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Let's Talk Junk Yards!

Midlife

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Accessible junk yards are becoming more and more rare these days. We have four or five here in Panama City, but all but one you are not allowed in the yard. You describe the part and the yard pickers then retrieve it for you. What fun is that?

The one yard that welcomes folks into the yard is a Pick-N-Pull. There's about 2-300 cars of all makes/models, but everything is at least 10 years old and rarely do you see any 60's/70's in the yard, with the possible exception of trucks. I used to go about every 3 months, but now only once every 9-10 months. They have a searchable web site, but often is not correct or up to date. Parts are relatively cheap, and they always give me a strange look when they ask me what models I'm interested in and I reply "I'm just browsing".

When I lived in DC in the late 90's, I went to Leon, VA where there's a real junk yard, covering 30 acres or so, with everything from the 20's to the 80's. A huge selection of cars, but any make or model was spread everywhere, forcing you to wander the yard. I saw a good 18" diameter tree trunk in the engine compartment, surrounded by metal. Wandering the yard was a delight, evoking many good memories of cars long ago.

So...do you have any good yards near you? Why are they good? How often do you go?
 
There is a decent pick n pull right near me, LKQ. I actually went there today. I've pulled a couple engines from there, numerous odds and end parts. Same category as you describe, nothing newer then 10 years old and nothing older then the 90s really. A few 80s vehicles here and there.
 
I miss the old days of wandering junk yards. When i was 16, and building my first car, I spent days in different yards looking for just the right parts. I can’t imagine any yard letting a teenage kid walk around today. There are still several classic car yards out here in the west, just none near me.
 
We have a few yards left that you can walk and pull parts. They still all ask what I'm looking for, but I usually don't know. I just like to see what I can find.

No classics either. They are all rotted away from rust if they were junked. Mostly 90s stuff.
 
Its quite awhile when I visited a junkyard. The last time was back in 2001. It was a big one and to my surprise I could spot a few 65-66 mustangs. All where 6 cylinders coupes as I could see on which accelerator pedal was mounted. They all were very very rotten, even the vin was rotten away.
I saw cars dated from my childhood , the 60's and yes , I saw a mercedes poton with a tree in his engine bay !!
Nowedays this junkyard isn't a junkyard anymore but a autorecycling . Everything is neat and enviremental. No old cars anymore. What a shame .
Visiting a truly junkyard was as going " BACK TO THE PAST " .
 
There is a huge 'pick u part' lot in Sylmar between Van Nuys n LA off interstate 5. I harvested a clock and a couple other goodies for my girlfriend (now ex-wife) Datsun 200sx. That car was a POS.
 
There are quite a few pick-a-part type yards in the area. Sadly there are rarely any “classic” cars. Every once in a while they will have some and I wonder why someone decided to junk it. But I try to go on a regular basis. They know me enough now to just take my $3 and let me wander.


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Used to have a few around here that had cars back to the '30's. With the price of scrap metal way up a few years back, they all cleaned their yards out. One guy not too far from me had at least 200 Mustangs in his back 40, he scrapped every one of them but kept most of the parts. He has a huge pole barn full of stuff. He is pushing 90 yrs old and walks and climbs around his stuff like a teenager.
 
Back in the day (80's) we would spend entire weekends roaming yards. Muscle cars were abundant then. Tough to find a yard worth going to anymore and even harder one where they let you in. Craigslist is the modern alternative for me now but it is not nearly as fun or productive.
 
We got some good ones here in DFW... I usually go to a place called Apache Auto Salvage along why 287 SE of Fort Worth, but there's a whole string of salvage yards along that stretch of road. Last time I was there, they had 2 '60s Mustangs from which I pulled some odds and ends. I also picked up a 2-speed wiper motor an intermittent wiper switch from some Ford trucks.
 
We still have a few. I know them all so I can usually get some real good deals. Harder to find what I'm looking for here recently though. But they let me wander around as much as I want lol.
 
I found this once... thought it was pretty cool
1385507_10200949040913847_1943809990_n.jpg
 
Nice. A 5 window. Quirky but it is on my list!
they wanted $800 and it wouldn't have a title. I was tempted but it was missing too many parts. But it sure was cool. This yard gets stuff like this occasionally. Makes me wonder who is junking this stuff.
 
unless that Z is a complete rust bucket, it would bring good money out here!
 
unless that Z is a complete rust bucket, it would bring good money out here!
Ken:
Many of them were complete rust buckets. I recall a neighbor having bought one "imported" from Hawaii when it was 6 years old and the front frame rails had rust holes in them large enough for large rodents to pass through. Total roach.
 
There is a huge 'pick u part' lot in Sylmar between Van Nuys n LA off interstate 5. I harvested a clock and a couple other goodies for my girlfriend (now ex-wife) Datsun 200sx. That car was a POS.
Yeah, I think it's called Memory Lane. Used to go there every once in a while when I lived in LA. (Oh, and I still had my car...lol) Their prices got to be too expensive and you had to always have them pull the part for you. They were stacking cars on top of one another so seeing certain parts on the top car just wasn't feasible. Kind of dumb if you ask me.....
 
there was a junkyard near Bill that used to have a lot of Mustangs. I used to go out there a lot. Not much left there anymore
junk yard 1.jpg junk yard 2.jpg junk yard 3.jpg junk yard 4.jpg junk yard 5.jpg
 
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