So, in the Peoples Republic of California you have U-pull junkyards and out here in BFE they will no longer let folks go out in the yard to EVEN LOOK OR MEASURE!!! Here is the dealio. Wanted to stop at a couple yards today to look at those Mustang cable opereated clutches and peruse some pedal setups......first yard was the normal parts store BS "what year?" Me-"90s, I am looking for a cable clutch pedal, try 94-5" guy got annoyed that he actually had to look into his inventory......it went on for 5 minutes while he took a couple phone calls and then told me i needed to be ESCOURTED out in the yard! This chapped me badly, I know the owner of the yard, I was first in that yard at 14 years old pulling a rearend for my HenryJ with the ok of her uncle that ran the place ( 1984 if it matterrs). They have ran off family workers and the long timers that made the place good. I thought it was an anomoly so I went to the otherr yard that I trusted......"Nope, closed yard, insurance....broken shit....cant let folks in there anymore." I was not up to a confrontation today so I let it slide and said........."thats too bad" and left. But here are my thoughts. When a business like the salvage yards start restricting their customers access, the business will fail.........I wanted to LOOK at some cars and the pedal setups!!!! I am 39 years old, part of the joy of our hobby was strolling the yards to see what we could adapt to our cars. Might only be something as small as a hook for the wardrobe-rod but we got to look through the yard! The second yard said they did not even deal in 'Stang cables actuated stuff......the yard monkeees cut em when they pulled the mill. "we wont deal in cables like that he said" I hate whiney threads but this shit has hit middle America........Rapid City South Dakota!!!!! Joke em if they cant take a fuck. I have pals that do rebuilders and they have even started to shy away from these yards.......shifty shit, bad prices etc....... Sorry just needed to rant a bit
It's a sue happy world now and they are just protecting their asses . Can't really blame them , the lawyers have made it bad for a ton of places like that ! So many people out of work now and need money real badly and what better place to make a ton of money than a salvage yard to get hurt in . It's sad but that's the way things are now ! Really SUCKS !!
It's been like that here for years. Only a very few yards will let you in to pull stuff .Not that many have anything older than 5 years anyway. Your best bet is to start looking at cars in sales yards(often a crap sales yard has a source of shit cars for sale that can be bought as donors,I do it all the time) .Figure what you want then do the search . My point is,do not blame the yard operators they are probably paying cnuts in the insurance biz 5 or 6 figures EVERY year for insurance . Your anger should lay with the insurance companies who are bleeding the western world dry by encouraging legislators to force insurance on us. Ever heard of AIG?
Yeah, half the stuff you buy you dont even know you want until you see it. If you cant scrounge around theres really no point in going, you could just call them, have them pull the part and pick it up later. Lame.
No, even tho the second yard claimed "insurance" they kept talking and said the real reason was folks that wrecked other parts as they pulled theirs. If I was still associated with a trade or rodshop I am sure I would have been told otherwise. I just was floored and did not want to push it.
Here they charge a buck to go out in the yard. The newer car salvage yards don't let you go in unless they know you are serious.
Same thing happened at the yard in Hayward. The owner's insurance sky-rocketed and he said he'd never sell enough old parts to cover the cost to cover letting people in. Sucks... I think they should abolish insurance and lawsuits... and the new rule should be, "If you gets outa bed, you takes yer chances"... JOE
Well here we can still pick it . This is a pic of a 94 to 98 Mustang pedal assy in the Model A . They are small mounts and I think for hangers will work anywhere . If you want some measurements I can get them or better pics .
Thats bull shit I had that problem this week I drove over 60 miles to a yard its the second time I have been out there. The got the mans wife she said the same thing. "I dont anything about those cars you will have to talk to my husband." Couldnt look around had to leave. Well I hope I folds up on them for treating there customers like crap. The only yard I have been able to get in is the local pull-a-part here in Birmingham and they charge a dollar so its not that bad. And they have some cool stuff in the old car section every once and a while.
The only yard up here that has not much of anything.. is a u pull it yard.. the rest are into the insurance inventory stuff .. the common walk into yard is disappearing .....
