What was your best junk yard find?

[Guest greg walsh]

An Illinois junkyard in the early 70's owner let my friend and I search through an old big tin building in the yard that was going to be torn down. We took all day but my friend and I must have found at least 50 name badges and hood ornaments from the 20's maby even some teens through the 40's. I'll never forget that trip. If Indiana Jones were into cars, he'd be proud!

[caddyshack]

Back in the early 60's I was lookig for chevrolet v-8 motor parts and spotted a manifold with what I thought was one carb on it. The manifold was upside down in the mud, and when I pulled it up, it was a blueflame, 6 cylinder, early Corvette manifold. The young kid at the entrance said $25.00. Best buy I ever had. Not a junkyard find, but when I cleaned out my 04 Cad in 1973 it had (6) Indian-head pennies, (3) nickles, and (2) 2-1/2 Dollar gold pieces. Still have all of the coins. Always check what you vacuum up on old cars.

[Guest dokks6t9]

Not a junkyard find but I bought a 1955 DeSoto, with hemi, for $10 bucks for a field car. Drove it home, about 5 miles, no plates... I still owe the guy $5 bucks as I was short 5.

[Amphicar BUYER]

Years ago when I still had my '66 DeVille ragtop, I was looking for a dashpad. Bob told me it would be $50 IF he had one. I went out looking and there was a white 66 that literally looked as if it hit a concrete wall very hard. The interior was already gone incl dash (surprisingly not bent). I looked in the back and peeking out from under some old carpet was the dash pad. Not just any dash pad, but in red, not cracked or faded as I needed and better yet it was a stereo dash pad with both speakers and grills! (1st year offered and VERY rare). Bob was pissed and wanted $250, but I reminded him he told me $50. He reluctantly let me buy it. I am certain that I overpaid for every part since!

[Willys77]

Back about 1970 I checked out L & M Auto Wreckers ~ a very small local yard. He had some goodies, for sure ~ 1933 or 1934 Continental (or Beacon) Four Door Sedan COMPLETE and probably without much work, it would have been a runner. Didn't buy it! A young guy bought the 1936 Willys 77 Sedan that was there but he hadn't picked it up yet. So Lee gave me his name and number and I called him up, met him at the yard and bought the car for $25.00 AND A TWELVE PACK OF BEER! Now I'm thirsty!

[Guest 1949rmaster]

I list older cars on ebay from time to time, Its been about 10yrs back, Aguy in oklahoma called me about listing 4 junk cars, he owned a salvage yard and needed to turn some old t-birds. a collector had like 27 cars all t-birds 1963 and his large warehouse had burned. moved of the restored cars were burned to wreckage metal, However 4 cars were outside. on the deal if i got anything over 2000. for the four / or i would get 10% of each price. so i listed the cars one at a time, i sold one for 1750. the second for 1,000. however the third car in primer and pretty uglied up /no interior, seemed to skyrocket ..it had a 6 pack, and it was original to the car. it had m series numbers It brought 7,000. i was able to put 2,000. in my pocket..this was the best deal, i got from a junkyard..mmm i also bought a 1967 camaro for 2,000. it was a rs/ss car vry rough, purkey also has a grand prix, 1965 i believe that is a six pack car..

[dei]

Found but not recovered unfortunately.

I live in Windsor, Ontario Canada right across from Detroit and was driving my Dad's 1958 Buick Limited 2dr as an everyday driver at the age of 17.

We have a metal recycler here that the yard is visible from one of our main roads. The pile of vehicles to be shreded was about 12 or so high and what do I spot at the very top? One black '58 Buick LIMITED CONVERTIBLE! Did a U turn and parked on the shoulder to to make sure it wasn't a mirage.

The crime of it was that it had a beautiful back bumper and side chrome quarters which we needed on ours let alone the fact it was the low production convertible (839 produced) !!!!!! We did everything short of getting a lawyer to get that car or parts but......... do to the fact this yard was a bonded yard, bringing cars in from the States to be scraped, the Government red tape was too much to save it.

I watched that car for almost three months before it finally disappeared. Did save Dad's limited for a parts car as it was well worn before I got it and found another almost identical one in much better shape but......... almost still brings a tear to my eyes when I think about that convert.

[Guest A1915dodge]

A whole molester van full of nudie magazines me and my brother were teenagers with my old man at the junkyard we thought that was great! Hey the pages were not stuck together either.

[jaxops]

I was finally on shore duty in the Navy at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester (Wor-stah) Mass. The Navy sent me to San Diego for training, and just before I noticed my fuel line leaking. While I was out there I found a junkyard in San Diego, and retrieved the whole fuel line. Needless to say it wouldn't fit in the luggage so I carried it onto the plane and had it between my knees all the way back to Massachusetts. Can you imagine that today???

A perfect fit, it solved my cracked fuel line problem.

[Rusty_OToole]

Not exactly a junkyard find but today I bought a 1966 Dodge Coronet 440 at an auction for $400.

This car and I have history.

It was bought new by a local man who drove it sparingly until he died. His grandson inherited it, had it fixed up and drove it to work for a few months then put it in the garage for 13 years.

Then, he moved it out onto the paved driveway to make room for his sailboat. That is when I spotted it and moved in for the kill lol.

When I knocked on the door a teenager with a Sideshow Bob hairdo answered. He said the car was his dad's and he didn't know if he wanted to sell, but his mom was after him to get rid of it. At that moment I knew I could write my own ticket. So, I ended up buying it for $50 bucks.

