Visited an old yard this past weekend to pick up a seat for a 61 Chevy truck. There are (he says) around 900 cars there from 1934 to 1975 roughly. Lots of old iron, many Chryslers, Dodges, Desotos, Olds, Pontiacs and Chevys. I saw a savable 37 Ford COE, a 38 Ford 2 dr sedan standard, a 35 Ford sedan delivery that could be saved and a host of others. Owner is retired and is sick of people stealing stuff from the yard so he is crushing it out as soon as steel prices increase. The yard is 12 miles from Utica, NY in Cold Brook. Other things I saw while running thru the yard in the rain...............a 50 4 door Merc, a Hudson twin carb sedan, a 348 block laying on the ground, several big fin Packards. Too much there to remember. He says he has Hemi's he has saved in another building (don't know how many) but I did see a lot of other hemi cars in the field and woods. Lots of brush and trees as this yard was started in '46 so as summer comes it will be full of brush and golden rod making it difficult to get thru for sure. And if you are worried about deer ticks then stay away as the place is not void of having the little pesty critters. I had two living on me and we were there about an hour! Dan knows his stuff so I can't say that anyone is going to rape the yard. He does not like to dicker although he knows it is part of the business and seems to have "thin skin" regarding this subject. If you can PM me with anything you might be interested in I can find out from him if he has what you might be looking for. Maybe we can save some of this old stuff from the crusher.
Wow what a shame. Im on Long Island and as far as i know there is no place like that here! Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Yep, just north of town on Rt 8...huge piece of land with hundreds of vehicles of all types. If you go out there walk the road to the right side of the property...back through the woods about a 1/4 mile is a clearing with about another 100 or so cars...deep in the middle of the woods.
We're starting to see a trend here as these long time old school yard owners get older or pass away and have the estate clean house. Always seems to be the same story; Grumpy Completely inflexible on price. They've had some of these cars and parts in stock for decades because they've always been firm on prices 25%ish above market. Blame their customers for not paying their price over the years or acuse them of 'stealing' from them. Theft occurs in every business, but it shoould not set a shop owners tone as a proprietor. To spite the potential buyers, their revenge is to crush out the yard at scrap price in a short time span rather than compromise. "I'd rather scrap it than give someone their deal". Hopefully some of the good stuff is saved.
Been to this yard a couple times, although many years ago, and the stuff that was there would make any old car guy drool. I'm surprised that it is still there, but if the stuff is still available it sure is worth another look. Although remember, this yard is in upstate NY and the climate is probably the worst it can be for saving old tin.
^^^ DING,DING,DING we have a winner!!! just recently I saw a car I had wanted since High School get scrapped because it had deteriorated into garbage. I'm guessing the 'someday'' has come and gone?
This is the yard where a '33-'34 coupe someone put a nailhead in sat long enough for a tree to grow up between the bumper and grille, then somehow someone cut down the tree and stole the car. Many years ago, before my time. It's about the last old-car yard in the area except for Mark Reardon in Mohawk. And having to deal with the assholes who come around I completely understand the attitude these guys get. I'm so tired of people who want to give me pennies on the dollar for stuff or ask to buy parts even when ads already say multiple times I will not sell parts I'm about ready to scrap what's left myself and screw 'em. Because it's the same thing every time - they ask the stupid question, you say no and point out you already said you wouldn't, and then they call you names and say the stuff is junk. Usually also taking time to brag about what a great car builder they are and what cars they stole for some cheap price off people who didn't know any better or care. I've seen it so many times I can teleplay it every time one of these clowns emails me on eBay or someplace else - and I don't even waste my time with CrackpotList anymore. See, when you scrap out a yard, you may not get as much for the individual car as you might selling it as a car, but as scrap, you sell everything and get a bunch of cash all at once, you don't have to deal with people complaining that this is missing or that is rusted out, you don't have to worry about liability if someone gets hurt out there, you don't have to worry about them picking up a ton of loose stuff and stashing it in the car when they load it, etc etc etc. Those guys are completely justified to have that attitude. In 15 years of dealing on old cars I know I've run into enough assholes for a lifetime - and I don't even do it that much anymore. These old cars are getting harder and harder to find and I still have to deal with dumbasses not smart enough to buy a whole car and have a parts car because they need some key piece. Instead I'm expected to cut off my nose to spite my face to sell them that hard part and make what I have left that much harder to sell. Once they're gone, they're gone, outside of a few super popular rides no one is making any more. I'm not cutting up buildable cars for the sake of a few bucks. The last salvage yard auction I went to, scrappers got most of the best stuff. I saw a savable, solid F1 panel go to scrap, a '39-ish COE, and probably 100 other cars - maybe a dozen got saved, including three I was responsible for. The guy who owned the place got so mad he stopped the auction, the stuff was selling so cheap. And one of the ones I did buy got stolen by one of the scrappers. Cars were going for $200-$500. Cheap. And off to scrap they went. So even when you do sell them at reasonable prices, you pricks going on about "25% over retail" don't buy. And then you sit and wonder why the yards scrap out and you can't find parts anymore.
Worked for a very good friend of mine who owned a salvage yard. You get the guy that comes in looking for a lower patch panel for a door, you offer him a complete door for $200. He say's I don't need the whole door, all I wan't is the bottom half cut off. You don't want to cut up good door, so that makes you the asshole. He says I'll go someplace else. It will probably cost him $300 in gas to find the next one, or he might not find it at all. When scrap go's up around $300 a ton, these guys can make a shitload of money in one day and only have to deal with the man writing the check. Everybody wants a good deal, can't blame em. But they should realize the man selling the parts has money and time invested. As we used to say, there's no shortage of assholes. Works both ways.
