Projects Anyone else have to go back to junkyard parts

Yep. My go to yard here just crushed all 2000 and back.

Did find what I needed in another one.

Ben

 

Nah, it's not that great. Almost none of the salvage yards around here keep anything more than ten years old. Needed a RF fender for a 36 Ford. Guy seven miles from me has a yard with a quarter mile of frontage and nothing newer than mid-60s. Tell him what I need and he says "Sure, I got a pair out behind the shop". We hack our way through briars, eyeball tall grass and scrub trees while constantly on the lookout for copperhead snakes. He stops and says "I know I seen them around here somewhere". I look down and I'm standing with my foot through the middle of one. It had rotted out with all the oak leaves that had buried it. This 65 year old guy is the same one who tells you when you see things that could be good projects for somebody, "Oh, I'm gonna get them running one of these days." Most of the parts I'm getting come from different guys on the HAMB, some of the big name vendors and the occasional individual who knows that the dollar I'm willing to pay for a part is worth more now than what it's worth when he's dead and all his stuff has gone, not to the junkyard but to the scrapyard.

 

I have a couple here within a 75 mile radius, one has a lot of late model stuff, and some old stuff, and rarely crushes anything. The problem I have dealing with them is they price everything by looking at asking prices on the net. The other gent has a pretty good pile of worn out later stuff, that he crushes, and older stuff, that he keeps and sells. Cheyenne had a couple good ones, with lots of '60's and older stuff, but the owner of one of those died, and mandated in his will that it was to all be crushed when he passed away, and so it was. I don't have any rides that require anything but used parts, so I pick up all the used stuff I can.

 

"Is this heaven?"

--no, Minnesota.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=MWs6eeWHPyY

 

That’s my type of a yard!

 

I have to plan road trips to go Junkyarding. Everything around San Diego got pushed out by housing projects.... Boo!

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

The closest one I have been to that had H.A.M.B. quality old cars was in Ashville, Al. about 82 mile drive. It was a blast. I bought spares I wasn't even sure I needed. Sadly, I'm not sure if they are still open. They didn't answer the phone last couple times I called.

 

Ok Don, send a P.M. with who that is?

 

I will go to local Pic-a-part when they have 40% sales. I buy seats, brackets(think outside box) and other stuff. I found molded plastic air ducting for 5 bucks to use as defrost in one of my projects.

 

Would love to get parts from breakers yards as we call them in the UK but very few with old stuff in them nowadays. It's 2018 and the oldest car in the yard might be a 2005 Ford Focus.....

 

120 miles to the nearest decent place and it closes early on Saturdays. Nothing local worth a tinker's damn except one good friend who owns a towing company and keeps an eye open for stuff I like.... just to torture me.

 

Used to go to a local yard that always had a good supply of S10 trans for my re builder that I sold to my T5 conversion customers. That was 15 years ago, yard closed. Only other recent experience was with a yard in Beatrice NE, looking for Chevy bellhousings to convert to right side clutch arm, guy said he thought he had a few sent me to a room where I found over 30 usable housings, he sold them to me by the pound for scrap. That yards gone to. Closest yards to me now are in Wymore NE. I'll probably never go look anymore.

 

Used to have a local yard here that had a fair amount of vintage stuff in it (the yard still exists...). I'm in there one day picking up some '55-56 Ford bits and a guy comes in and asks if they have any '57 Chevys in the yard, specifically a 2-dr. The owner says yeah, go out and take a look. So the guy comes back with a full set of Bel Air side trim (both sides), in pretty nice shape; only a few dings, mostly just needs to be rebuffed. How much he asks? The owner looks it over, says $250 for all. This guy counters with $100. The owner says if you can find it all for $100, buy it from them; it's $250 here. The guy goes off on him; You're trying to rip me off! No way it's worth that much! This is thievery! The owner doesn't say anything, but comes around the counter and picks up the trim and bundles it in his hands... and then proceeds to bend it all double a couple of times. The buyers eyes almost bulge out of his head... he's speechless. The owner hands the bent trim to an employee and tells him to put it the scrap bin. Tells the buyer to get the eff out and don't come back.

Next time I go to the yard, all the vintage stuff is gone; crushed. The owner says he was tired of listening to guys whine about prices.... and that guy was the last straw.

 

...I wish we had a few old yards in Illinois, none left...

 

Big junkyards in the rain are the deal, only serious players, nobody snaging your parts when you set them down.