I dont get escorted around yards over by me but then again I drink with a ton of the guys that work at em. So you can go back but you gotta be friends with them. Second they dont want people snaking parts, consider that some parts that can fit in a coat pocket could potentially be worth over a couple hundred bucks (like headlight ballasts on german cars). Third is that they are indeed covering their ass. If you tripped and fell right onto a big sharp pice of half a car and died Im certain that your family would be suing and they would probably win. Consider this, up in Nor Cal there is a parapalegic lawyer that goes from store to store looking for ADA violations. He then threatens the store owners to pay up or face a trial. This is from a guy that doesnt even buy anything just looks for lawsuits. We actually had to put a sign up that said no public restrooms, not because we had a problem with non customers using it but it was so this guy didnt show up and try to sue the shop. Its a sad sad world in commiefornia, if it wasnt days like today with sunny skys and 70 deg temps I would be in vegas ASAP.
Another view point.There is a yard near me that I have bought parts from for 25 years. Great old guy and some days I go out to just visit.I was at the yard on Wednesday.Walking through it I noticed hoods up and doors open all over the place. I went around and closed what I could...several hoods were wrecked.The only cars this happened to were the '50's cars.I asked him about it and he said a bunch of guys came in to look around and while they bought stuff they wrecked a bunch of stuff and generally had no respect for the mans yard.For the first time ever I heard him say he might close it off and not allow browsing.All it takes is some yahoos to screw it up for everyone else.I and a few regulars will still get to wander but only on Sundays when the yard is officially closed
Most the yards here in Bako you can still get into. Some charge 2 bucks to get in and some charge an additional 2 bucks to get to the old trucks and old cars. If you are a regular or know more about what you need then the gate guys then you generally can get in for free. A few smaller yards escort you around kinda. The best yard we have here with lots of 40's and 50's cars is pretty much you have to know the owner or your not getting in, bad thing is motherfucker pinched about half his yard in the last 2 years when the scrap was way up $ here in Cali. The amount of early ford falcons, some 55-57 chevy 2 door shells, and some 40's models would have made you think this guy was living back in the 60's and that he still got them new to the yard daily. Very sad driving by the yard half empty but still has alot of old tin going back to the earth.-Weeks
Well, having opened a junkyard here in CA, and since closed it in 3 years, I can understand their issues. To allow people in the yard presents many more issues than insurance. That alone is double the $3500 a month it cost. People do fuck up alot of things pulling their parts. My experience in trying to be cool and let people do it were A) They would pull stuff for hours, and buy one $10 part. Then lots of stuff came up missing. B) Gov't types would talk their way in wanting to "look" and snap pics of things to try to bust us. Environmental people did it too. C) Letting people in to "look" took alot of time we did not have. How much is this, can I get that, and never buy a thing. After a few years of wasting alot of time, we shut the gates. Selling stuff to the walk ins was a waste of time. People would come in and say you have a door off that van right there? Go look.. 10 minutes later, the guys have the hood open and are filling their pockets with fuses, rad cap, wire, etc. Or they would wander through the old cars and pop off emblems, breaking most, steal door handles, toss bigger parts over the fence. Or pull it and climb over after hours. I'm not saying you do that Tman, at all. If it took me 3 years to get tired of it, I can imagine how a place that's been around for decades thinks.
my only problem is the local junkyard (i could ride my bike there!) is closed on weekends!!!!! and i have school during the week and when i get out of school it's closed!!!!!!
What I am getting at is part of our hobby is shut off! Like most of us freaks I get joy walking through a yard looking at cars.....It doesnt matter if we buy or not, the yards are killing a segment of thier business with this attitude!
Hmm, so why does Cali have Pick n Pull? Or U Pull it? Obviously some business models can make it work. It aint some insurance BS like these two yards told me. And the fact is I ASKED to walk around with my tape measure and LOOK at clutch pedals!!!!........fuck em and let them die with the tree huggers. I will just fab my own shit.