Spoke to Dan this morning. He says he will take 1700 for the twin carb Hornet, 2000 for the 38 Ford 2dr std, and 1500 for the 37 Ford COE. He also says he has several Henry J's which I missed on my run thru. And I forgot to mention that he has a couple of ripple bumpers from an early Desoto? I have several Hamb'rs in contact with Dan at the moment. Maybe we can save some of this stuff.
One mans junk is another mans treasure. Growing up I always went to junk yards looking for parts and it just seemed very normal to me but when one of my sons needed a part for his car I took him down to the local junk yard which charges a few bucks just to go in and look around. When I told the guy what part we were looking he said to me and my son to hop in an old four door sedan which had no doors and seats that wet from a light rain the night before and he drove right to the donor car we were looking for. Today I find many people just want to order the new part and not spend the time trying to remove it from some old car. It's day's like this that remind me I am getting older and things are changing from the good old days. Just my opinion Jimbo
I would agree with both these post to a certain extent, I think the first post stepped on rustynewyorkers toes a little obviously ......and I new he would be here with his rant as usual on this type post before I even clicked on this thread. No offense Rusty, I think you have your stuff priced fair if someone were looking for that particular thing, however some of these yard owners are overpriced and have been for years but thankfully thats why some of that stuff is still around.
My family has had several decades of the same issues at their yard in VA. Including calls from people who have previously wasted my cousins time, calling back and complaining when he has crushed a car that they still don't want to pay the quoted price for parts from. "Rustynewyorker" knows this type of ordeal very well and was a legit seller who I bought a 39 Nash coupe from. He made the car available on a weekend when I was visiting family from 6 hours away. I paid the full price in advance, I picked up the car, and didn't tear up anything or whine in the process. Simple. Finding cars isn't the problem if you're a legit buyer. It's that owners are jaded after so many bs tire kickers or time wasters that they expect the same from everyone. So if serious about buying something, be respectful if they say no, and have cash ready if they say yes.
An old yard I use to frequent was started in the late 40's and the guy never scrapped a car. The yard was a dream come true for car buffs. In the 70's I got to know the old guy and he sold me parts very reasonable. When he got sick his grandson tried to run the yard but was just not good at managing the place. Finally in the late 90's the old man died. His daughter could only see dollar signs on the value of the land since new subdivisions were being built nearby. Instead of having an auction which could have brought in money, she sold all the cars to one scrap dealer. Afterwords she tried to develop the land, but the EPA condemned the property because of the ground being saturated with gas, oil, antifreeze, etc. The EPA told her that the top ten feet would have to be removed on the many acre property. The cost would have been in the millions. Twenty years later the property still sits vacant. BTW, the scrap dealer took some salvageable parts cars to his own yard and sold the parts at very inflated prices.
Shame to see another yard go to the scrapper, but obviously it's understandable. I'm guessing he wants to sell that Hudson Hornet whole? I'd like to find a Twin-H Hornet 308, but I don't have the space for a whole extra parts car...
Yes I spoke to Dan yesterday and he does want to sell the entire Hornet. I am waiting to hear from him regarding the model of the car for one of our members. Perhaps we can get the Hornet out of the yard and saved. Be a shame to see it go to the crusher. Also learned that he has several 57 Fords and several Henry J's. Couple of members are on the path to getting there to pick some parts off of them. I am surprised that there has been no response to the many Hemi's he has there
Reardon has about five Hudsons, a couple of them are coupes, but they're more money. On the other hand they've both been moved within the last few years, are up and rolling instead of having sat in one spot for 50 years. And a couple of them are twin-H cars. Hell I have a '48 here that could be built and can be bought cheap. It has a '96 inspection sticker still in it and is currently stored indoors. Hemis are tough, I knew a guy in Onieda who had a big pile of them and I couldn't get anyone interested, granted most were probably junk, but almost all these places saved lots of them. Reardon had a 331 long bell that turned over, was clean and nice and ended up swapping it to an idiot in Frankfort who let it sit out in the rain with no cover on it. He still has a '55 New Yorker that was a driver recently enough to have Liberty plates still on it and nobody cares, paint and TLC and you could show it and people just want to pay $500 for the Hemi. Probably why one right down the road from him in an Imperial got scrapped a couple years back. I knew it was there, he knew it was there, and one day I go by and the guy's loading it up with scrap and off to the crusher. "I don't have the space" that's not really an excuse for not buying a car and parting it out over a few weeks and junking the hulk after, if it's not a savable car. My '64 Gran Prix turned out to be a clunker, frame had broken, so eventually I cut that up. I still have pieces from it here, but the motor and trans alone sold for more than I'd paid for it and the buckets went in my '50 Chevy, so I didn't push too hard on the rest.
hello all-I too am looking for a twin h setup with an automatic to put in my 51 pacemaker coupe- I live in the hudson valley- have a truck and trailer with winch and have plenty of room for rusty old cars-Im interested if you guys can point me in the right direction thanks in advance Steve
I have had stuff advertised and was told 40 miles wasn't close enough. "I dont have room" and "if I was closer" have to be the 2 most used excuses to rationalize not buying something. I drove 6 hours round trip to get my 1940 Studebaker hood molding. I am picking up a 308 Twin H power engine next weekend.5 hour round trip. If someone REALLY wants a part or car distance or time isnt a factor. As far as the junkyard owner crushing out ,RNY has it right (as usual) Old time yards are disappearing and the biggest mistake we...myself included... make is treating them like personal storage units.I walked by some pretty rare stuff for years at a few yards always intending to pick the parts only to concentrate on some other stuff. Then one day the parts were gone and in a couple cases the yards were crushed.The best time to buy is when you see it.
Thanks for the info. I was born in Utica and still have family up that way. I might check it out when we go up this summer.
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