 

Nothing left here..Fat Dons place in the Barrio been gone a couple of years now. Was kind of like Disneyland for NOS parts and old rusty shit. Don was a little hard to deal with , but once you got to know him he was a pretty OK dude. RIP.

 

Reminds me of one of my visits to the local pick a part. A guy went out in the yard, laid in mud and pulled out a FWD trans. No jack or nothin' but himself. Dragged it up to the manager, manager gave him a price. The guy tried to dicker with him. Price was $75. FIRM. Poor slob left the trans that he had worked so hard to pull and walked out the door!

 

I have read that most of you get stopped at the counter and NOT allowed in the yards to pull your parts any more. I can tell you why that is.... MOST people when they go in a yard and pull parts they have NO consideration for the next guy, They cut wire harnesses for a sensor or 2 and ruins the rest of it. DESTROY a good tilt column for $5.95 part NEW. Rip door panels off to get at a rod or latch, Break glass just because and the list goes on and on. How do I know this? I have worked and been around wrecking yards most of my life (Hence the user name). You guys that have been to those Yank your own parts yards KNOW what I am talking about unless it is a "FRESH KILL" the cars are destroyed ! And now the other reason SAFETY wrecking yards can and are dangerous, in this day and age of "you will get the pants sued off you for just breathing wrong" god forbid if you get hurt in the yard and it was your own fault you could own that yard and the owners wife, house and first born with a shiesty lawyer and there is no shortage of them.
YES the day of ripe old cars in yards are almost gone. Wrecking yards are there to make $$$ yes the almighty buck. Lets say there is a 53 Buick Road master in a spot and they sell maybe one or two parts a year off that car that spot is not making any $$$ compared to a 2011 Cadillac Escalade. The Escalade would be stripped sold Carcass crushed and another car in its place in 6-9 months or less even.
It is getting harder to find these OLD cars they are drying up so in turn the prices of those parts also go up. When California has the VAVR (Voluntary Accelerated Vehicle Retirement ) cars are going to be GONE. Also wrecking yards there are crushing cars at a rate of 10,000 a month. Soon there will be no more of the little old lady in Pasadena cars to scoop up. People are getting sited to "CLEAN UP" there yards of old cars because they look like a salvage yard if they have more than 2 cars in there yards. There are counties that have LAWS against having cars that are not registered/running driving cars and you MUST get rid of them or be fined. So yes us with our older cars do have to resort to That "CLASSIC ONLY CARS" bend you over prices salvage yards. Fleebay swap meets and such Just to keep our old stuff on the road.
And now to the other part of this blog..
I now work in one of those box stores selling NEW/REMAN parts. (not as dirty anymore as to a yard).
I have to say the parts are not as reliable as they once was, They can be bad right off the shelf and not last as long as the OEM part did, But they do come with a lifetime warranty on most things. As far as availability of older parts on the shelf, NO due to the fact of the case of the spot like in the wrecking yard. They want to sell parts if that parts sits and not move it gets yanked and a part put in its spot that will make $$ (again the almighty buck rules) In this day and age of disposable everything our newer cars are also that way. But look at this, cars these days are lasting 200k plus mile some even more, manufactures are giving 100k mile warranties that was totality unheard of back in the day if you got 80-100k on a car you was one of the lucky ones how many can actually say I "rolled" the odometer twice on my Buick or any car model car with out any issues. I bet not many at all.

Dang its getting late and I can go on with this rant but I have to be up early to sell some of that fine Chinese junk to people that need to get that car fixed (Also glad I don't work the retail side).

Now I am sure I am going to get some flak over this post but it is my 2 1/2 cents worth.

 

Hello,
When we were just starting out trying to find a car to build or “hop up,” our first choice was the old neighborhood in Long Beach. Being the late 50s, there were still lots of old cars under tarps and hidden in the backyards of these old homes. It was a commonplace to see an old Model A sitting in some overgrown weeds next to a wooden garage. The used car lots did not have what we wanted and besides, their prices were too high for us.

Once we settled on what old car to build, then it was “Hit the road, Jack” to find what we needed for the build. The big items, motor, trans, rear end, wheels, tires were all big ticket items for us. We were lucky (or not), but living on the farthest city border of Westside Long Beach. It was a short, stone’s throw to the myriad of “junk yards” or scrap yards in nearby Southwest Long Beach near the harbor, or Wilmington, near the end of Lions Dragstrip shut down location.

