When I purchased my '48, the guy I bought it from argued that it was not a car, but it WAS actually scrap! He ended up giving it to me just to see if I was actually dumb enough to take it home. 'Course, meanwhile, back at home my then wife had just laid down the law about how I needed to "grow up" and stop driving my high winding hot rod VWs that lift the front wheels and get a real car befitting a young man of my station so that we could start thinking about having kids since we just got a house.... (intentional run on sentence...she always just yelled and used no punctuation!) She was gone in a week!!! Still trying to figure out who saved who on that deal, the car, or me! Either way, mission accomplished!
I bought a car once just to get it out of the hands of the PO who was in the process of screwing it up and had some horrible plans for it. It sat in my yard for a couple of years and when he'd said 'hey i thought you were going to fix it up' I told him how much better off it was now so leave it alone. I eventually put into the hands of someone who would do it justice. I cringe everytime he brings a new project home. Finally had to stay away from him to keep my sanity
Could be worse .... Met a guy a few years ago in Central Nebraska that has several farms and hundreds of car that he refuses to part with ... He started out pulling them from farmers' fields as a kid and his collection has grown and grown from there .... Jim
Four years ago, I let a 39 ford pickup lay because i felt i didn't have room for it and it still bothers me today. So take my advice and just go ahead and grab it when ya see it, or it will haunt you for eternity!
Some real good stories on here. Makes me feel better. Makes me wonder however. On the subject of four doors I still like those on the right car. Take the Hudson for example, absolute stunning four doors from the factory. If I ran into one on my travels I could see myself wanting to buy it. Just sayin.................. Keep the stories coming, this turned out to be a pretty cool thread. Butch
Yeah, I have. Years ago I was at a swapmeet, and threre was a guy with a early '50s MG body with a sledge hammer leaning upo against it. And a sign. $5 a hammer blow, or whatever the price was... Nobody had taken him up on it yet. Buying it from him was really difficult. He didnt want to sell it, he wanted to see it smashed... But we agreed on a price somehow, and I loaded it on my truck and brought it home. Turns out it was an old Drag Racer. And thanks to some really lucky coincidences, its now back with the son of the guy that used to race it. Annd a while ago a buddy of mine asks me if I want a Formula race car chassis. Turns out that one is an old RCA Formula V. I'm not going to build it. ( for a number of reasons, one of them is - I'm too tall to fit it ) But it needed to be saved...
"WOW! A thread I never expected to read on the HAMB. That is one glorifying hoarders. All these piles of cars and parts that sit around unavailable and self destruct in front of our eyes started with some of the very justifications given here. I'd rather see a car recycled than watch it slowly disappear in the dirt for years and then be so far gone that its scrapped. And while someone may want it its highly unlikely they ever will, or at least not till someone passes away and by then.............." .. Uj, hey Zap....I've been to your house and seen your personal stash..heh heh..pretty good collection!...I'm also hit with the 'disease". I bought my latest..a 49 PACKARD! Yeah, it'sa 4 door and no, I haven't been able to get it started yet due to low compression. Of course it came with no title which is a huge deal in my state. My brother was gonna send our dad's old 36 ford pickup cab to the crusher due to losing storage so I invested in about 300 bucks of gasoline and drove the 1700 miles to rescue it. It sits quietly in my garage just like the Packard sits quietly outside my buddy's shop....or like my 57 Lloyd sits beside my house behind the privacy fence...or like my 34 ford coupe sits in my buddy's body shop but at least it's being worked on.. a nasty disease to have indeed.
Thats what a car guy is. We live for cars. I scrap newer cars and ill tell you theres just somthing about leaving a buick at a junk yard that bothers me. It seems like buick and oldsmobiles have the most personality.
Very understandable. I have taken over guardianship of things a lot bigger than a car. Last one was a 4000 square foot log building that had been built as a dance hall in 1936. Was a dead building that hadn't been occupied in 10 years. Turned it back into a dance hall where my 20 piece big band used to play. Needless to say I drive my wife crazy at times. She made me promise that if we ever won the Lotto that I wouldn't become a hoarder.lol Karl.
