What's your favorite Junk Yard story??

In 45+ years of searching through junk yards I've had some strange, & some downright funny things happen.

I had a 69 Chevelle SS, but some one had replaced the SS hood with a flat one. I knew of a yard around Salem Ark. that a lot of old stuff, so I drove over. When I drove up, all I saw was a field with a bunch of greasy spots & some small chrome peices scattered around. I asked the owner, "what happened" his reply, "I crushed every damn one of 'em" Why, I asked, his reply, " people would show up looking for something, I'd have the only one in this country, I'd ask them 20 bucks, they'd want to give 10. fuck 'em."
As we were talking I noticed a hood leaning aginst a tree in the field. It was a perfect 69 Chevelle SS hood. When I asked about it He said "that must be one they missed, 20. bucks if you want it. What are the odds???

Another time I was in an old yard, when I had to whizz. They had an outside privy. Laying right on top of the pile, was someone's checkbook that had evidently fallen out of their pocket. I wasn't about to fish it out, so I used a chrome spear to push it out of sight to keep anyone else from getting it.

I know they're have to be some other good stories, share.

 

I woulda offered him $10.

There's a junkyard somewhat near me that is being forced to crush all their cars, I'm going to try to get the info on it, might be able to save some of them. Lotta yards getting crushed out in the last couple years since steel is high.

 

I can still remember what Danbury Auto Wrecking looked like in the early 1970. There were 53-54 Chevies stacked 3 high, made removing the lower front shock brackets real easy, my daily driver went through 3 of them. At the same time I was restoring a Riley 4Port sprint car, and tripped over a Franklin steering box with a Bell wheel in the same yard. Brought it up front and asked how much they wanted. "What is it for?" the owner asked. "Don't know, but I need it for a gargen tractor I'm building". "Ok, ten bucks." Next time I went back the place had been crushed level and there were just bits of broken glass on the ground.

 

had two buddies that used to go hunt the junk yards for 65 chevelle stuff. onr guy happened to have two fake legs and a hook arm. the knees in his legs were spring loaded, and he could walk pretty good fpr a guy with no legs below the knee.

that is until they got to the junk yard and filled his plastic legs with chevelle parts, then the legs were overweight and the springs didn't have the same effect as before... not to mention all the rattling from the parts clashing together in there. they said he walked like the town drunk on a saturday night.

they must have done this often, cuz my buddy had box after box after box of chevelle parts. emblems, door handles, dash knobs, window cranks...

nothing bigger than a hollow lower leg though.....

 

there are so many stories where do i start ,had a boss who liked to go to junk yards at lunch ,i just bought a clean maverick new paint with stripes, tired old 6 banger, 200 bucks............ well at the junk yard here is a mav hit on the side, looks like a runner, 302, auto, dual exaust, well the boss tells me get it so we pull it all, use the co. truck to take it home, all on co time and yes it ran xlnt ..........exaust complete 65.00 trans 50.00 motor 90.00 total 205.00........................good day priceless

 

being the cheap skate i am, i went to this junkyard i knew about in town looking for a pitman arm to convert my I6 falcon steering box to the new v8 stuff i added. this place used to have alot of 60's stuff, but most of it was gone by then.
seeing as the parts people wanted $100 or so for the 'special' pitman arm i figured it wouldn't hurt to go look. the guy there is cranky sometimes, but he usually would let you walk around the yard on your own. anyway, i find this box chock full of pitman arms and maybe the third one i picked up matched the one i brought as reference and had what looked like the right diameter hole in it.
on the way back out i spot this 62 ranchero and go take a peek, well what do you know, someone had taken just about everything besides the v8 frame mounts. another pricey buy from the dealers.
someone had done a pretty bad v8 conversion on the car and probably another guy just wanted the motor out of it.
i think i got out of there for under $20, and of course the pitman arm fit perfectly.
one of my better days at the junkyard for sure.

gary

 

I used to go to a local junk yard that had a pack of pit bulls and pit bull mutts running around. They must have had 20 dogs running around in this place.


