met with Gus today and had a very fun day talking with him and seeing his collection, bought a 50 merc dash for a 150.00 and a rough 31 model a coupe trunk lid for 35.00. he had truck problems and we couldnt get it running(no spark) so me and the girlfiend gave Gus a ride back to town. he has an awesome bike collection and a few cool vintage race cars at another location. Gus was telling us that the pickers are trying to get a look at his bike collection but he wasnt ready to meet with them, he also was talking of either selling his salvage yard(he doesnt like it to be called a junk yard, i called it a junk yard and was quickly corrected.....LOL) or auctioning it all off. he said would never crush out, he loves those cars too much.
Gus Miller will be at his yard this saturday give him a call if interested in going #309-473-2979. Mitch Urban (Ace Auto Salvage)is a pretty cool guy too, and fair on prices.
In case you've never met mitch, he's a hoot! Ask him about being mr. **** america in 1970 something. You'll at least get a grin out of him !
yea mitch is a good guy there is a lot of stuff in those yards but like much of the midwest most of it is pretty rotten i never went through all the yards so im not sure how much A stuff he has
I'm from Paxton, Il and have lived here my whole life and don't know of any junkyards around with old tin, I would love to know where this location is though, even if it is just a large personal collection.
There were a couple good ones around there that are gone now. There was one between GC and Elliott that all that is left is a 36 ford Panel truck in really rough shape. Ludlow had a good one...smashed. There was also one outside of Thomasboro...smashed. They were good because they received all of the Air Force guy's projects when they got left on the base, or when they blew them up or wrecked them racing around central IL. Bellflower had a good one that had old speed equipment in it. My buddy Chad got a 6x2 nailhead intake out of there. It would get a lot of stuff that was tore up at the Farmer City racetrack. All smashed now. There was also a stash of stuff in Sabina that was all auctioned off. Everything in there was really rough though.
There was a guy in Quincy that had a whole list of cars he was wanting to sell on the internet a few years ago. All kinds of studes and the like as I recall. He probably got fed up and crushed out when s**** got high too. I never made it over there to see it but there were a lot of cars on his "list". Just south of Quincy there was a guy on the highway north of 80 with some 30's Pontiacs or Oaklands. They were right out along the road. I stopped but no one was around.
There was a guy in Quincy that had a whole list of cars he was wanting to sell on the internet a few years ago. All kinds of studes and the like as I recall. He probably got fed up and crushed out when s**** got high too. I never made it over there to see it but there were a lot of cars on his "list". Just south of Quincy there was a guy on the highway north of 80 with some 30's Pontiacs or Oaklands. They were right out along the road. I stopped but no one was around. I think he may have been closer to Hannibal - the guy with the Studes. My friend took me to his place once, but I could never find it now. I do know that the guy had a lot of stuff and was VERY old ten years ago... The guy was a hoot,he was s****ing all the undercoating off his car to restore it. The whole time we were talking to him he was wondering why he was doing this...the undercoating had lasted years already!
Central IL is not the place to find a stash of old cars! You need to go where the people are! A place of many with a large population. I have lived in Chicago for 27 years and have moved to central IL 3 years ago. I have scoured all over central IL and have found nothing but far and few salvageable old cars. If you want old cars you must go north my friend. I know of many private collections and old hidden out of date junk yards. The kind of junk yards that don't have anything newer then 1968. These places don't even advertise as junk yards any more because they haven't bought junk cars in over 35 years! Most of these owners are 80 + years old or have died and now there not so mentally stable kids own there junk collection. I know a few places that have even recently started crushing there stock. So if your wanting to know if there still old junk yards out there with cars, yes there. If you also are wondering about private collections of indoor stored and out door stored cars, well yes there are out there too. But I can tell you the days are numbered because like I said these owners are all up in the age and are starting to crush or have died and the family doesn't want to bother with it so they crush the cars and sell the land. Are you looking for whole cars, parts or just looking to roam there property? Some of these places are out past all the suburbs of Chicago and in the more wooded country areas and some are in the city but surrounded by the ghetto. My favorite spot was in the heart of all the ghetto s***! Poor guy is like cotton in a coal mine. The last white guy around that area and him and his son stay packing the heat at all times. Most of these places you have to have gotten in good with the owners or you better go with someone who is! If you are looking for Model A parts Chicago and the surrounding areas are where there at. Even a simple Craiglist search for Chicago will help. I have seen complete Model A cars and trucks go cheap (3 to 5 grand) because grandpa died and now the grand kids wanna sell there house and get the old car out of the garage. Most of the old timers like that even belong to Model A clubs and have some nice rides. To nice to even cut up! You wouldn't believe all the stuff that's out there you just gotta know where to look
Back in the late 50~early 60's while being raised in Central Illinois, there were thousands of abandoned cars on the backroads of the countryside. When my parents would visit their dispersed cousins, aunt and uncles, etc. I'd go exploring. Wow, everything was out there. Fast forward to 1974 - I drive the 62 (in my avatar) to the area on my first ever real vacation. And ALL the old tin was gone! Sold to s****pers for crushing. Saddest thing. I was really bummed out.
