It would seem that being in south east lower Michigan which, lets face it, should be called the Motor Area. With Dearborn, Detroit, Pontiac, and Flint you would think it would be the Mecca of salvage/ junk yards for old car parts. Now I understand it is rust belt but damn, with Ford pretty much owning all of Dearborn you would think that you could find anything for a Ford you could possibly want. Needless to say I have been scouring the area from Flint to Dearborn looking for side moldings for my Galaxie, and have come up with zilch. I have been to countless yards and 60s Fords are non existent, but if you have a Chevy you can find pretty much anything. I guess what I'm saying is you would think Ford parts would be plenty here, or am I not looking in the right places.
I know and the suburbs are getting bare as well. I did know of an old yard up m-24 but he passed away and his kids scrapped/auctioned off everything.
Yep- finding rodding parts here is tough.BUT if you have a Mustang or Camaro you are in luck. Motor City , my butt. I actually had to send away for so many SMALL parts that my shipping cost could have built a car.
Probably a slight misconception on my part but I would think that they would "focused" on late model cars and the sale there of.
Work smart, not hard. Driving all over hell searching for side moldings would probably be frustrating, and a waste of time and gas. At least call them to see if they have any Galaxies in their inventory. There must be Galaxie forums, or old Ford forums that have a classifieds section. See the ones below I've found quickly using google. Use Craigslist, or the Craigslist search engines that will search all over the country like the ones I listed below. And finally, try eBay, or other auction sites to find them. I've never driven to a junkyard expecting to find parts for my '51 Merc. I wish I could. http://zoomthelist.com/ http://www.searchtempest.com/ http://claz.org/ http://galaxieparts.com/ http://www.autokrafters.com/ http://www.galaxieclub.com/
There is a yard on US-23 going south near Exit 9 that you can see from the highway.I haven't been in there but there looks to be some older vehicles in there.I think it is the exit after the Petersburg exit.
Cars rusted so bad, even in the 80's I don't remember seeing too many cars from the 60's or earlier. There use to be a place in Port Huron, but I think it's long gone. Wait for the Ford swap meet at Gibraltar Trade Center , or spring & fall in Columbus Oh. (but it's mostly Mustang stuff)
Yep , Bob's is closed and all /most of the cars are still there...she price of scrap dropped just after the sale...Did ya hit any of the yards out on Dort???Also , M-21Salvage just east of lapeer has some old stuff may be worth a try...Shawn
The 60's stuff disappeared from the run of the mill yards back in the 80's in the Detroit area. It is usually stuff only about 10 years old. Ocassionally something old shows up but it's being at the right place at the right time.
Yeah but being an area so steeped in the automobile history and it almost seems like 1 out of every 3 guys that you talk to has a buddy or a relative with a classic car. It seems to me that if anywhere, here is where classic car stuff would be found. Also thanks for any directions or avenues to follow. I have a friend with a salvage yard and its mostly late model but he also stashes the older stuff in the back corner.
what are you looking for. I have a galaxy in my yard and a 40 ford 1-ton. We have a few classics I try to keep around I am in clarkston mi.
The magic word in this topic? G A L A X I E. Full size Fords seem to be like a cult. It's their own little world of enthusiasts and some of the later years were simply consumed as commuter cars. Pretty much anything after the intro of the Mustang and the high HP Fairlanes focused on family and buisness use. While there were a few bucket seat big block hi-perf versions, even in their day they were few and far between. Chevys? You're right about that, even in a town fairly dominated by Ford Motor Company, the value and performance of Chevy's offerings were hard to beat. They also carried on their full size hi-po cars a while longer and in higher volume than Ford. I'm a Motown 'lifer', and living in close proximity to Fordland I still saw more Mopar and GM hipo cars than Fords. Each maker has it's icons. Sadly the Galaxie wasn't one of em after about 65. You need to find dedicated hoarders and the rare enthusiast. I've run into this for decades being in the restoration biz. Just be glad you're not doing a mid-60s full size Mercury.
I used to find 60's and some 50's stuff in the late 80 early 90's but all the old small yards closed up. Usually the bodies were so rusted when scrap prices wold get high the yards would look at cashing out on the value of the body. Lets face it it's all about supply and demand and a 30's to 80's car in the yard isn't ussually in that high of demand. Add to the fact that here in MI an old car looks just so much worse from the salty roads then say a car body in the west. Most yards arn't run by car guys and all they see is an old rusted out pile of junk. Now if that car wasn't rusted out the guy might say this thing is old BUT it's still in great shape so lets keep it around for a while.
Good advice. With the internet it is much easier to find parts and not leave the house. I don't think I've ever found an obscure part that was in good condition for the car I was looking for in a local junk yard. Get some automated searches going in CL and eBay and let the part come to you...
Doc Detroit, Thanks for the web sites. I've found the brake rotors for my '68 Ford country sedan. Auto Krafters is the first place I've seen them , it only took me 2 years ,but at least I know where to get them now. '68 Fords are really hard to find,I've scored a few body and trim parts over the years, but not much else. Thanks again for the lead to Auto Keafters. .................Jack
Doc Detroit, Thanks for the web sites. I've found the brake rotors for my '68 Ford country sedan. Auto Krafters is the first place I've seen them , it only took me 2 years ,but at least I know where to get them now. '68 Fords are really hard to find,I've scored a few body and trim parts over the years, but not much else. Thanks again for the lead to Auto Keafters. .................Jack
One of the guys at the Murray's auto parts store on woodward told me that Warhoop's (spelling) was still open. I been meaning to go, just to see what they have on hand. I have a 4 door shoebox, but I would be opening to picking up part to keep them from being sold off as scrap.
Let's see, yes it is the motor city. Building cars and trucks consumes unbelievable steel and iron. The best source (and cheapest) raw product to manufacture iron and steel is old cars and trucks. Michigan has numerous foundries and is close to many steel mills, or at least they were there in the hey day. Scrappers are business men. The amount of money generated by crushing and grinding cars and trucks was astounding. Actually the fact that it is closer to the manufacture of new cars caused the old stuff to be consumed at a much faster pace. Takes less to ship scrap around Michigan and Indiana than it does from California. Just sayin'.
The scrapyards in Flint are just that.....SCRAPYARDS! Use to be dozens along Dort Hwy but now there may be 5-7 worth even calling. None that I know of have any older cars anyways. As the economy sinks and scrap prices rise, they're all gonna go....
Its OK, Beaners right as usual and I didn't even think about calling on Owens and I've talked to him before about some Plymouth parts.
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