This place was out in the woods and nobody else around. I used to go there and take stuff in the morning and what not. Payed for of course, but I had the run of the place....

These fucking dogs would always be around me doing whatever......I've witnessed several dogfights out of this pack....

I'd always just shoo them away and tell them to "GIT"! I'd never act afraid because I'm not afraid of dogs......

anyhow.





Much much later, I learned what a pit bull looked like.

 

There was a junkyard just down the road from where I grew up and I spent a whole lotta time there as a kid. overthehillracer's story reminded me, whenever any of the workers had to take a dump they'd stack four or five tires one on top of the other and take a seat. I thought it was brilliant so I did it too

 

Once I was looking for a rear end for my 48 and I found a 78 caddy I owned 10 years earlier in a wrecking yard. Looked at things I had done to it to make sure it was mine, then I stole the emblem and kept looking for a rear end.

 

About 10 years ago I looked at a 64 falcon for 500 bucks. Way to rough, with a maco paint job. I passed on it. A few months later I saw it on a car lot. Went in to check on the price of another car, and watched a guy count out 2500 bucks for the falcon. About a year after that a buddy got me into a shut down wrecking yard that one of his friends owned. The guy said we could take whatever we wanted. Sure enough, there was the same falcon, sitting on it's top. I pulled the 8" rear end, and still have it.

 

I have a friend who has 25-30 cars at his Dad's farm, he lets me prowl through there when I need something. I went once and this scruffy old dog followed me around with his tail wagging all morning.

As soon as I walked through the gate coming out, he bit me right on the ass! I mean tore a chunk out of my jeans and my ass too! Anyway, when I paid the old guy for the parts I got I told him the dog had bit me.

He replied "What, that old dog? Naw, he don't bite nobody."

 

LOL, I thought that was how he was going to end the story. I've never found anything really mindblowing, or good enough to really mention. I've found plenty of parts I've been looking for though. Best thing I can think of is me and another guy rocking the hell out of a porta-pottie while it was in use by the future best man in my wedding.

 

20 years ago I was really into 65-66 Mustangs... I was in high school so that makes it ok. Anyway I liked to go for drives and scout for old crap. One day northeast of Coeur d' Alene, Idaho up above the rimrock I found an old farm with Mustangs all over the place. There were about 20 of them, most in rough shape. I knocked on the door but no answer. I went back a couple of times over the next few weeks and finally got to talk to the old guy. He was pretty crusty and his wife needed constant care, she must have had alzheimer's or something. So he gave the guided tour, basically pointed out some of the better items from the front yard (68 gt 390 fastback, 65 "playboy pink" special edition??? never heard of that one before or since...) BUT none of them are for sale, not even the rolled one.... I tried to keep in touch for the next couple years, he never answered the phone and the next few times I stopped by there was no-one home or at least they didn't answer the door. Then about another year goes by (1987 now) and one day I drove by and everything, I mean everthing was gone..... house, barns, cars, and someone was building a new starter mansion on the place. The whole region around there is all mcmansions now. I don't know what ever happened to that stuff....sad. I have a couple more stories for later.
-Tombat

 

One day I was looking after my boy when he was around 5 years old. I had to stop at a wrecking yard to pick up something and I was driving the shops 4 wheel drive truck. I told junior to stay in the truck while I got what I needed.Next thing I know here he comes down the road dragging something in his hand! How in hell did you get out of the truck and whats in your hand I yelled....Jumped out the window he said and promptly located a very large garter snake.Jesus I yelled...drop the snake!!! Its okay daddy...I killed it with a stick! Kids 18 now and I don,t think anything ever scared him....

 

I had a sudden intestinal attack in an old junkyard once. Here's a hot tip for you.....cloth headliner out of an old Packard makes good emergency asswipe!

 

I once took a shit in a junkyard and had to rip the sleeve out of my flannel shirt to wipe my ass with.

