Junkyard Visit 4/2/04

Another depressing day at the junkyard today.

This winter took its toll on alot of Chicago cruisers. Rows of mid to late 80's Caprice's, LeSabre's Caddy Broughams, 98's and Town Cars. Always a surge in new residents after winter ends, only to lay rotting away before being fed into the crusher.

It appears my 78 Olds 88 met that fate sometime ago.

I saw many a newer car with blown airbags and minimal damage to the front ends of those vehilce's. I always wonder what is a 5 -7 year old car doing in the junkyard. Not a very long life.

The latest collection of 87-90 Bonnevilles included LE, SE and four SSE's. If the odometers were correct they ranged from 51,000 to 136,000 to 189,000 and 204,000 miles. There were around 10 of them in all.

Only one 1991 was there. : - )

There were around 10 from the 92-96 era. A silver 92 one had its rear bumper shoved up under the left rear floor pan. Caused by an apparent high speed offset rear end collision.

A 2000 ( or newer ) PT Cruiser and a 99 - ish looking Z / 28 were the newest cars on the property. The PT was high up on " The Front / Rear Clip Storage Rack ", cut in half just behind the front door. A very short lifespan for the PT, indeed.

Some real nice looking 90's Roadmaster wagons, and late 80's Custom Cruiser, Caprice and Buick Estate wagons all lay in the last row far enough from view & ear shot of the office personel, only to have all their windows busted out by brake drums, bumper jack's, or wheel rims.

I swept the glass off the leather seat in one Roadmaster wagon - what a comfortable seat it was. To big to be put in my car. I bet that car did some cruising at one time.

The oldest car there was a 63 Cadilac and a 64 or 65 Thunderbird.

I ended up buying a the defroster outlet grille for my dash. Mine broke up from heat warp & age. I also got 6 window pillar molding clips and the Bonneville nameplates off the doors, trunklid and dashboard. I also found the long style door map pocket from an 89 SE. Its for my front passenger door panel. I've had the long style on the driver side for three years. Been waiting that long to find another grey one for the right side. For some reason in 1990 Pontiac shrunk the overall length of the map pockets about 8 inches.

After I paid for the stuff, I put my muddy boots in the trunk, washed my hands with GOJO, cracked open a cold one ( Pepsi ) and looked at my dirty dusty car. I drove off with a smile, happy, thinking my old, nice condition high miler is still running.

So long clunker cars. Until next time .

========= Harryface =========

1991 Pontiac Bonneville LE 3800 V6 ( C ), Black/Slate Grey _~_~_~_~278, 469 miles_~_~_ ~_~_
Reply to
Harry Face
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In my mind it's even more of a crime when some wanker purports to be a car guy, then cuts up an all original, running 54 Chevy for the sake of a TV show. Geez, with all the cars he could have used and saved from a crusher death....

Walking through a yard is always like a trip on the "what could be" machine. I hate to see anything crushed.

Reply to
FBR

Reminds me of a 'yard in Denver I went to while living in Laramie, Wyo. It was a high-volume, high-turnover upullit, with an amazing array of desirable stuff. I never failed to find a selection of Dana 60s,

9-inches, TH400s and TF727s. 327/350/400 SBCs were in plague numbers, and 40s/50s/60s cruisers went through there every weekend. A '67 Impala (bought the steering wheel), a '65 Olds (trim & gauge cluster), a '64 413/pushbutton 727/8.75" SureGrip mopar wagon (yard closed before I got the trans out), and a '51 FleetMaster with good glass (too bad--a buddy has a '49 and needed it) all came through in less than a month. They all went to the crusher before I came back. GM B-bodies, including 9C1 cars, were in the dozens every weekend. Local rodders were always gobbling up or mangling the whole top end of the TBI cars. Late model totals and even repos/used car lot stragglers ended up there, including a running, straight Mitsu Galant VR4 turbo. Or the '64 Mercedes, with perfect sheetmetal, mint leather, and a backseat/trunk loaded with boxes filled with (wait for it) *new everything* needed to rebuild the motor (even pistons, new in the box). Must have come from the estate of a deceased restorer. The only thing I never came across was the elusive aluminum Slant Six.

It's a shame how much good stuff gets turned into razor blades and rebar for no good reason.

Mark

Reply to
Marky

Anybody remember the '54 Savoy ragtop that Troy Trepanier chopped up and put a Viper motor in? That thing was supposedly *mint.* A metalworker of Trepanier's capability could have started with a mangled car, especially considering that there wasn't an original panel left on it when he was done.

