A few oldies in CA junk yards

Sun Valley Pick Your Part (1/2-price sale this weekend):

• '59 Ranchero with good fenders, doors, windshield, etc.
• '63 Falcon with not much there
• Whatever that crusty 60's boat is

Chowchilla Pick A Part: '48 Chysler with not much there


Merced Pick N Pull: '61 Falcon two door wagon (see http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=8778385#post8778385)


I hit these yards on the way home, today.

 

Did you see the black bench seat I pulled out of the 66 dodge at the Merced yard?

I pulled it out, then decided that someone else might need it more than I do.

 

That 59 Ranchero needs to be saved... probably the rarest year Ranchero.
You California guys are lucky to have solid low or no rust projects.

Here in the Midwest the rust is so bad on most projects you can throw a cat through 'em.
Some of our project cars wouldn't make a good donor car for you west coast guys.

 

throw a cat through,thats funny shit

 

Always amazes me what is considered junk in the west. Those cars look better than some peoples projects they drag in here in the rust belt.

 

Could not agree more. Those cars would all be very sellable as-is in the midwest.

Also that crusty 60's boat is a 1960 Oldsmobile 4 door flat top hardtop. Cool car in its own right.

 

I have seen old cars in the junkyards as recently as the last couple years that blew my mind on how they got there. A few off the top of my head would be a 50 Ford, late 40's Desoto, 51 Buick, 55 chevy 2 door sedan (!), and a 57 chevy wagon.

Luckily word got around and a lot of the parts were saved. There was literally nothing left of the 55 chevy besides a totally bare shell and I took everything I could off the 57 wagon for my project wagon. It is amazing that whoever had these cars let them go to the yards for probably very little money.

 

The collision shop I contract for has a towing department... You'd be amazed how many old people send the old cars to pick n pull!!!

 

The problem is the cost of bailing them out once they're in. I'd probably rescue the Falcon two door wagon if the price was a few hundred.

 

The problem with most yards is, once the car enters, it is not going to leave. I believe it is a legal thing rather than yard owners being pricks, as some people think. They're licensed to operate a wrecking yard, not to sell used cars. There was a yard, in North Hollywood, years ago, that had a dealers license. All the cars were for sale or they would sell parts from them.
The only way to get that Ranchero out of there would be to to pull the body off, cut it in half and buy the two halves

 

But they sell cars.

 

In 1999 I bought a 1973 Vega GT with 82,000 original miles from Pick-a-Part. Saw it coming across the yard on a forklift. Not a scratch in the original paint or a tear in the seat, stock motor froze. $400+ tax I think it was $432 and some change out the door.

 

Seen this one in Bakersfield Friday.

 

yeah...
there's a reason they're called pick a part, not pick a car.

those cars will never leave in any sense of completeness.

once they are picked clean and are just taking up space, they get scrapped. bummer, i know. but thats california.

 

I have been to the Sun Valley Pick-a-Part many, many times. They will not sell a car. I ried to buy a motorcycle and was told they do not sell complete vehicles. I could buy the major components, but the cost exceeded the value on the bike

 

A surviving "junkyard" in Calif ???????? How did the zoning commission folks miss it ??????

4TTRUK

 

There are still some 50's cars at the Monrovia pick a part as of this weekend- some still have interior parts, some trim and decent body panels- search my posts to find the thread and pics. hope this helps someone find an elusive part for a cheap price.

 

Don't make it political, please.

 

Westside Auto wrecking today in Fresno. Two WWII Power Wagons (Rusty) a 46 Chevy 2 ton and 2 1954 Chevy 4100 Trucks.

 

wow nice!

 

There's still a few of us wreckers in California that deal in old cars and parts strictly.

---John

 

Big m just wondering if the pictures of the yard you post is of the 5 near hwy 20?

I would see it on my way to eureka , but it would be around 5 am and no signs of life when I would pass on thru again in the afternoon.

 

I've bought three cars from junk yards; a 57 Nomad in 1968, a 1950 Merc woodie in 1969, and a Paseo in 2007. They can sell them with a salvage title, but they usually don't.

 

That is the one.

Let me know when you are coming through next, and you can have a good look-see. I have another small yard in town here where you could park your rig when you stop.

---John

 

haven't you heard of "Cash for Clunkers"....around here a new car dealer can give you $3000 grand for late model stuff....most likely state is given in more then most guys will....

 

Here are some more that are in the San Bernardino Pick A Part:

• 1952 Buick 4-door with a good grill, fenders, etc.
• 195x De Soto 2-door with a good hood
• 1949 Chrysler Windsor 4-door with good bumpers, cool window crank and rear seat handles, etc.
• 1957? Chevy big truck, pretty good fender (hole in rear part), dash
• 1962 Buick Invicta 4-door
• 1964 Chrysler 300 2-door
• 1965 Volvo S-40
• 1968 Buick Riviera
• 1965 Mustang and 1972 Maverick with 5-lug 8" rears

 

Out here in the high desert of California there are plenty of old cars still in the yards. In a lot of ways it's just like when I was growing up in the 1960's. I bought the speedo for my Nomad in a local yard. Last year, they pulled in a complete 4 door black 57 Chevy. It even had spotlights on both sides. It did have rust at the bottom of the doors, but that was it.

 

Our local real junk yard is knowledgeable and they hold certain cars before they 'enter' the yard. Our $800.00 63 Comet is almost on the road. And our Pick-a-Part does have a car sales area, we got a 95 OT sports car with 290,000.00, it passed smog and we have put over 10,000.00 miles on it $1,200.00, it does have a 'junk' title buy the wife doesn't care. At another Pick-a-Part a 1965 Mustang with factory add on on air no motor, sat for sale for $3,200 for months.

 

Man, those escutcheons are HARD to find in that condition. I would be all over those flipper handles, too. I wish I lived closer to those cars.

 

I have a pair of those handles somewhere and now at least I have an idea what they are.