As you saw in my other post, I just found a '54 Plymouth in a junkyard that looks pretty intact. I wouldn't be suprised if this car could be had for a good price. It simply is not a car that would have any kind of following around here. If I go inspect it and find it to be in as good a shape as I think, I'd like to make an offer and haul it home. My only question is... can I do that? Do junkyards make a policy of keeping titles around? Will they usually sell a complete vehicle? I've never bought a car before, I've always acquired them from family members, let alone from a junkyard. Any tips? Experience? Thanks.
depends on the state, and probably on the junkyard too. Some places they have to get salvage titles or dismantling permits for everything that comes in....I suggest you ask the yard, see if they have a clear title for it. There's really no way for us to know. If they don't have a "regular" title for it, I suggest you find another car. title problems can be a royal pain.
I have bought a few vehicles from the junk yard around here. They have titles for some, but not all of the vehicles, in fact most of the old ones don't. Here you just need a bill of sale and then a vin inspection from the state patrol to get a title. Might want to check your state laws to see if you can aquire a title if they don't have one for it. You probably don't want to spend cash for it if it can't be licensed.
I see that you are from Michigan......so here is a thread from another board I Moderate on.....the info sounds good BUT I cannot verify the truthfulness of it...it may get you headed in the right direction....... http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/michigan-titles-assembled-old-73702.html Randy
Depends on the state you live in...in Illinois the car will have a "junk" title and will NEVER be titled legally again in Illinois...unless you use a different VIN of course
If you get one of those "hobbyist" plates i think you can title pretty much any vehicle as long as you got a bill of sale. In WI we offer antique (pre 35 i think), collecter (car has to pass emissions once and be a legit title), and hobbyist (i think its pretty open) type of plates. Im pretty sure the hobbyist plate is the same plate we use for kit cars and such, so no title may not always be a problem. but once again, u gotta know the rules and regs for ur area.
That info is somewhat correct, you don't have to have it weighed and you don't have to take it to the cop shop an officer will come to your garage to check the vin #'s. It's the procedure for replacing a lost title and they do check the vin for whether or not it's stolen.
Regulations vary from state to state. Yard operators vary regarding willingness to sell complete vehicles. In California the law requires that the license plates and title or pink slip along with a junk slip must accompany the car when it is turned over to the yard. The plates are destroyed and the title and junk slip go to the DMV and the information regarding the vehicles new status is entered into the data base. Sometimes yard operators take in cars on the clear title alone and simply resale the vehicle. Very easy. The new owner has the title transferred into his name by paying the registration fee . If the plates were destroyed and title turned in to the DMV the car can be sold on a salvage title. All title history to this point no longer applies. The new owner is required to have brake, lamp, and smog inspections done and then have the VIN verified by the DMV or a CHP. The new buyer pays transfer fee and the registration and the get the title and new plates. The new title will have the notation "SALVAGE" clearly stamped in bold black block lettering. This notation will remain on the title forever after through all subsequent ownership changes. The toughest part is usually convincing the yard operator to part with a whole car. Some do and some don't and some are mean, contrary, paranoid and just plain nuts. If you can get around that you will find that inside they are the guardians of vast repositories of rare, unusual and obscure, not to mention often completely useless wisdom.
I bought my 53 Ranchwagon at a junkyard. I got a title with it ...Theres usually a reason theyre at a junkyard, so check it out carefully
I plan to! I suspect that this car has been here since the early seventies. Most vehicles of this vintage in the junkyards around me have '73 plates on them. They're usually in good shape from the beltline up, but as yards around here have a tendancy to remove the wheels and tires and let the car sit on the ground, the floors and rockers are usually gone. This car is an exception, for some reason. It's still complete down to the wheelcovers, at least on the driver's side. I didn't get a long time to look it over, though, since I was with my dad and we were looking for latemodel junk. Being as it's a four-door and a Plymouth, I suspect there just hasn't been enough interest to drag this one out. Maybe it's shot mechanically, but then did I really want a Plymouth flathead six? I'm not too awful worried about titling. I've read a fair amount about how to title a vehicle in Michigan and the process sounds relatively easy. My concern had more to do with whether yard owners (and this is a conventional yard, dealing mostly with late model junk with just a sprinkling of older stuff) are willing to sell complete vehicles. I realize the easiest thing to do is ask, and I intend to, but I wanted to hear some experiences first. This is pretty close to one of the roads. There are maybe three cars between it and freedom, some old, boxy French two-seater, a squished '50s Mercedes and maybe a Jeep? Anyway, thanks for the responses. I'm hoping to go get a look at her later this week.
