Back when there were junkyards....

Guess Im lucky - my kid is 21 and loves old wrecking yards and old crap. Only downside is his old stuff is piled at our house. 3 early 70's dirtbikes he rides the hell out of, a 47 willys flatfender he bought the other day, and his old volvo 122 wagon in my shop getting a v8 and t56. We have a few early ones in the Portland area. Any of you local guys into roaming around old rusting relics shoudl definitely get to Schurmans Iron Ranch just north of Vancouver. They do a heritage day in July and its an amazing place. We spent a couple hours just checking out his junk yard. Found the remains of a 17 Cadillac with aluminum cowl and aluminum engine. Plus his 2 huge shops are full of early tractors and stationary engines.

 

The loss of the local junkyard full of cars from the 50's, 60's , 70's is a sad thing but inevitable. Yards today are filled with 80's, 90's and up domestics and imports. Need a transmission from a FWD Taurus or a radiator from a Cirrus? Not much use to a rod builder. Not saying a few gems can't be found but I've given up on the local pick a parts.

There aren't that many cars from that era left to be junked, and if anybody calls for one to be hauled off it won't go the average yard. Specialty junkyards where they want big $$$$ for any parts you might need. The Memory Lane kind of place and I wouldn't pay those prices as a matter of principle. Guy wanted more for the parts than when they were new. I'll be damned if I'm gonna pay $800 for a 59 Ford steering column. Second, the Barrett Jackson Syndrome where everyone thinks that every old car is worth $20,000 means most cars from that era are sitting waiting to be sold rather than junked. And there is more profit parting out cars on fleabay than stacking them in a yard.

Getting parts from fleabay, swap meets, craigslist, whatever, is what we are faced with sourcing parts. And some of those clowns on fleabay think their stuff is made of gold too. I've seen the same old Cadillac 50's dual 4bbl air cleaner at the Pomona swap meet for quite a few years now. At $1500 will it ever sell?

 

I got lucky in a junkyard once; went to take a leak and found a front axle lying on the ground,asked the owner how much, and he said"5 bucks".Such a deal! The junkyard was not so lucky.This guy had inherited it from his dad and lived in the middle of it in a trailer with his wife and kids.There was a fire in the back end of the yard, the fire dept. had a hell of a time making through the vehicles and trees, and the "authorities" shut him down ( for his own safety of course).Nicest folks in the world, and he got totally screwed over. At the end of the "clean-up", they were hauling school buses full of parts out to be scrapped. I heard about it and felt like crying.This used to be a favorite Sat. field trip- pack a sandwich and spend the day just totally surrounded by all this great stuff.I did get a few pics before the shit hit the fan. Enjoy a peek at what was and never will be again " They don't make this stuff anymore ya know" Walter the Model "A" Man.

 

go to google maps and type in " orange rd, canaan, n.h.". go to satellite view and move the map to the right a little. some mid 30's gm cars and the rest are 40's to 70's. owner is still hauling them in when gets them

 

I'm 27 and I love junkyards but one in particular creswells in little Britton pa it's about 35-40 mins from me but I love it lots of stuff from the 30s to 70s it's still got some good stuff in it but it's a old yard lots of stuff is picked through and ruff but I think I buy something everyone I go there. I bought a model a frame for under my coupster from them the 53 olds hubcaps on my hudson came from them. The 14 inch mustang wheels and 57 ford caps I had on my falcon came from them too. Lots of searching but the ford caps came from 3 differant cars and the back of a panel truck. If they ever close I'll probally cry. There were a couple other yards that had old stuff there gone now or crushed out the old tin. Thankfully the local scrap man has a good eye and saves what he can and if your respectful he let's you dig around sometimes. I hope at least one yard will be around by the time my son's old enough they let him in. He's 3 and loves hot rods probably more than I do.

 

I remember as a kid in Redlands CA (long before the era of lawsuits and "public safety" bullshit) people also used to take their unwanted cars to the town dump. For a very modest "gate fee" you could take your bicycle, car and/or tools in and get anything you could carry or drive away with. My all time great find was a pair of pristine '40 Ford tailamps from a not very pristine '40 Ford sedan.