I sometimes do this sick thing... I cross-reference old junkyard addresses with http://imageatlas.globexplorer.com . That site has different years you can view satellite flyover pics. Get out yer hankies: Manchur's Used Auto Parts, 552 Pittstown Rd, Pittstown NJ (near Flemington). LOVED this place, was there countless times between '82 and maybe '91. 25-acres of stuff from the late '40s - '70s. Tons of great cars. Crushed out in '98: Kober's, 470 Montana Road, Washington, NJ. Place was HUGE, went a half dozen times and never saw it all: Closed in 2000, but still looks like some stuff is there- maybe only trailers: U-Pull It, 1255 W Landis Ave, Vineland, NJ. Never got there. 2003: 2006: Craig's, Berlin NJ, 1995: 2006: Sigh....
It's only going to get worse. Two I used to go to a lot, one is gone, the other about 95% of the old stuff that was there when I first went, is gone. Now, the good ones all go to the you-pull-it yards or the places that just crush it all, no parts.
We went over Manchur's in a hot air baloon last fall and it looked like the second picture. I used to love going there.
As sickening as these scenes are the old pictures of hundreds (maybe thousands) of HAMB friendly rides being destroyed on the oval tracks of mid 20thcentury America always brings a tear to my eye. Just another reminder to not hesitate to grab what you can and save it. Frank
South Andover Salvage, Bunker Lake Blvd, Andover MN. Started in '54, 50 acres, Superfund site/EPA involved, 1991: 2003: Hoctor's Auto Wrecking 3604 S 36th St, Phoenix, Arizona. 1992 description: "80 acres, just over 7000 cars, '20s to '80s, mostly '50s-60s" 2005: 2006: Nick's "II" near Allentown (??) PA, still in business but there's really nothing left. Well, there's a rough '49-50 Merc 4-dr. still in there. Crushed most everything out. 2002: 2006: I was there in early 2008- not worth the trip, IMO Nick's other yard, Lonely Cottage Rd, Upper Black Eddy PA. Was there a few times in the mid '90s- it was pretty densely packed then (moreso than it appears in the pic). 2004: 2006: I was there early this year on a Sat morn, but it was closed. Not sure if it's open for business anymore- could not tell what level of inventory there was out back. Obviously via 2006- inventory is way down. Suspect a major crushing out took place. Planning another trip soon.
UPDATE on Kober's posted up top: had 2 separate yards, the car yard was crushed out once the EPA got involved with contaminated groundwater runoff, but initial 'net pokings claim the truck yard is still open (which must be the 2nd pic).
Swartz Salvage, 15713 Little Richmond Rd, New Lebanon OH, 10-acres, featured in Car & Parts 5/93. Ernest Swartz passed away 7/95. 1994: 2001:
Craigs was great. I got there as they were crushin the stuff. Still a few laying around, but lots of good stuff got cubed there. a real shame
i had a super secret,hiddie hole full of old iron..i went buy there looking for parts for my 53 ..it was stripped bare to the ground ,even knocked down the metal buildings..
I use to go to Kober's all the time. The old stuff was in the bottom end of the yard. There was a Henry J down that was all together and not in bad shape. There was a 58 ford in the ditch that was being used as a bridge. about the only time you could get to the cars was Fall and spring. That end was a swamp and in the summer the brush got so thick that you could not get through. I miss that yard. The part that is still there was the Truck yard. I do not think it is open anymore.
thats KINDA the problem with those "super secret" places... keep em secret and no one goes, the owner says fuckit and when the crusher comes round...
Oh man, my old man and I used to go to this yard all the time. I believe thats Andover Slavage. I remember when they put the softball fields up next to it, I used to peak over the fence and wish I was palying ball as my dad had me covered in grease and pulling heads off pontiac motors. Funny thing is it was 3-4 years ago I was playing softball and on the field wishing I was working on my 38 Chevy. How times change....more ways than one.
I know it's sick (I did admit that up top), but -as many others do- I really feel like an era is ending. The yard I went to countless times (Manchurs)... I actually managed to squeeze off just 3 pics- all those memories & hours spent and the sheer scope of some of these yards and the great iron... and ever-increasingly- there's simple no evidence left of them today... except a faint landscape scar on a satellite pic. It's prompting me to take long road trips to the few yards left. If anyone has any locations for yards they visited, knew of... that are gone today, please post or PM the locations; this is rising to a labor of love of sorts for me... I will see if I can find before/after pics.
Arndt's Wreck-King, 7200 E Highway 42, Soiux Falls, SD. 1991: Down on inventory, but still kicking (?) 2004:
Elwood's Auto Exchange, Rt 804/64, Chewsville MD. Lookin' strong in 2007, anyone have the skinny on this one? : EDIT: suspect strong late model inventory via- http://www.elwoodsautoexchange.com/
United auto wrecking, Tacoma Wa. 5 acres of really OLD stuff,10 acres of non- HAMB stuff. County used "eminent domain" to shut them down and turn it into the transit system bus barns and maintenance shops. I used to love that place. I saw a red '60-'61 Buick LeSabre 2 door in there. The engine was gone but when I went back for that way cool 10 inch deep steering wheel the rest of the car was gone too. I only hope someone got the whole thing to put back on the street as a cool custom. It was that complete still.
Most of the local yards don't have anything pre 70 in them except one and he thinks he has a gold mine but has enough disposable cars to crush that there isn't a lot of worry about the old stuff getting crushed anytime soon except those that are stripped of all usable pieces.
i used to go there all the time. if you check with the state E.P.A. records it was ruled a "toxic site" as i had heard stories of lots of bad stuff dumped there for many years. building the county bus barn on top is the way they deal with toxic sites. dig a hole,line it and its all better!. FUCK PIERCE COUNTY!
Anoka auto wrecking is the one next to where they put up the softball fields(top side of photo) Remember "Mom's" that was just down the road? That place was FULL of old stuff!! (I think that was the one opened in 1954 and required "superfund" cleanup) That whole area was known as "Junkyard Alley" because there was about 1/2 dozen yards all right next to each other in about a 1-2 square mile area. Many fond memories of spending an entire Saturday going from yard to yard looking for "Old Stuff" with my Dad. I can even remember some of the cars that were in those like it was yesterday...
South Andover Salvage definately opened in '54 and was a Superfund site- I got that from online EPA documents. IIRC, same documents listed bordering Jay Street, which is how I found the image.. pretty sure (not 100% tho- satellite sites aren't infallible) that the pic is ID'd correctly. But I did also find this one on the same Bunker Lake Blvd, anyone recognize it? 1991: 2004: On second thought- neither of these Andover sites look like they have ball fields next to them...
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