my family is from edgewood illinois, near effingham. lots of old cars still out in the fields around there, if you go some of the backroads between edgewood and farina they are there. also around mason and watson. pretty much all through that area you'll find all that. i miss it. i live in northern california right now and you don't see much of that, some but not like that. a friend of mine's family used to own a rock quarry, they had every car they had ever owned(between probably ten people) parked out there. old impala's, a 37(?) wrecker truck, school buses, etc...
Harmons north of peoria...sad day. I went there a few times then went back one day and there was the trailers and cranes smashing cars and hauling them off. Sad sad day. Most of the salvage yards that operate as true production salvage yards around here in east central Illinos don't deal with older cars that much. If you are looking for something special you could call them and leave them your info but keep in mind people who are connected to these yards get first dibbs. A lot of "salvage yards" that have the old stuff unless it was cared for is most likely sitting in 8 inches of dirt and trees growing through them. As the IEPA and various laws for "cleanup" get enforced such places that we consider "gold mines" will become more and more obsolete. There are yards in Illinois that have old stuff but the few I have seen are not on a major highway/state route/ they are off on a country road such as Stutesman and a couple south and east of Rte 1 in southern Illinois. One of the issues that arose in Illinois is people would call in complaints to the IEPA about "junk yards" the more complaints the more pressure to "clean up". So on heavily traveled roads and new populated areas a lot of these yards were forced to cleanup. That same problem started in towns when zoning laws got p***ed...that also hampered someone's ability to have old cars. So it's not that they don't exist for lack of wanting them but they have a lot of uphill battles just to keep open. People don't want the eyesore of yards but then again they want cheap parts. Also keep your eye out on farms. I know where there are several old cars sitting but owner not willing to sell. Has a few 50's, a pontiac chieftan etc. and one of those snub nose trucks that people convert into car haulers.
Realize this is an old thread but I just found it... There is a place in Braidwood, Il. Its calld Heilmans(I think thats spelled right). I grew up around there, never went in but there is still old stuff you can see through the fence. I heard over the years that they are tight with thier inventory, but like I said, Ive never been in. Here is a link http://www.junkcarremoval411.com/Braidwood-Junk-Cars-IL.htm
I am sorry I am not sure if you are replying to my question about where the old hidden salvage yard in the Pekin area is.
I was just wondering if someone knew where these were at? looking for some hard to find parts for a 1970 plymouth valiant 4 door and a 1961 ford ranchero
The one in Spring bay is probably the one on Northfork rd. In Pekin his place is on 29 , south of town just after you've gone under the railroad.
You're in Sweden and you know that? I've been in that yard with Charlie Jr. a few times, it got tough for me to get him to go with me out there to scour - it got too tough for him to make time, and I'm sure it was a bother for him to always take time out of his schedule for buddies. The yard is virtually non-existant, and just a stash for Charlie Sr.. I know he packed some steel buildings full of his better stuff in East Peoria too.
Both of Charlie's yards are closed. He has some stuff up at the house in Spring Bay. The yard in Pekin was just south of the Pekin prison on 29. That yard has been cleaned out. A real shame. He had over 1000 cars up in the yard in Spring Bay. State Gov't closed him down and made him crush everything. He was fined thousands of dollars, close to $100K and did jail time before he couldn't hold out any longer and crushed everything. I'm sure the fines that were incurred lined some politician's pocket.
I was asked to look at Charlie's pekin yard by the s****per that bought the rights to the steel last winter, he told me there were over 300 cars in there. There were a few 60's cars there, and a few 50's cars in there, but mostly 80's on up. The weather was too cold and the wheels were already moving too fast for me to save anything out of there. Most of anything worth saving was too far gone unless you were to see something that you absolutely fell in love with, I just didn't.
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