Damn, freaked me out for a minute there. Thought this was my cousins farm east of Lethbridge. Those old farmers don't toss-----or trade......just let 'em rust in peace..... Robb
I spent four years cruising the farmyards, junkyards and small towns of rural Alberta. I have several CDs FULL of photos of my finds. I suppose I'll have to post them on flickr.com. When I first moved out there, I brought my project car with me. Smart people don't bring project cars TO Alberta!!!
I'm in Edmonton Alberta, and every farm around here has a graveyard full of old cars and trucks. Whatever you want. The farmers will even give you the stuff if you haul it away. Here is a taste of last summers finds.
Calgary is liveable in the winter with many days above the freezing mark and the jobs are here. Unfortuneatly, the price of oil is low so some manufacturing shops are laying off. Still, Unemployment is around 5% so there are still jobs to be had. This time last year we were crying for tradesmen, unemployment was at 3 1/2%. Yes, southern Alberta can be dry as a bone in the midst of winter. Temps in the south can swing from -30 to +65 overnight in the depth of winter. We are prone to wild temp swings when the chinook winds blow warmth our way. Today was about 55 and sunny, a very nice day for working outside. December saw a lot of snow but that has pretty well melted and this is typical of Calgary and southern Alberta. If you like cold and snow, move to Edmonton (the frozen ugly city)... Alberta needs skilled trademan. You must have a Alberta Recognized Ticket to earn the big money. Electrician $35 hour, Welders about $32, Pipefitters and Millwrights in the mid 30's, Oil hands, toolpush, Derek hands make a lot more and no ticket is required to work on an oil rig, just prior experience. No Alberta Recognized Ticket? Bring your tools and a good work ethic (quality work). Many shops will pay a decent rate to unticketed Skilled Tradesman. Calgary itself is Alberta's largest city at just over a million people. This is a Vibrant and Clean City that some liken to Dallas. High tech and Oil/gas manufacturing are the main industries but along with these trades come all the smaller corporations that support the people that live in the Sunny South. Roads and highways can't be built fast enough (loader, grader, cat and trackhoe operators, paving crews etc make good money). Calgary is not immune to the recession that is gripping the world's economy but it is a very advantageous place to be -even with the rest of North America in the dumper. Oil and Gas will always be in demand and Calgary's economy will do ok even in tough times. We would welcome our American Neighbors in need of jobs. Alberta has been recruiting temporary workers (unskilled) from places like South Africa and the Phillipines. Personnely, I would rather see English Speaking quality tradesman form the US or Britain rather than having to train people that have never picked up a grinder or used a faceshield (safety equipment). They pay these unskilled workers way more than they should just because there is a shortage of manpower to keep the oil industry happy. oh, and your other half will have no problem finding work as well. Please excuse this offtopic post, hope you guys down south are holding your own in these rough times.. .
Here is some recent pics from Stans Yard, I ran out of memory and only snapped about 1/3 of the cars. There was well over 600 when I took these shots..... http://moes-garage.spaces.live.com/ <--Stan Reynolds Slideshow.. .
Cool Pictures.. Next thing you will here is the Ole Toon... Alberta Bound... .. theres alot of old tin up here.. Some you can get at.. SOME NOT..
. More Alberta Tin, (there should have been many more but you know how digital cameras eat batteries) .... . .
It's sitting down many miles of dirt road and the guy who owns it thinks it's a running business coupe...($$$$$$$) Rather than just a front clip The old guy recently heard about s**** steel hitting $300US/ton so now he thinks that even the rustiest of **** is worth 2 tons US$ and then some. I don't know the old guys name, he's just a guy I met while visiting a friend on the Alta/Sask border.
I have this friend in real estate, and he tells me that there is a place east of Edmonton where farmers haul old cars to to clean up their property before they sell it. He says there is tons of old **** there just up for grabs. I'm gonna go this weekend and check it out.
Man. I have got to get out more! Seems to be a lot around the Edmonton area? Does Stan ever sell his stuff? Peter
There is still a fair amount of stuff in the Reynolds yard but most of the real good stuff is gone. It's well worth a trip just to poke around in the hangers and outbuildings.
The sea-cans and semi trialers @ the Reynolds are full of cool stuff, as is the old museum (hanger) but almost all of the pre-40 stuff is gone. When I was there last summer it was mostly 40's era 4-door sedans, and 50's era 4 doors as well. It was a cool afternoon, just poking around.
..that first pic is a 32 DeSoto sedan if I'm not mistakin,...they had that split windsheild and dual cowl vents. ...very cool stuff, thanks for postin the old tin.
The Jalopy Journal
