a couple of friends and i were talking about the days when we used to drive down to seattle just to go down aurora ave to all the car places.anybody remember those times?there was lincolns wrecking yard(full of wrecked vettes)a all cadillac guy,corvettes unlimited,a hotrod/muscle car yard(bills i think)and many more....,good times
Good old Al's Auto wrecking up in Arlington was a killer wrecking yard!!!! Bought 2 68 Firebirds from there but also remember all the older iron there.
Bill's Wheel House, always had some of the nicest musclecars. How about Ray's Auto Wrecking in Everett near Silver Lake, now that place was a trip, and Ray was uhhh a colorful character. John
Rays was a trip!! That guy was so wacked out. I would have loved to have that old sign outside his office. BUY AMERICAN!! REMEMBER THE ****!! plus all the old stuff on it. It was so politically incorrect that it was cool. I remember a black guy walked in and man , I cant repeat what that old Ray said to this guy!!!! I tried haggling with him and he raised the price so I told him I dont need this old piece of **** that bad. Then he raised it even more. Prices off the top of his head went like this. "How much is this"? Ray says" $39.57 I say "How about $30.00?" He'd say $49.42." I never got it where he would dream up his prices but it was always the same weird off the wall prices.
I used to go to Al's all of the time for parts. My understanding is that Al brought home the first car and started the yard in 1938, at his dad's 41 acre farm. If you were ever there, down in the lower lot and in the woods there were a lot of interesting old cars. My dad used to turn me loose, with a few tools, back in the 1950's and I take license plates off. I still have a lot of those plates.
I remember them yards, Al's had the best selection, but all was crushed a few years ago. First time at Ray's, I said "Hello" ray replied "get a haircut and get a job"!! Yes! the prices were crazy! If he didn't like yer looks, he would throw you out, pronto!!
70's! Hell, we used to drive from Bellingham to Seattle in the 50's to get louvers pressed in hoods on Nicherson St. which ran under the Aurora Bridge and then go to ****'s on Aurora. The drive from Bellingham was 89 miles and it took two and a half hours on Hwy 99, one way, and we always looked forward to crossing Ebby Slough just south of Marysville and coming up on the "Shell" station on the north side of Everett where a white, with purple insert in the chrome line, '41 Stude coupe sat. Mike
Seattle was a cool city back then, lots of personality. We used to cruise 1st Avenue and "Accidental" (Occidental) Square, Pioneer Square area and go to a little chinese place for anyhow beef breakfasts. Rumor was it was cat meat but it was good. The Skid Road area was fun but a little dangerous. Then cruising up Pike Street for a beer or two at the Cabellero then down Pine to Pike Place Market. Now Seattle is like LA, nothing much to speak of, no real character left and I only visit the place now and then very briefly.
Ray's Auto Wrecking, RAY BROWN! There are housing developements there now. You kind of had to know the guy and play his game. "Buy your girlfriend an ice cream cone"; he used to say that when he would'nt take your money for a small item. He'd give me an odd price, I'd give him the money, tell him to keep the change and say, "buy your girlfriend an ice cream cone", made him smile. He had a years old fued with Robert's Auto Wrecking in Edmonds, made the mistake one time of mentioning Robert's and got an earfull. He had STACKS of 30's to 50's car frames, cast iron hydramatics galore, and NOTHING that was'nt American made! I was telling a coworker about Ray, and he did'nt believe me; so I had him call and pretend to be looking for a Honda part. I could hear what Ray was saying 10 feet away, coworker just stood there with his jaw hanging. I'd be in there, Ray would answer the phone and tell the caller, "yeah, I got it somewhere out there, bring a lunch and spend the day". I imagine he got several million for the yard by selling it to the developers. "****, they finally got me", was the sign he put up after he got rear ended by someone in a Japanese made car, and left him with back problems. That sign, and the Japanese Rising Sun flag sure caught your eye. Butch/56sedandelivery.
Couple things I remember about Ray.*A music video company called Him about makin a video there He says Yea OK. So one day up pulls some trucks with LOADS* of equipment , lights cameras backshields props a bunch of ****. The guys start bringing the stuff in* when a limmo pulls up.* Out comes some black guys gonna shoot a RAP vidio. Ray goes out there IMMEDIATLY *stops the guys says YOU AINT SHOOTIN NO COMMIE **** VIDIO -- YOU DONT EVEN KNOW WHO YOUR FATHER IS !!!!!! That was the end of the vidio.* If You called Ray about a price He would give Ya one like above always with cents tacked on.When You came to get it He would ask how much He quoted Ya. You better tell Him exactly what He said or the price would go up. He got audited by the IRS one year thats when he started adding the cents to every sale so if it happened again* those *******s woul be adding all day! I spent Many hours with Bruce (white brother) Brown and Ray sittin in the office chewin the rag. Heres a few pics of the place one day when Me and Bruce (Brownie) spent a Saturday.* Brownie had been going there since the mid 50s and knew where about everything in there was. Check out the 48 Buick Roadmaster convert with the trees growing out of it. There were grills 25 feet in the air hung by branches that were put there in the 50s. Some of the stories Hed tell of people stealin **** from Him was stomach cramp funny anyway heres some pics. ENJOY*FEDER
Some of the Buick and Brownie. Sorry I dont have a pic of Ray He wouldnt let Me take His pic with a Jap camera. FED
Damn! And I thought Florida was overgrown. How did you guys ever find anything or remove it for that matter?
