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scrap steel $ has me nervous.

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by northerndave, Apr 22, 2008.

  1. toms37gmc
    Joined: Aug 10, 2006
    Posts: 147

    toms37gmc
    Member

    Lots of farmer in rural western Minnesota spent the winter searching the woods for old cars, ag parts, and what ever to make a few extra bucks. One of my brother's employees, a welder, quit last summer to go scrap hunting. He makes more money doing this, with the price of scrap at over 200 a ton, then my brother can pay him to weld.
     
  2. PoPo
    Joined: Jan 3, 2008
    Posts: 1,102

    PoPo
    Member

    There was a commercial here on the radio from Alter Scrap.
    "To all your farmers with old cars, tractors, and random metal around your property, WE WILL PAY YOU CASH for these items. Pull all of your old cars and trucks from behind those barns and WE WILL GIVE YOU CASH."

    I almost cried when listening to this. My fiance didn't understand lol

    I dont care how much scrap price goes up, they should pay $180 for the ton, then set the cars/trucks out front to resell before they are crushed.
    just my $.02
     
  3. Aman
    Joined: Dec 28, 2005
    Posts: 2,522

    Aman
    Member
    from Texas

    I was just listening to the TV and the undercover cops busted three guys last night stealing copper from the largest scrap yard in town. I guess the problem is worse than I thought if undercovers are staking out the scrap yards for thieves.

    Question: What is the deal with cat convertors. I had the 63 Dodge in the paper and this gal calls from a "finder" service and asked me if it had a converter on it. What? A 63 Dodge? She made sure to tell me that if I had any convertors to call her and they would run over and pick them up. The above post just reminded me about that but what's the deal?
     
  4. fiat128
    Joined: Jun 26, 2006
    Posts: 1,426

    fiat128
    Member
    from El Paso TX

    Platinum. That ceramic honeycomb inside is coated with it. A big converter is worth several hundred dollars. I've read where theives are going to the mall, scurring under big SUVs and stealing them in bulk. A good mall heist is worth $30,000-$40,000
     
  5. J_J_
    Joined: Feb 8, 2007
    Posts: 129

    J_J_
    Member

    growing up at my fathers shop I saw and dealt with all types of car theft issues but this is the first time in 40 years that I can of where people are stealig cars and parts for the scrap value!! A friend that I was helping with his fast back stang that is in bad!! shape was stolen out of his drive saturday, picking up kids at school today he got a call from PD they caught 2 illeagles at the scrap yard trying to dump the body with a phoney bill of sale !! WTF....

    Wife works for the courts and Riverside county is releasing several hundred small time prisioners for time served and laying off several Sheriffs due to state budget cuts!!!
    It's only gonna get worse! and now I'm kinda wishing I owned a gun!!
     
  6. RotHod
    Joined: Apr 30, 2004
    Posts: 277

    RotHod
    Member
    from So Cal

    Saw a 60s sand buggy at a scrap yard, had a model A taillight with license plate bracket, I wanted to take it off but the guy didnt seem to willing to give any of it up. Kind of felt sick leaving knowing it was going to scrap.
     
  7. 37FABRICATION
    Joined: Apr 4, 2007
    Posts: 672

    37FABRICATION
    Member

    I've had complete rearends and front clips disappear from outside the shop overnight. Got a big scrap metal bin and catch mofo's climbin in it all the time tryin to take sh!t.
     
  8. Squablow
    Joined: Apr 26, 2005
    Posts: 17,754

    Squablow
    Member

    I got $220 a ton for steel today, down from $285/ton last week. There was a complete Javelin, a '66 Impala and a VW bus on the pile that I spotted today.

    I buy, part out, and scrap a lot of cars every year. Guys like me, Cliffy, RustyNewYorker, and a lot of others are saving tons of this shit but someone has to be interested in buying it for it to be worth keeping. Parking space for junk cars is hard to come by and costs money, saving stuff isn't free.

    And I don't know about you, but I am DROWNING in car projects! There is no shortage of old cars to be bought, either to be fixed or parted out. I have about 20 cars right now and they don't stop coming. Focus on saving the good stuff and don't bitch when you have to spend more than $5 for a piece of trim.
     
  9. Glen
    Joined: Mar 21, 2001
    Posts: 1,789

    Glen
    Member


    I had one at my shop two months ago. The lady came out from work and someone had cut the cat out of her 08 SUV.
     
