I was reading the parts wanted a few days ago and came across several people looking for specific parts. One was in Australia and looking for a steering wheel for a 55 Pontiac. A few days earlier I was in Tallahassee at a junk yard and someone had brought in a 55 complete Pontiac 4 door with seats, stainless and many good parts. I have seen many cars in this junkyard (open to the public) that had tons of good classic parts. So now the question. Is it possible to have a section dedicated to those on a budget or those willing to help out others? Maybe just a "Junkyard Parts" section or a "Helping Find Parts" section. I am not rich, not looking to make money off of backyard restorers, build cars on a budget and always willing to help out others that need help. I did a search for junkyards and got a few great posts but they were few and far between. I would envision my post would look like this. Heading Tallahassee, Florida. Post would be PicNPull has the following cars just in - 55 4 door Pontiac, 56 Chevy truck, 4 -2nd generation Mustangs (one convertible), one 72 Monte Carlo with disc brakes, etc. Today I am going to take pictures of the steering wheel and send to Australia. I am also willing to pull parts and ship to builders that cannot make it to Florida. I am sure with all the junk yard trips that builders make this would be very helpful in finding those rare or hard to get parts (like an accelerator cable and bracket for a 65 GTO convertible that I just had to pay $130 for and I am sure there are cars out there with the original that would cost a lot less and not a repop). Maybe there is a section already designated for this but I did not see it. I would travel a long ways if I knew a junk yard had a part but unfortunately, I do not know where all these junk yards are located.
As I went out to the barn I forgot part of my junk yard post. This type of section would also potentially help out with the answers to questions that a person might not know to ask. An example, I found an article on putting a tilt column in my 57 CHevy. It was for columns out of 72-78 Chevy vans. According to some comments these vans are not very hard to find. At this Tallahassee junkyard I found a tilt column for $45 (wuth $5 core charge). There are 3 more vans in the yard with tilt columns. I did the modification the day I brought the column home and installed it. It looks original and was a lot cheaper that some of the custom columns that are commercially available. I would not have known this something I could have done had I not found an obscure post somewhere. I looked on ebay and they started at $150. So, I saved money, gained knowledge and was helped out by another person. Just like a way to pass this deal on to others.
Sounds like a good idea, but I have a feeling the answer is going to be, start a "social group" for it. Otherwise, maybe you found yourself a gig, check out the wanted section and if you come across some stuff that guys are looking for, be a middle man for them. I know I've been looking for some parts for my Internaitonal and have gotten some pretty decent leads, others with follow ups coming.
The Jalopy Journal
