History Old Time Junk Yard Photos PIX 1920 to 1970

Growing up in southern Cal, I haunted yards in high school. Just over in Sun Valley, CA, bounded by Sunland Blvd. on the south, and Pacoima on the north, Glenoaks Blvd. was a haven for wrecking yards to explore. During my high school years, I bought a 57 Nomad, a 49 Ford woodie and a 50 Merc woodie, all from wrecking yards (with no pinks). The Nomad and Merc both ran with some TLC. I saw my first Nomad in a junk yard in 1966, at Alex Auto Wrecking. Some lady just drove the Merc in because it was overheating.

 

Paul, CONGRATS on BEING THERE at the right tie to score some great cars in buildable shape! Thanks for the post.

 

I would love to go to a classic car grave yard/junk yard. Are there any on the East Coast?

 

Gene Gilson, 1/2 owner of Heitman, Gilson Motors, Leon, Kansas. One of the nicest guys you can imagine, would give you the shirt off his back! Inventory; pretty darn good, it was rumored that a lot of the cars were driven there. Gene worked at Beech Aircraft in the fifties and a lot of people there gave him those old junk cars! '41 Zephyr sedan, numerous Cadillacs from the '30s on up, 5 '49 to '51 Ford woodies, some Model A remnants, a whole line of '46, '47, and '48 Fords! And of course anything else too! I got to know him well enough he almost gave me a key to the place! Tragically Gene was killed in a house fire in '87. His partner, August Heitman, had died several years earlier. Today, just about everything is gone, I have a few snap shots, I'll post them when I find them. Rest In Peace, Gene, August and the ghosts of that great salvage yard; they will always be a fond memory!

 

Can't look at this anymore. Sorry I opened this thread.

 

Pretty disappointed, wanted to go explore Blanchards in Wilton, NH today and when I called the guy that answered told me 'we dont really do that' when I inquired about roaming the yard, which seems untrue.

working on getting the pics from king ziegler salvage, they are in SD but will be mailed to me soon

 

Hey, Brains. SORRY to hear about Blanchard's apparent shift in policy. Lots of yards have stopped window-shopping for fear somebody will get hurt and SUE. I always take my camera and have it in plain sight when I meet the yard owner. And, I tell them verbally that I'm personally responsible for my own safety and wouldn't sue them if I DID get hurt. (Here in Ohio, that would carry the weight of a contract in court. So, the yard owner can trust me.) I also tell them I'd be glad to pay them a reasonable fee to the privilege of a walk-about. And if it's a REAL OLD guy, I always ask if they learned the ropes from their Dad. That's not to brown-nose them, either. Often, the Dad started the yard after the war, and there are GREAT stories the owner will tell. One of the things I love the most about junkyards is the old fellas who've grubbed out a living for years doing this hard work. So, I'd try again a little later. Nothing to lose, bro!

THANKS for your efforts on PIX from King Zeiger's yard! Sounds exciting to see some of the actual iron!

 

I started going to auto salvage yards in the late 60's and used a couple of local yards (Hull Road Auto Parts, Monroe, MI and a yard west of Flat Rock on Middlebelt but the name escapes me.) that were real good about walking around. After I started wrenching on VW's I got a lead to check out Dover Auto Wreckers in Chatam, Ontario, Canada, after I bought a few pickup loads of parts, they started trusting me in their yard even though this was the first dismantler with a computer inventory I experienced. I have better luck these days in private yards. They are hard to find but can be very interesting. The pictures are from a trip to New York, I went with a friend who was after some specific parts and got a lead "from a guy who knew a guy".

 

went to pretty big place today and spent almost 6 hours wandering around, owner was super nice, mostly late 60s and 70s stuff but some HAMB friendly stuff as well

pix to come, currently transferring

 

i did my best to sort out the HAMB friendly stuff

here is a link to the set

i apologize if a few non HAMB friendly rides ended up in there


http://www.flickr.com/photos/94781213@N07/sets/72157633197199357/

 

Thanks for the great pics, Brains. This must be what heaven looks like...

 

^^^^
Yup! NICE WORK, Brains! Thanks for all your efforts, man.

 

These are from my GrandPa's yard that he had up til the late 60's.

 

we have 100's of old phots.

 

nice pics man

very cool

 

Damn! I should have taken pictures at RAYS AUTO WRECKING in Silverlake, WA.

 

GREAT stuff, DamagedDuck! PLEASE post more, any time you run across them. Hey, is that your grandpa in the pic? I'll bet you have some GREAT memories and stories of him and the yard! Would love to hear, buddy!

 

I love junk and it was always easier to take pictures than to drag it home.

 

More....

 

and more...

 

yup more...

 

And finally....

 

Like Jimi, the original poster, I started going to junk yards back in the late 50's. There were few auto parts stores and, as kids, we couldn't afford to buy new parts anyway. Got used to roaming around in them and even my wife and I continued until most stopped letting people in.
The last real junk yard hunting we did was collecting license plates for my hobby. By then many older cars were already gone.
Now it's mostly U-Pull-It's that are open to the public. All those years of wandering around imagining the stories some of those cars had to tell and never had a camera.
We are all thankful that someone took pictures of "days gone by" and other pictures of the past when all we did was live it.

 

Well this is bad news. Friends and I were in there last fall and walk the hole place. saw lots of 33 and 34 ford truck cabs on there last leg. lol we had a lot of fun. Jared

 

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DENNY, YOU HAVE A WAY WITH WORDS. THANK for sharing your memories!

 

This photo says 1975 on the back. I took it somewhere in South Carolina wandering around. Wish I had taken photos of the junk yard down the road from there where I bought a Model T vent lid for 50¢ off a a 27 coupe. It had lots of 40s and some 30s stuff....ah, the good ole days..

 

I was at a yard in CT getting some parts for the F250, when I overheard a couple old-timers talking about some guy with a private stash of old iron up by me.

Intrigued, I asked my neighbor and some other older local folks who I thought might have some leads... No luck though. Apparently this guy kept to himself most of the time.

The coolest thing ever was when I decided to look on google satellite images- after about 5 minutes, there it was... A sea of rust-brown rooftops, jackpot!

I drove there the next day- here are just a few of the shots I took-

The owner was super nice and talked with me for a long time. I hinted about a few things I wanted and I think I might have a chance if I can keep on his good side



Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad

 

Hey there, That'sNotRust! With a positive attitude like yours, I'd say you have a good chance of staying in the old fella's good graces and, maybe, making an occasional buy. HE MIGHT ACTUALLY TURN INTO A TRUE FRIEND! Some of the coolest car people I have ever known were junkyarders. Most of them LOVE their vehicles or they wouldn't have held onto them. Also, I'm AMAZED and gladdened to hear of such a nice stash in MASS. of all populated places! That's heartening!