 

went to our local yard to get new leaf and coil springs for my comet and they said 50$ so whil we where in the process of pulling the spright off a old falocn i found a 50 ford full for junk so far i have go 2.4 holley 94s and 1 97 i mint chrome trunk latch off a 50s? merc some old gauages window cranks o ya i also got a pair of keystone toqurk thrust copys all for 50$ the price of the springs

 

Went to a junkyard in Detroit yesterday...spotted a Thunderbird in the "old section". Noticed the top of the "d" in "Thunderbird" was broke off the script above the glove box door. Hmm. The T-bird I sold last year was the same way...look at the body, "hey, this is the spot I touched up with a lighter color red"....

HEY, THIS IS MY OLD CAR!

It was like identifying a body after a homicide. Wasn't much left of the old girl.

Pretty much ruined the rest of my day.

 

I went to the same yard forever,now its all gone.
I went in one day the 2 old guys sitting around a wood stove swappin lies and the owner yells what do you want?
I told him and he said go get it.(normal for him),But they got a new guy working for them and he starts telling me where things are at,and the old guy starts laughing at him and yells again,hell he knows the yard better than I do!
I wonder what ever happened to the old guys.
Russ

 

Went to a salvage that had alot of 50's cars. Seen a 55-56 Packard comeplete. i asked what they wanted for the aircleaner(same as caddy)They said it would go with the car. I told them I'd give them $35 for it. They called the boss and he said to get it.

 

I have heard of and seen one of the Playboy Mustangs before. Apparently they were given to Playmates by either Ford or Hefner I don't remeber which. The one I saw was a coupe, like a '67 or '68.

 

Yep. I had a 67 Fastback that was originally playboy pink. Thank christ the previous owner had done a repaint. It's one of the ugliest colors you can imagine on a car.

 

A friend of mine used to race sprint cars here in Phoenix. Next to the track was a junk yard. He gets wadded up in a crash, does a few flips, goes over the wall and ends up inside the yard. Pleased that he didn't get hurt in the crash, he proceeds to climb out of the car, and gets chomped on the knee by the junkyard dog!

Many years ago I was at a yard in West Virginia, that had an amazing amount of convertibles. About a half a dozen of us are calmly walking along checking everything out and not really paying attention to where we are going, when we here a strange noise that definately wasn't a dog noise. We turned around to be face to face with a huge long horn bull. Fortunately, none of us were wearing red.

 

I've had an owner of a junkyard pull a gun on me. I was sorting through motorcycle parts to find a float stop for a carb. Not thinkning too much about it I put the stop in my wallet so I wouldn't lose it. When I went to the owner with a pile of junk he had a rifle sitting across his lap. He saw me put the stop in my wallet and thought I was stealing stuff. I quickly explained my situation. He had a good laugh but I was scared shitless I was going to get shot over a tiny, tiny piece of metal.

 

Interesting, you know I always wondered about that, whether the old guy was full of shite about the Playboy connection. As I recall it looked like oxidized pepto bismol, it was also sittin on flat tires surrounded by three foot tall weeds. I asked some of the local car guys I knew if they knew about those cars or what had happened to them but no dice.

