When things go wrong at the scrap yard

that spray that knocks down wasps will kill those things normally, don't get the cheap spray, it's worthless, get black flag or some other name brand.

 

I would like to shake that man's hand....hardcore fer sure.

 

Bought a '70 Dodge Polara at an estate sale a few years back. Green 383 4-door car, very straight, parked for over 20 years, with just 30K miles on it. Trailered it home and started working on it, vacuuming the years of crap and dirt out of it. Got a couple of pretty good-sized dirt dauber wasp nests out from the top of the rear axle, and figured I was pretty lucky for have so few insects and vermin to deal with on a car that had sat in a pole barn for so many years!

The Polara had the fuel filler behind the rear tag door. I was sitting behind the car and getting ready to change the tag light. I pulled down the fuel filler door and a BIG snake was staring me in the face! Naturally, I did what any normal human would do - jump straight up and scream bloody murder! Turned out to be a non-poisonous snake, but that damn thing was over five feet long, as I watched it crawl out from its hiding spot.

 

Wasn't at a junkyard either time, but once I was lying under the dash of a '49 Plymouth I was stripping parts off, and felt something odd. Turns out there was a nest of garden snakes there. Not hazardous, but creepy enough that I felt real weird lying there with 'em slithering on me.

I guess I did want those parts pretty bad!

The other time was with my ex's Astro van that had been parked for a few months. F*****n mud daubers had made a nest in the doorjamb. When I opened the doors, I caught about five or six solid hits in the face within about a second.

I went in and sat down for the rest of the afternoon. But when I went out the following morning (I've been told to hit 'em when it's cold out and they move slow), I had plenty of Raid.

But I didn't get it half as bad as my ex, who ran over some nest of wasps or hornets or something. Bastards swarmed and followed her in the house. There was a number of 'em that got in and were just swarming and stinging her. It would have taken a while to go get the spray; I just slapped them while they were stinging her.

Thinking of slapping her repeatedly still brings a smile to my face.

But as far as those hornet/wasp things go, they're about the only thing besides mosquitos that I actually enjoy killing.

-Bill

 

I had bought a 67 Ford half ton back in 85 from a local farmer, I had seen it every day on my way to work for awhile and I liked that year of truck. I got there on a Saturday and first got it started , it fired right up and the brakes drums needed to be beat with a slug hammer and once that was done the brakes seemed good to go once I lifted it up one corner at a time with a farmall jack,began filling the holes with field stones where the tires had been sinking for years, it took most of the day and when it came time to drive it home I throw in some extra gas to help with the stale gas and hit the road , Now you would think spending so much time in and around this truck would have been plenty of time for any creatures to get the hell out!!! But not so, I drove out of the field and pulled onto a dirt road , well as soon as I hit my first pot hole , out from the dash came , which seemed like thousands of them ..Mice dropping from every inch of the dash, the holes in the floor came in handy though, thats where they made their exscape throw and for about 3 or 4 good size pot holes they keep leaping from the dash..Not a when things go wrong I guess, but a lesson on buying and driving home a field vehicle....

 

I remember at a junkyard here that will remain unnamed, they had an acetylene torch setup on the back of a beater mini truck, well they were cutting something and they managed to ignite the three foot high dry gas around the truck, AND the truck was lit by the grass. All I remember is them hauling ass past me yelling RUN!!! tanks never did blow, truck burned to a shell, by the time the fire department put it out. and yes I hauled ass out of there. I saw some Mexicans in the yard, I don't know if they spoke English, but they took one look at that burning truck, with the torch in the back, and they beat me out of the gate. ran right past me.

 

That's too bad because I spent the best years of my youth in Anaheim. We used to go to a wrecking yard I think on Katella or Cerritos, maybe even Chapman. It might have been in Westminster. All I remember is there were tracks next to it.

Most of us (16 yrs old, early 60's) had early 50's Fords and Chevys for our first cars. We would go to that one wrecking yard and find 3 speed trans. for early Fords and Chevys just laying in the dirt. We did more than one auto to stick conversion in whoever's driveway was available. Or someone would blow a tranny and we would just go pick up another one out of the dirt. We got to where we could replace gears, tailshafts, O/drives, etc.

Something I'm not proud of now though is, because we never had a lot of disposable income, we would search out a transmission, bellhousing, clutch, pressure plate, linkage, whatever and throw it over the fence at the back and then come back at night to pick them up.

 

Well one time at Griffin Motors the owner said to me while sitting in his office " Yeah there's a 53 Meteor that came in and I never check the trunk for goodies" and he had this little kid look in his eyes, so off we went , well the keys he had didnt open the trunk and it was getting to be around 8 pm just starting to lose the day's light. So I climbed in and tore out the back seat and then the liner that covers the trunk opening, I started to crawl in through the support arms and remove the bolts from the trunk lock, I said" Harry it sounds like theres something moving around in here!!!" he laughed and said keep going its just your imagination. Well I got the last bolt out and the lid opened, there was a outside visor and a pair of shirts and the sound that was moving!!!! a Friggin Rat and its babies..lol..and Harry said " I'm surprized it did bite you", and just went into a laughfest that had him on the ground in minutes on his knees laughing, now I didnt think it was so funny at the time.He gave me a 50.00 bonus on pay day to even it out..lol..