Yes!, I'm now the owner of a 1967 VW four seat dune buggy. looks just like speed buggy from the cartoon. What the hell I'll do with it ? I don't know but it was dumpster and recycle bound.
whats wrong with hoarding cars??? hell I have probably saved 100+ cars litterally from the crusher over the years , I drag them home and they simply sit sometimes for years... I dont ever advertise anything for sale but by word of mouth 80% of these cars or parts of them usually find a home sooner or later... sometimes I win sometimes I lose but a car is saved in the end.... That let it go to China mentality is just plain stupid as once it gone its gone forever..... and if I or anyone else chooses to let a car that is pretty much worthless sit and rot into the ground thats our problem but just remember if it wasnt for us Hoarders you folks would have no Projects to build now would you........
if its a really cool car then yeah id buy it 1) if i have the money 2) if i have the space 3) IF ITS A VERY COOL CAR then the previous two dont matter but i could watch something not soo cool go flat (i used to work in a junkyard) so ive seen a few heartbreakers in the jaws of the crusher a complete 59 buick 2 door hardtop was one of them but if the car wasnt soo cool but had parts on it i could use/need and it was cheap enough yeah id still buy it YEP , ive got mental issues too
Hahaha you are not alone....I couldnt count how many times I dragged something home cause I felt sorry for it!
II saved these 3 from the crusher,a friend up in brookhaven,ms was scrapping out his collection ,these were 3 of the best ones. The Bird is a parts car for my 62, I'm still deciding what to do with the caddy and econoline.I didn't really need 2 more projects but didn't want to see em scrapped.
Its a good thing people do this, collect cars, even if they never fix them, as long as they dont sit and rot. It gives that car a chance at a second life later on by someone who appreciates that make year or model car. maybe some of our finds would never come to realization if it werent for these types of people
The guy was pulling the radiator when I called. Got there and there was already a bucket underneath to catch the antifreeze. If I would have called an hour later, it would have been a cube.
I have all kinds of conversations with mine. I call it names, it coughs,sputters and refuses to run till I talk nice.
Yup! I've got a good stash, not anywhere as large as you saw years ago. What I find amazing how hard it can at times be to give away stuff. The difference for me is that I could easily walk away from half of what I have with little regrets. The guys in this thread that have brought home dozens of cars to SAVE from the crusher and then just watch them slowly be reclaimed by mother nature are not really SAVING anything. And since in many cases they will be violating numerous zone regulations they will influence the creation of even stricter laws whose impact will result in the destruction of even more cars. Not sure I'd drive 1700 miles to save any 36 ford pickup cab, but that one obviously has an emotional connection. Glad you did it. I had a co-worker that bought a sweet piece of riverfront property on the Willamette River and in a few months drug in over 70 cars. Violating several zoning rules. his solution was to buy a truck and haul many of them to another piece of property in Central Oregon where later on he was upset that many had been vandalized and parts taken. Most of the cars he had saved were eventually crushed and hauled away for scrap. Lets face it its an addiction, really a mental illness. When you can't part with any of it its a problem and as I've said it often ends up affecting lots of others in the hobby.
Again, some pretty good stories you guys have. I'm thinking of giving it to a friend who just sold the 34 Ford he built years ago. He's looking for another project and claims this will be his last. He finishes what he starts and is just a good solid person. He doesn't know it yet but I talked to his wife today and she thinks he would really like it. The guy has been a big factor in my life for well over 20 years it's the least I could do. If he doesn't want it I will sell it for what I paid. I don't want the car because I have my hands full thinking about a speedster build, but at the same time I couldn't stand by and watch it get crushed. Glad I saved it. Butch
I found this about 2miles from my house ,lady told me she was gonna take it to the dump. I got home realize it is too far gone. So now I watch slowly return to the earth. I know it is sick but so am I.
The Jalopy Journal
