Coolest thing you have ever found at a wrecking yard???

no wrecking yard...just a year ago a trailer full of stuff..headed for the junk yard pulled into the gas station, I'm stand'n beside it all cleaned up headed out with my 41 chubbie, pumping my gas just looking at the old farm gates, wire, ect. and i see a transmision w/ hurst shifter. it was under all this junk. "how much for the trans?" he says I dont know because its no good, there are good ones and this is the one no one wants, or i would keep it myself.............$25 and a lot of work and a few bloody knuckles I pull out a greasy M-20 muncie/comp-plus shifter needs sincros. rest looks good

 

star wars air cleaner from a buick GS, perfect condition...I just thought it was cool.....20 bucks turned into 750.00 in two days.

 

Scored a Pontiac Ram Air IV motor that was fresh out of a wrecked 68 GTO for $400.00. All I needed was a stock motor for my Firebird. Counter guy sent me to their storage lot alone to look at it. Went back and paid him. He said he'd give me $50.00 off if I pulled it myself using his wrecker!!!. What a score! The firebird ran like a rapped ape, unreal. Never find another score like that again!!!!

 

A 28 Model A pickup complete with 2 extra sets of fenders, extra hood and about 8 or so sets of flathead, heads for $50. No joke, I did have to dig the A out of the ground as it had sunk in about a foot. Thankfully it was in So-Cal and it was in great condition under that dirt. Was about a mile from Pt. Mugu air base. The guy was a friend of my Dads and used to work for the untouchables TV show doing body work after filming. The truck was frequently used by John Wayne and he had the pictures to prove it.

 

A whole nest of rattlesnakes right beside my head. I was so busy watching out for wasps and black widow spiders I crawled under right beside them without noticing until they all started to buzz at once. Once I scrambled out I opened the hood of the engineless stude and had a look, at least a dozen of 'em.

 

This ol girl complete with fulton visor in the back seatcost me $400. Also a ww2 air tank for free once. Picked up a delta 88 from an impound once with a fresh 455. had receipt for rebuild in glove box. It had 11 miles on it. Rearend was blown up. Got it for $50.

 

And that would have ended my junkyard activities for life.

 

It's hard to remember them all, but a few of the highlights are:

A 1956 Chevy 265 power pack air cleaner in the trunk of an early '50s Packard--$5.00

An early style Mallory dual point for nailhead Buicks, literally stomped into the mud with just the drive end sticking out--$4.00 (don't ask me, he named the price).

A seized up (full of water for years) 401 Buick out of a '65 GS with a complete stick setup still bolted to it (Ford top loader 3 speed). Left the transmission there, but bought the flywheel and bell housing for $15.00.

A 1950 Cadillac ambulance with a standard transmission. The junky drug it in for the engine, but told me it was seized. I told him I wanted the transmission and he said I could have anything but the engine for $50. He rolled it over on its side, and I went to work removing the trans, bell housing, and flywheel. While I was breaking the flywheel bolts loose, the engine started turning over. The junky was so overjoyed when I told him that I broke his engine loose for him, he lowered the price on the other junk to $25.00.

A pair of Fenton headers from an otherwise stock '61 Impala 4 dr. in a local U-pull it yard. They get $9.00 per exhaust manifold, so the pair was $18.00.

In the "walked by it a thousand times before I opened the hood" department: a '40 Ford four door that I finally looked at out of curiosity, only to find a '53 Cadillac 331 under the hood. The engine was junk, but I thought I might snag the transmission adapter off it, so I crawled underneath to find that there was no adapter--because it was using a LaSalle three speed, modified to bolt to the torque tube. After I removed the trans, bell housing, flywheel, and Hurst engine mounts, I removed a valve cover (don't ask me why) to find Thomas adjustable rocker arms. Total price, $75.00 for the driveline parts, and an additional $10.00 for the rockers.

 

1940 cadillac banjo steering wheel for 10 bucks!, and the old boy that ran the yard told me the caddy i got it from was used in a local bank robbery in 1948.

 

429 cobra jet in a torino at the pick a part on beach blvd in garden grove for 10 bucks, sold for 85 could not take CJ heads off as i did not have time and tools, when I went back they where gone.

 

Well, there are somethings I regret not getting due to stupidity and/or lack of funds, but some of the scores I did get are:

Complete unmolested 428 from '67 T-bird, aircleaner to oil pan, fan to flexplate for $300.

Complete Versailles disc brake 9" rear for $200.

Wide Ratio Toploader with factory shifter for $175.

Complete 31 spline, N case, traction loc 9" from 1971 Ranchero for $200.

Complete front disc set up from same for $50.

Edelbrock Streetmaster and F427 intakes for FE's from $35 to $75.

Complete 9" with 3.89 gears from '58 Edsel for $75.00.

Complete set of Factory shop manuals for 1969 Ford/Lincoln/Mercury that the yard guy let me have for free.

