Art & Inspiration Ever have a lucky discovery with junk?

So I have this "junk" SBC one piece rear seal I got for free to use as a dummy to set up my chassis. Purpose served, I set it aside and was going to take it to the scrap yard - rusty cylinders, etc. On just a wild hair I started taking it apart just to see if it could be used. Surprise! 4-bolt main block. Nothing broken and no rust or water in the lower end. Needs bore and crank turned, but I'll call it a win. If it is not cracked somewhere.
Any one make a happy discovery from what otherwise might have been junked?

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Congratulations.

 

No, but usually find out something I gave away was a treasure

 

Not yet, but I am ever hopeful!

 

Ha, I bought a project car that came with a Chevy clutch fan. I went to use it on something but the bolt pattern was too large. I sold it at a local club swap meet for $10. About a week later a guy I know said that was his son that bought it, it was some special Z28 fan or something that guys were paying a grand for. I never did try to find out if he was pulling my leg.

 

Back in the mid 80's my buddy showed up at my place with an early 60's Chevy pickup that was pretty dogged out on the back of his wrecker and said it had an Olds engine in it and asked if I wanted it. A no title truck that someone had given him along with one that he wanted in a take both to get one deal.
He said that the guy he got it from said it had a bad knock in it.
My son and I pulled a battery out of something and stuck it in it and fired it up and sure enough it knocked at an idle but the knock went away when you put it in gear and held the brake and gave it some gas. Shut it off, went in the garage and got a 9/16 wrench and slid under the truck and tightened up the torque converter bolts and we jumped in it and drove it up and down a few backroads around the house and it ran great and the trans worked great. We wheeled it back in the yard, pulled the hood and proceeded to pull the engine using a limb on the big tree in the back yard and a come along, rolled the truck out and rolled my 51 Merc under the engine and fitted it up and made some mounts to hook the 350R (72 Model) to the Merc Crossmember. About four days later we drove the Merc down to my buddy's house. I put probably 80K on that engine in the Merc including a road trip to Bonneville and Texas in 1988 and ended up selling the engine to a guy for his Lemans when I found a 455 for the Merc.

 

Always best to just smile, nod your head and walk away. Saves grief that way...

 

Not a big deal, but I've experienced that a few times over the years.

I bought an oil covered motor out of a junk yard for $50 once because I was looking for a rebuildable core. As I was removing the motor mounts, there was a tag riveted to the block, hidden by one of the mounts. The tag was from a large engine rebuilder. I pulled the oil pan, and the heads to find a pretty fresh rebuilt motor. A set of gaskets, and new valve covers (the ones on the motor were both cracked around the lower bolt notches) and I had a really nice motor for around $100 total.

I bought an old car off the back row of a used car lot once. The owner told me the motor needed a valve job and he wanted to get that old junk off his lot. I paid $75 for it, then did plugs, points & condenser, cap, rotor, and plug wires. The valves were fine. I drove that car for a couple of years before someone wanted it way more then I did.

I found an old truck I just had to have, but it was part of a package deal. I had to buy another truck, and two cars to get that one truck. About a hour after I got everything drug home, a buddy stopped by needing a car bad. He feel in love with one of the two I'd just drug in, and offered more for it then I paid for the whole bunch. He loved his new to him car. I also sold off the other truck, and junked the other car. I really enjoyed the truck I had originally wanted. It was the kind of deal you would like to run across about once a month. Gene

 

Bought a Muncie 4 speed trans off of Craigslist...you know the drill..."completely rebuilt not long ago by
a high-dollar restorer", but no paperwork...hmmmm.. Haggled down the price to $450, took it to my transmission guy,
and of course, it needed to be rebuilt. BUT the good news was that it was actually a M22 Rockcrusher!
Went behind my 409" perfectly!

 

I Bought a 50 Ford for $100 that was parked 'in' the yard since '69 (it sunk down to the rockers in mud) tires still held air - full of extra parts - bought it to cut the front end off to hang on my wall - sold all the extra parts - and then the remaining shell. I was able to get a free tandem load of gravel for my driveway from the $ made from this car.

Another guy here in Winnipeg went to buy a lathe from a closed down shop - ended up having to buy the entire contents of the shop - which included a lot of old engines - and found out a bunch of these engines are really rare, big $$. Last I'd heard he's almost sold off everything after 3 years, and made a substantial amount of $ from selling everything. Lucky guy I guess.

 

I helped a buddy drag home a $100 junkyard '59 Ford Station Wagon. It was a 3 speed car and he needed the pedals & linkage to convert his Ranchero to a 4 speed.
The Wagon was filled to the windows with junk & garbage, so as he's pulling shit out of the car (a metal pile & a burn pile) he tossed a box into the burn pile that, as a toy collector, I immediately recognized. A 1966 Hess Voyager Ship in the box. The box was dirty & moldy, but the ship was in beautiful condition. Told him I'd sell it for him and we split the profit. Got $900 for it. He shit his pants when I handed him $450

 

Yes. My C59A flathead was likely headed to the junk pile when I purchased it for $100. Little did I know how lucky I was to find a salvagable block.

Then.


Now. Almost done...

 

My first big purchase was from a guy selling off a Model A chassis when I was starting to build my pick up back in 2003. Came with a second set of wire wheels that the guy wanted gone. They ended up being a set of perfect condition 16" KH wires. They are still on my pick up to this day.

 

Bought three AD Chevy pickups for $900 from a clipped wings airline pilot that was vacating his country place do to financial problems. Borrowed a friends two car hauler and as I was making the last round he told me there was a bunch of parts in the trunk of an old Pontiac. The parts included a COMPLETE 54 Vette side draft carb set up. On the way home swung by a Vette shop and sold the set up for $1200. As I was starting to crow about my killer deal I was informed that I had sold the side draft set up for a fraction of it's worth. Oh well, I figure I just had to dig through some goose shit to get hold of the golden egg.

