Art & Inspiration Hot Rod Code of Ethics Dilemma

Keep it to your self---- but next time you go there take a kid with you show them how this
hobby of ours got started ---- where all these nice old cars come from and what it takes
to build one it'll be something they remember forever Do you remember the first time
you went through an auto yard ? Something you never forget!

 

Bad Rod: Just private message me, with the location. I'll take a drive up there, as I NEED some Model T sheet metal.
Thanks in advance...

 

And then one day, years from now, you'll wander back over there and find out that all of that usable steel went to the shredder to become a modern uni-body electric car because no one knew about it. Oh well.

 

These old relics aren't doing anybody any good turning back into iron ore by rusting away. Get the word out and get them back into someone's project.
Let's face it we are a dyeing breed and eventually our hobby will be a thing of the past, there are exceptions before you guy's jump all over me, but kids today don't give a rat's *** about these old cars. They want faster, and better apps, games, Space Book, ****** Chat, ****ter etc.

 

Check with owner...

 

Re-read post #16....he stated it was the mans lively hood or business.

 

If you disclosed the location and the place was cleaned out over time...yes you would have lost the ambience of that place, however look at it in the sense of helping out so many Hambers and their network of connections be it friends or other hobbyists to further their projects, wheel and deal to others to further their projects and livelihoods. It happens here a fair bit guys find stashes and keep/use and part out. There is costs but hey if you have what you want and you have pics and video there will always be vintage anomalies.

Or maybe there is a business for yourself to pic and pull by order via PM. You make some dough, the owner is selling and happy. Just a couple of scenarios. Thanks for sharing the oh so solid dry rusties @BAD ROD and please share some more if you don't mind...I love rusty solid dry tin...

 

I literally have dreams about finding places like this right under my nose. It's driving me nuckin futs

 

Thats that primo Cali Tin mmmmmm....sand and paint....

I think your Michigan outdoorsy tin looks more swiss cheesy like our Ontario stuff as Ole Mother Nature is nasty but old barns can house many gems so Topher maybe some day...

 

All the tin near me has been salted like an Easter ham

 

I think Stogy has a good idea there. If you don't want anybody else fishing in your honey hole, don't tell them where it is, but share the fish with them. We all know there are some a holes who, if told the whereabouts of the place, would go in and screw over some usable parts just to get what they want. Pull them yourself and save the serenity of the place.

 

Why even make a thread about it?

 

Ive got first hand experience here, knew of 2 yards that were basically forgotten, or should I say the owners didnt let anyone in for years. Took a long time to get access. I was slowly pulling parts etc. S**** went way up and they disappeared. Gone.

Do you want to harvest it yourself, buy and resell at enough markup to make it worth your time? Hook some people up. Work something out with the owner? They wont last forever, zoning, EPA, owner dies. It will disappear eventually.

 

Cuple other comments relating to this discussion.
How many of the ‘tell everyone ‘ crowd know of failed projects, old 50’s built hot rods languishing in a buddy’s garage or parts stashes just sitting?
Go ahead and post them if the owner is willing to sell. I. acknowledge there is a difference between a business and a private owner but as one or more poster stated the cars and parts are doing nobody any good just sitting there so spread the word
There have been numerous posts on this forum from people who have stated they cannot find a project anywhere. They have searched and searched on the internet and everything is too high priced. Hence my comment to get off the chair or phone and go look for them. There is stuff everywhere IF you’re willing to go find it.
Including hidden junkyards and parts stashes.

 

Man, I wish that was in my part of Northern California.. (Quincy). But I think it might be fairly close, I have heard rumors .


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Think about how you’d feel if it got shredded and crushed and you never told anyone


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Kinda wounder - did you buy anything ? On telling anybody - there's a good chance the wild fires will take care of it - so don't worry to much about it being discovered.

 

I have one potential hit on a satellite image search, so far.

