We have about the same amount of yards around here we always have had, but would be hard pressed to even find a leftover bolt from anything older than 1980. I only go to wrecking yards for my daily driver stuff. Swap meets are fun, but rarely can find what I’m looking for, and when I do seems I’m living way to far in the past for what I can afford. About 25 years ago a fella came by for some TF PU parts, he also asked about some spare doors I had in the rafters. I told him 150 each. He said “I can go to the yard and find them for way less than that”. I smiled and said”ok”. He called back a few weeks later, came by and bought two I had. Seems those late 50’s doors weren’t laying around as much as he thought. This was mid-90’s.
You’re fortunate, Mark. I’d like to live in an area like that. Heck, I don’t have any friends anymore that have a vehicle made before 2000.
Yeah, you're spoiled. Everything around here closed up the last time s**** got so high. Anthony Myrick has a couple of decent places over near him, but my county is pretty well dry anymore. Nearest Pull a Part is close to 80 miles from me, had one that was 45 miles, but it didn't even do enough business to stay open but a year or two. I don't even know of any private stashes anymore. When the older guys p***ed on, family sold everything to the s****pers. So yeah, you are spoiled, in a good way...
Last month I called Coker on a order I have been waiting on for almost a year. I asked there would be a price increase and he said no then I hear this may have rethink that order. At work we cant get sheet metal , bumpers and other parts so cars and trucks are sitting apart ******* off the customer an't life grand.
Recently, I had been looking for a new radiator to replace a ‘70s Mopar br***/copper one in my ‘51, normally a fairly common off the shelf item. Most places now list it as unavailable or not in stock. Summit, the only source with it available, has a two month delivery. The local radiator shop said they could fix the old one so I went that way. I would never have imagined that a radiator would be that hard to get. No, I don’t want an aluminum one. Sadly, all the old wrecking yards in my area went away many years ago and the swap meets turned into ghosts of the former events. Fortunately the internet has been great ***et to find parts. As original parts become more scarce and smaller manufacturers get absorbed by corporations availability of unique items will probably diminish and what is available will cost more. I certainly wish it was as easy as it was 50 years ago when I could go to my local wrecking yard for parts, one of them even had a large stock of new radiators!
The other side of that coin is Amazon's distribution network. Those high turnover products may travel from manufacturer to warehouse to your door entirely on Amazon rigs. I keep hearing of companies that have product, but no way to get it to market.
On the upside, maybe this will revive the swap meet. Nothing better than filling up the back of the pick up with rusty car parts! I would get my first "high" when buying them and another when unloading them when I got home. Great fun.
In all my travels I would say Minnesota is an outlier, even better than what we have in Sodak (no idea why folks think we have 32s just piled up around here?)
Check the new hotrod shops in China, if you don't buy enough, they take you out back and shoot you. HAHAHAHahahahah!!!!
the junk yards you guys claim are still out there, other than sheet metal when was the last time you pulled a working, useable, mechanical, part off of a 30's, 40's, 50's 60' 70's car in a junkyard sitting outside in the weather. reality calling
I removed the clutch pedal and linkage from a 1960 chev and I pulled a couple of rochester 2gc carbs and I removed the hub ***y's from a 65 impala to change my 55 to tapered wheel bearings. the carbs were great and I put kits in them and they are fine. I bet there are at least 6 junkyards within 2 hrs of here that have 50's and 60's cars in them. I guess I thought it was the same everywhere
In '06 I called a local yard, Memory Lane, here in the valley. Asked the operator if they had any '57 SBC engines. "If you can come today we have a '57 that's been rebuilt sitting in the office. $500." I didn't hesitate and picked it up. Decent rebuild, 10-10 rods and crank, junk heads and with pan and intake. I asked them why the rush to pick it up and was told that the yard was closing and anything left would go for s****. They had piles of parts for many years and it was terrible to hear that all the cars and parts were being recycled. Now the local pick-a-part is all late model and prices are reasonable, but no more 9" or '57 Pontiac rears.
Have you been to Pella (Doug`s 4 x 4`s) recently? Last time I was there. I found a completely stripped out 59 Chevy convertible. My buddy bought it for 600 bucks 15 years ago. Just sold if for 6000 bucks. In the same condition.
Surely an extravagance, and an over the top solution to the problem. Most of us have a pressure washer in the workshop.
that stripped out 59 convertible sitting outside in iowa is in the same condition today that it was 15 years ago? i will bet you those cars and trucks sitting out side at dougs are not in the same condition they were 15 years ago, come on most of that stuff at dougs is to far gone today. maybe thirty years ago
It was sitting inside, he was gonna redo it. But the guy was persistent. I told him, it saved him a year and a half worth of work by selling it. I think somebody used it as a 2-dr parts car.
Everything I've been ordering has been coming through just fine, right on time. The only thing that I'm having trouble finding now is piston rings for my Hemi, but that largely appears to be because most manufacturers seem to have stopped making them all together, at least in the type that I want anyway.
The companies with months long delivery times must not be selling a lot of stuff, I am concerned a few of them may go under. That will be bad for the hobby.
Don't forget the labor shortage isn't helping either. Seems like everyone around here have we are hiring signs out. They keep offering more and more wages trying to find people so that will make cost go up. You can only do so much when you are lacking workers Yes, the good old fashion wrecking yards are disappearing around here too. Can't wait for spring Jefferson (Apr. 22-24). Got my flier a few weeks ago. Been too many years not going but I will be back on my own at the beginning of April so I can make it this year. $15(admission & parking) just to get in before I even get a big bar. Oh well, life goes on. I also see they only have the spring and fall shows and no Elkhorn anymore.
A few years ago the water pump in my '55 Packard was howling so I went to a yard to find a core to send in, pulled one off a car and it was smooth enough to just install it as-is, didn't even need to rebuild it. There are a fair number of old junkyards in Wisconsin yet, but almost all of the sheetmetal is garbage. Mostly moldings, mechanical stuff, gl***, and some interior bits are the good pieces left. When I go, I buy anything that's good, whether I need it or not, and the stuff I don't need gets resold. No more "leave it for the next guy", I've seen too much stuff get s****ped that could have been saved, and eventually, even we won't have the old yards anymore.
If you buy all the useful bits off the wrecks before they are s****ped and sell the unneeded parts, you are making it available to the next guy anyway. And as you say, if you don't get it, there's a very good chance it will be s****ped.
Brilliant Fifty years ago, a Deuce was 40 years old. Today, that's an '82 Citation. It takes a pretty special yard to hang on to 90 year old parts.If you haven't sold something in 90 years, your inventory costs are killing you. Given the high costs of property, labor, insurance, etc. it stands to reason a s**** yard is going to keep things that sell in stock. That's late model, not the stuff we crave. You're a lucky person if you have an old time yard near you that is willing to sell their "collection".
"Surely an extravagance, and an over the top solution to the problem. Most of us have a pressure washer in the workshop." Yah, 28; but does it have heater for the water? . & I don't want to know how you managed to become that agile w/that long wand. . Marcus...
What the heck is Frank doing? The boring bar is sticking way too far out, and held in a rather bizarre and not too rigid fashion. That's going to chatter like crazy. From a fellow machinist.
It looks like he is machining the bore in the bellhousing. Probably one that Gary has on order. The same way he has done hundreds of them in the past.
To add to the supply chain Issues there was a 98 vehicle crash on Cabbage between Boise and Pendleton yesterday that is going to cause a lot of stuff to be delayed getting to the PNW.
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