Lincon's Auto Wrecking was sureal - all those old vettes. I remember standing there, starring at a '54, wondering how the hell I (then a sixteen year old kid) could convince my dad that it would be a good idea to drag that thing home. I remember walking around there, feeling like I was in a church - there were ROWS of 50s-60s vettes back then, and the shop was full of vette engines! Damn. Cruising Aurora was always a kick in the ***. I remember one guy with a shortened '56 chevy wagon (four door with the back two doors taken out) that used to get the front wheels off the ground on green lights. And ****s Drive Inn. Kid Valley in Green Lake, too. Anyone ever hit the Renton Loop? I remember street racing there a few times with a buddy of mine whose dad raced top fuel at S.I.R. (Seattle International Raceway), so he had some tuning help from the pit crew with his 327 Chevelle. It was pretty damn quick. He also had a '56 chevy pickup that was a real sleeper. I remember outrunning the cops a few times with that one, but we don't endorse that kind of behavior these days . . . Good times.
Bought a lot of stuff from Ray...he was irascible and so am I. We got along fine. Bill's Wheel House was a nice place - Bill liked good prices, but his cars were good. I bought a 67 EC from him -dead stock - nothing ever been in the bed, 275hp with factory 4speed - no console. It had a leak around the rear window (there's a big surprise) and he paid to have a guy come out...run a sonic test on it to find out just where the leak(s) were. It was fixed and off I went, one of the few positive deals I've had with a used car lot. Kent Chaplin's used car lot there on 99 and 168th or so? He took over for his dad (who had some kind of a recycling center up by the SnoKing Drive-in theater). Then that chubby guy that worked for him bought Kent out and moved everything across the street to the kitty-corner. Has lots of hipo cars and things...just can't remember his name - another guy really proud of his stuff - some is OK, some not so OK. Anybody remember Jerry Drager? He owned the HD dealership there for years. Then he opened up (may still be there for all I know) a used car place really near Woodland Park on 99. What he sold was **** - covered up with new (badly sprayed) paint, and he priced it like it was gold. How about Wholesale Distributors (???) down at the end of Rainier almost to Renton? And just beyond that was Honest Charley's (for awhile). In that same area was a used car lot owned by a guy name Tom Crook. He is now a world cl*** Packard dude - buying selling restoring - very nice guy. Lincoln's auto wrecking...the stories that can be told about that outfit and the family that ran it. Many years ago, somebody stole the gauge pod from under the dash of my 67 GT500 (SW oil and amp). I called around (this was pre-internet or at least pre EvilBay). No luck...I went into Lincolns (this was before they began to specialize) and the guy behind the counter was someone I hadn't seen in ten years. Not only that, but when we got through hugging and lying to each other, I told what I needed...he thought for a minute, then reached up on the shelf behind him, pulled down a cardboard box - opened it up, and there was a perfect set of the gauges with the wiring harness for the amp gauge and the copper line for the o/p gauge. One of the yard guys spotted it in a wrecked Shelby and knew it wouldn't last long in Seattle weather, so he completely removed it and put everything in that box. I walked in about a week later. Fifty bucks....you can't even buy the empty pod for that much nowadays. Cruisin' Colby in Everett - what a hoot. Drag racin' at Golden Gardens Park, some serious racing went on there. Well, I see I've worn out my welcome. Just some of the stuff I remember from being a car dude in Puget Sound in the late 60s and mid 70s. "It might look like I'm doing nothing, but at the cellular level, I'm really quite busy" dj
Ray Brown just the name makes me smile, Spent a lot of time there in the 60s looking for parts and trying to steal them in your tool box. Ray always knew what you were doing, what memorys great place to spend a saturday.
OK, help a bad memory out. Where was the wrecking yard with the big red bomb hanging off the roof? I remember Sternoff Metals on Marginal had the cannons sitting out front. That was a few blocks from Hat and Boots. And there were a couple yards down toward the south end of Boeing field. And Crazy Eddie's wrecking yard out on Pac Hwy So about So 259th. They sat on the front porch and played Dueling Banjos there.
