just had a birthday a week ago 58 years young and early this morning i walked into my business and i looked all around at all the items and cars that i own( this is just a statement and not patting myself on the back) and remembered back to when i was a young teenager walking in to my dads friends and customers shops and looking and seeing all the hot rod parts that they had collected and i remember thinking as a 14 year old, wow how did these guys amass such a collection of all these items? i can remember seeing double hump chevy heads, pop up pistons,4 speeds, tachs,as well as 55 chevys, chevelles model a's. guarantee you there were all types of parts from other manufactures as well i just didn't know them at that time. but as i stepped into mine i realized how they were able to collect all this stuff.... dedication, hoarding as well as maybe being a little crazy too. but it really felt good to go back even if only for a couple minutes........
Welcome to 58! I've got stuff in my shops older than me, if you're looking around and can see the walls, ya doing good
I've got an accumulation but danged little of it that didn't get bought in the past five years isn't worth writing home about. 58 That was 15 years ago for me.
some of my best stuff was found in dumps for free, well, 45 years ago. remember when every small town had a dump?
Boy howdy do I! I grew up a mile from the township dump that was open only Saturdays. After it closed I'd climb over the gate and wander. That dump was my best childhood friend. Every Saturday evening was like waking up on Christmas Day. Anything a kid could want - electric trains, lawnmowers, BB guns, motors, motorbikes and bicycles - was there for the taking and usually fixing. Although I was too young to need it I remember flathead speed equipment tossed in a heap (everybody wanted OHV stuff). That dump played a major role in me becoming a gearhead, a hot rodder, and ultimately an automotive engineer.
That’s my problem. I rearranged, threw out miscellaneous (NO PARTS) and I am up to day 3 tomorrow and I still see no walls .
Always a good idea to stop and assess/appreciate the things you have. Our daily lives can be hectic and fast paced, not always allowing for the "stop and smell the roses" moments. The need to continuously increase the stash of parts/cars is also the reason we have accumulated them..never content, always on the "hunt" for that next project, while always keeping an eye out for the rare, near impossible parts we all seem to want/desire. We are collectors with a strong passion for anything/everything relating to our chosen hobby. Sell some of that stash?..well, maybe some day, it's just that, that day never seems to come.
Back in the day(I'm 61)the guys who had all the cool stuff filling up the garages,barns,sheds were collectors. So and so collects shoe box Fords...so and so collects 55' Chevys. They may have had 3-5 sitting around plus parts galore. These days if you have 2-3 projects plus a driver but won't sell anything because you have plans or just like to look at them you're a hoarder according to the crybabies of today.
QUOTE:I grew up a mile from the township dump that was open only Saturdays. After it closed I'd climb over the gate and wander. That dump was my best childhood friend. Every Saturday evening was like waking up on Christmas Day. Same here, but my best friend and I would go up there any day. The G-man had an old Chevy truck with a manual crank dump bed on it. We did find some stuff, but not a lot. Years later, I married his daughter, and found out that he was a 'junk collector.' We buried him January 2019, though I'm no longer married to his daughter.
Dump picking was always fun. I took my 2 younger sons with me so that they could experience it, too. A cold 6 pack for the town dump workers always helped. Now the dump is all separated by fenced in areas, and policed by town workers, no more picking. Another reminder of the good old days.
Back then, the dump was just past the rail yard, well within the walking distance for a kid like me. I would find issues of car magazines that weren't sold that the distributor would take the covers off. To this day, there are old magazines I can recognize without covers. Sent from my SM-T350 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Not funny.....they finally clamped down at our dump site and said not more picking.....same at the scrap metal yards.........
Ahh the dump days, back in the early 60's my friend and I would scavenge on the Sunday (when it was shut) squeeze thru the fence and spend a couple of hours ''doin it''.. My focus was on car badges that were left on panels from shop cleanouts and occasional screw on hubcaps.. And I've still got all the badges and caps, most mounted on panels.. Ages range from as far back as the 20's e.g. Erskine, Hupmobile, lots from the 30-40's and 50's. Gotta love them brass and enamel badges from those days..