And a bowling ball that fit my fingers for free (I know, it's been done before!)

Brett

 

WW2 half track, v12 jag, 54 Mac truck, 54 dodge cornet, several 30's chevys and buicks. old nash's and caddy's

 

I found some art for my wall!

 

Two years ago in a yard 15 minutes from home , found a complete '41 Ford coupe with a nailhead in it . It had a huge moonshine tank behind the seat .

 

1971..pulled an XK150 FHC out of a yard in Wisconsin..$150, a XK120 FHC in decent body..no engine or interior $200. Both were gold mines for me.

 

a 409 block 348 pan and timingcover for 100 bucks

 

Laying in the dirt I found a polished fenton 3 deuce intake for a Ford Y-block with 3 strombergs, the linkage, and fenton chrome fuel block in the aluminum pile at a recycling yard. Hadn't been there long and it had been stored indoors. 97's came apart the nicely. No shit.

 

not a junkyard, but sorta. in my friends woods there is a bunch of old cars. in the front are a bunch of crappy old foreign cars. in the back i found some pretty cool old cars such as a 1952
chevy two dr hardtop, a early 50s chevy suburban, a 1955 or 6 plymouth 2 dr post, a 1947 chrysler, a 1966 or 7 nova, a 1964 impala 4 door hardtop, a 1951 or 2 fors truck cab, a 1960 ford truck half sunk in the mud, and a 1967 ford ranger. i got the bumper, steering wheel w/ horn ring in good shape and the chrome bumper for free!

 

i came across 4 m/t slotted mags all in good condition this past weekend in a pick n pull yard - got them all for under 50 bux

 

Worked in junkyards half my life so there are many many stories. Muncie 4 speed in the trunk of a Chevy Cavalier we hauled in for free, ladies diamond studded Bulova watch still ticking under the seat of a VW Rabbit, 45 auto pistol loaded behind the seat of an F150. Most unusual I guess was when I worked at a yard in Mass that also bought alot of military surplus scrap metal. Found all the pieces to a fairly good size missile and assembled it out in the yard. He also had a couple really old radial aircraft engines rusting away.

 

Found an 8 foot pine snake under a pick-up truck yup, great find! I threw the parts I had at him wiped the crap out a my overalls and went home empty handed. Man I hate those SOBs

 

A 357 Magnum loaded with snake shot rounds is a good companion when walking through old junkyards.

 

this my 65 rambler american 440 for $250 bucks..

 

A partial list of some of my better finds

Most of these finds date from the
mid-'70's- to the early or mid '90's,
and came from various auto and heavy
truck wrecking yards, marine salvage
yards and 'metal salvage' - ie - scrap
yards Most of the stuff was bought for
use as swap meet fodder and is all
long gone, so don't ask


1) a pair of running 354 hemi engines
cut out of out a pair 1959 Dodge tandem
dump trucks - in a heavy truck wrecking
yard - bought for &100 each

2) a running 331 Chrysler Marine hemi ,
from the rotted and otherwise picked
over hull of a 50's-something Chris-Craft
16 ft.wooden boat. in a marine salvage
yard. I had to take the whole boat for
$200 to get the engine

3) a pair of 300hp 427 Interceptor Marine
engines (427 Ford center oiler blocks with
low-riser heads) and a 430 Dearborn Marine
(430 MEL) engine - bought all 3 engines as
"rebuildable cores' for $200.

4a) a '25 or '26 Reo 1 ton C cab truck fitted
with an early 30's vintage wrecker body
with a hand-cranked winch ,very rough but
complete;

4b) a '26 Chevy 1/2 ton truck chassis -
cut down to make a homemade sawmill,

4c) a 30 Ford AA 1 1/2 ton truck with
the cab removed, the frame cut down
and fitted with lugged steel tractor
wheels and two 4-speed transmissions
to make a homebuilt farm tractor;

I got all three of these for free,
just for hauling them away, from a
land development company that was
cleaning up some farmland, part of
which had been used as a backwoods
auto wrecking and junkyard in the
'40's and '50's.

5) a complete and not badly rusted
'60 Edsel Town & Country station
wagon- rescued 5 minutes before it
was due to be crushed and shredded
at a metal salvage yard - bought
for $125 "on the scale" scrap value

6) A pair of 9 inch Ford rearend center
sections with factory 4.57 gears(!)
that I pulled from a pair of 63 Ford
Econoline pick-ups that had originally
been used by a local plumbing contractor
- in local a truck wreckers for $75
for the pair.

7) a nodular-iron 9 inch Ford center
section with a 31 spline carrier, 4.11
gears and a Detroit Locker - pulled
from a '70's-something Ford Bronco
in a truck wrecking yard - for $50

8) a complete 9 inch Ford disk-brake
rearend with 3.25 gears and a 4-pinion
traction lock - from an early 80's Mercury
Villager station wagon - from a wrecking
yard for $125

9) A factory 4-spd. console, in-dash
tach, and complete 12 bolt posi
rearend with 3.36 gears - in a
wrecking yard - from the otherwise
gutted and wrecked remains of a '
what had been an '65 350hp-327
Chevelle.

