I haven't been to a self service wrecking yard in about 10 years or so, since around here anything in the late 60's is a picked clean carc*** (early 60's and older are non existent). So I went today as I was told a car I needed parts off of was there (ot 70's still rare to find now) and the one I went to was about 70 miles from home (I was in the area picking up other parts too). What I saw there was just weird, to even see the cars on the street let alone in the wrecking yard together........No real pics because they don't allow it. 1. Opel Gt 2. Borgward Isabella 3. Volvo pv544 4. MG 3 of them 5. VW notchback Nothing interesting in the domestic hoards, oldest was a mid 60's Mercury Park Lane 4dr. Might not be much to some, but again around here it weird..........at least to someone who doesn't get out much .
you're right you don't even see those restored (at least not over here). i know the local wrecker here wont buy anything he cant completely part out within a month. so mainly post 85 stuff
I am a habitual junk yard scrounger. I notice that sometimes really odd ball old stuff shows up at the junkyards in SoCal, stuf you never see on the road, and typically if there is one version of a particular model, there is at least one companion. I have two theories on why this is. In the last few years, code enforcement officials have been very active in getting people to clean up their properties to remove non-operational, unlicensed/registered vehicles and other municipal code violations. So I think a lot of cars come from places where people have been storing them for years, but the local government forces them to get rid of the stuff. My other theory is that maybe some old timer had the stuff in storage as a 'someday' project, but never got around to it. He/she p***ed on, the kids don't know/care what to do with the stuff, so it goes to the junkyard with a free tow. I have seen some really cool, really complete old cars that hit the yards. The kind of stuff that make you think 'why the hell is that here?'. But within days the car is usually so vandalized by the wrecking yard patrons that there is no way it can be saved. Shame.
not that you could save them anyway. they will not sell the whole car. i used to have an opel gt. not really oddball, just a poormans corvette. but i did find a singer one time, started getting some cool parts off it and they came and took it back. went back to the yard a couple months later and there it was, picked clean.
The third is metals prices are so high these days and yards are paying enough more that hulk-hauler s****pers are putting out flyers in old gomer neighborhoods and running cl***ified ads offering "free haul-away of any car." jack vines
Funny thing is today I seen an Opel GT driving down the road...... a few months a ago I seen and talked to some guy driving an unrestored DARRIN , it was great. But still I don't remember anything that odd at the self service junkyards in the past......well maybe a '50 buick ambulance.
My local P-A-P always list cars older than 1950 as 1950. They also mis-label cars or put the wrong description on most of em. I like going thru and taking my own inventory when I have time. peace
i remember last time i went to a pick-a-part looking around, i looked inside a old van convesion only to find. . . . a big doo. it kinda took the wind out of my sails, so i went home.
I have a neighbor who just found a 65(i think) Notchback. I'm gonna go over and see if he will part with it....
One of my teachers bought one new in the mid 60's and drove the thing until she quit driving in her 90's. I have no idea where it went but it disappeared when she went in the nursing home. I've seen a couple of Opal GT's in local wrecking yards but they were so rusted out that a guy really couldn't justify trying to rebuild them anyhow. They stayed there until there were no usable parts left on them though.
I got some parts off a Plymouth Voyager for my wife's van at the local wreckers - unbolting the driver's seat (it was mint) I put my hand down to balance myself and feel something not right. There was a full cat's litter pail on floor behind the seat. Found a puddle, washed it off as good as I could and moved on. ****ing disgusting what people will put in a car when they s**** it.
If you like VW notchbacks, there's still a few on the road down here......all i ever find at the local "pick a part" is some lousy junkies used syringes.....
Am I missing something? None of those cars listed seems all that odd to me or much worth getting too worked up over as junkers. The Borgward and the notchback are about the only one I haven't seen more than a fair share of over the years. Even the notchback I think I've seen at least 1 or 2, and personally that is maybe enough. That thing caught the wrong end of the ugly stick before it rolled out the door.
Our local Pick-n-Pull doesn't allow you to take pictures either. Wonder why that is? If it was my yard, I'd like the 'service'...Customers showing other potential customers where a car was, more biz.
No kidding. A bud of mine did a 2180 engine for a notchback, clean car...fast...Uglier than a Studebaker, though...
it's funny how so many people have seen or know about the VW notchback when i wasn't even avilable in for the USA market, all of them you see had to be imported from Canada
A notch, in a wrecking yard, in California?!?!?!?!? How does that even happen? It was a good design if people can see past the powerplant and badges. Persoanlly, I want one on bags with an aluminum 215 Buick engine...
I like that Borgward Isabella, and I'm not typically found of foreign jobs. I found one of those in good shape in a yard in central Kansas. It was temptation - it was that nice, but beige. That would have to go.
And the other cool thing is, with the salvage ***le, you're tempted to make a showcar out of it since its such a PITA to register. Get a dummy engine, chrome it don't worry about it running, and make a trailer queen...you know you always wanted one you guys are lucky I can't upload a photo from work...the local boneyard here has a 41 lincoln connie in the yard, 57 buick...I think back during the gas crunch everyone dumped their gas hogs.
No cameras in the wrecking yard, eh? Do they have a sign like this one? Sorry about the poor quality of the picture, I was in a hurry.
yes we have signs that say no photos. Its because environmentalist and inspection people like to take a photo of a pile of engines as its being loaded in a truck and say its being unloaded, or they say its been rained on, they dont get the truck or loader in the photo either. A photo may say a thousand words but a photo doesnt say if something is being loaded or unloaded.
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