I grew up going with my buddy’s dad to the scrap yards in the San Fernando valley. I bought my first car part to my future dream car - the hood bird to a 55 Chevy there. I’ve bought camel backs for scrap price, nail head stuff, 327s plus the slotted mags for my off topic 60’s corvette etc. it was a fun time and I’m glad to have caught the tail end of it. More than a few years back the cool stuff dried up then one day a guy got crushed....that was the end of going to the scrap! Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I have found that parking in just the right spot at the scrap pile in the local landfill will allow me to grab a small item or two unseen
I have many fun memories of Marquis Junk Yard and Doc's Used Auto Parts and Peter's Junk Yard. As a young not yet teen I would tag along with my older brother Dad cousins and other older neighbors that said you want to ride along a see the old car's. I would never say no... That is when I became hooked on old car's besides circle track racing in my family. Marquis Junk Yard was right behind our property and as a young boy I use to set in the old cars and dream. I would drive them for hours with my brother's. Push button auto's stick shift on the floor on the tree and bucket seats with Auto counsels dark green safety glass big puffy seats windows that still rolled up an down and those cool old flat head's an many different kinds of big and little V8's. My favorite was the Big Old Cable Wrecker Trucks with two Axel's and chains I could not pick up they where so big and heavy... Those days kept us brother's out of trouble Until "Grubby" the owner came running after us then a call on the phone to Mom or Dad. At home we would end up in the woodshed us 3 boys would go in an come out not so happy anymore. But it was worth every lick... I started out with a 66 Chevy II sadan and ended up in my high school years having too many part's car's mostly early 60 Chevy II's some 68-70-71 Nova's. Every week the Flashes would be delivered I'd be looking for Chevy II's that were for sale and most the time I'd pay less than $100 for a complete rolling car. We sure can't do that anymore. We had many fun times but sometimes we'd end up with a sore bottom in the end... Oh so worth it those fun good days can never be replaced... 1Nimrod
Hello, As teenagers, there were only a few people that we knew had more than one hot rod or collection of cars. There were guys with a shop load of parts for the “next” build. That was more of a common place thing. But, even in the ritzy Bixby Knolls section, no one had three or four car garages, despite some of the homes being rather large. There was a place in downtown Long Beach that had more than one hot rod or classic inside of a showroom. But, back then, it was rare. Being so close to the industrial supplies and manufacturing area of the Westside of Long Beach was good and bad. From 1948 to 1998, we had access to the largest conglomeration of scrap (junk) yards in the area. We could actually ride our bikes back and forth to those yards. If we wanted larger junk yards, that was over the bridges and one underpass in the Wilmington area for some of the largest junkyards in the whole Southwestern area of So Cal. They weren’t hoarders (modern term), but were well run businesses and there were a ton of parts for every make and model of cars. It did help that there were so many hot rod/drag race shops and manufacturers located within bicycle rides of our house, so wandering in the junkyards was necessary for some parts, but we could buy most of the go fast speed parts locally. But, by 1998, when we sold our old house, we had suffered 50 years of inhaling fumes from the industrial shops, the local shipyards, the junkyards, the refineries and the varied boat manufacturers fiberglass spraying areas. That was not good. What was one of the most sought after conditions at Lions Dragstrip versus ones that were 50 miles inland were the West winds always blowing in from the ocean. It brought some moisture and fumes across the whole drag strip area. It was noted that gave Lions Dragstrip some extra help in setting records. Maybe not the smells or fumes from the industrial areas, but the moisture from the ocean winds that blew everyday in the afternoon. We in the Westside got the fumes on a daily basis. Jnaki Our amazement was the collection of the local speed shops that had tons of parts and complete motors/transmissions. They were the ones to go to those junkyards and pick out the latest for their speed shop builds or rebuilding for their customers. But over time, those junkyards downsized and most disappeared. It was the sign of the times, with the EPA breathing down everyone’s neighborhoods. The art is part of the city approved mural projects In So Cal’s San Clemente, this scrapyard, behind the mural, was made back when it was at the northern edge of the city. Then the city grew and more homes/businesses were developed. Now, the scrapyard was in the middle of the city. The EPA and other regulations took over and now, it is a storage yard. Back when we were teenagers, this place had all kinds of parts, wrecked cars, motors, etc. It was almost an any make and model stuff. But, as the years rolled on, the junkyard/wrecking yard was shut down and a storage yard is in its historic place. All around the original, small industrial center are auto repair shops, supplies of all kinds, and of course, the “surf ghetto”. Small businesses still deal with metal working, party supplies, hot rod builds, motorcycles, surf board sales/manufacturing, as well as the normal mom and pop warehouses and restaurants.
Lions was also near sea level so good dense air was helpful to fast e.t.s Re: Murals. Two artists in my hometown (home of General Custer) painted a similar mural on the outside of their gallery. The city fathers cited an ordinance banning murals and made them paint over it in white, Go figure. It is said when Custer left town he said "Don't do anything until I get back" and there y'are.
back then, i'd get free flathead parts--word of mouth. "you can have that stuff; just get it out of my yard!" i do remember buying a pair of 8cm flatheads for $35. terminally cracked blocks but good merc cranks and other small pieces!
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