History The most unbelievable serendipitous junkyard find ever

OK, this it a little OT, but I am so astonished and amazed, that I have to share the story. I've had more than my share of luck, and some crazy unlikely occurrences of serendipity, but this one takes the cake.
Last Thursday, I made a deal to buy a rust free 68 Dodge crew cab project truck from a guy out in northwestern Montana. Not wanting to lose out on it, I hooked up my trailer right after work and hit the road. I got there Saturday morning, and he met me at a cafe in town for breakfast before he led me out to his very remote boneyard. While we were eating, he asked "what's the oldest car you have?" I told him about my 1910 Maytag, kind of expecting him to have never heard of it like most folks.


He says he thinks he has some 1910 Maytag parts in the yard. What??!!! Who has 1910 Maytag parts, they don't exist anymore, there's only about 10 Maytags left on the planet! So now, I'm way more exited about what he might have for the Maytag than the old Dodge. When we get out to his spread, it looks like he has about 10 acres of cars, trucks and parts. I checked out the Dodge and agreed that it was as advertised. Then we walked out into the yard and walked right to the front half of a Maytag frame, with the headlight brackets and some other little castings and brackets still on it! He said he had the axles too, and we wandered around for about 45 minutes looking for the stuff, but he couldn't find them. I didn't want to give up but we headed back towards his building and viola, there they were, laying in the weeds, complete front and rear axle assemblies!




I ended up giving him his asking price for everything after a half-hearted and fruitless attempt at negotiating.
Here's the crazy thing about this: I was fortunate enuff to have acquired this car several years ago from a gentleman who purchased it from the Harrah collection. It was professionally restored, but was missing one part: The fill plug in the differential, a unique part. It is a very flat plug with an oddball thread.


I was thinking I would have to disassemble the rear end to reverse engineer and make a new plug. Now I don't have to. Now I'm back home, but I'm still marveling at this coincidence. I may be one of only a couple people on earth who would have a need for 1910 maytag parts. He may be the only person on earth who had any. And somehow we came together because of an old Dodge truck. Truth is stranger than fiction!

 

Nice story, thanks for posting. Congratulations on being blown away, I've never heard of a Maytag,

 

Great story and it proves how a clear mental image of what you want or need seems to magically fall into place and materialize. The mind is a powerful thing.


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Great story with a happy ending for all!

 

Everything happens for a reason....happy those rare parts are in the right hands.....besides....anyone that uses serendipitous correctly is ok in my book..

 

Wow, great story. 10 acres? Any more pics?

 

I don't have a Maytag, but I do have a 1905 Buick.
My dad bought this car in 1946 !

 

NO$#!T

 

I used to wash my clothes in a Maytag....................Seriously, what an incredible story! That's like a once in a lifetime thing, heck that's like a once in a million years thing. Great read.

 

Kismet, congratulations on the rare find, it was meant to be, que sera. Do you have a straw boater and garters to go along with your horseless carriage?

 

Synchronicity!


Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Great story

 

Congrats

 

Good karma for you! Great story.

 

No pictures of the truck?

 

Or your Maytag?

 

WOW Great story.Bruce.

 

Yeah, I have the same problem seeing pictures on the HAMB, I assume it is because these pictures are hosted somewhere else and won't make it past my firewall.

 

KOOL Deal ! Congrats ! NOW go buy some lottery tickets, you are on a roll !

 

I enjoyed your story thank you for sharing. Where in NW Montana?

 

No pics of the rest of the yard??

 

Dang. Talk about luck!

 

Unreal -- good for you and what a great story!

 

A month ago I was searching for pallet racking and answered a Craigslist ad for pallet racking in nearby Omaha. I made arrangements to purchase what I needed and in the course of the conversation the "older guy", note, I am 72 and he was older than me He mentioned something about old cars, he ended up taking me into a very large basement of the building he had built many years before. He had several Lamberts (I think they stopped building them in 1917) as well as some other brass era cars. You just never know what you will run into when you leave home!

 

heheheheheh

 

Did the seller happen to say how he came upon the Maytag parts?

 

It is remarkable.

 

I sure enjoyed this thread!

 

This story gives me goosebumps!


......or maybe it's the ice cubes that fell out of my glass of rye whisky and landed in my lap.
But all seriousness aside, it's a super score. It's nice to be reminded of the breadth and depth of our "hobby".


So when are you going to drop and channel that Maytag, and put a Chebby V8 in it?