10) a factory Olds W30 aluminum
intake manifold pulled from a pile of
scrap aluminum at a metal salvage
yard bought for $5 (scrap vaue!)

11) a bushel basket of various sized AN
fittings and about 100 feet of teflon-lined
stainless braided hose in various lengths
and sizes -,pulled from the hulk of a
scrapped former RCAF CF-100 fighter jet
- in a metal salvage yard - al for $50. It
took whole day of solid work with me
and a buddy removing the fittings and
lines ....but well worth the effort!

12) a complete, non-running but
very decent Hudson Metropolitan
convertible bought for $75 at a
metal salvage yard. This was the
Hudson-badged version of the
Nash Metropolitan and were sold
by Hudson dealers.

13) a complete, running and drivable(!)
60's or '70's -something vintage Citroen
2CV sedan with a roll back canvas roof
for 250 from a wrecking yard. The car
was so absolutely ugly, weird and French
that it was cool and I just had to save it!

14) a '57 Cadillac Eldorado factory
dual-quad intake, complete with carbs,
linkage and batwing air breather
assembly - from a farmer who ran a
small backwoods wrecking yard. for
$75

15) a cast-iron '66 Olds 442 factory
tri-power intake manifold in a metal
salvage yard for $5 !


16) a rough but complete and running
'72(?) Puma Coupe in a wrecking yard
for $250. The Puma was a factory-built,
Brazilian made 2-seat sportscar built on
new Brazilian-made VW floorpans and
used a fiberglass body loosely copied
from a Ferrari Dino .A couple of
thousand or so Puma coupes and
roadsters were imported into the U.S
and Canada in the early 1970's before
the company importing them folded.

17) a'59 Studebaker Lark 2-dr sedan,
with a 383 Chrysler engine, torqueflite
trans and 8 3/4 rearend - in a wrecking
yard for $250. This car was somebody's
uncompleted attempt at building a drag
car sometime in the early '70's .The body
was a bit rough and the modification
made to install the Chrysler engine and
tranny were pretty crude, but the car
was fairly complete and included a ton of
good parts in the trunk.

=========================

 

I found this 41 buick sedanette. The car hadent been moved since the 50s, it has 30,000 original miles, and the duel carb straight 8 intake and motor. It is all there, i was stoked, and took it home.

 

found my current girl friend at one, a tiny junk yard in the kiln, met stripping parts from the same truck, she took valve cover from the 300 6 and i took the cam.
hahahah, shows ya never know what your gonna find in a wrecking yard.

 

I found a right quarter panel, quarter window and tailgate for my crashed 1962 Galaxie wagon - thank you Desert Valley Auto Parts!

 

Was lettering a race car close to Galveston and went out back where all the junk car were to take a leak. As I stood there, I saw 20 or so flatheads just sitting there. Some with speed eqpt.too. I asked the guy about them and he said take em all. I loaed up everyhting. Just for taking a leak. Sold all of em a few years ago.

When I lived at home, Shiner, Tx. (Yes, that BEER!) we had one junk yard on the road to the house and one right behind us that I could see from my bedroom window. They were full of everything 20's-50's. My Dad was a car nut and was lawys buying stuff but I never understood why he didn't buy everything he could from those yards. They all got crushed around 1985. I did buy a complete 50 Merc coupe in 1981 for $50. Everytime I go see my Mom, I get depressed about all that iron gone.

Mikey

 

this was a recent as maybe 95/96, a buddy outisde of East grand Forks Minnesota says he knows of a nice 64 Dodge 4 door in one of the local wreckers, he noticed a shiny glare from the passenger side glass one day late in the fall...walked over and looked in the window, someone had left the glove box open and the light was on. he shut the box and went on his way.

My Dad and I drive out to take a look, its waaaaay in the back in what is now a mud bog, drive mis van in as far as we can the hoof it over to the reported vicinity and find a complete, rust free, SHINY , unmollested 64 Dodge 440 model (US) 4 door sedan, 361 2 bbl automatic.....this car looked like it had been dropped in by helicopter, it was better than most cars at crise nights....

the yard wanted 800 bucks and was passed, later it was reported gone....about a year later my buddy says the car was sold for 1200 after no one wanted it for 8, the yard bumped the price (?) and away it went, maybe 6 months later, I was in an underground parking garage in another friends building back home in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada...., and around the corner from his car was the same 64 with Manitba dealer plates.

I have no idea where that car is now, but , man, talk about something I'm STILL kicking myself over. sad really.

 

My wife was on the other side of a truck i was pulling a door off of. "Come here and look at this," she said. I went over there and she was laying neked on the seat of a van. Guess that's why they call it the BONEYARD!