Dang Tman...that's BS. I went out to Hockers Hidden Valley auto parts today. I was met at the front desk by the owner, I was just looking around, but stated I was looking for 60 buick quarter panels. He stated go right back er to da blue p/u and turn right. I got one 60 buick and yer welcome to go look. I looked allright.......all afternoon I love looking at all the old tin. Sorry to hear about the JA's up in SD
They do have those yards, but picture a place that has been owned for many years, if not for generations. They own the land, these places are in metro areas, so lots of customers. Those yards are multi-million dollar operations, and it is to their benefit to do it that way. they did it that way before all the regulations and made a bunch of cash, so they can now afford the extra costs. They just raise prices to compensate. The proper land to have a yard is hundreds of thousands an acre today. And none is for sale, only rent. I hate the fact you can't walk in alot of yards too. you should see some yards in the LA area. Blocks and blocks of yards about 1/4 acre at best. Cars stacked up 4 high all around, and somehow they can pull parts from them. I've been in those and could not believe it. Its possible in your area that its not insurance, but they just don't want to spend the time helping you for a sale they deem not worth it. Alot of the full service places are that way. The overhead to pull a $50 part costs the same as to pull a $500 part.
I was wondering when someone was going to point out the obvious flaw in the "can't go in for insurance reasons" versus "pull a part" thing. I feel lucky that there are still a few yards in my neighborhood that allow you to wander freely about,although I really wonder how long it's gonna last.
TMan, you're sitting on a goldmine. Sell your firstborn or whatever it takes to raise the scratch for a self serve yard. The business is shifting and you're not alone, there's good demand. Those guys just threw a bunch of paying customers out on their ear. It happened round here already and the market is permanently different. The self serve place is always twice as busy as any of the full serve places.
up in wa. state you sign in hand then $2 and go in. the sheet you sign is "something happens tough shit! was just talking today to desertratrodder and telling him that up north their inventory is on computer to that is a big plus: no wasted trip and you still got $2 for lunch! in cal they don't have inventory on computer and that sucks because its fucking 85 here and thats kinda hot to be out tripping in the pull-a-part. and don't anyone back east start throwing snowballs okay.
Still have a local yard out here that I love,and it's a goldmine.It's on a honesty policy and it has a treasure trove of old stuff and is usually dirt cheap.Free to go in,and no escort through the yard.You just bring your tools,go out there,and get to it.
Yeah I feel your pain..its been like that in most here in Michigan for a while..probably some liablity issue or something..probably some one got killed being stupid. or not? we have one I know of that still lets you pull your own stuff..but no torches..or grinders or any tools that make sparks or flames...gotta hack it off..disassemble it or cut it with a zawzall
The pick and pay joints are big around here!! They do charge a buck to get in and they have a nazi standing there to make sure yur shit is identified...cause there is another nazi at check out that turns you inside out to make sure you ain't stealin'. I guess maybe the charge helps pay for the insurance and the nazis. Sometimes a line to get in and always one to get out, so I know they are makin' dough. There are a bunch of closed yards here too, but they deal in the later model shit!!!
I know of another you can still get into but its a real small yard in the boonies... I was in whitmore lake last week at thortons... No access but they had the door i needed for the kids car on computer and made me a deal i couldnt refuse... Ill go back ... Small shit is hard to come by in yards now days.. they want to speciaize in the bigger shit and strip the car inventory all the stuff and ship the rest to the crusher... A lot of it i think has to do woth the enviromentalists .. keeping the yards clean... Ive dealt with this yard for years but i havent been there in prolly 20 years and i was supprised how clean it was... The interesting part was they actually specialize in the newer plastic headlight restoration ? Dave
I agree that browsing is a great way to get ideas and spend an afternoon. I think Tman's problem is part newer junk yard guys who don't give a damn unless it requires big bucks and little effort on their part, part insurance companies and lawyers making it hot for anyone to let you explore their yard eevn if they want to and part the growing lack of respect and courtesy for other peoples' stuff.-I'm sure junkyards have lost emblems and fuses for year, but the number of people just downright destructive and uncaring is really disappointing. Just another aspect of the hot rod world that isn't really for the better.
I never understood the "no entrance" junkyard policy - can't they just have you sign a waiver stating no matter whose 'fault' you will not sue them??? Heck - I'd sign it - I've yet to get hurt in a yard - and if I did - it's MY FAULT anyways.