Dumpster Dives

I am still in high school so I am obviously living with my parents. But that is the house I have been dreaming about my whole life. I love it man!

 

I found a bunch of Recaro racing seats outside of an engine shop. Brought them home and used some McQuirres on them and they are now like new.

 

I've worked in retail most of my life, and the big shopping centres over here make shops renovate every 5 years or so. Shopfitters tear everything out and dump it in skip bins in the loading docks, and I've built all my workbenches, shelving, cupboards etc in my garage out of scrap building materials from the skips. I've got flouro lights in the boxes, plus all the wiring, switches etc I could ever use stored in my garage. My 8" x 3' workbench has a 1 1/2" thick chipboard top on it courtesy of a shop wall, and the rumpus room has the best quality, mint condition commercial carpet and underlay from a bank renovation on the floor.

But the best score I've ever seen was a mint condition 60's malibu surfboard a mate pulled from under a pile of rubbish thrown out for a council kerbside cleanup a few years back.

Cheers, Glen.

 

A few years back I call a call from my brother in law who works for a suburban town hiway department.He said some one threw an engine in the town low sided scrap dumpster,looks like a Chevy 6.
I checked it out,a complete 1958 Chevy 235 6, only the valve cover was damaged from the shove into the dumster.A nice find for me as I was doing a mechanical rebuild on my 50 Chevy beater PU truck.The engine needed an overhaul of course , it's been running my old truck for several years now.

 

My refrigerated air line dryer in the shop came out of a Dillards store remodel. It was on the air handling system controls. I got all of the heavy duty shelving in my garage and shop there too.

It wasn't in a dumpster but I helped a guy pack up his stuff for a move to Germany and he gave me a Miller 300 amp TIG welder he saved from his dad's shop. He was going to have to leave it because the Air Force wouldn't move it for him. It works great and came with 2 full bottles of Argon.

 

I found a sweet old baseball glove that was a lefty grove signature model, a compete set of 63 impala hubcaps, and a long box full of older comic books from the early 60's to the mid 70's.

 

Just last year I found a complete 1939 or 40 Ford front end, brakes wheels tires and all.. It had been made into a trailer years ago, but they used brackets bolted on to keep the spindles straight. There was a tree grown up through and around one end. So a little WD40 and a saw, and I had my 32 front spindles, brakes and wheels.

 

I found a vintage lava lamp and I also found a glitter lamp.

 

Groovy!

 

I'm not sitting next to you at breakfast anymore...

 

found a 1941 roll-fast baloon tire bike with original orange and cream paint.

1959 schwinn

just yesterday a 5-speed electra cruzer bike rusty but trusty
my kids out riding it now

 

All this talk of scroungin' stuff makes me think of this time that my uncle and myself went to a toy show. We were looking at something when we overheard a guy talking to a vendor, the guy was holding a doll of some sort and asked the vendor, "how much for just the head?"

That was our quote of the day....hahahahhahaaaa

 

I overheard the very same converstation at a strip club once...

 

found a mint 1957 motors manual at the Gary ind. dump. just this summer i found a tool box in the scrap pile, when i fliped it over it was still full of tools! craftsman, proto, and snapon!!!

 

My friend was at the dump unloading his trailer when a guy backed up next to to unload. On the back corner of the trailer was a PowerGlide tranmission complete with dipstick and tube and torque convertor. He asked the guy if he could have it and loaded it onto his trailer. It has been in the Track Car now since it hit the road some 19 years ago, just changed the filter and gasket along with front and rear seals and fluid, cleaned up the housing and not a problem all these years.

 

Thanks for the midnight laugh, well needed

 

I found this HiFi on the side of the road with a bunch of construction debris, tried to bring it home on my bike and failed miserably. Some stranger with a late model BMW tried to fit it in his car to help me get it home and failed even more miserably (German engineering, eh?), I finally waited a few hours for my old man to get off work by sitting on a busy street with a giant wooden cabinet getting weird looks from everyone going by. Got it home, plugged a few things in and it worked! Been in my dining room ever since..

 

The last dumpster I had picking rights to netted $1,500. coolest thing was a 1920's Flashlight. It was a dynamo type, scared me when i fliped the ON switch and it started to whurr and the light lit. THANK YOU eBay! one mans trash is build money for others.

 

I used to go to the flea market with my Dad ever since I was 10 years old. At the end of each day and at the end of the weekend, my brother and I would check out the trash cans and watch vendors as they left. We'd grab some empty boxes and pick up what they threw out or left in their spaces and didnt want to haul home. Next year all that stuff would be cleaned up and in our space. We often would make more than my dad from other peoples' castoffs.

 

that sweetheart sproken used to bring a 100.

 

Got a Model A front bumper and axle once. Also found a Brass miners lamp (Clanny Lamp) Marked DL&W Coal Mining Dept. (Delaware Lackawanna & Western Railroad.) An antique dealer said it was worth $500.

 

Legs sticking out...Someone beat me to it!

 

I found some snap and mack sockets and exts, a set of dodge
chrome reverse wheels for a dodge dart, a good 400 chevy block (wish I
still had that). a couple of sets of heads. my mother in law digs in the dumpsters
by the college apartments and gets all kinds of stuff, you know when shes in there
because you can see her hair hanging over the side! eeeewwww yuck!!!!!

 

Loads of stuff!! coke cooler,pooltable light, lower cabinet for a dist machine, snowblowers, the pedal car, and this big party cooler! I added the treadplate! We are having the village wide garage sale soon! looks like I will be shopping the following thursday night!

 

my dad found a complete front end spindals disk brakes the works and the following few days found the stearing box and model a grille shell and headlights and a few weeks after that found a fiberglass t bucket bed all in the same dumpster..... wish i could find stuff like that

 

A while back a friend of mine got access to a farm where no one's ever picked the junk piles - the farm's been in the family since 1894 or something.

So when he saw the tail of the fender poking out he dug himself out a complete frame for about a 1923 Harley Davidson motorcycle. No motor or wheels but the rest pretty well all there. He tells me he's seen them that rough bringing ridiculous stupid money.

 

You should have hung on to it. Have you checked what these bad boys are selling for now?

 

Pulled into the drive thru of a local mcDonalds a few months ago.. as I sat at the "may I take your order" box saw a guy come buy with a wheelbarrow loaded with fluorescent fixtures, and start tossing them into one of those construction site dumpsters. Pulled around front, more guys were working, and asked if I could get some of the lights. Guy said the boss said nobody could get anything out of the dumpster because they might get hurt and sue, the he says "hell, he ain't here, get what you want". I pull back around to the dumpster and the guy that was tossing them come and helps me get all the lights out. 20 something fluorescent fixtures complete with the plastic diffuser lenses for free.

Brian

 

You guys are SO LUCKY !!! This is the only thing I ever found...

 

Thirty feet of closet maid shelving that is now in my shop.