First thing is to see if you can find out how long it's been there. I'd just point out that as a Plymouth 4-door it's current value is about $125 in scrap metal. If it's been there years and nothing's sold off it, offer them double the scrap price to take it away no questions asked. Or ask them what they'd want for it. Some guys do sell whole cars, one yard I go to he gets $300-$400 each. They don't come with paperwork, but in New York new paperwork is rediculously easy. There's another yard I know, he hoards old stuff, doesn't scrap it, doesn't sell it to anyone but people he knows well. So a lot of it rots. And one place, I tried to get a '59 Catalina out of years ago, they wouldn't consider parting with at all. Pretty sure it went to scrap 100% complete, too. One more guy I know, he'll sell you the whole car for $100, but most of them are such pieces of shit they fall apart if you move them. That '58 Chevy Sedan Delivery I had over the summer came from there. When the guy I sold it to picked it up, I had to cut the floor in two spots and he just took the upper body with him, plus the grille and bumper. The rest we scrapped. I think I made $200 after all the gas and screwing around, but then I knew in the first place I'd never make a fortune on it. I just mostly wanted to see if I could get a car out of there, on my own -
your not kidding there! He has a TON of stuff in that yard, but nothing is any good..and a lot of those car's are still "fairly" complete.. I remember that delivery...I'm still suprised you got it out of there in one piece.
So am I. I dragged the remains of the frame over across the road to go with the scrap stuff with a chain around the differential - surprisingly the one side did not pull off the arms, even though the other one had when I pulled it off the trailer. Then my buddy tells me to be careful, if you get caught gouging up a state road it's like $1,000 fine - I need to get back up there and pull some '61 Chrysler headlights, thinking I want to use those on the Chevy and there was a decent set hidden away up there.
Some owners/operators are crooks... Some actually like talking shop and old cars with customers, Some want way too much money for stuff they know is shit... Some are fair. Some vehicles have defects you have to dig all day to find... Some vehicles are pretty decent and were just brought in the way you see them. Just know what you are getting, know what it's worth to you, know what is wrong and right with it, and if the guy is asking a fair price, buy the sumbitch. Engines are an iffy proposition... ya never know what's wrong with them til you get home.
My Fleetline was in a junkyard in a little community called Talcott , WV , My dad found it driving by one day going to the flea market , it was being parted out , and the guy that owned the yard said he would sell it for $1200.00 , he wouldn't budge off of the price , so I bought it , the rest , as they say , is history...
I work in a "yard" and we refrain from selling whole vehicles due to many reasons but the latest one from South Carolina is if a vehicle is sold as scrap it cannot be re registered as "reconstructed, etc" and really put a dent in our business. I have seen classic vehicles driven into the yard and before I can intercept have the title signed over as scrap sale.
Here in Oregon the wrecking yards can only keep a car title for one year unless they have a dealer's license. Then they have to turn the title over to the state. So if you get it before the year they can sell it to you, but after that it can never get a title again. We've got one yard that has all sorts of cool cars that would easily be returned to the street, but I tried buying one, and they said it could only be used for racing, or non driven show car, as the title has been turned in. If you've got an identical car that's a rust bucket, then no problem, as you can swap all the best to one car, but otherwise it's no go here.
WOW! talk about bringing something back from the grave...this thread was first posted in 2005! Even if a "car" has been junked, often the junk yard can sell you the body and other parts. Pay the tax and get a receipt. Parts are parts, they can sell you parts, just not the car. Last I knew, you could still jump through the state's hoops and still title a car built from purchased parts. Its not a cheap nor an easy process, but doable. The cost of getting the new ride titled has to be added to the cost of the parts to determine if you want to go that route. Gene
Oregon has NO exceptions. Once it's turned in for salvage it's gone. You can use any and all parts that aren't titled, but anything with VIN number can't be used.
Which isn't to say you couldn't sell the vehicles to a more-lenient state, although re-selling to Oregon might eventually prove a problem. On the other hand, I have to wonder how far back Oregon's record keeping goes. In Michigan, they purge the system pretty quickly once a vehicle is sold out of state, so a scrapped VIN like that wouldn't raise any red flags after a bit of time. -Dave
Bought a 1963 Impala SS from a junkyard.327 w/4-speed.Looked to be a complete car and the price was right so I tossed a battery in it and some gas and she fired right up.Left the yard and had 40 miles to get home.First thing I noticed was it was a really bouncy ride.Pulled to the shoulder and looked at the back of the car.No rear shocks!! WTF??? Decided I could still get home so off we went.Engine ran well and the 4-speed shifted easily.Decided to stop along the way and do a burnout or two as we were in a really rural area with the only traffic being a tractor now and then.I wound it up and dropped the clutch... Thats when I found out the frame was rotted off just in front of the right rear wheel.How we missed that when looking at the missing shocks I dont know. Should also mention this was in 1976.
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