 

All the time....
My last good one was just a few months back.
A guy was moving so he was selling everything, he had 3 Studebakers....he said junk...I saw parts for my Stude , then dump what was left over .
Ended up doing real good .
Paid $750 for all 3, traded one for a very good original 51 A.D ...sold another one for $500, then the last one a guy bought some parts off of it for $500 , his friend spent $450 for some other parts from it ...then they came back and pulled all of the parts off that I wanted and gave me another $500 for what was left.
Then I sold the 51 pu for $3000.

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Pre- internet. Grabbed a random pair of sbc heads out of a pile from a scrapper $5. They had smallish looking chambers. Checked my casting numbers book.
1957 dual 4 bbl heads. Ad in Hemmings, got them in the right hands

 

Many years ago I bought a pair of Early ford spindles I needed, they came attached to the axle. He said I had to take the axle with them. The axle was a 4 inch dropped 32. Paid $100 for the package.

 

Best thing I ever found and obtain was a 65 Mustang that you could only see the front end from the road. Went up to the house and asked about it. The guy said, "100 bucks, its yours". It was a fastback, V8, auto. but it was all rusted out. I keep the bucket seats, engine, steering box, and trans. Gave away much and at the end of the month, sold the roof with front windshield and back glass to get my 100 bucks plus a little extra in the kitty.

 

I’m usually in the buy high - sell low camp...

Just a gift, I guess!

 

Bought a 67 Elco with no motor trans. A friend mentioned a woman at his moms manufactured home park crashed her 72 Pontiac into the club house. The motor was now making a knocking noise but I got it for $100. Got it home it had a Pontiac 350/350 and once we cleared the damage especially the fan shroud the Knick noise was gone. Pull the motor trans moved the Elco underneath redid the front mounts and I had a running truck. I stupidly sold it two years later. But the new owner stopped by 15 years later he had rebuilt the Elco but kept the Pontiac as he like confusing people when he opted the hood.

 

about ten years ago, I bought a big block suburban cheap, to get the motor. Drove it home (just barely), scrapped the body for almost what I paid for the whole thing. Turns out the engine had been replaced with a factory rebuilt, that was a late Mk IV block, four bolt main. That block turned into the 427 that's in Plan II.

 

Found an old Mopar cast iron intake on the curb. It had a Holly carb and an adapter on it. I checked the numbers on the carb. Turned out to be for a 1965 Chevelle Z16. Sold it on Ebay for big bucks even though it was worn out.
Rambling through a junk pile in a scrap yard. Found a set of rectangular port 454 BBC heads. Bought them for scrap price..sold them at swap meet.

 

Ten years ago I bought an early ‘20s Willys body online. The ad was new, the pics looked good and price was great. Told the guy to “consider it sold” and was on my way. Well, when I got there, I could see right away I'd made a mistake. It was mostly junk. But I’d committed and wasn’t going to back out. We poked around the place and found some other stuff that was added to deal for a few more bucks. This included a weird little pickup box that the guy said was an aftermarket piece from Montgomery Ward for doing a wartime pickup conversion. I figured it might be good for a T-bucket. I later learned (on the Hamb) that the pickup box was actually an OEM slide-in for a Chevy Master. Sold it to a restorer at the Portland Swap Meet for exactly what I’d paid for the whole pile. I regard it as Karma paying me back for being a man of my word.

 

Bought a set of Chevy pre-alternator rams horn exhaust manifolds for 15 bucks at at yard sale. Ran the numbers and they came back to a '64 or so Chevelle IIRC. Anyway tried to sell them at the Sacramento swap meet for 40 bucks. I guy told me they were priced right but wouldn't pay the asking price. Came back just as I was loading up and offered 25 bucks. Politely told him no and proceeded to list them on the auction site. There was a small bidding war and I ended up getting 140 bucks after all was said and done. Not a killing but I would have been more than happy with the 40 bucks I wanted at the swap meet.

 

Purchased a sbc alum intake on Clist for $25. Had no marking at all as they had been removed.Sold it for $200, would have gotten a lot more if the marking had not been removed. It was a early Z28 intake.

 

I bought two junk cars as a package deal. When i was done selling off the junk i had a free 409 4spd and a few bucks for my for my efforts.

 

Just bought a 1965 Chevy 1 ton dually really for the cab and the front clip. The truck had a big block in it and I figured it was a later 454 smog engine or something. Ran the numbers after I got it home (and verified with the guru @squirrel ) found it is a 1966 396/325 hp. Now to find the guy building a 1966 SS .

 

All of these stories seem to have a common thread to me:

THE BUYER KNEW MORE ABOUT THE VALUE OF THE STUFF THAN THE ORIGINAL SELLER.

Which brings to mind what my granny told me just before she fell off the Harley,
"Sonny, if you think education is expensive you aughtta try ignorance."

 

Living in Northern Nevada in the 60's - 70's , there were a lot of abandoned properties , My Dad & I used to drive around and look for anything usable , maybe buy something that was parked for awhile from a rancher . one day He was checking out a junkpile at a long abandoned farmhouse and found a 28-29 Model A Fan Shroud which was standard equiptment on Model AA Trucks . He knew right away what it was , gave it to me , I cleaned it up and installed it on my 29 Business Coupe.

 

One of my best deals was a guy I worked with said he had a transmission that was in a 1969 Chevelle that he originally bought from a lady that had it pulled for an automatic. He wanted $20 for the trans and $700.00 for the car. SS Chevrolet. Trans was a Muncie complete with shifter, rods etc. I bought both . Thought both were fairly good deals.