 

Here's a relevant story that covers all of the ideas brought up so far. About 14 years ago I was introduced to a local small wrecking yard here in the Texas hill country. Spencers wrecking yard. It was on private property but parts and cars still being sold by the one owner. Pick what you wanted walk up to his house show him what you had. He would tell you the price and you either agreed and payed or left what you had at his house door. Neat stuff in there. At the time I found it I was hunting parts and selling most of the things I found. So in a way I was the guy you didn't want shopping in there. I went there on a regular basis for a while. One day I showed up and walked in back and they had a mobile shredding company crushing cars there. I grabbed what I could and headed to the old mans house. He still negotiated for a higher price as the shredder and crusher ran as back ground noise! Needless to say they crushed every single item out there over the next couple of weeks hauled it away. The man told me he had sold the property except for his house by the hwy and split the s**** value with the crushing company. I was selling what I found in there and that wasn't a popular thing to do. But I saved a lot of great items. Got them into the right hands who put the parts to use. Didn't hoard the pieces, and made money to do more of the same. From my frost day there I didn't keep this yard or location a secret. And yet it couldn't sell fast enough to out run the crusher.
Sharing the location might attract the right or wrong crowd. Hoarders or buyers running the prices up. However it might get the parts out and being used. No one person can use it all. And it takes years and years to sell all those parts. I personally would rather see it sold and used now rather than being lost later.

 

I found what I thought was a honey hole.....it was an old gravel yard about 1/4 mile off the road in the middle of a corn field. So the cars were below ground level but somehow I caught a sun glare off a windshield, drove back there and had to sit down! 80+ car bodies, piles of doors/hoods/deck lids, a two door 49-51 Merc woodie wagon, a baby hemi in the mud etc etc etc then I saw a 30-31 customized Ford roadster I tried to buy at an auction also sitting in the mud. It dawned on me who it was, so I tracked him down and what I found was his “trash” albeit still out of my financial range...but he showed me his real collection. This dude had 3 of everything, and then racks of doors/deck lids etc. He was buying back in the 70’s, simply amazing collection. He used to sell in Hemmings....not sure anymore. He hoarded more then sold, always super high prices.

My opinion: ask the owner if he wants the extra business and/or if you could
be a middle man...but sell those parts before they’re s****ped or rot.


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I'm on the side of ask the owner. If he is ok with it, then post away. It's always good to help a local business out.

 

yup^^^^^^ Ask owner

 

I see where you're coming from but these guys are making some good arguments towards making the location known. Up until the '70s, there was a huge junkyard in my town that had tons of prewar cars. My dad told me he remembered going by it as a little kid. I've talked to others who knew the place but most just remembered the later model '50s/'60s cars since hot rods really weren't that big locally in the day. Apparently it was all s****ped. Now that land is a bunch of doctors offices if it was where I think it was.

 

Cell phone EXIF data is your friend. Or not, depending as the case may be. I have no idea how, but the location a cell phone picture was taken can extracted from the photograph itself.

This is something to think about or be aware of when posting pics of valuable collections, one would think. One man's opinion anyway.

 

The owner obviously makes a living as it is,it ain’t broken so why try and fix it.
Maybe this is your opportunity (the OP) to make a buck and help others out at the same time. Chances like this don’t come along often.
Probably shouldn’t have started this thread though,some things are better left alone.Sounds like you get on well with the owner,stay in contact and if he makes noise about selling out or clearing it out then let the world know.
Just a thought.

 

Keep it a secret. Much better to let everything rust away into the dirt

 

If it is a business share it, if it is a private stash, don't, unless you get permission.

 

You’ll never keep it a secret.
I’m sure you’ve already shared it with friends or relatives.
Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.
A secret's worth depends on the people from whom it must be kept.
Share your info.
You owe it to the owner and many who need these parts.

 

That looks like the sort of place I dream about walking through!

 

People wonder why these old yards get crushed out and all the old iron goes to waste, this is why. Isn't it better to have the yard close because people are able to use the parts, also helping the owner financially, than to let this stuff rot and not let anyone have it?

I've never understood the selfish mentality when people find this stuff. Are you really going to buy all these parts? if not, that means most of it will get crushed. That's the reality.

I don't want to be a ****, but again it's a very selfish, harmful to the hobby mentality.