Art & Inspiration Hot Rod Code of Ethics Dilemma

I am curious as to why you started this thread. Did you actually want advice on what to do or is this your version of “I have 17 duece grill shells hanging in my garage”? Just wondering.

 

Apparently some people here seem to think the owner is too fucking stupid to advertise his collection and he needs help. Maybe he doesn't want everybody showing up and roaming around his yard stealing all the small part that are not tied down and coming in after dark and going over or under his fences and stealing larger items. This is why Cadillacville in Washington only sells mail order.
Perhaps the HAMB member that so intrigued with the satellite imagine could start with a aerial picture of his house with coordinates and a list of what he's got in his garage so all the HAMB plus others will know. Maybe the owner is already selling parts on E bay or craigslist. And Heaven forbid the owner actually likes to go out in his yard and look at the cars and parts the he loves. Maybe all the pictures of HAMB 'ers garages with signs, grill parts and other parts they will probably never use should be noted for everyone to be able to go to their home or garage to try and purchase or steal the items.

 

I don't have an issue with the guys who might go and buy a car or parts for themselves and get a bargain in the process. I do have an issue with those who are only in it to flip and profit and as mentioned on another page show up with a semi and load up the "good' stuff " to try to quadruple their money on it.

I didn't see 1946 Caddy' post until I posted but around here that is a real issue, if they don't steal it they tear up a 200 buck part to get a piece that might sell for 2.00 out of the yard. I've seen parts fly over the fence at a friend's wrecking yard as I drove down the road and stopped and stuck them in the back of the truck and wheeled around and took them in and set them down in his what serves as a sales floor. Think I was walking in with a part when the guys who threw it over the fence were walking out last time.

 

I'm pretty sure everybody here needs parts.....I'd also bet that the owner of the yard likes money.....

 

My 2 cents... If a fellow Hamber is willing to travel there to find hard to find parts, please share. Don't let the world know, to keep those prick "flippers" from exploiting our hobby...

I am tired of dealing with the middle man that gets a great deal and sells it to me for triple of what the prick paid for it. It's really slowing down my progress on my projects when I have to pay $4000 for a part, and that guy paid $1500 for it. Sours the hobby for me a bit. For once, I want to find my parts first hand.

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Enough of my crying...

A fellow Hamber took me to his secret place last summer. I found a few parts for a great price. I will be going back next summer.

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Great discussion. Thanks everyone. Not sure I’ve explained the delimma I feel in the best way, I can assure you it’s real.

If this place “went mainstream” years ago, I suspect I would not have had the wonderful experience I got to enjoy with this place. Not in a selfish way, on the contrary. On a “I would like to preserve this for others” kind of way. Have you ever greatly enjoyed something so much to have it become so popular that the “magic” is lost? I realize this is a business to sell cars/parts, so me wanting to see it preserved is kinda weird. Hence the purpose of the post.

You all remember the Harrah’s car collection? That was a wicked collection. Yes it was mostly sold off and provided others with cars, but there is something to be said about having all those cars in one place.

I don’t plan to build any of these cars, it’s not about that.

I do like the suggestion of asking the owner (pretty obvious really, wished I thought of that). Heck, even though it seemed to me like he was happy operating “small scale”, for all I know he might like to sell it all and move to Montana! It would be good to know.

I have no interest in financially benefiting from this. Its the owners long hard collection and all the rewards should be his.

Someone mentioned about the “hunt” being part of the experience of our hobby. I like and agree with that. I’m one of those guys that takes the time to drive down those side roads, take the slow out-of-way back roads on purpose, and “network” with the old timers.

 

That sounds funny..........

 

The disrespect being theft, destruction and greed that a few talk about sours the innocence of the hobby that for the most part is respectful. Whatever the decision you choose I never tire of the collections of vintage tin and all things Hotrod/Custom related that continue to surface here through the memberships travels and make ones day more interesting. Thanks from Rust to Dust land...Ontario

 

You have a dirty mind... LOL.

Guess I stepped into that one!

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Make a video of the place so you can relive the memory,then, give up the address and phone number. We have cars to rebuild and can't do that blundering around the countryside looking for hidden "'honey holes". The guy has a business to run. If he runs out of inventory and has squirreled away his gains, then, everybody wins. The parts are deteriorating and the restorers who need them are ageing.

 

I would of thought "Blundering around the countryside looking for parts "was part of this life!
Just saying

 

I understand your dilemma, hard to know what's best.
Man, I could sure use the quarter panels (and probably other stuff) off of that shoebox to fix the Victchero. If you decide to help the guy sell stuff, PM me.
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/my-first-irresistible-field-find.1090844/

 

I'm in socal and over the past year I found some great places. One of them the owner wants nothing to do with people but I made friends with him. The other has the biggest stash of parts I have ever seen. He's very friendly but one thing he didn't like was people buying stuff to resale. He mentioned that he told afew people to not come back. Which I agree with. I think finding these places and getting the ball to knock on a door is part of the fun. Also get some great stories out of it. Get out there drive a back road you never know what you might come across. BEST RESULTS DONE WITH OUT WIFE.

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You're pretty good if you find the location by looking at pic #2.
So if you do find it, you'll be faced with the same dilemma! Will you keep the honey hole a secret for yourself and close friends or will you spill the beans on the internet?

