there is a local scrap yard that gets in some amazing cars/trucks/parts that were sold for their weight in scrap metal. they had a 49 chevy 2ton? dually truck that had an excellent straight body, gauges, trans, rearend et.... the motor needed work. but i'm moving or i'd have bought it despite having to pay $250 to get it towed to my place. i thought about buying the gauges but like i said, i'm moving and don't want to ebay a bunch of stuff right now. i went back the next day and someone bought the rear end which was blow torched off. to get the truck in position to remove the rear end they smashed the pristine grill with a forklift! someone then bought the doors but the front fenders were still really nice and NOT rusted. well, not for long because they also smashed those with the forklift! there's still a good 4sp trans in there though.... a few weeks ago i was looking at a bunch of old transmissions. one looked like an old chevy overdrive tranny with the electronic solenoid activated overdrive but i wasn't certain. i went back the next day and it was gone, dumped in a bin to be melted down! i can't tell you how many really nice motorcycle/car/truck parts these boneheads destroy. i do my best to buy what i can. one day i found a nice Maico 450 dirtbike engine. i bought it for .40/lb and sold it for $450! there's gold in that thar "junk". going back monday to scrounge. if anybody wants that 49 chevy trans, let me know.....
I hear ya man.... I went to a you pull and pay up here near me to dig up a long driveshaft for my truck project. I walked out with the only one I found after looking at every line gm of vehicles in the lot. The rest were crushed my the forklift.... These guys just don't care they are in it for the quick turn. There were 2 Chevy 3100's in decent shape and a shoebox sitting in the "restricted" area.
Hell, there is a local yard here that won't even talk to you about pulling parts off. Once it's on the lot, it's scrap. Maybe getting on the fork mans better side and toss him a sawbuck or a case each time your in the yard will get better treatment of the old steel.
i know all the guys at the yard and if i want something they will set it aside for me which is really nice. but now i'm concentrating on moving so can't hord things. plus my truck is getting a T5 transplant and the mechanic has had it for about a month. i can't haul anything on my motersickle. they're holding a NICE, Wisconsin 20hp motor, a 16" wheel/tire and two chainsaws for me though. at this same scrap yard, i recently bought two Harley Sprints for a total of $160.00. i sold them both for about $1K. going back tomorrow morning. i can't help myself. i hope to find another scrap metal yard in florida where i can do the same after i move.
When i picked up the S10 frame for my 51, the guy at the junk yard was smashing and scrapping damn near everything. There was an empty 53' flat bed pulling in with me and a loaded 53' leaving. By the time i had my frame loaded up and was pulling out, the full trailer was back empty and vice versa. Late 30's plymouth coupes, 47- 53 chevy 1 tons, late 50's fords..... It was painful to see.
No "snoozing" allowed when it comes to buying car parts. It's like giving yourself a self inflicted wound.
you are so right. i wanted the gauges from that truck but had no tools because MY MECHANIC IS TAKING FOREVER TO GET THAT T5 IN! the doors sold but i wanted them too but, no truck....
I work in junkyard and it's first come first serve were I work they get crushed in a matter of hours.. I try to save all the good parts I can but there are alot of old cars that come through
i used to work in a salvage yard watched a complete beautiful 59 electra 2 door hardtop get crushed all it really needed was a paint job well at least the chrusher TRIED to crush it before they put the buick in they stacked a vw bug and a rabbit the crusher flattened them like they werent there then the buick went in the top went flat easy once the crusher got down to the main body all it could do was flaten out the buicks fins and it was straining to do that machines dont sweat but if they could of that crusher would of drown it its sweat that was 1989 all i was interested in was my 69 charger and muscle cars it was sad to see that buick go though they crushed a 69 barracuda fastback with its 340 still in it shortly after the buick iwas strickly into mopar big blocks also (dumb me) but i was 19 at the time
There is a guy I know in central Nebraska ..... He started out just like you - wanting to save cars 40 years later he has 600 to 800 cars on (3) farms and probably never will sell one of em' Jim
i'm south of forth worth, tx look at what i bought today for $125.00! i found this bike at the scrap metal yard last friday but no title so i just grabbed the nice tank for $10.00 and squirreled it away. then i began thinking that i probably should have bought the entire bike and was kicking myself but my fucking truck is still at the shop..... so today i went back and it was still there! it probably would have sold had it still had the tank on it. so i bought it. the bike is CLEAN with only 22K miles. i could sell my harley and ride this thing for a while which i might actually do!
I worked inna junk yard in the early 70's. I'm in alotta pain about that now. We'd wrap a chain around a motor and pick it up with a forklift until the car dropped. BING, motor's out.
yeah and amazingly, it's almost all stock. i have to find out exactly what i bought. tomorrow morn i'm going back there to get the numbers off the thing. when my truck is fixed, i'll pick it up and bring it home and get it running. getting a title will be fun....
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