Had a good day at the boneyard today with a couple friends. There was a '55 Buick Special (4dr sedan) that had an original Fulton sunvisor... The contours and trim on the Fulton fit the car so well, it's like it could have been a factory part. It's now home in my garage... don't know if I'm going to put it on my '54 2dr Special, but I had to have it just in case. Picked up an aluminum Corvair steering box to replace the one I killed (see the current issue of Hot Rod Deluxe for details on it's untimely demise). Finished my haul with four F1 front shock mounts. One of the guys with me pulled the instruments out of the '55, the washer bottle, the original jack and a couple other bits. Mac the Yankee pulled the A/C dash out of a '73 Nova, and got the clock and dash pod from a Chevy Fleetline. Total cost for all was $100! Yeah, we're all damn happy. I'm going back for the last set of F1 shocks, and a Corvair steering wheel that looks just like a '63/'64 Impala wheel, only smaller in diameter. That'll be perfect in my '61 Suburban once I get power steering on the thing. Damn I love a good day at the junkyard! -Brad
and to that I will add.... A bad day at the junkyard is still better than a good day at work...............
Lots of good stuff you got. I wish we had some yards like that around my area. Most of the yards here won't let you in to look around and the ones that do don't have anything older than late 80's.
If you don't mind me asking, where was the yard located at? It seems like a lot of things around here have been picked over long ago.
Just up the road from you, on 441, toward Commerce. They've got some C10s in there, too. Most of the vehicles are really picked over, but some look like they were just driven in. In fact, I know two of them were since I was there a few weeks ago. -Brad
Now that I've been back to work for a few months, I was just thinking to myself less than an hour ago that I sure miss getting up early any day of the week and hitting a select few junkyards throughout the course of the day! I brought so much stuff home this last year from 40's, 50's, & 60's cars. Learned lots more than I would have by sitting in class trying to further my "education".
Thumper, Jones junkyard crushed everything vintage a few years ago. i had my shop not far from there back then. I was just up at the junkyard on 441 a few weeks ago lots of great stuff there. I took a trip up to Ill. back at the holidays there was some great cars there! I brought me a black 57 Cad convert home with me! Junkyarding is better than watching sports any day!!!!
Hugh Jones is here in Jefferson. They crushed everything on both sides of the road, then closed down one side and started new on the other side of the road. When the price of scrap went so high a couple years ago, they were getting a TON of vintage cars in. The nice thing was that they would put them in the main yard and let them get picked over before crushing. I got two complete '57/'58 Ford 9-inch wagon rear ends (one mint... low mileage... shame that car was crushed), a few finned aluminum drums, and lots of parts for my '61 Suburban. Before they moved across the street, about 4 years ago, a friend and I picked a rust-free cab clean of it's doors, a fender, both inner fenders, Automatic steering column, grille header panel, Deluxe steering wheel, instrument cluster, glove box door, Day/Night mirror, and a few other things... all for $100. When they finally "crushed" that truck, all that was left was the frame rails and rear end. They still get some vintage stuff in every now and again, so I head there to walk around as often as possible. -Brad
Yup, a good time had by all- just gotta watch out for the herd of cows... and the bulls! most of my stuff was OT (the Nova dash was pretty nice and it had AC, which my '70 does not), but there is still some nice older stuff.
It's not the cows, or even the bulls you gotta watch out for... it's the 6-pound piles they leave all over the place! -Brad
Yup, and it still blows my mind that they'll do that right in the middle of the hay that they're feeding on, and WHILE they're feeding... Anyway, it's STILL a fun place
Yup, I checked that. It wasn't. Seems those are the same columns used in Corvettes, and are worth a small fortune. I found another junk yard that had several Corvairs in it, and the columns were pulled out, and they cut through the steering shaft down at the box, with a hack saw. I gotta believe they were telescoping columns, because nobody would cut through a 5/8-inch steel shaft with a hack saw just to get a regular Corvair steering column out. -Brad
Also had a good day at the 'yard. Four 15" stars wires for $39 and a matching pair of spot lights for 20. Tool bag full of little stuff from a '52 Buick for free. Gotta love the local u-pull-its.
Oh ok, cool. I appreciate the info, I think I know which place you're talking about. I haven't done much past drive by there in a year or two, good to hear they've got some new stuff in.
Unless you work at the junkyard, then the fabric between space and time rips open, and all hell breaks loose....
The Jalopy Journal
