History Sad times in East Tennessee

A friend related information to me and several others yesterday evening at the cruise in that our favorite junkyard in Blaine ( Sonny Reeser’s) is being scrapped out. Apparently his brother who has possession of it is throwing in the towel after years of battling family members over the property. A sad occurrence. Many of us in East Tennessee have fond memories of going there. A scarce resource for vintage parts. I’m planning to make a salvage run on Monday and see if I can grab whatever I can that may come in handy. I should know more when I get back.

 

yep, tough to see this is happening more and more

 

Man,,,,think how long that metal has been sitting in East Tennessee weather !
And some still looks pretty decent .

Sad,,,,,but families can cause situations that can’t be fixed otherwise .
People die off and nobody is really interested in it,,,they just want the money from the land .
I can’t blame anyone really,,,,,everybody are not car guys !

Tommy

 

What is that hearse? I want it.

 

That happens more and more every year. Environmental laws, owners retiring, stock drying up. We have lost all of the vintage yards in our area.

 

Cadillac

 

Looks like they have been helping car guys for a long time, that is something to be thankful for.

 

From some of the other on-line posts, it appears that the mobile crusher has been there a while already (09/23).

 

This hearse looks like it is giving the finger.

 

"I loyally served for years. God knows I did what nobody else wanted to do. And I did it with style and never complained.
Yet this is how you treat me?
Fine.
You know what you can do with your electric self-driving pos."

 

Great to hear you're going to make a pass and see what you can save. This scenario has played out here in Wisconsin many times over the last few years, we have lost, or are in the process of losing, a whole bunch. I always try to go as many times as I can and salvage whatever I can use or whatever I know I can resell. Whatever is not saved, is lost.

If you have time, grab some more pics, someone else might see them and get there to get a few things for themselves.

 

Post more photos, last chance anyone will ever see most of those cars.

 

I think we have all seen it over the years, `There is a yard ten miles from me that will probably get closed out and the cars crushed in a year or so. It doesn't have any older interesting stuff that I know of though. The 4th or so generation family member who was running it passed away a couple of years ago from a sudden illness, One of the family members before him got killed in a circle track accident. There is no family member left to take it over that I know of. The last guy bought a number of rigs from me after I had pulled the parts I wanted or they broke down and weren't worth fixing but had a lot of good parts.

My go to spot for old parts at a reasonable price 35 miles away just closed the gate one day and everything is still sitting there and I don't know what will happen with that but guess that property value will cause it to be sold and cleaned out some day.

 

I have posted many pics of the yard in the Sitting and Rotting thread. Another local yard, Denton’s, the owner has called it quits, but I’m told his eldest son will likely sell parts on an appointment type basis. It’s full of 40s, 50s, 60s parts. I’m going to call him and see what the details are. It would be nice if we could get more of the owners of such yards internet connected so they could connect with those of us who need the parts that they have before they are gone. Note, I don’t know how many of these are still there, the 1955 Buick Special 2dr is/was a fairly solid body. I’ll post more on this after I find out more.

 

Unfortunately I couldn’t go to the junkyard today, he’s closed on Monday and will be headed to Charlotte so I won’t be able to get there until later next week. I also received some more sad news today. Clark Denton, the owner of Denton’s Auto Parts, another local old time junkyard, has passed away. He will be missed terribly. He was a colorful storyteller about local history. I hope to contact his son in a couple of days.

 

The office of Denton’s

 

Another great yard is essentially no more. I made a trip to Blaine to see if I could scrounge a few parts before it was too late. Damn! For the most part it’s too late!

 

Lots of usable parts

 

It is always sad to see these collections go tot the crusher. Event though most of the cars are beyond restoration they usually seem to have lots of small parts that somebody needs to finish out a project..... Thanks for sharing this.

 

Maybe I'd have a different opinion if the cars were all pre WWII, but I don't see anything I'd be unbolting to save, or take off to flip.

 

I wonder if that Torino fastback was a 428 car....

 

Looks like they wasted NO time.

 

From a field of dreams to being stacked like cord wood. Much of the sheet metal was beyond salvage but there was a lot of mechanical parts, stainless, bumpers that could have been replated, and small parts that aren’t being reproduced.

 

I saw some grilles and bumpers I’d like to get. Even if it’s just trinkets you still saved something.

We used to have a yard like that here and it was full of anything from the 20’s up to the late 50’s. He moved a lot of it but quite a bit got scrapped. I can still get out there to get stuff but the folks he lets on are far and few

 

True, but there's really no money in that for the owner. Probably not enough to pay the taxes.

 

Well guys it’s over, no more junkyard. It’s all gone. I nearly cried when I went out there last week, nothing but bare earth.

 

There was a yard like that near me a number of years back. In fact the 9 inch Ford staion wagon rear that is under my Model A came from there. The old gent that owned the place died and his boys couldn't wait to sell off all the old cars for scrap. What a shame. There were some real "jewels" in that place. Ah well, ancient history now.

 

Another sad truth is.....some of these owners are skeptical about letting the public go in these yards and pick/pull/look whatever ...like we could years ago. Why you axe ?!!!
Because some of these clowns go in and get hurt(because they are not careful or just stupid!) and what happens....Law suit !! People just aren't the same as they were in years past...So many are looking for jackpot law suits !! There are plenty of "lawyers" who could find a reason to get 'some-money' out of the owner if not the entire place...
Anyway.... I feel better now. Hate to see these places close but........
6sally6

 

Any update on Denton's?