Here's another: A guy I know who does a lot of picking and scavenging told me this happened to him about 15 years ago. Down in Moscow, Idaho there was this guy who had a bunch of old Honda motorcycles and other misc stuff from the 50s and 60s. He was known for being "eccentric" yeah we know what that means! He had all this stuff in a little storefront but he always said "go away, I'm not open!" at least the few times I stopped by. So my friend Rob was talking to the crazy guy at an auction or sale one time and he was real friendly (danger! danger!) and told Rob he knew where there were a bunch of 20s and 30s car bodies and parts up in the woods. He says come by my place about 7 am on Saturday. So it's in the fall and good and chilly out in the foggy morning. Rob says he knocks on the door and his guide answers the door in nothing but his tighty whities.... he says give me a minute, then comes out a minute later all ready with his heavy parka on.
They have a quiet bumpy ride up into the mountains for a while, keep turning onto narrower, more overgrown two tracks. Finally the road just stops. The guide says "ok get out" They pile out and he walks over and pulls back a bunch of branches to reveal a "path" Well Rob notices that the guy's parka comes open and he's wearing nothing but a shoulder holster with a huge damn pistol under his coat! Rob says to himself "oh shit! He's gonna shoot me and leave me in the woods!" but he soldiered on and after a couple dozen yards they come into a clearing and low and behold there's a bunch of 20s and 30s cars, bodies and parts, including early 30s Fords! I don't know who ended up with the stuff but Rob said he didn't have any trouble getting rid of it all!
-Tombat

 

back in missouri walked into a junkyard and asked about what i was looking for
...the owner said look around...i'm walkin between the cars and hear a chain rattle behind me...spin around and a big yard dog puts his paws on my chest
and we are standing nose to fangs....but he is at the end of his chain!

 

When i started as a machinist at the lokal plant as a 17 year old, i guy came over by my lathe an told me he was going to clean up his farm, he thought maybe i would be interrested in some of the stuff because his grandfather and his grandfathers brother had been the local blacksmiths for everybody in the valley since the 1920`s and collected all kinds of mechanical stuff from everywhere.
He mentioned some old Harleys, Indians , an old Ford and so on.
So right after work I got a co-worker to drive me up there to take a look.
I found a 1949 ford tudor, a 1917 Peerless V8, four Harleys from 1919 to 1925 including some parts from a Harley sport 1922 and two sidecars, one Indian powerplus ca 1920. a few parts from a Reading Standard ca 1920. Antique tools and machines everywhere.. all in various conditions but still..
I went up there from time to time for a period of over ten years and still found new stuff every time.
Then one day this spring I went up there just to grab a cup of coffee, and talk a little. And we just walked over to the place where the junkyard and shop used to be, and talked about all the amazing stuff i`d found there and looked at the levelled big place when i took just one little step backwards and heard that familiar hollow tin sound from my engineering boots hitting something, I turned around and saw the gas tank from the 1922 harley sport sticking out of the dirt.. as a last reward for saving everything from a certain death..

 

We had a really good old junkyard up in Washinton, NJ, Kober's. Had stuff all the way back to the 30's. I was building my Olds...about 25-6 years ago, and was looking for parts. We came across a 55 Pontiac that was laying on it's side, supported by 2 trees. I climbe up top to check out the side trim, and it was in very nice shape, so I pulled it off. Just on a whim, I decided to try to see if the side on the ground looked good. The quarter spear slid right off, and didn't have a dent in it!
So, how to get to the door trim...my buddy and I spend about 4 hours with a driveshaft and a hubcap, tunneling under the car to get to the door. We did it...and the trim was in pretty good shape, for the whole car laying on top of it!
Trim looks good, and is still on my car.
Kober's, I think, is a bunch of condo's now......

 

Around 86 I was stationed at Shaw Air force base in Sumpter SC, Great scrounging area. But the best was Croft auto wrecking, OLD place run by a cranky old bastard.

Had a guy named Willie run the yard from an old shack with a pot belly stove,. Figured out that willie loved his coffee and whenever I would go I would bring him a big ol' cup o java. anything I wanted was "$5.00 for the coffee man"! Still have the 51 Pontiac lighted indian hood ornament.

Wish i still had the $5.00 Hemi valve covers, probably took a dozen out of there!


Dave

 

The junkyard where I "grew up" was called Murphy Auto Parts, any old-timers in St. Louis will know the place (it's long gone now). Buddy of mine and I persuaded a couple neighborhood girls to go in with us after dark; Larry had found a charged battery and put it into a reasonably clean sedan so we could listen to the radio while we boinked the girls, Larry and Linda had the back seat, and me and Marie had the front. We were too young to drive--