Its funny how the comments go from one extreme to the other on the subject. Though the o/p stated the yard has been around 40 years and the owner has another 10-20 left in him, one extreme demands the location be outed to prevent it from soon becoming crushed out or made into a strip mall. The land looks fairly rural, not ripe for a strip mall and the small stuff like Model T sheetmetal doesn't look to be rotting inside a dry shed any more than it would in one of our garages.
The other extreme says keep it a secret among a few trusted friends. This might keep a flipper from buying out the whole yard and hauling it to the LA Roadster swap and selling it all to us at 125% of market rate. Let everyone do their own leg work.
In the middle is the practical thought of asking the yard owner if he needs help selling.
I gather the owner likes what he's doing at his pace. If he wanted the yard sold down to bare dirt, I'm sure he could have already easily accomplished that.

It's a great debate. One things for sure. The internet has blown gaping holes in most secrets, be it a great place to hunt, fish, surf, hike, metal detect or look for old cars and parts. Those places used to be found with legwork or an invite because someone trusted you to not tell the world. Now everyone can't wait to brag about it on social media postings. Consequently, a lot of those cool swimming holes, water falls around here got overrun to the point they got closed down from being "loved to death". Now you post a photo and everyone demands you turn over the pertinent info. Social media and Google Earth lets everyone in on the secrets without ever having to get off their chair and leave the house. "Pave paradise, put up a parking lot".

 

I never understood this entitlement a lot of car guys seem to have... " well your not using it ... I need one you should give it to me...

 

That's me. I found the yard.

If you want my address, just ask.

Everything I own is listed in my profile.

 

Somehow this all reminds me about how during my semester in Spain in '89 I was invited by classmates to head over to Germany and visit East Berlin, which was still stuck in a post war time warp. I declined, thinking it would still be there next time I got back to Europe. It wasn't. Hardly a year after I got home, the wall fell.

I sure like the idea of visiting a yard like this before it's gone. That's about all I know -- well, that and I could sure use some inner fenders for my '34 Ford!

 

So for this place to have 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s car it must be away from the masses. No way big city Cali Nazi county folks are going to allow a junk yard to exist? Ask the owner how he feels about shit loads of good people and shit heads knowing about his yard? Hope he has a badass junk yard dog!!!

 

Lots of scenerios and ideas presented here. Talk to the owner about "your" dilemma ( if you know him well enough) and see what he says.
Depending on his response, proceed from there. I would go about this in a respectful manner as you don't need to lose your "visiting" privileges. If he is on the fence or says yes, you may show him this thread (or not). Do what's best for him ( it IS his stuff), not yours or any one elses.

 

Hot Rods, great summary, you totally get it. I’ve experienced the same.

 

Many, many years ago I 'found' a secret yard outside of Placerville. I was on the way to GNRS when it was the Oakland Roadster Show, opened the local phone book and looked for junk yards. Got a hit and drove 5 moles out of town to a hilly country junk yard,,, rows of 50's chevys, two complete 40 Chevy coupes, rows of model A's. Being out in the country, I thought it was 'safe' to pick later when I had time. So a year later I show up and scrap prices were up and because 'no-one' knew of the yard and low sales, they scrapped most of the yard.

 

I know that place. I grew up in Placerville.

 

Ask the owner. If he would like a large amount of people coming through, let it rip, if not keep it quiet.

 

Well, if you knew what happened to the Placerville yard, just imagine it happening to this new yard. Would be a shame. So tell us where it is. (Not that me being in the middle of Iowa would ever come out there though. But plenty of locals could benefit from the parts.)

 

In re- reading this, some are against people getting good parts at wholesale prices, some are against people selling parts at retail prices, some are against people being customers, some are against people being distributors, some feel people take advantage of others and some feel there will be thievery and hoarding. It's a miracle anything gets built with all this feeling going on.

 

Being a semi-old guy, I've been through a few of these old wrecking yards as a young feller.
Chock full of 40,50 & 60's iron.
They were amazing!!
Not one of these are still in existence.
I'm sure there are a few hoarders around but I haven't had the luck to find them.
Every so often you hear of estate auctions.
I went to a couple & at both there were a couple of guys with deep pockets that bought everything
worth owning, which left scrap that was sold @ $5 for the lot.
Pure junk.
Bad Rod you truly have a dilemma!
Kinda' damned if you do & damned if you don't
Either way you look like the bad guy in somebody's eyes.
I bet you are almost wishing that you didn't bring it up.
Creates a lot of conversation though.

 

I have to laugh at some of these comments. Some people seem to think that as soon as the address gets posted, all 500 some odd thousand H.A.M.B. members will suddenly converge en mass and trample this guy and his yard

The way I see it: If the yard is an actual business. Sign out front or whatever, then the address is fair game. I'm sure it's nice to walk around the yard like it's some kind of time warp museum, however, I personally think that it'd be better to have more old cars on the road.
If it's not a business, but a guy's personal stash, then the address stays private.

If it is a business, and you decide not to share the address, then don't complain next time someone has four of what you need, and won't sell one of them

 

There was a yard i found close to me i found. tons of 50s and up stuff. I did what others are saying and kept quiet. Well guess what a few years later the old man that had it forever sold it around 2007 and scrap went up and they crushed that place out in no time. Now i keep thinking why i was being selfish keeping it to myself. Guess what those cars/parts are gone forever not even in someones hoard.......

 

We have a yard like that here in town. Everyone knows about it, still in business.