History Old Time Junk Yard Photos PIX 1920 to 1970

Another Junkyard to close;

http://www.sonnyssalvage.com/

 

OUCH, SunRoof! But MAYBE your bringing this impending boneyard closure to everyone's attention can help save a few project and parts cars! Myself, I surely hope somebody GRABS this scarce, super-straight restorable/roddable '55 DeSoto Sportsman hardtop!!! (Maybe HAMBer Von Dust could use a parts car?) If I could only win the lottery!

 

SunRoofJim, hey man, I checked out these folks' site, and their business, pricing and inventory are so well organized, it seems almost illogical to close up and crush out the cars.

http://www.sonnyssalvage.com/

Do you have any idea WHY they want to get out of the business? Also, the July 31 customer-appreciation event: Is that the actual drop-dead date? July 31 doesn't give people much time to arrange to get there, especially from another state with a trailer and cash.

 

I've heard that she plans to sell on the interenet.

 

Wasn't a "Maxwell" what Jack Benny used to drive in his TV show?

 

XhotRodder, yep, it was a Maxwell on his radio show, before the TV show, too. The gag was, OLD car, because Jack was as cheap as bark is tight on a tree. Funny how CARS have always become part of the fabric of American life, eh?

In the '20s, after Walt Chrysler took over Maxwell-Chalmers, the Chalmers gave way to Chrysler-badged cars, and the Maxwell was phased out and reemerged as the Plymouth line.

 

<!-- / icon and title --><!-- message --> Quote:
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=6 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=alt2 style="BORDER-RIGHT: 1px inset; BORDER-TOP: 1px inset; BORDER-LEFT: 1px inset; BORDER-BOTTOM: 1px inset">Originally Posted by jimi'shemi291
SunRoofJim, hey man, I checked out these folks' site, and their business, pricing and inventory are so well organized, it seems almost illogical to close up and crush out the cars.

http://www.sonnyssalvage.com/

Do you have any idea WHY they want to get out of the business? Also, the July 31 customer-appreciation event: Is that the actual drop-dead date? July 31 doesn't give people much time to arrange to get there, especially from another state with a trailer and cash.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

SunRoof replied:
I've heard that she plans to sell on the interenet.

<!-- / message -->

Jimi: Whoo! What a relief! So, all those rare cars I saw this morning won't get crushed down late this summer!

I can see her marketing strategy -- sort of market it plainly on their site (which she has), then generally arrange sales and parts removal by appointment, mail and the like. As much as I like to roam junkyards, I can see that her strategy might eliminate some troublesome issues.

I'm glad to hear that the yard won't be GONE WITH THE WIND. But it'll be interesting to see how the plan works out in practice. I wish her luck, for sure!

 

Hey, XHotRodder! Thanks to HAMBer SWI, here's an
old publicity shot of Jack Benny parading in his show-biz
trademark: a Maxwell! I'm guessing this one's a tad
earlier than the one from AACA whose fate we all still
worry about. I'd guess this one's about 1912 or 1913.
I only WAG that, 'cause I see a redundant light system:
Electrics up front and probably carbide-gas lamps on
the cowl. Anybody in HAMBland know more accurately?

 

This one is just too classic not to include on this thread.
T-Head posted it over on the thread, Photos taken before
WW2 - history in black and white (GREAT thread; go
check 'er out!), and he said he thinks it was taken in the
San Diego area. Given that no car in the pic seems newer
than the '20s, my WAG is that this was shot in the early
1930s. Thanks, T-Head! And input welcome, HAMBers!

 

That´s one video I made...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJlCpDLLBUE

 

Here's a few from my local digs... Some too far gone... all pretty cool.

 

This shot from the Library of Congress may hold
the record for this thread as earliest erosion-control
shot! My THANKS to FlickR! Russell Lee took this
as part of the famous depression-era Farm Security
Administration photo project -- of which Dorothea
Lange is probably the most celebrated photog.
This was near Ridgeway, CO. Note the "Bridge Out"
sign in the background.

 

Yo, BornTrouble! Keep it down to 90, will ya, bro??? LOL




Thanks for the posts, my firend!

 

Here's a vintage C-cab actually hauling junk
from a boneyard, way back in the day! No
details, but THANKS for the photo go to Royal
Feltner of Amesbury, Massachusetts!

 

Hey! Before the Benny-Maxwell theme
from Post 667 gets cold, let's see how ol'
Jack milked that schtick for years!



Here, jack shakes hands with President harry Truman
from the seat of a 1908 Maxwell. The obsolete auto
brand might well have faded from popular memory
but for Benny's "fertile" sense of humor! Pic THANKS
to Royal Feltner, Amesbury, MA

 

Still at it in 1950! Jack cranks chuckles out of a Maxwell
as fellow entertainers Phil Harris, Eddie Anderson and
Wilbur Shaw play along. Thanks again, Royal!​

 

There's still some rare stuff out there, sitting under
the sun in the mornin' & the moon at night. Rusting
RelicsChuck of Hettinger, North Dakota recently sold
this '33 Essex Terraplane Model KT-8 sedan on eBay
for a bit under $2,500. Check the suicide doors. By
one account less than 400 Essex were built in '33
(last year for the marque). The Model KT-8 used
a Hudson 8 of 245-CID & sat on a wheelbase of
113 inches. The sedan was the second most costly
Essex that year and could be had new for under $750.



