For years I've been keeping an eye on hundreds of cars from the 20's - 40's sent to rest in this gulley right in the middle of town in Holland Patent, NY. I remember as a young kid walking through there with my dad and ever since every time I get up that way it amazes me that they're still there after all these years. Still there last weekend when I was coming home from the mountains and with the leaves down we could see the cars better than in the summer. Does anyone know the story behind these cars? Rusty NewYorker maybe you've seen them?? I would'nt normally reveal the location of something like this but I'm sure they're not for sale, being so clearly visible for all these years right from the road, it's not like someone is trying to hide them. Been busy in the shop working on my '57 Dodge truck. Chopped the top 2/12 inches over the summer- looks way better- and now working on new motor mounts and installing a GM 12 bolt with air bags behind the axle. Searched about 100 H.A.M.B. posts on pinion angle and learned alot from the knowledge base here- Thanks to all of you that offer your experience to guys like me! Also joined the H.A.M.B. Alliance. Ryan's got a great thing here. Think about it if you haven't done it yet. (Just my two cents worth) Well my lunch break's over got to get back into the shop. Have a great weekend all! INXS
I know those cars and they have been there for as long as I can remember , my brother lives about 4 miles from there I can ask him to see what he can find out.
A buddy of mine and I used to go up to the Adirondak mountains almost every weekend and we went thu Holland Patent on the way. I remember driving past a place that had a shit-load of old cars in the front yard of what looked to be an old farm house. There were cows wandering around the cars and a bunch of "No Trespassing" signs. Don't know if it's the same place or not, but I always wondered if they were still there or not. I'd sure like to see some pics.
wow, i remember going through Hollad Patent many years ago on the way from Michigan to the Adirondaks too. I saw those cars and wondered how they stayed there that long. I also stopped at a place in Cold Spring (I think) N.Y. and there was a fenced in yard with many old cars, from Models A's up through the 70's, with many 40's and 50's there. the gate was open and we poked our heads in there and looked around. The cars were very complete, even had the hood ornaments on them and all glass and lights! It looked like someone had just put a new road right through the middle of the yard up over a hill, like a subdivision was going in. I often wonder if they're still there....
I don't believe this! Those cars are still there? I used to see those cars while riding up to our camp which was on the Black River near Remsen. You gotta be kidding me. I would have thought those things were gone by now. Unreal!
Dang! Once again a really good amount of cars still in a collection & as always - it's always a thousand or two thousand miles away +/-.Oh well, have fun guys!
I went through Cold Springs last weekend too but could'nt see if the cars were still there or not as it's all fenced in. (Didn't stop) I'm hoping to get up North again the first weekend in December and if it pans out I'll try to get some pictures of the gulley to post here. Somebody must know the story behind these cars.
if you take the first right after the gulley , go to the end of that street and make another right , the owner lives at the end of the street , (in the yard) what you see from 365 is only a small part of whats there
I actually have pictures of the cars at Cold Springs someplace. My daughter and I looked at several of them and they seemed to be full of boxes of junk, like household stuff....maybe i can find those pics.
Thanks for the info. I suppose this is one of those "gonna restore em someday- nothins for sale" situations but I'd like to at least meet the guy and see if he'd let me walk around and drool I'll keep you guys posted if I get the chance to check it out.
Is this the place that has a cement plant close by? Sounds like a place I heard about at Rhinebeck a few years ago, yard owner got a big settlement from some EPA suit.
just an fyi , never heard of a town called cold springs up that way , I think maybe your thinking of cold brook...............
Cold Spring is on the Hudson River across from West Point. They cast a lot of Civil War era cannons there, friend of a friend found a NOS one burried in a store basement years ago.
i used to live near this place, if i remember right he also has a another big yard not far from his house. the one with the fence your talking about i think got cleaned up, he was pretty high on his prices, but i did get to walk around his yard. also the holland patent guy used to put ads in hemmings .never got to meet him.