 

When I lived in Auburn, me and a buddy went to a junkyard, just to look around. He had never been in one and I was looking for parts for my truck. The owner warned us that he had dogs on the property, some mean and some were pets. Heath and I are walking through a pile of cars and start to hear growling, the car nearest is shaking and moving from something large and vicious. Both of us nearly run screaming but because of the area couldnt move fast enough. The growling gets louder and a Basset comes running and growling out of a doorless car. When he sees us he walks up and sits down, but quits growling. He followed us all over the yard the whole time we were there.

Recently, another friend and I went to a yard were they use cows to control the ground cover. As we round a corner we encounter one of the cows. My buddy freaks out and runs in the other direction. Turns out he is afraid of cows. After I catch up with him and we go to another part of the yard we find more cows. I really freak him out and walk up and pet one. He's yelling at me that they'll charge or stomp on me or bite me. When we go back in I let the counter guys know that their cows are killers.

 

lots of these come from my dad or grandpa. One day a guy drives through the gate and to the back of the yard and a cop stops out front. Well my grandpa grabs a connecting rod and piston and goes and threatens the guy to get out of his yard before he hits him, he did. Some how someone walked out the front door with a complete nailhead. Plane crashed into a yard once. One of our tenets had a cock fighting ring with about 30 roosters. A meth explosion with pink gas floating around, hazmatt came for that one. Guy got killed by a giant grabing claw a few months ago and days after guy crashed into a guy eating lunch at a roach coach just outside that very same place. Had the cops up here a while ago cause two tenets where fighting and one acused the other of pointing and shooting a gun and called the cops. he earned an immediate eviction. Off duty boarder patrol got put in the hospital for back talkin a couple of argueing tow truckers. A fucking big rig tractor blew up the other day, noone know why, wtf. Once a guy named animal that used to pick up v8's with a seatbelt around his neck and put them in trucks. Had one tenets kid kidnapped by the Arieanno brothers and two tenets killed, one on the silver strand and one here at the yards, by the Mexican mofia. I got another tenet with hand cuff scars from an atempted kidnapping. One tenet got his mexican yard shot up, 5 people killed. Rattel snakes, black widows, bees, wasps and hornets are the least of our worrys on the mexican border.

 

my first experience in a yard- i was 7 or so, my dad and I were pulling parts for the family van at a yard in hometown, WI. I wandered a bit, found an old school bus, thought it was cool. I also found that three VERY angry llamas lived in it. got chased out of the yard. by llamas. My dad didnt stop laughing for the rest of the day.

 

I had a good friend who had played with cars all his life. They guy could build anything & was extremely smart. He went to the junkyard to get a part one day & never came home. The car fell on him & killed him.

Things went wrong that day.

JH

 

it was in '95, I was in a pick & pull yard in North Carolina. A buddy & I are talking to the guy at the front gate. 3 Mexicans come walking in from out in the yard, one has his hand wrapped up tight in a nasty greasy rag. his buddy is holding 3 bloody fingers. apparently they were trying to get a front coil spring out of something. don't remember what it was. sure took the enthusiasm out of that trip.

matt

 

About the only thing I remember was my Dad kicking over a tire/rim on the ground and out fly a whole mess of hornets. Needless to say, we ran!

 

When I was a kid my folks and I were on a road trip. We stopped for gas in a very small town in so. Oregon. Across the roadway, in a fenced in lot, were a couple of A coupes. Having vintage tin fever even then I just had to take a closer look. Now mosquitoes have always found me especially tasty. It was like they had set a trap. I had on a white T shirt that you couldn't see because of the number of skeeters hanging on me. I tore off across the road, narrowly missing being hit by a semi. The guy at the station hosed me down (it didn't help).

 

Speaking of all the Bees and wasps.....My dad had a Jeep graveyard next to his parts store back in the early 80's. I was about 17, my job was to pull all the parts off and catalogue them. The bees were everywhere. One of the oldtimers told me to torch the nests with brake clean and a lighter. Bad advice. everyone knows how hot and dry Colorado can get....As I was torching a nest under the hood of a J20 I felt something really hot behind me...the whole damn yard was on fire!

 

The biggest problem in my area. In hot to warm about 9 to 10 mo. Ticks, Chiggers{ they bite and burrough into the skin} and Misqutoes.................... I make a lot of noise bang on bumpers and body parts this has scared off the snakes most of the rats and other critters.................................................. Several years ago I purchased 6 cars that were very well picked over {68 to 72 chevelles cutlass etc} for the frames for my stock car operation.. When moving the second car I came across a hound with puppies but she was not agressive. I had to wait about 4 weeks before I could pick up that car......................... Its odd that in 55 plus years of hanging aroung discared junk piles and junk yards and misc crap I have never been hurt while doing what we do...I have seen and heard some bad stories from death to many other injurys. So be CAREFUL.. Bobby..

