Hidden Valley auto parts near Phoenix has been sold and will be crushing 7000 cars from the 40s on up. The early stuff has been picked over, but there is still lots of good parts available. They sold the property for $8 million to a housing developer, and they could care less about vintage tin. I talked to them yesterday, and they are still open at this time, but the crusher is currently at their foreign car yard across the road, and when they are done there, the old stuff is going next. They told me they are relocating some cars to another yard, but weren't specific as to what. This is the biggest yard in this area, covering 80 acres. Lots of 50's stuff, but the last time I was there, were a couple of mid 30s sedan bodys, (Chevys & Mopars), about a dozen or so 40's cars including at least two 46-48 Chevy sedan deliverys, and a good variety of 50s & 60s cars & trucks. If you need parts, I wouldn't hesitate. They aren't very cheap, but when it's gone it's gone. They do ship daily to anywhere you might be. The way Phoenix is growing, it's only a matter of time till the remaining yards go too. We all complain about the prices of parts going up, but we also take it for granted that these places will always be there when we need them, and this is a fine example of what the future will bring.
Memory Lane here in Sun Valley Ca moved, but also crushed most of their old stuff. The owner of Pearsons just died, 5000 or so cl***ic cars will most likely get crushed. Its going fast. What really ****s is when you go to these places and offer more than s**** value for the cars and they say no. I thought they were car guys, and would want to save as many as possible. I find it odd a developer would build on what is basically a toxic waste dump.
WHAT? That place is a parts heaven! Say it isn't so. GOnna have to talk Mac into a trip to AZ with the work truck. Oh that is terrible.
The day a developer is interested in anything other than profits will be a cold day in Hell. The best interests of the public mean nothing to real estate developers.
I won't be buying a house there. I'm sure they couldn't possibly remove all the dirt there to clean it up. I think someone is getting paid to look the other way in the EPA. When I have been there on a warm day, the place reeks of oil and grease. I was there about 8 months ago, and I walked out the back door to the yard, there was a 2-4bbl 392 Hemi sitting in the dirt. There are lots of one piece bumpers for your 50's Chevys, busses full of trim and taillights, lots of off make cars. If you go to the website, look at the overhead view of the yard to get a scope of how big this place really is. The pics of the cars they show, don't even come close to giving you any idea what we are going to be loosing. Don't waste any time thinking about going, you better do it now!
They didn't give me any positive date, all they said was, when they are done with the foriegn cars, they will be moving the crusher across the road.
They have an estimated 1050000 bucks worth of s**** iron there. When I found out the Iranians that bought out a local yard were crushing the old cars, I went over and was able to buy 100 of them. They crushed around 200 before I got there, they dont have many if any left. I went to Memory lane the last day they were open, they had no interest in selling at s**** price in large volume. right now thats about 125 a ton, average 1.2 tons a car. ( incomplete big cars or a bunch of little cars mixed with big cars) I just cant understand the places that would rather destroy a car for a few 100 bucks,rather than sell it as is for the same price or even a little more.. This **** is going tomake me crazy..wait it already did.
They moved to Wilmington.No longer affiliated with pick your part. Same phone # etc. What ****s *** is they didnt put all the old cars from Memory Lane into the pick yard before they crushed them. ****ers
This kinda **** pisses me off a lot. I thought that one of the sole purposes of having or running yards was preservation, as well as profit. I've heard how this place pretty muched reams you a new one, but it IS vintage RUST FREE stuff!! And to think they don't care makes me sick. It's a damn shame that this is happening. At the rate this is going now, you soon won't be able to buy a '46 Chrysler Sedan for less than 20 Grand on eBay... Well maybe not that bad, but something comparable for sure. Most developers are FILTHY, FILTHY *****S who were probably conceived in one of the cars getting crushed and turned into their updated H2 'Hummer' fleet they'll buy the look for more yards to destroy. I'm in New Hampshire and there's no way I can get there, but someone from the area who is directly affected by it should stir up a little publicity for the developer(s). This looks like a good place to start: http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/ Maybe a little editorial on the development on potentially hazardous ground may not be so cool... I'm sure all the impending new residents may think twice before they let "Little Jimmy" play in the puddle in the back yard, or take another bath with a blue sheen on top. It probably won't save the yard at this point if they're rolling in the crusher soon, but at least screw these ***holes hard, like they're screwing you. I'd make that neighborhood look like the ****tiest place you could live. If the yard's toast, what's to lose? Good luck getting what you can. Jonny
Damn what a waste of parts. Even though I'm on the other side of the pond, it really gets to me when I hear US-carhistory is going to be destroyed like that in such a rate.
is this DVAP (desert valley auto parts?) you guys are talking about? i was their in august last year and bought a few things for my cad at a reasonable price, they have TONS of cars and quality parts. i was just telling my buddy we need to take a road trip to buy a windshield for my caddy, looks like i might have to head out their REAL soon now. when do they plan on shutting their doors? and when did memory lane move?