Our first big ticket item was a Chevy rear end with Positraction, preferably with a 4:11 gears. Being 1959-60, these 56-58 Chevy rear end units were complete and did not have a ton of usage on them, before they met their fate in the scrap yards. We tried the Terminal Island “scrap pile” for a transmission, but were only able to get a transmission that was stuck on one of the gears, but it was complete. We could always take it home and fix it with new gears.

But, back to the Wilmington scrap yards. We also found a Chevy driveshaft, extra Chevy rims, and after bartering, a complete, 55-56 Chevy 4:11/Positraction gear rear axle, plus springs/shocks for a good price. Now, the build could continue.

Jnaki

We were lucky to have been so close to those Long Beach and Wilmington scrap yards, as they now are few and far away. (costs and industrial waste rulings…) But in those days, almost every block in that industrial area had a scrap yard or junk yard with everything for sale. We always looked for parts that we could not get from our down the street auto parts store, our local big name, Reath Automotive shop for new speed parts, or our neighborhood, small speed shop for bits and pieces that the others did not have.

Most local cities used to have their own small industrial areas with these junk or scrap yards. But federal and state regulations have now taken these yards out of the neighborhoods and required them to move far away. The last time I was driving in the Wilmington/Long Beach Harbor industrial area in 2017, it was actually hard to find a scrap yard for car parts. The industrial area is still near our old Westside home, but not the junk yards. (note: there are still scrap yards/junk yards, but they are now called recycling centers, pick your part, or auto dismantling places.)

These days, almost everything can be had, built or bought new from reputable builders or manufacturers. Frames, motors, suspension, transmissions, rear axle units, shocks, etc… so why worry about whether or not your junkyard find will be reliable or hold up for those 3000 mile hot rod cruises? Save a little more and get the reliable new stuff vs. old junkyard specials.

Will the finished build be considered a hot rod? Time, money and human power makes the hot rod. If it drives, holds up to long distance or daily drives, has what you want in the build, starts every time and gets you where you want to go, it is your hot rod…first time or 10th time.

 

I go out to my “lot” behind my shop....I try to keep a good assortment of parts vehicles there at all times, most have been free or close to it.


Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.

 

No junkyards in my area that has anything old. All late model parts.

 

The only one that I know of close to me was forced out several years ago. I prefer junkyards, but don’t have access to one. If anybody knows one in North East Alabama still operating, please let me know.

 

Where I live there are no more junk yards, they have turned into salvage yards and I can't go out on a Saturday morning and roam around like I did 30 + years ago.

They are worried about you stealing a part or the liability of someone getting hurt or snake bit.HRP

 

This was for a trans cross member for my '68 Impala. I had to go into the trailer, find a candidate and take it outside for a look... fun. Found one from a '66 and had to slot the mount holes on my mill so it would fit the '68.

 

I was upstate NY years ago visiting a friend and I remembered I needed a few things for my '68 Mustang. Stuff locally was tough to come across or a lot of $$. I got a GT hood for $40, hinges off a Cougar for $15 and grabbed 6 Chevy 15' x 7" ralley wheels for a lot-charge of $35. Used those on my stock cars.

 

There are three pick/pays in the Kansas City area, and I like the convenience of checking their inventory online, but not much older stuff to sort through. My DD is a '96 Explorer, which are ubiquitous at these yards due to age and the many produced, so there's always something I need or want to stockpile. But stuff that I can use on my '29 AA hotrod? Sparse at best. My uncle owned a small-town junkyard in the 50s and 60s, but by the time I was old enough to want to roam that yard, we'd broken connections because he turned out to be truly evil.

 

The late '90s Exploders supposedly had the best 302 engines, hidden under all that late electronic junk. I like their funky exhaust manifolds.

 

Ain't that the truth.....the last few (maybe 5 yards in 3 days) to find some T5's. For me it's the swapmeets to find good used parts (or at least good cores, all cars get a 10si).

 

I miss living in the Lynchburg VA area..... four or five good salvage yards in the immediate area and three more within fifty-sixty miles, at least, back in 1995 when I still lived there.... yeah, they often crushed out older stuff but it seemed like it didn't take long to fill those areas back up with old stuff again. The best guy to hit up for old stuff was Butch Eaton down in Chatham. He was primarily a tobacco farmer and did the salvage yard as a side line. I bought a BUNCH of stuff off him over the years, even my first 63 1/2 Galaxie Sportsroof.

 

I'm running a set of those cast iron manifolds on my 5.0 powered Lincoln. Only thing I could find to clear the steering box. Might go back and get a set of the tubular headers and use them one of these days, they are supposed to flow better than the cast iron ones.