 

Was trying to snag a grill off an AMC Spirit years ago that was on the roof of some old Chevy box Van in the JY only to have the Spirit roll off and land nose first smashing the damn grill I was trying to get. I stood there with my skrewdriver and a FML look on my face while the yard guys laughed their asses off.

 

I had a close call with a car almost falling on me as I fell away from the car it fell where inhad been knelt over at .

 

Years ago I helped a buddy move some cars. The county had come down on his dad and long story short we ended up moving the cars. One car he climbed into he slammed the door and stirred up some hornets. Went to get out and the inside door handle was missing, had to crawl over some parts pilled up inside to get to the other door to get out. Then the next day we were trying to start an old Cadillac I was working the key and pumping the gas he was slowing pouring gas into the carb. from an old mason jar. Well the car backfired through the carburetor and a small flame hit the mason jar. My buddy spent the next weeks recovering in the hospital. To this day he tell people I set him on fire. All I did was hold the key and pump the gas and watch him roll around on the ground and yell.

 

All these bee stories - here's another. My dad gave me his tired old Ford when he updraded to a new truck. I tinkered on it and got it running good. I was on the way to pick up some parts up in the county and figured on a 400 mile round trip so I planned to utilize both gas tanks. Filled the first tank. Pulled the door open on the auxiliary tank and heard a sickening tearing sound - the entire space between the gas door and the gas cap was packed with a paper yellow jacket nest. The came boiling out of that thing in a hurry and I ran straight into the store. Can move pretty quick when the need arises.
Waited a good 5 minutes til the worst of their anger died off and decided I could just stop along the way to fill up. Thanks, dad. Apparently he didn't use that tank too often.

 

Used to work in a yard with a squrriel problem. Yep, amazing how they can leap over stuff with your lunch burrito crossways in thier mouth!

 

Here's why:

 

Dang;I'm reading the stories of my misguided youth! Falling cars,irate yard owners,and critters. Got another YJ story...

First,I @#$%ing hate yellowjackets. I'm also somewhat allergic,so add that to the equation.

1983 or so. My bud,who we will refer to as "DelRay"(don't ask) and yours truly are in an OLD yard in northern Genesee County. In said yard was a car hauler trailer with,you guessed it,cars. Cars that had parts that both of us desired. Cars that were on the top level of the trailer. So-o-o-o;we toss some tools in our pockets(more on this later),add a few to a toolbox tray we had,and start climbing. Now,we were 25 and 26 years old-er,young. Fearless. Tough. Gearheads. Tough. Not...

Suffice to say that this trailer was rusty and probably ready to fall over(like we cared) and kill our dumb asses. It was also sitting in very soft,sandy soil. Recipe for disaster-like we cared. We wanted our parts.

We're working away,and notice the buzzing-minor at first,then building with ferocity. Oh shit;we stirred something up. Did I mention that we were about 10-15 feet off the ground? I look at DelRay,he looks at me,we both look down and see-CARS! Parts! Sharp shit that can impale you. Maim you. Even kill you. We also see where the buzzing originated-in the car below us. Directly below us. Bad words ensue,panic almost does. We go to the other side and see a small(very small) sandy spot between two cars. We look at each other and say "@#$% IT!" and jump. By the grace of some angelic force,we hit the sand,and nothing was buried to surprise us. Did screw up our ankles bad,both of us had stress fractures in our feet and lower legs,sprained wrists-but nothing seriously broken. We also had about 20 stings each,and it was affecting my breathing. Somehow we made it to the office,told the guy what happened,and headed to the hospital. We both missed a week of work(the wives were not pleased) but healed up and lived to go "yarding" again. Only a lot more cautiously.

Oh,the tools in the pockets? Well,I still have a scar from a screwdriver embedding itself into my thigh upon landing. Missed the major artery by about a half inch(Note to self: screwdrivers in BACK pockets). DelRay got a pair of needle nose pliers in an ass cheek(I still laugh about that one),and the staff at the hospital probably STILL laughs at the two of us coming into Emergency-thank God it was a slow day in shoot-and-stab-ville. We did send a couple of braver friends to retrieve our tool tray and whatever other tools they could recover-it did cost us some beer money,but well worth it.

 

I was standing on the cowl of a car pulling a part off of another car on top of it, jumped down and my food landed on a huge, rusty, nasty 4" nail sticking out of a board hidden in the weeds, went all the way through my foot. Went to the ER to get stitches and a tetanus shot, came home and was working in my parents back yard and stepped on another nail on the same foot!

I hadn't had a tetanus shot in a while, so not only was my foot sore for a week but so was my arm from the shot. After the 2nd nail, I called it a weekend and just sat on the couch watching the boob tube.