  10. brandon
    Joined: Jul 19, 2002
    Posts: 6,369

    brandon
    Member

    i watched a guy i know , pass me with 3 58-59 ford trucks ...one was even a panel....they were one of those "gonna build it someday " projects....passed a 50/60 bread truck (sorta divco-ish) on a trailer yesterday afternoon...crazy stuff, those junk guys must be diggin' deep ... brandon:D
     
  11. Rusty Kustoms
    Joined: Feb 5, 2006
    Posts: 238

    Rusty Kustoms
    Member

    in Willmar MN last friday the line in front of the scrap yard was 2.5 miles long front page news in the weekend paper, can't remember for sure but I think its up over $300/ton. Most Minnesotans know of dirty dave, has an old junkyard that the city shut down years ago, just sells parts now, for the las couple months he has been hauling a couple semi truck loads out a week, too bad to lots of good cars getting crushed
     
  12. willie57
    Joined: Feb 21, 2007
    Posts: 378

    willie57
    Member
    from wisconsin

    My wife and I go out west junking and the number of yards is getting less and less. The main reason that I see not only that scrap prices are high but the people that own these yards are getting older and retiring.
     
  13. henryj429
    Joined: Jan 18, 2007
    Posts: 1,084

    henryj429
    Member

    Up here in Mn (Northern Dave's back yard P.S. Hi neighbor) the scrap goes up to Canada and is turned into I beams at Manitoba rolling mills in Selkirk. I don't feel bad creating jobs in Canada (since I'm from there originally) And they do brew good beer there.

    I talked to our local crusher guy on Sunday. Earlier this mnth he was paying out $27,000 per day for scrap. One guys brought in 2 40's pickups and got $840 for them. He had bought them the previous day for $150.

    Also - get this - 50 bucks a piece for radiators. Shit, that's nuts!!
     
  14. Bugpac
    Joined: Nov 25, 2007
    Posts: 61

    Bugpac
    Member

    Here in Michigan we are getting 240 a ton for cars, 3.00 lb for burnt wiring, 2.00 per lb for radiators, short steel under 5 feet long is 325 per ton, most of the high scrap costs is because were selling it all to china, they are building military goods....shoot a old battery can yield 15 bux....I recently turned a 500.00 motor home into 1800.00 at the scrap yard....
     
  15. Yes scrap is high, but how many old cars really go to the scrapper?

    Yes a few here and there, but it is mostly newer stuff, and metal junk.

    There is a point as well, where an old car is not worth hanging on to, whether it is so stripped, it offers nothing but patch panels, or just not a desireable model.

    It does cost money to sit on them, and alot of cheapskates are out there too that won't but anything until you are crushing.

    I do what I can, but I cannot save them all. And even if I could save them all, when I die, they will get crushed..
     
  16. bumpybigblok
    Joined: Feb 26, 2008
    Posts: 247

    bumpybigblok
    Member
    from Midwest

    I went to buy 50 ft. of #3 ooo copper wire to upgrade to 200 amp service on my house the other day and they didn't have any at $5.00 a ft. Thieves made off with all the copper they had.
     
  17. Robert gilbert
    Joined: Dec 28, 2007
    Posts: 927

    Robert gilbert
    Member
    from boston

    100_0890-1.jpg saved this right out of the srap yard almost ready . Its my new daly driver , ready for next week. It had new breaks , spring kits front and rear ,nice tiers needed a motor trany wiring harness and some black primer. I have meny freinds who work at junk yards and scrap yards they say not meny old cars get scrapped even junk yards save the old ones , And when they do they are complete junk . But thats in ma old iron isnt around.
     
  18. stude_trucks
    Joined: Sep 13, 2007
    Posts: 4,754

    stude_trucks
    Member

    Let's see: scrap at $200/ton. Whole cars 2 tons or less = $400 max for big whole cars. If the $400 or less is your best option for a car, it probably isn't actually worth much to anybody including hot rodders or they would be buying them. Yes, some people may unknowingly crush something pretty valuable for $200 that they might have been able to get way more than that for if they weren't some dumb. But, I suspect that will be the exception for the most part. So as long as the scrappers are willing to pay top dollar, cars will keep getting crushed. You can't expect all cars to just sit around in fields forever and not at least just rust away which many already have or until someone finds enough interest to pay more than a couple hundred bucks for it.
     
  19. Mr48chev
    Joined: Dec 28, 2007
    Posts: 34,787

    Mr48chev
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Yep and it happened in the early 70's too. Scrap prices pretty much run a cycle but this may be the pot of gold that some of these guys have been holding out for for the past couple of decades.
    There seem to be enough disposable cars in this area to keep the scrap trucks loaded for the time being.
     