Hey, looks like Chuck has more VT around his place. Oh, boy, oh, boy!!!

 

In the 80s, I took for granted that all my favorite semi-local vintage yards would always be there for me to show up on any saturday morning with a tool box. Art's Salvage in Ames ,IA was my favorite. When I was building my '60 Buick, he had 7 to choose from, including one super clean Invicta wagon.When I built my first '53, he had 10 of those. He thought he would get more money for his land if it was "cleared out". He crushed everything, and then could never sell his land. He now leases it to a late model salvage yard. Oh, cruel fate, why do you mock me?

 

59Impaler, well said, buddy. You pretty much captured the essence of the old-time junkyard experience. I am super-glad to see that I had -- and have -- so much company with guys AND gals who treasure red these troves of old VT at least as much as I did!

So, the way this thread has developed goes beyond, thankfully, what I ever imagined. Honestly, I just wanted to share nostalgic memories and sort of "centralize" historic images of early boneyard. The recollections, perceptions and personal experiences of guys (and some gals, too) have been GREAT; and it's fun to read people's thoughts in their OWN words.

As for having VT in one place, so people don't spend hours or days chasing all over the 'net to see nostalgic pix, folks have posted way more pix than I ever dreamed possible -- and staying pretty darn close to the HAMB 1965 cutoff, too. I thank everybody for sticking with proper guidelines and keeping a positive attitude about an often sad subject!



A lonely '49 Hudson with cool lighting


In that vein, we've been accomplishing preservation of images of cars whose survival is NOT infinite (a point you referred to). Same with junkyards themselves, and several have been crushed out in the year-or-so we've been doing this thread.

And though this thread isn't intended as a directory of junkyards with vintage cars, I do believe we have helped a few folks find project cars and/or parts cars. I've mentioned RoadKillCusoms a couple of times, as they seem to have done a yeoman's job of building just such a database, so I hope that has been useful to HAMBers. Also, guys are sometimes reticent to say exactly where they have shot VT pix, but I'm always happy to include any directional info that I receive.

Finally, I have been very gratified that we've had VT posts from every state but Hawaii, plus a hugely surprising number of other countries!

So, 59Impaler, this HAMB thread has been MORE than a chance to relive great junkyard memories. It's also brought surviving yards into clear focus, too, and emphasized the need to folks to move ASAP instead of waiting and assuming the yards will "always be there." It's been fun "meeting" people with this interest and trading thoughts and feelings about old cars and trucks put out to pasture. I THANK everyone who has contributed, and I say, GOD BLESS THE HAMB !!!

 

Nowadays, this Buick wagon would have to be considered
practically unique. If you're near Whitehall, Montana, you
could do worse than make time for a trip to Freeman's.
They've got post-war to '65 stuff aplenty, brothers & sisters!
MY main interest is: The PIX are cool!!! And if a HAMBer
or two lands a project- or parts car, all the better!

 

'40 Buick in Alabama. Just a sweet old car in a solitary rural setting. I love the '39 and '40 grilles!



Remains of a '57 Fairlane Skyliner in Iowa boneyard

 

Lots of '57 Chevys and Edsels in this place!





Texas HAMBer BigDad posted these North Dakota bone yard pix
in November last year. Said the yard is about a mile north of the
town of Beulah in central North Dakota, though he noted he didn't
click the pix. Nice dry weather keeps sheet metal decent up that way!

 

Actually this is (was) a 1961 Dodge Dart Phoenix.

 

Thanks, Wrench! It was so mangled, I thought I was seeing the FRONT end of a Buick. Instead, it's the BACK end of a '61 Dodge! Yowee, what a mess. LOL

Phoenix? Fairly rare, right? Wasn't there a Dodge Matador that's also scarce?

 

HAMBer SunRoof Cord just turned up this very
poignant archival shot for another thread, and
I can't resist including in this collection of pix
of cars put out to pasture! It really looks like
an OLD pic of where somebody finally gave up
and pulled the car up for good, out behind the
barn, doesn't it? Anybody make out the license
plate???

 

Sweet detail shot with great perspective
and lighting, THANKS to PackardInfo.com.

 

Unless my eyes deceive me, I believe this is yet another
RARE '58 Packard Hawk wasting away in a boneyard! Folks,
only around 500 were made. Sheesh. Guess that's reality,
though. I do hope somebody found it and brings it back from
the dead! I don't have any background on it, or I'd try and
get there myself! (Thanks for the neat photo goes to
PackardInfo.com.)

 

Not a packard HAWK actually, but a Packard 2 door hardtop. 675 made in 1958.

 

Thanks for checking me, Caractacus! My eyes did deceive me, especially with some of the trim trimmed off. GREAT to have lots of good eyes on this thread, and the HAMB in general!

 

I believe this one has been saved. Just thought it would be a neat photo for this thread.