That Buick rag top with the tree growing out of the engine bay made National Geographic magazine when they did a article on wrecking yards a few years ago with a qoute from Ray "I drove it in here". Pretty much all the 55 to 57 Chevy stuff from Lincolns one guy bought it all. How many guys remember the urban legend 56-57 Vette that sat in a driveway in Marysville that the lady who owned it said she would "never sell" yep she sold it to Lincolns instead of one of the guys who had been pestering her to buy it Louis Lamb is a partner in Kompact Kar Korner. Kent Chaplin owns a Subaru dealership in Bellvue. And I will throw this one out there- Colby Rose - John
We used to drive down to Seattle from Marysville...That was quite a journey for us "hicks". Bills Wheel house with all its muscle cars we could never afford. Lincolns was crazy with those acres of corvettes and inside it had all the super rare corvette accessories at prices that were crazy then, but dirt cheap by todays standards. Lincolns also had tons of 5 6 and 7 Chevys. They also had an overflow yard sort of hidden in Edmonds (at least I think that was part of their yard, getting old lol) There was also a go cart track down there by Lincolns we would hit once in awhile. Draggers is no longer there, but he is still in business. I see his stuff on Craigslist sometimes.
There were a couple of wrecking years up near where the 1st Ave Bridge would cross Hiway 99, but I don' t remember the names; or didn't go there. The wrecking yards near Boeing Field were Sandy McThrifty's (it might have had another name or two earlier) and NW Auto Wrecking, which is still there and has been there ever since I can remember. Back in the 1950's and just south of NW Auto Wrecking, there was a lot of small garages built on a couple of acres. I think this is where Sandy McThrifty's was located later. My dad used to have one of those garages, for a number of years.
It was Speed Equipment Wholesalers, I think that their names were Bud Kiland (sp) and Ron Faye. In the mid 60's, near the end of South Beacon Ave, Steve Woomer sold speed equipment out of his ba*****t; in the evenings. Steve went on to own Compe***ion Specialties.
Unfortunately for Ray he saw very little of the money from the sale of his yard. He was hit by a car in the late 80's or early 90's and the controlling share of the yard was signed over to one of his daughters. The family sold the yard out from under him. The office was the last structure standing which he went to every morning even after the yard was cleared. The funny thing about Ray's was the two houses that were adjacent to the yard. Both were occupied by his ex wives. When I was in high school I used to tell my friends with foreign cars to call Ray, he's got what you need. That always went over well. I believe he said that the odd change on the price of the parts was the cost of the invoice tickets he had to use after he was audited. Anybody remember his boat? The SS "Not Made By ****" It used to get vandalized regularly. Dave
Near the end of the yards operation , his son was running it and was hauling any make of car in and crushing them to haul for s****. I was in the office and an Aisan family happened to be there trying to by a wheel. They kept asking Ray how much for it. He kept telling them " I don't sell Jap parts" over and over as they repeatingly asked. After about 5-10 minutes of this, he just gave them the wheel. Also while I was there , when the phone rang ang he answered it he started rambling a bunch of negative comments on Japanese autos right wnen he picked up the phone, and after he finished he would say " continue if you wish". Needless to say , I walked out of there shaking my head in disbelief of what I saw. Pretty interesting character.
Another fun part of Rays was the precariously stacked cars four and five high, a little scary at times, but could be handy for yankin something out from underneath, nothing like having 4000#s of iron wobblin over your head. Definitely enter at your own risk. No semblance of make model or year, just **** ****tered everywhere! John
that 49 buick convertible with the tree helped with trim for my 49 cad convert in the early 70s. the tree was smaller then, but it was there. i took the windshield frame, top stainless door and quarter trim, the sweepspear door moldings and any other stuff that was the same as a 49 cad. probably didn't pay more than $2.46 for any one item. once he liked you, after putting up with the first 10 minutes of rant/bs/smalltalk, you had the run of the place. never failed to mention the ****. always had that potbelly stove going. i have several black and white negatives of al's in arlington from that time also. gotta get them developed. tons of old cars. al's wife was a tough old bird, and you had to get on her good side before you could get down in the yard. she would check your tool box on the way out.
Yeah.....I used to drive down there to see all the cars.....that Corvette junk yard was wild.....piles of wrecked Vettes..... My favorite place was right at the border town of Blaine Wash.....there was a guy named Rusty who had a hot rod and cutom shop called "Rusty's".....he always had some crazy old custom show cars in his shop, and had hot rods for sale on the roof of his shop which sat on the main drag of Blaine.....I lost touch with Rusty when he moved from Blaine, but I'd be curious to know where he went, and what happened with him....He was a cool guy and always took the time to talk to us hot rod punks.......
how about siegle's auto wrecking on N97 and meridian? i hear george is still kicking. i swear the office floor was about a foot thick with compacted dirt and grease. it had various levels as you walked through. looked like cobblestones. anything you needed, george would walk over to one of his bins and pull it out. i used to strip the goodies from all the 55/56 chevys for my projects. there was a 40s cad in there, with a flathead with aluminum heads and dual carbs, pretty good shape, but being parted out nonetheless. wasn't into that sort of thing at the time. gone now because of the college construction. remember when N85th was a gravel road up near meridian, before it was connected to the freeway?
we used to go to blaine to shoot pool and drink beer,when we got drunk we went to the sevue theatre and watched special movies.
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