When I used to go to Carmichels's Junkyard in Excelsior, MN in the late fifties and early sixties they had a bunch. The only ones I remember specifically were two late twenties Essex sedans. I think I remember them because I had never heard of that make before.
I was born in '57. Started searching junkyards about '77. You might only hear memories from the older old guys.
Lou A good chance you know about this one. I was fortunate to see one yard so described, 1985, was on my way to the NW Nationals in Yakima Washington, this place was right on the highway, man, talk about a double take, nothing but rusty square cars, I think it is long gone now.
There Was One between Twin Falls Idaho And Jerome With A Few Brass Cars That Had Been Held Back From The Crusher (1966)...
Nates in Minneapolis had some square cars in it's yard on Washington Ave inn the late 50's. I remember going to a yard in northern MN around 1970 that still had some square cars, and lots of 30's and 40's cars.
Usually a lotta square cars. Soccer mom shit, 4dr sedans, imports. You know, all the shit squares drive. Or izzat not what you meant...
no. I can remember going to the junkyard and getting a posi rear end and a Muncie 4-speed for my GTO with several cars to choose from in the 70's. now all we have are corporate junk yards where they clear out the cars after 30 days or so due to volume. very rare to see anything cool there... even 10 years ago
They’re either square of they look like an egg, all the same blah colors too. No character whatsoever.
Used to run across some 30’s and 40’s truck cabs and frames that had been made into forestry equipment. Loggers dreams, doodlebug tractors, truck frames converted to log trailers. All that stuff disappeared in the late 80’s/ early 90’s around here.
In the 1950's, I would tag along with my dad to the junkyard (he liked to scrounge around for stuff). In my 8 year old mind, there were some grand old cars. Packards, Cadillacs, Lincolns, and many others. Like a candy store to me.
I was born in ‘49, I can remember seeing late ‘20’s - early ‘30’s cars in a yard on Archer east of Knox Ave. in Chicago up until the late ‘50’s., very early ‘60’s. West of there was Green Bros. Truck Yard, it was loaded with a lot of military vehicles. Deuce and a half’s, jeeps, even a few half tracks in the front row. In back they had a couple chain drive Bulldog Mack’s and some other old ones.
This is still going strong [Horopito Motors , aka "Smash Palace in NZ] https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=-wajrsMwzTc
Back in the late '60s/early '70s I recall a number of yards that still had some (albeit rusty) "square" cars. Here in Upstate NY, the "stock car guys" had pretty much cleaned out (and ruined) ALL the 1930-41 bodies, but they had little interest in the boxy '20s cars.
Good point Glenn, and I can relate. Mom and dad rented when I was born, they had a house built in 1954 and I remember riding in a Model A Tudor that was a neighbors DD. We followed the moving van, my dad never had a car!
Years ago I went with some friends to a junkyard somewhere in the middle of Maine. At the time (probably 30 years ago) there were quite a few late 1930's - early 1940's cars there. My son was around six years old at the time, and he couldn't get over how they used to be built. I remember him saying the bench seat in one car was like a couch!
Kober's in Washington, New Jersey had lots of cars. They had some from the 30's but they were pretty far gone. Some from the late 40's had some parts on them but the 50's cars had lots of parts and some cars that were restorable. In the late 90's I was able to get quite a few 57/58 Plymouth parts for the cars I had and the one I still have. Gabe ran the place, and he was a nice guy. He would let you go through the place and get the parts you need and for a reasonable price. I don't know for sure what happened, but I was told the owner died (Gabe was the son) and the family had everything crushed.
Don't recall if it was someone's hoard or a salvage yard, but I remember a place like that in Clinton County near Plattsburgh I found in the 80's.
When I was 6 or 7 in the late forties, my folks took the family to see a softball tournament at Parade Stadium in Minneapolis.. We parked a couple of spots away from this funny looking "square car", the likes of which I had never seen before. I asked my dad what it was an he told me it was a Model "A" Ford coupe. The odd thing is that although it was a weird old car, it was less the 20 years old at the time.
So it would have been better for them to have been left there to be crushed? What part of that the general public didn't want those cars by the early 50s is so difficult for you to understand? I saw an interview on YouTube the other day (I thought I should save this for that HotJack) an early stock car racer building his first car in the mid 50s. He said the local Ford gave him a 33 Ford coupe because no one wanted it and they couldn't sell it, because by the mid 50s all the manufactures had hydraulic brakes and most had O.H.V V8s, Next the Western and the Southern Tier of NY as well as Northern Penn. were mostly outlaw. Track like Five Mile Point (Five Mile Point NY) Mid State (Morris), Fulton NY, Brewerton (Brewerton NY) Penn-Can (Susquehanna, Pa) raced mostly square coupe and sedans. Fulton speedway was flathead until the mid 60 and the Labor Day New York State Fair race on the Mile was flathead until 1965! Mostly square coupes and sedans. Also this wasn't like today were teams show up to the weekly track with a Stacker two cars, back-up everything engines, rears, etc... Those were working class guys who raced the same car for a couple or more years, they could afford to be tearing up and rebuilding a car every week. Did you realize the many stock cars were built form street car that were worn out and had bad engines, rears, etc.. that would have cost more to repair then they were worth? This is a latter era but the Jack Miller's Mustang bodied Late model that he dominated the 1973 season with was a wrecked (in fact totaled car).
You sure have a lot of opinions for someone who didn't "live it". First of all, NOTHING got "crushed" around here until the late '70s when steel prices went nuts and portable crushers became available. The resurgence of hot (street) rodding took off about 1970, and me, my buddies and fellow Street Rod club members had about a 10 year window to scrouge junkyards and back roads before they all started to disappear (scrapped). What we did find were 100's of clapped-out, gutted, wrecked and ruined early Ford Coupes/Sedans...and very few unmolested buildable projects. It seems every farmer and woodchuck thought he was Troy Ruttman, and left nothing but crap for the next generation of us hot rodders. Look, I get it, those old stock car guys were just doing "their thing" but considering this is a Hot Rod & Custom Forum, I don't have much love or respect for the guys that "ruined" the cars that 99% of HAMB members love.
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