Pictures, pictures!! its niceout today, get over there!!lol Cold springs is across from West Point, the train station is where they filmed "hello Dolly", they changed the sign to "yonkers",Nice town, good people.( ever go to Verplank???) JimV
I have mentioned this before on the hamb in other threads. It is cool to hear that the yard has not been crushed yet. My dad and his model A club did a tour back in 93 and one of their stops was a 'Model A' junk yard. When my dad came back he showed me a couple pics of the yard. A double a factory ford tow truck, a packard sedan next to some old oil tanks, and a 29 Ford rpu! I had to go and we loaded up the 48 ford and a trailer and went the next weekend! I went through that whole yard and video taped it. We purchased a 39 2dr sedan for $400 and left. At that time the old timer was still alive. He and his wife lived in the big farm house behind the church in town square ( Howland Patent). Over the years he and his wife passed away. Terry, the son, was who I dealed with. I purchased 10 cars, couple gas pumps, and many parts. His prices were always fair especially if you went to the local pub and got him a beer. We used to camp right there in the yard. I still have 2 of the cars. My dad has one finished and another that he is working on now. After the 39 Ford, I purchased: 1935 2dr, 1936 5 window coupe, 1936 2dr, 1936 Lincoln zephry 2 dr coupe/sedan, 1949 Ford coupe, 1950 Ford 2dr Woody Wagon, 1929 Roadster body, misc. model a parts ie roadster cowl etc. Inside he had a roadster project that he was gonna get to..........the last time I went there I finally talked him into selling it to me, other than that car, none of these other cars were more than $600. I could probably find his number if anyone is interested.....The last time I was there some Canadian came in there and purchased 40+ cars. The other lot where many convertibles were had been bailed. I am so glad to hear that the main original yard is still intact. I am sure that while most of whats left is pretty rough, still a great place to find some stuff. The story goes on how this stuff was saved is Terrys dad came back from the war a little excentric and only purchased junk cars, would not let anyone buy any parts off of them. In the 90's he got alztimers and started to get foggy, then Terry took over and started selling. It is a great place in my life and will never forget it! Is the 30 2dr sedan with the ford rebuilt motor still in the barn? Here is a pic of my dads street rod that came out of that yard.
So here is the Village of Holland Patent......Where is the gulley????? http://terraserver-usa.com/tile.ashx?t=1&s=10&x=2383&y=23927&z=18
My dad & I heard about this yard years ago from word mouth. We made a couple different trips to try and find it but never did...However, we always managed to find other yards or stuff stashed. Now a guy at work has been telling me about a yard thats by his hunting camp and wonder if this might be it....I would love to go see it!
i was just there a month ago and yes that sedan is still sitting there i heard the number on that car is $5K i can't believe he hasn't been robbed of all of this stuff . there was a stainless model A grill shell leaning on a tree 10 feet from the driveway . no one around , WTF i heard the same thing about meeting terry at the pub. jp
Hey, I just moved into Holland Patent last week. Could some one PM me where this guys place is? I would love to go down, take a look, and talk to him a little before the snow flies. I also need pics for my photograhpy class so Id be taking some of those too -Stephen
Update: I drove around a little and think I have a general idea of where it is but no idea how I get back there... But I did manage to find some old tin while I was out (pics) below The Ford pick up looks to be a 1.5 ton and a tree fell on the roof, the same fate became of the car. Any of it look worth trying to save? Im thinking rpu
[/quote] I took a ride up there a few weeks ago with Dad and my son. We looked Terry up and asked his permission to look through the yard. He is willing to sell and said if we found anything we were interested in to give him a call. We talked with him on his front porch for a short time as he was getting ready to leave. He's a nice guy. Told us how the place got started when his dad got out of school in 1929 and started a repair shop. Started accumulating cars and parts. He served in WWII surprisingly enough as he was older by then but got drafted I guess. Came home from the war and continued with the repair shop and the collection of cars continued to grow. We spent about 3 hours walking around looking at everything and had a great time. My son's into cars big time so it was cool to do something all three of us. I took a ton of pictures but so far I can't figure out how to resize small enough to post them on here. I even tried a photobucket account but didn't have much luck there either. I could send them to someone if they wanted to give it a shot. There's a few things we're interested in and I want to get back to Terry to see about price and so on. If the snow holds off we might get back this winter but it'll probably be spring. Unfortunately time and the elements have taken it's toll on most of what's left. There's not much left for trim or lenses, gauges and stuff like that have either been sold off or vandalized. Trees have fallen on some of the cars and crushed the roofs. There is still alot of decent tin as far as tops of door frames and stuff that would be useful for top chops for piecing in. Most of the cars are sunk in the dirt up to the oil pans and axle tops. Alot of 30's and 40's stuff. Wishbones and banjos stacked up. Theres alot of space between the cars and seems like not as many cars as I remember from years ago as result of selling off stuff but it's cool that some of this can be saved before it's too late.
The Ford p.u one? Whats it worth? I found out that those cars are on my friends land so I prob could snatch that up. And an update for anyone who cares, I called Terry and didnt hear back so I stopped over 2day in took some pics, my camera ran out of batteries so I cant resize and post 2night. Theres alot of stuff there but most of it is pretty far gone. INSX did he mention anything about still having a rpu, im looking for one and most of the model A trucks I saw were pretty bad... and if it helps 3miles away and could possibly store stuff covered at my place for a little while if you need help w/ any of that PM me.
Yes the ford pu one. Whats it worth what ever you can get for it. You can get afew bucks out of it. Enough to fill your gas tank 3-4 times and afew 12 packs. Hows that sound or you can hang it in the garage. Thats just as cool as cash!
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