cam up with a junket I'd haul it down or head pick it up and I didn't ask for anything. Then in return if I found something he would drop what he was doing and retrieve my treasures found.
In the mid nineties the first owner died then in 2005 the guy that worked with me so well sold out. The new owners crushed everything.....one sold the property the other still is crushing. Its a sad day when 250 complete 50s and 60s cars get crushed.

 

Living in the northeast, I always fantasized about driving a car hauler out west and buying as many cars and trucks as I could fit, and bringing them back here. Some of the stuff on the road out here has to be worse than the stuff in the yards in the SW.

Any Roadkill fans on here, who saw the episode where they found an AD truck in a junkyard in the desert and resurrected it in a matter of days, and drove it out of the yard? Just the idea of finding an AD truck in a junkyard in the northeast is hard to imagine, let alone finding one that needs a tuneup and brakes and down the road you go.

 

They started crushing cars big time in the area where I live, and there was only one yard about 45 miles, that specialized in older cars. He closed down approximately 10 years ago and all the cars were crushed.
He told me that he had a good business going, so he must have become ill. At any rate, the business was closed and the yard cleared.
I have heard that there is a yard in the next town that will allow you to pull the parts, but it mostly contains newer vehicles.
I knew two different people that owned yards, and both of them stated that the biggest problem, was stuff going over the fence at night. Out of necessity, they both started having the employees, when they weren't busy, pull the good stuff and store it in lockup buildings. That was an extra cost that they had to pass on.
Bob

 

DDDenny is getting forgetful or doesn't get out of Portland area too much.. I know of two that have hamb friendly cars.

 

We have another that you pay them $1 to go back in. Sort of like buying a companies hat or t shirt. Pay to advertise for them.

 

.............Don't think there were Crown Victorias in '57 guys.

 

Well that’s what my buddy said it was, I have zero interest in those cars other than the rear end.

 

The best place locally had over 40 acres of cars many from the ‘40s through ‘60s and had been in business since 1927. The owner was a grizzled old guy who possessed a great knowledge of old cars as well as a mental inventory of the almost 8000 vehicles and would allow us to remove parts. It was a great resource for car guys until the city put enough pressure on him to quit in the mid-1980s. Now the yards are parts services or Pick n Pull, certainly not the selection - definitely not the experience.

 

Yes I am......and I'm OK with that!

 

Nothing stays the same, I get that, though I figured a junkyard would stay a junkyard pretty much forever. Doesn't work that way. When I was a little kid, I didn't realize to think Antique stores ever sold much or ever got any new inventory, I also figured they were just folks that had a lot of old stuff. Then, when they sold pretty much eveything, they'd call it quits. LOL

 

Tell you the truth, all I saw was an old wagon..I'm like el Scotto...not any interest...didn't even walk up to it.

 

Nothing around here, either. Have to go to Birmingham for Pull a Part. All the yards around here started closing in the 80's, then when scrap prices went so high in the early 00's, the rest of them crushed and went out.

 

There was another commodities or metal price spike around 2008-2012 somewhere in there, where steel went pretty high. Lots of stuff hauled outta the weeds.

To me there was something darn near comforting to see a particular old 30s-60s truck parked on the range out West along the highway or even the interstate, always in the same spot of course, they were a semi-permanent fixture, and belonged there far as I was concerned. Some had been there several decades. Lady Bird wouldn't have agreed with me huh. I can always tell when I've crossed that almost invisible line between the midwest and the Real West, for one thing land isn't quite so valuable, suitable for row crops, everything is just kind of spread out, and "hey, let's just park this old road grader about here'd be fine" kind of thing. The junkyards started out in the middle of nowhere, but eventually the cork sniffers move in next door and start to complain.

 

for the most part around here everything is corporate. nothing stays for more than a month, most cars 10-15 years old. had to go to 3 junkyards to find a seat belt and door handle for my 1993 GMC

 

On top of the junkyards all gone -remember when every town had at least 1 Corviair guy , Edsel guy , Studebaker guy , dodge truck guy etc etc . These guys always had whole cars and stuff stashed everywhere - if you pulled up and asked nicely they almost always helped you out. Municipalities freaked out on these guys years ago - where I live for years now if you have more than 1 unlicensed car in your yard the city goes apeshit . In the 70s my dad had an average of 10 Corvairs laying around the yard!

 

They are out here, but now everyone knows what they can bring.

 

Yup. Land is WAY too expensive here. Stock needs to come in, meet the desired extractable revenue level, and then it needs to leave, as scrap.

It can be thought of as the vehicle leasing the ground that it sits on. When it can no longer pay, it gets evicted.

The yard where I got my 8.8 is now gone, replaced with $60,000,000 worth of condos.

 

Ok