What's the coolest old car you've seen in a junkyard?

What's the coolest old car you've ever seen in a Junkyard? Something that is in such good condition that in no way should ever be there.

 

There was a black 1932 Ford 5 window coupe at Turners auto wrecking circa 1982 that looked like someone drove it in and parked it.

 

Hi Bob. Since you are from Illinois I'll mention a few from the 60's. Merritt's Junk yard in Pekin had many old cars that appeared to have been just driven in and parked or maybe had mechanical problems and towed in. Most were in as good if not better shape than cars on the road and on car lots.
I remember many nice looking 20's-30's cars in a yard on a hill side in Quincy, Illinois and other places around central Illinois.
At that time they weren't worth much.
Even here in Florida we've seen nice looking cars and trucks just sitting and rotting.

 

Nothing I ever saw that didn't belong there! HRP

 

Winter 1975 in Aurora, Colorado, I found a 1963 Corvette, Split Window Coupe with the front end cut off, not busted, just cut off probably with a skillsaw.

 

32 sedan roundy round car

 

Junk yard seems like a pretty loose term for this question.. I've seen amazing things at junk yards where nothing was for sale... as for a yard you could buy stuff at though, coolest thing I can remember seeing was an Econoline pick up, chopped, sectioned, and with a 455 olds Toronado in the back.. in Colorado, probably still there even

 

Chopped top 1953 Studebaker/ Cadillac motor- seems they could never cut a windshield to fit so junked it- this would have been in the early 60's-

 

Well lets see.Cords,Auborns,a couple of Morgans,literally tons of 32 5w`s,Packard limos from the 20`s and 30`s.Fords of all kinds from the 20`s,30`s and 40`s.If had known then what I know NOW.I would be very wealthy.
Sigh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!This was at a junk yard just South of my home town in Fl.It was called hilltop salvage.Half way between Vero Beach and Ft Pierce Fl.on US#1.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

 

Shelby Cobra! Sitting on the ground without wheels and tires at Banks Junkyard in Great Falls VA about 1973. Later heard that the cars were buried when they went to develop the property and dreamt of digging it up.

Read about a Cobra Dragonsnake that included a history in a junkyard in Virginia. Wonder if that was the car?

 

Believe it or not, it was a Tucker... There was a small wrecking yard in Luck Wisconsin about thirty years ago that had all sorts of cool stuff in it. Bought a '37 Willys sedan out of there once. But in the back in the tree line, I kid you not, was a Tucker. I knew what it was at the time, but in those days it was just a curiousity more than something that needed rescue. I DID grab the Kinmounts off the front but eventually sold them down the line for what I thought to be an exorbitant price. This would have been '81, and I know the car was gone by '83 or so, so I hope someone grabbed it and restored.

 

I found and bought a '53 Buick Skylark out of a junkyard about five years ago. But I wouldn't say it didn't belong there, it had been wrecked pretty good in the nose and right door and I walked past it probably three dozen times before I realized what it was.

There were some other cars in there, though, that even after 40 years in the weather looked pretty nice and never should have been scrapped.

My '32 Stude Rockne body came out of a you-pick yard - in 2011. A few weeks later a '51 Merc coupe turned up. They got a lot of good stuff that summer. Most rough, but a few that never should have gone in to begin with.

 

In 1984 or so found a bone stock 40 Ford being parted out. Totally rust free and was complete. Other than a bunch of Chevelles, I really dont see much of interest.

 

For us older guys, heck there were bunches of cool cars junked back in the day. I can recall a hundred of them that were not rusted or wrecked but just worn out mechanically and sent to the yard.
I fondly recall a Model A coupe that still had shiny black paint on it and original interior I wish I had taken home.
Or the aluminum bodied sedan in an abandoned salvage yard in Southern Mississippi,don't know what it was but it looked like a big European sedan made in the 20s-30s.
Or the 1931 Cadillac dual cowl phaeton I found in South Carolina that was covered in rust but still priced to me in the thousands.
As for recently, I know where there is a 56 Lincoln MarkII just rotting away in a yard.
You can't save them all, you have to pick your favorite.

 

I like the way you think!

 

Yard north of Las Vegas about 5 years ago, guy had 3 Muntz Jets. Gone now.

 

59 Cadillac 4 Dr.
That was back In 1985 86 ish. Guy wouldn't sell it whole because the frame was rusted.

About '97 I was working in Wichita falls Texas. We were bored and took a ride Down every dirt road, goat path side street out in the counyry. Have no idea where it was other than about 2hrs ride out side of town.

Saw too many cool cars there. Couldnt even count them. That was the first desoto fire dome I'd seen in person

 

my current project (1928 chevy coupe) was bought out of a junkyard in central CA last year......(not much to look at however)

 

Theres a Mercury Turnpike Cruiser in the one by me, Pink and White, big as hell and bad ass.

 

A running driveing 1932 3 window chev. coup-----that was in 1959, bought a 1935 Lafayette Limo in 1965 for 50.00 that had the waterpump and generator missing----those were hard to find.

 

A 1969 Torino Talladega. It was in a yard in Tucumcari, New Mexico sometime in the mid 1980s. I was in the Air Force at the time and didn't have much extra cash. I think I called about it anyway but the way I remember it, the car wasn't available for sale.

 

36 Ford roadster with a blown flat head (not a blower) back in the 70's that just needed another engine.

 

I remember this one well, it was at Zions Salvage Yard in Middleboro MA, a black 47 Caddy fordor, it was the first time I'd ever seen a caddy flathead, the porceline coated exhaust manifolds caught my attention. It looked like it had been driven in there, a real pretty car. It was definately one of those "shoulda, coulda, woulda" deals.

 

A 40 Willys pickup that was just a trashed cab sitting on a the frame. I turned a friend onto it that had a 40 Willys Coupe body, that I also turned him onto originally. He got the frame, but it was a major job getting it out of where it was in the yard. This was at the old Rays Auto Wrecking in Everett about 30 years ago; now there are homes there. Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

I hope it's ok. i re-posted this in the tucker thread, to try and find out which tucker this may have been, and what happened to it. you've piqued my interest.

 

Anniverary Gold '62 Impala SS in Mandan, ND, around 1976, 77. Other than sun baked paint, it looked like it had been driven to the spot it sat in.

 

I seen a chrysler airflow and a lincoln v12 3 window coupe..many years ago

 

The oddest car I've ever seen in a junkyard was a 1930 Marmon. I bought the car when I worked for Six Flags Amusement parks in the 1990's. I cut it in half and only used from the windshield forward to look like it was driving out of a wall in the oldtime photo studio at the Six Flags park near St Louis, MO. They sent me out to find an old car for the purpose and I still slap myself for murdering that car.

 

Found an old junkyard in Merced Ca that recently changed hands. They were scrapping old cars (70s and older) to make room for newer cars. Picked up a 50 shoebox with the original flatty in it for a quick $800! The hood has stuck closed. Finally got it open when I got home and found out it was a 6 cyl! Damn! Oh we'll, still a cool find!


Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad

 

Merced? Is that the place i see on the east side of 99 yet have never stopped in?

I think coolest i've seen is an early 60's Maserati in a wrecking yard on Mitchell Island in Vancouver in the early 80's. No engine but lots of space to stick a 428 Ford in. Could have bought it for $500