What have you found in the town dump that was automotive related? My biggest find was a mostly complete Continental Kit for a 58 chevy. While dumping some trash from my then remodeling business nearly 25 years ago I spied some chrome sticking out of the debris.Lo and behold 3 trip s to the dump later I had found everything but the latch that bolts to the trunk. I managed to sneak it out as Mike the dump Rat had exclusive picking rights. An ad in Hemmings had that sold fast. Later that summer Mike had a cherry pair of 57 chevy taillights that he sold me for $2.50, thier still on my car. Any body else got any stories and maybe pictures too.
It's funny what we remember... I musta been 8 or 9, when I went to the dump with my dad. I was big into model cars. We backed in to unload the trunk of our car and sitting in a nice fairly neat pile right next to us was a couple dozen opened & unopened unassembled model car kits. I BEGGED my dad to let me take them home but he said the dump had rules and I couldn't. I figured he was making that up at the time. I can still see that pile in my mind's eye... While not entirely the same, there is a U-Haul truck rental and storage a few blocks from where I live. On walks with my dog I've found in their dumpster and later returned for a perfectly good hand truck; and some metal bed frame rails that I'm going to use to weld up some carts, etc.
Back in the 70s I took a load of junk to the dump. There was a dump semi there unloading a whole truck load of steering wheels from the local Inland GM plant. I asked the driver if I could have one. He said no and that he had to stay there till the loader with the steel wheels ran over every one of them. Bummer!
my buddys dad works at one and comes home with bell helmets all the time.his best score so far has been a vette dual quad settup complete
i recently found some new old stock bias ply tires along with one nos cheater slick never did find the other one lol im the one who usaly hauls the used tires off from the dealership i work at i seen them nos tires in the tire pile about 12 all together a few pairs and some singles every time i go back i always look hoping to find the match to the cheater slick......lol another funny story someone had dumped a bunch of lawnmowers there was one that looked real good so i told the guy helping me i bet that one would start he said as a joke pull the cord and see so i pushed the primer bulb 3 times grabbed ahold of the cord gave it a yank and it fired ran like a champ so i took it home i about fell over laughing when it started
Many years back I was unloading in a local landfill and spied a 39 or 40 Ford 2dr sedan buried up to the middle of the doors in fill dirt and garbage.The top was caved in from people throwing stuff down on it. Too far gone to try to retrieve at the time but by todays standards it would be worth it.There is now a Kmart parking lot on top of it.
How 'bout and "almost" Trash Dump find? A few years ago, I mentioned to a couple of friends that I was looking for the 1960's style 14X7 steel wheels for my future '68/'72 Nova (at that time, not yet purchased). A few months later, Jeff (my friend) called to tell me that he had an entire set of 5 of these wheels from a '69 Nova. Here's how he came by the wheels. One of Jeff's neighbors was cleaning out his basement. All but some tires & wheels were items that the garbage service would pick up. The nieghbor loaded the tires and wheels in the back of his pickup truck and started up the street on the way to discard the tires & wheels. As the neighbor was driving up the street, he looked into his rearview mirror and saw Jeff mowing his lawn. He thought - maybe Jeff would like these tires and wheels as "roll arounds", which would save a trip to the dump. The neighbor backed down the street and asked Jeff if he would like these tires & wheels. Jeff looked into the truck bed and saw 5 mint condition 14 X 7 steel wheels, one of which still had an old bias ply blackwall tire mounted. Jeff said, "Sure, I'll take 'em!". This pleased the neighbor beacause he didn't have to make the trip to the dump. As they unloaded the tires & wheels, Jeff asked where he had gotten these 5 wheels & tire. The neighbor said that in 1969, his brother had purchased a new SS396 Nova. Right away (within a week of purchasing the car), his brother purchased 5 mag wheels and a matching white letter tire (for the spare). The neighbor's brother brought the wheels & tire over and asked him to store them for him (for a while). The neighbor figured that after storing the wheels for more than 30 years, his brother wasn't coming after them. After the neighbor left, Jeff called to tell me that he'd gotten me a set of wheels. I asked him what he wanted for them and was told that he'd trade these 1969 wheels for a set of later model 14X7 wheels that I had (good trade for me, for sure). Jeff put the later model wheels on a car that he was building to sell. Fast forward a few more years, I finally found and purchased "THE" 1969 Nova. I ordered a set of Coker Redline tires, painted the rims to match my car, had the tires mounted & balanced, and then bolted them on my car. They didn't look as good as I thought they would, so I removed them and had to tires mounted on a set of SS wheels (which looked a lot better, in my opinion - see the photos below). A few weeks later, I was searching for something on Ebay and stumbled on an ad for 1969 Chevy 14X7 steel wheels - coded "XT". The bidding was going nuts! I watched a single wheel bring in excess of $250. I checked my wheels and found that they too were coded "XT". I called Jeff and told him about the interest in these particular wheels. He suggested that I put them on Ebay and we'd split the money. The wheels sold for almost $2000 to a guy that was restoring one of the original aluminum block 427 powered COPO '69 Camaros. This made three people VERY happy. The Camaro guy got a set of wheels which had seen almost no miles and a couple of junkyard scroungers pocketed a nice sum of cash!
I agree that the steel wheels didn't look quite right....maybe because there was no contrast. Those SS wheels look awesome. The whole car looks great.
Thank you, HuskyV8. Had my car been the more plain version (no trim around the windows, etc), the wheels might have looked better. The painted light blue top didn't help, either. No one reproduces the dark blue vinyl top (other colors are available, though). I found a company that had some NOS dark blue vinyl top material and had them make a correct top for the car. The car has only 53k actual miles on it (always garage kept). Within the next few weeks, the 307,powerglide transmission, and 10 bolt rear will be replaced with a fresh '69 396, Muncie 4 speed, and 12 bolt posi rear. Then, the car will be the one that I've wanted since high school.
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