I've always said that if I ever hit the lottery, I am going to buy a huge chunk of land in AZ or TX or someplace dry and salt free, and buy up everything I can find and just let it all sit until folks that care about old cars have salvaged every piece and panel.

Mark

Reply to
Marky

You're quite a writer HarryFace. I always enjoy your posts!

Reply to
James C. Reeves

We live in such a wasteful society, I hate to see all those decent cars setting in the JY and all these worthless little imports clogging up the roadways. Last trip I went I wanted to buy everything there.

Reply to
Eugene

I'm in 100% agreement with you!

No one cares about our heritage anymore, and cars are a major part of it, I see cars on a farm rotting away, and the farmer refuses to sell it. Maybe he got his first piece of ass ion it or something of the like?

But it befuddles me, how someone can let an American treasure go to waste?

Refinish King

Reply to
Refinish King

I wouldn't feel so bad if all the good parts that are really needed for cars of special interest could be saved. What I hate about the junkyard is that they crushed desirable cars without getting most of the stuff out of them. Usually one guy tears up everything in the interior and breaks everything in the dash trying to get out the clock knob. Then somebody rolls the windows down and takes the hood off to make sure everything else ruins.

Reply to
Joe

Dude get me the front calipers and caliper brakets from that Z-28 if its a

99 or newer.
Reply to
Paradox

You guys are killing me. I was recently told there is a shortage of scrap metal in America because it is all being exported to be recycled overseas. The irony of course, is that the metal is coming back in import cars.

I've seen the right thing at the wrong time so often. Once I found a farmer's personal junkyard. I was about 15 and bird hunting with my trusty single shot 16. I met the guy and he had me sit down for a soda and we BS'ed quite a bit. He gave me a tour of the 'yard' and I had to ask my dad what some of the cars were, Studebaker Goldenhawks, Starlighters, various Mopars and Camaros. There was one that slips my mind, it was a refrigerator company, RFW, RFK, been 20 years, I can't remeber now.

Don't know where those souls went, haven't been that way since. But the old cars remind me of the airplanes at the end of WWII. Makes me sick to see B-17's, P-38's and P-51's falling to the guillotine because they weren't 'worth anything'.

Damn, most poetic thing I've ever written.

"Bob"

Reply to
Bob

My brother and I bought a '69 Charger roof from this guy in Florida who subscribes to all the trader rags on the East Coast and drives with his diesel truck all the time to get rust-free muscle cars and then chop them up... I wanted to cry when I saw all the perfectly good cars that had been cut up into sections because the asshole can make more money cutting the things up than selling them whole. For instance.. the charger that donated its roof to our cause was a rust-free 1968 Charger that was a 318 car from Florida... not really as 'desirable' as some.. but never wrecked and didn't come with a vinyl top, so it had absolutely NO RUST... We have these types of people to thank .. and the bureaucrats..

As for your "i hate to see anything crushed".... there's plenty of stuff that needs to be crushed... most front wheel drive cars should be crushed.. All French cars should be crushed regardless of mechanical condition (but usually it's horrid anyway, so no sweat)... any remaining Yugos should be crushed as well... Matter of fact -- I saw one in the junkyard the other weekend! I couldn't believe it! I lifted the bonnet to marvel at the technological wonder for a moment..

Reply to
Celica Dude

I daily-drive a Saab 900 from 1990. Excellent reliable car, peppy, rewarding to drive, but still not as fast as my 400 Firebird or even the

900 turbo (which is pretty quick).

Anyway, the hood opens at the front, and the way to open it to me is natural, but is entirely different from any other car around.

At a scrapyard I frequent, there are several 900's, and I love to grab stuff. I finally closed the hatchback on the power antenna for the last time, and it broke in 1/2. So I went to the yard. Of 4 900's, only one had what looked like a good power antenna ( '87, had what looked like an entire disassebled Pontiac Sunfire inside) (was retracted). When I went to get it, car was gone - crushed. There were only 3 900's (one actually was a new arrival, '85 in piece-of-crap condition) left, one had a piece of metal pipe jammed into the quarter panel as an antenna, the others had nothing but a hole (just great). And for some reason, all the hoods are removed, and lying on the ground a few feet away from the cars. Why? They don't know how to open the suckers I am told.

Bob wrote:

Reply to
Max

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