Just bought 18 cars from a junkyard!

There was this really cool old junkyard in Switzerland, Europe which closed it's doors in '75 and had been left to deteriate since. The owner finally lost his battle with the environmentalists and had to auction it all off in September. It was a mamouth 9 hours auction and 800 cars came under the hammer. About 500 found new owners.

http://www.autofriedhof.ch/

Me and my partner rescued the following.

1932 Fordor last used as a stock car in September '58. see picture!
1936 Fiat Topolino - for $50!!
1946 Fordor
1941 Studebaker M1 Wrecker truck in very good condition.
4 X 1970 Plymouth Dusters
5 X 1967 Mercury Cougars.
2 X 66 Barracudas
2 X 68 Barracudas
1967 Camaro with air, pwr steering, brakes and automatic with just 12.000 miles on the clock.
Some cars cost as little as $50. Some a bit more. In total the haul set us back $20,000, the '32 Ford, Studebaker M1 and Camaro being the pricey ones. All are coming back to the shop. About 14 of the 18 cars will be restored. The others are parts cars.
So you see - it is possible to sell off the cars and save 'em instead of crushing them.

Ed

www.edsrodshop.de

 

good luck, and good score.

 

got some tree work to do there,,Surprised so many big mopars over there,,nice deal

 

Nice job.
Smokey

 

Camaro sounds cool.

More pics would be good.

 

i wana move to switzerland. awesome score!

 

Cool!Looks like the camaro's got a tree problem though.

 

Thats exactly what I like to see....saved!

 

EdwardLloyd, CONGRATS on your persistence there. I think I recall reading on the 'net a while back about the yard being threatened, what with "environmental" concerns -- even though some local biologist defended the yard as a haven for rare plants. Is this the same one?

At any rate, you got some great cars in your pipeline now, brother! I'll bet this was/is not as costly as it would have been, had this yard been liquidated in the U.S.

Again, CONGRATS!!!

 

TR7's came out in? It must have been nearly new at the time of getting hoisted up there.

 

Good Save ,Nice score.

 

That must be a 'posi' rear, firmly planted to the ground.....

 

good to hear they will be saved.

 

Our base material from the states is getting more expensive and worse condition. The yard is only 300 miles away so those cars are way cheaper than buying them stateside. Well we have about 30 project cars in the pipeline now, so enough to keep our two shops going for five years or so!

It was a unique yard, probably worldwide due to it's nationality mix. About 20% American, Italian, French, German and British with just a couple of examples from Japan and the eastern bloc. You'll only find that mix in Switzerland, and that was probably the last old yard got liquidated. Still most of the stuff got saved in one way or another.

Ed

 

Well although he "claimed" to a shut in '75 it's obvious a few cars sneaked in later. TR7 was saved!

Ed

 

Good point about the TR7, those came out in what, 77ish?

are you implying they went from showroom to junkyard in lesss than a year?!?

I love triumphs, but those tr7 s probably had a 30 foot/ 30 minute standard factory warranty

 

There was a two door Devon there like your aviator which didn't sell. Breaks my heart to see it go to the crusher but nobody here will want to build it.

Ed

 

isn't 'rescuing' something being enviromental about it, some people are never happy!

glad you got them, crushing would have been a crying shame.

 

Great pictures, good job saving the good stuff. I wonder how much of that stuff would get restored versus parted out/scrapped if it was in the US. Looks like the guy had Topolinos stacked up like cordwood! Doubt that would have went for only $50 here.

 

Good for you.

 

cool

 

Congrats...Nice save and score!!

 

Great score, nice to see em saved. That Camaro looks real solid, I`m sure it`s worth some $$$ over there. I hope the Pacer got saved...

 

Congratulations! Awesome score.

 

very cool score, my wife would flip if I got another project, let alone 18.

 

Chrysler built cars in Belgium, Switzerland, and Spain from the '50s through the early '70s. Most of the A-body cars (Barracuda, Dart, Duster) sold in Europe were built in their Swiss plant, with some others built in Spain. Quite a few big C-body cars were assembled in Belgium.

 

kool

 

I am exhausted just looking at those photos. Looks like a lot of extraction work to get some of those loose. "Gotta pay your dues if you wanna sing the blues and you know it don't come easy!" Nice score, good luck! Bryan

 

That Stude Wrecker is the cats ass

BB

 

I'd have bought more, but the money just ran out.

Interesting stuff there I had to pass on included another 3 early Toplinos, a '47 Mercury coupe, a '48 Ford Convertible, a '57 Plymouth Fury (yes it really was a two door hardtop Fury, two '49-'51 Chevy convertibles and a mega rare '51 Chrysler convertible. There were a '56 and '57 four door hardtop Chevies, but they were rough.