  20. Insane 1
    Joined: Feb 13, 2005
    Posts: 974

    Insane 1
    Member
    from Ennis TX

    A guy passed me today w/a Stude truck on a trailer that looks like it was just pulled out of a field 10 mins prior. All I could think is I hope it was getting scrapped.
     
  21. PoPo
    Joined: Jan 3, 2008
    Posts: 1,102

    PoPo
    Member

    At briefing the last week the command is telling us to watch all these scrappers, they keep stealing stuff out of peoples yards and from business construction sites.

    I get nervous because I live in town and have an old AD cab sitting outside my garage with a bunch of springs and stuff. I guess I better start securing it inside the garage, I dont think they will be able to take the cab, too much stuff stored inside for now, but you never know.

    I was going to get a van from a friend for $200, but decided not to, shoot maybe I will just for the scrap. it has to be worth $300 + in scrap. might be worth my while.
     
  22. northerndave
    Joined: Mar 18, 2008
    Posts: 354

    northerndave
    Member
    from Badger MN


    Hey man, wassup? As always, henryj with the truth. See, I shoulda just saved the topic for our car cohort meeting this week & I woulda got the scoop plus I wouldn't have had to stirr up what I am now understanding is a repeated to death post topic.

    Oh well, 50 bucks for radiators huh? WTF? I'm hearin like $15 each for old bateries too?
     
  23. Al Von
    Joined: Nov 19, 2005
    Posts: 257

    Al Von
    Member

    I was at Wooster Iron & Metal yesterday, got $190/ton for some assorted scrap; appliances, mowers, etc. My scrap business is down to almost nothing due to competition. Any goofball with a $100 pickup can and does steal my business. I have been scrapping for 8 years and it has never been this slow! In an average year I would have scrapped ~ 10 cars by now, but only have hauled 2 so far this year!

    Almost every shop I used to pick up from has decided "We'll handle it ourselves..." from now on.

    There are ads in the paper offering outrageous amounts of money for junk cars.
     
  24. We're slowly selling off our nation, it's jobs and it's culture one piece at a time to the highest or in some cases lowest bidders... it's pretty sad really.:([​IMG]
     
  25. ryangobie
    Joined: Jan 1, 2006
    Posts: 460

    ryangobie
    Member
    from Jersey

    if you know theres stuff by you and you have the money and space, start putting out the word. do some work. obviously old timers and farmers probably aren't looking at craigslist but put up ads in the supermarkets and where ever else you can offering to pay scrap prices to save the stuff.
     
  26. Terraizer
    Joined: Jul 18, 2006
    Posts: 521

    Terraizer
    Member

    I just hauled in a load of apliances in today and saw 2 AD series trucks, a 1948-1950 Ford F-1, a 1958-1959 Chevy short bed fleet side 4x4 and a mid to late 1930's ford chassis complete (even had hub caps), other then that mostly newer stuff and i'am surprised at all the late models being scraped. The yard i go to won't sell anything to you that they buy, with the way they pick them up off the trailer any how they are toast. A few years ago they had 4-5 1940's GM COE's in there that i would love to have, gone now. I scrap 4-5 cars a year and when i haul them in they are nothing but shells and every usable part is cut out of them. This year i'am doing pretty good hauled some copper, some radiators, a minivan, and some apliances, and have done nearly $2k, not bad for a few hours work.
     
  27. oldschoolphart
    Joined: Oct 14, 2007
    Posts: 23

    oldschoolphart
    Member
    from New Jersey

    We can be proactive. If you guys know any of the scrap dealers, let them know that the old transmissions, rear ends, body parts, etc. could be worth more. Give them some club contact names, etc. and make it worth their while.
     
  28. oldschoolphart
    Joined: Oct 14, 2007
    Posts: 23

    oldschoolphart
    Member
    from New Jersey

    We recently picked up an old Fenton mainford with 2 strombergs on it and a set of Corvette valve covers for less than $300.00. A steal for us and a bonus for the scrap dealer.
     
  29. GOONZ
    Joined: Apr 19, 2006
    Posts: 155

    GOONZ
    Member

    Wow Dave, I didn't even know I did that, guess I was not paying attention when I was typing because I'm not that meticulous...just ask my boss
     
  30. $450 a ton today for frames, motors, etc. Supposed to go up again Monday.

    The van for $300 is worth close to $600 smushed.
     

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