I dont think this is DVAP, they have 40 acres where these guys say 80 acres.... DVAP imho are extortionate but they do have what you want... I tripped over from the UK to get some Edsel bits and they wanted $300 for a cracked grill for a 59.. I got 2 from a club member for $20 plus $40 shipping... but, what an experiance going around that yard....mamma they have some cool **** that needs rescuing!
The south part of Phoenix known as the Ahawatukee foothills used to be a race track. You can still see the oil dump in modern aerial photographs...
The real estate market today is being driven by crazed idiots with too much money. They do not care if the dirt's toxic; their kids don't go outside anyway.
I contacted them to ask about buying a '60 Chrysler New Yorker wagon shell so I could cut the floors out of it to repair one up here. Now bear in mind I'd seen a photo of the car, it had no gl***, interor, engine, front clip - just a shell. I was told they'd sell it for $4,000. I literally turned around and asked them what they were smoking to come up with that number. The one I found up here I paid $50 for - with good gl***, complete interior, both taillights, etc. - it just needed the rear subframe and pan redone. I can get complete junkyard cars any day of the week for $500 or less. It's too bad this place is s****ping, and it's too bad that a lot of good stuff will go up in s**** because the owners think this stuff is made out of gold. It has me thinking I should go into the auto s****ping business, it would give me a chance to save this stuff when people sell out. But they are all s****ping out because the owners are almost all old now and dying. I have seen probably a million dollars worth of cars get crushed because the kids are too lazy to try to sell them as collector cars instead of getting $50 or $100 a shot s****ped.
The main focus of any bussiness is being successful and turning a profit. Taking the developer's offer to buy the land probably makes good bussiness sense. This is especially true considering the way the area near that yard is being developed. It is very likely that sometime in the very near future our local government would have changed the zoning regulations and forced them out anyway. Best to sell now while they can get a premium price. It's really easy for someone to talk high and mighty about preservation when the're not the one who has to foot the bill. I don't reckon anyone here is willing to pony up the dough to buy all the iron, pay to have all that iron moved and pay for a place to keep all that iron. I know I'm not. It makes me sick to see all of this stuff get crushed, but I can't fault the owner's of this yard for making what is probably a good bussiness decision.The fact is, that land is worth much more with houses sitting on it than it is with old cars sitting on it. It ****s, I don't like it, but I can't change it.
Didn't realize Memory Lane just pulled a crush-and-move. Thanks for the tip. Guess they wanted to go closer to the Long Beach Port where the crushed cars can more efficiently be loaded onto a boat to China/India!!! DVAP is not the same yard as Hidden Valley. BUT they recently pulled their own crush-and-move operation as well. There were MANY cars not even a mile down the road and they wouldn't even bring them to the new yard. They simply crushed them. Yet when I asked them about their engine cores, they said none got crushed, an engine core buyer buys all of them. Yeah, right-- not at even 1/10th the prices they quoted me! Hidden Valley, same way. I tried to buy some RUSTED, FROZEN, SITTING IN THE MUD shortblocks (block, crank, rods, pistons ONLY) for $40-- more than they'd get in s**** metal, but they held firm at $350 plus tax. I will NEVER understand the business logic of knowing that you'll be s****ping in a couple months, and when someone comes in and offers twice s**** rate, to turn it down and insist on nearly 10 times as much.
junkyards are the most frustrating part of this hobby, when it is supposed to be the best thing. I have no good junkyard storys at all, but plenty of bad ones. Furthermore, I cant think of a time I have pulled something from a junkyard and not paid way too much. But I am young, so maybe things never were this way till recent years.
I'm sure that this was bound to happen anyway, maybe not by way of s***bag developers, but happen nonetheless... One point is, now they have their 8 million bucks and they know what s**** is going for... Why not let as much salvagable stuff go at a decent rate? If it's imminent that all this ****'s gonna be flattened, why not let it go for a bit more that what it's untimately gonna be worth in the end when it's cubed? It seems like they want to squeeze every last nickle out of these cars right now, selling parts at RIDICULOUS PRICES but don't seem to care that they're potentially losing money by crushing them and not making a few EXTRA bucks by being decent people and letting them go reasonably. They obviously have no interest in old cars, beyond turning rust to green (especially if it may potentially benifit someone or save a car). It doesn't sound like good business to me. I STILL think that the developers should get some bad publicity for making the move and pushing this along... I'm sure there were probably more suitable dwelling lots available, instead of there. I'm sure the houses on Cancer Avenue and Mystery Nervous System Disorder Lane will be lovely. Jonny
I Dont understand it either, when the owners close a junkyard and won't sell anything for a decent price but will let the crusher guys get it for s**** prices. We had an old yard here get bought by a developer and the cranky old guy that owned the place (hated "hot rodders") wouldn't sell anything but let it get s****ped. Luckily the local car guys that were helping him clean up the huge collection of memoribilia inside kept him busy with his sparkplug collection upstairs while the guys outside got NINE Hemis cut out and loaded into trucks and saved...yeah, they stole them, but the rest of the Hemis got crushed.....
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