A guy came in the shop this morning and mentioned that the salvage yard in Bertram, Texas was making some pretty good deals on old stuff, trying to "clean out the yard" I guess. Not sure what's up there, he mentioned "50's era parts" and "everything was pretty rough". Said he bought a complete 54 Dodge pickup for $400. I figured it might be worth looking into if someone's got the time, since I don't. Contact info is Bertram Auto Salvage - ask for Mitsy - 512-588-0028 Good luck.
Thanks for the heads-up, Dave. I just called Mitsy and spoke with her, they have about 400 cars. Sounds like mostly '40s-60s stuff. She is going to try to zip up some info and send it to my email, I will post a listing as soon as I see it. She's in the metal s****ping business, so this stuff is being sold by the ton.
That used to be a great parts farm, but sold out to a s**** business. I drove by a couple of weeks ago and it looked like the bulk of the non-vintage tin had already been crushed. Better hurry!
Made the trip out to see Mitsy today. Everything is 1940s, 50s, and a couple of 1960's. A few 20-30s parts, a T frame and axles, some wires wheels mounted to banjos. Short list of what is out there. Multiple 57 chevy wagons Hudsons, Metropolitins 60s ramblers including two Marlins Studebaker pickups International panel truck 194x. Early 50s fords nash's 59 chevy wagon Chrysler New Yorker Herse Will post pictures later. Gotgas Mitsy said said she is on dial up and the zip file wasn't working very well, maybe next week. I will pick up a CD from her Christmas with the complete inventory and post it for her, maybe in yahoo pictures and provide the link for every one. FYI, her husband is all for crushing this stuff, he's the crusher, she is trying to get started in the salvage business but they need to pay some bills, and don't want to pay taxes on this stuff come January.
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/jjlstanley/album?.dir=/cf39re2 Someone try this link and see if it works.
There were several International pickups of about the same vintage there, the panel was probably the best of the Internationals. The buses are recent aquisitions, one even runs. There was a lot of stuff in the shop area, lots of chrome and tail lights, maybe even carbs, I don't know. There were some trailers setting around though, I didn't ask about those. Mitsy had attempted to sign up to the HAMB but got a bit disgusted with her dial up and thought the Alliance was a requirement to get onto the HAMB. Hopefully I can get some pictures posted for her this weekend.
Did any of you all get in on the yard sale in Schulenberg, the Petrash's yard? it was sweet, I bought two 40 Ford sedans, etc....there was another yard, a mile south of there, the Kurtz's..no one was there, but I crawled up on the roof of a chicken coop next door and saw a few acres of square roofs..there is a yard on the southside of San Antonio, on Chavaneaux St. Southside Auto Parts, on the left they have a "save" area, left to die and rot is more like it..I've gotten a 56 Ford 2DHT, 53 Mercury woodie wagon, 63 Chevy II convertable, etc. I got em out of there but it took some doin' they price that rust pretty high..I just did a bunch of trading for stuff I didn't want..there is a 71 Olds 442 W-30 convertable in there just rotting away....rixrex
Any one have any luck getting ahold of Mitsy? I have had several folks complain they can't get ahold of her.
That place looks like it has been picked over pretty good. The first time I went there was prolly 5 years ago. Me and smittyshotrods went there cuz I wanted to buy the 59 caddy in pic #60. At that time it was complete, I mean complete! The owner (John) was not very negotiable and would only sell whole cars, no parts. Anyway didn't get the caddy. FFwd 1 year from then, I was coming through Austin with an mt trailer and decided to go by ther to see what was left. John was there and we walked through the yard talking bought different cars. The house and cars are in front of John's s**** metal business. Those cars ended up by the house because people would bring a car in to crush and John wouldn't crush it just put it to the side. He also had a couple mobile crushers that would go around Texas crushing cars and gathering s****. Any car that looked salvagable he would drag back to the house and save. This was back in the 70's and 80's I think he said. If you go there and look close at the cars you'll see dealership emblems from all over Texas. John said he wanted to sell the whole place, s****yard, cars, house all of it. As we where walking I'd ask about a car, price, history that kinda stuff. More than once he would state a price on a car, then when we saw the same car again on the next row he would increase his price! There were several pre-war cars there and alot of 4 doors. Anyway I ended up buying a 1961 Buick Electra, complete car fer $500. He loaded it on my trailer and I took it to the shop I worked at. It was last on the road in 1982. Took me 2 days to get it running and I backed it off the trailer. Ended up selling it.
Oh and the reason the back of that 59 caddy is missing is that some guy cut off all the *** ends of the tri 5's and desirable caddies to make couches out of them.
That guy must of have made his rounds- I stopped at a yard in Tulsa 2 years ago and he said some guy from Cali had came out there and chopped up a few of his Caddies just for their ***ets....
Can anyone who has seen the stash in Bertram give me an idea of the shape of the Studebaker Pickups? early 50s?, half-tons?, rust buckets? been quoted a price?...Thanks...rixrex
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