Took it home, got it running, redid brakes, exhaust and a few other things. It was ready for the road except for some bodywork. So far, I had it a month.

Then we got a spell of hot weather. I thought I would wait till it cooled down a little before suiting up to do the sandblasting but never got around to finishing it.

5 or 6 years later, sold it for $2000. Then the guy I sold it to traded it to an antique car dealer on a 53 Chrysler. I met him at the sale today, he told me he got rid of it because the frame was cracked (not true). The reason he knew the frame was cracked, the back door would not open. Gee wonder why that would happen after not being opened for 40 years?

Anyway the dealer died a year or so ago. His widow held an auction of all his leftover parts, cars, and tools. The Dodge was one of the shabbier looking cars ( half done bodywork remember?) and went for only $400 bucks.

The kicker is, the original owner put less than 34000 miles on the car. When I bought it today, the odo read 33998. I can verify that is original by the condition, and because I got all the grandfather's receipts when I bought the car. Today I got back the file I gave to the guy who bought it from me, with receipts going back to 1966 including the repairs I did in 2001.

This time I promise to finish the bodywork lol.

PS Dodge Coronet 440 is the model. The engine is a slant six. This I like, as I will be able to drive it to my heart's content and not worry about gas mileage, or wearing out the engine.

Edited May 15, 2011 by Rusty_OToole (see edit history)

[keiser31]

Very nice score, Rusty! I'm jealous.

[Guest Kingoftheroad]

Not exactly a junkyard find but today I bought a 1966 Dodge Coronet 440 at an auction for $400.

This car and I have history.

It was bought new by a local man who drove it sparingly until he died. His grandson inherited it, had it fixed up and drove it to work for a few months then put it in the garage for 13 years.

Then, he moved it out onto the paved driveway to make room for his sailboat. That is when I spotted it and moved in for the kill lol.

When I knocked on the door a teenager with a Sideshow Bob hairdo answered. He said the car was his dad's and he didn't know if he wanted to sell, but his mom was after him to get rid of it. At that moment I knew I could write my own ticket. So, I ended up buying it for $50 bucks.

Took it home, got it running, redid brakes, exhaust and a few other things. It was ready for the road except for some bodywork. So far, I had it a month.

Then we got a spell of hot weather. I thought I would wait till it cooled down a little before suiting up to do the sandblasting but never got around to finishing it.

5 or 6 years later, sold it for $2000. Then the guy I sold it to traded it to an antique car dealer on a 53 Chrysler. I met him at the sale today, he told me he got rid of it because the frame was cracked (not true). The reason he knew the frame was cracked, the back door would not open. Gee wonder why that would happen after not being opened for like, 40 years?

Anyway the dealer died a year or so ago. His widow held an auction of all his leftover parts, cars, and tools. The Dodge was one of the shabbier looking cars ( half done bodywork remember?) and went for only $400 bucks.

The kicker is, the original owner put less than 34000 miles on the car. When I bought it today, the odo read 33998. I can verify that is original by the condition, and because I got all the grandfather's receipts when I bought the car. Today I got back the file I gave to the guy who bought it from me, with receipts going back to 1966 including the repairs I did in 2001.

This time I promise to finish the bodywork lol.

PS Dodge Coronet 440 is the model. The engine is a slant six. This I like, as I will be able to drive it to my heart's content and not worry about gas mileage, or wearing out the engine.

Good Story !

Sounds like you've been reunited with an old friends....

[Guest S_A_W]

A whole molester van full of nudie magazines me and my brother were teenagers with my old man at the junkyard we thought that was great! Hey the pages were not stuck together either.

Hahaha, funny!

I am amazed at the details people have wrote about in their stories, even junk yard finds that happened 20 or 30 years ago.

I heard one of our yard guys talking last week and he said about 10 years ago he was out in Alberta at a U Pic yard and found 50 rolls of quarters in a bag stashed under a spare tire!

[rhb1999]

'78 Chevrolet Malibu Laudau coupe w/ factory tach, remanufactured Carter AFB still in the bag, air tools that they gave me, '78 Pontiac 301 bored 40? over, new pistons, rings, main and rod bearings, cam and lifters. complete interior for '82 Malibu station wagon in excellent shape.

[Restorer32]

1932 Packard 900 conv. Shabby but well worth the $500 I had to pay for it...in 1971.

[Restorer32]

Tell me about it, we' ve worked on a dozen of them. I could rewood one in my sleep I think.

[Amphicar BUYER]

I have managed to save a number of Amphicars from that fate. Just sold one that they guy at the crusher called me about. He texted me a photo of it in the crusher with his finger on the button. Yup, I bought it and it is almost restored and in the water once again!

[Dave Henderson]

In the '80's, I bought a Harman and Collins flathead V8 magneto for $8 at a yard in the York Pa. vicinity.  I seem to recall them telling me they thought it was for a tractor....  Ebay's "completed listings"  currently show one that just sold for $950.

Edited May 31, 2016 by Dave Henderson (see edit history)

[JV Puleo]

Many years ago I was working on a 1905 Cadillac that belonged to a friend. It was straight out of the barn, complete with shredded tires. I suspect it may have been retired because someone hit a rock or a stump with the tie rod and broke it... it was held together (just barely) with a piece of angle iron and cheap u-bolts. I thought about making one but, on a hunch, I went  to our favorite local junk yard, Bills Auto Parts, in Valley Falls, RI. Bill was a character... he never scrapped an old car. His yard was literally full of cars from the 20s and 30s. I was there so often, and had gotten so familiar with the yard, that Bill would occasionally ask me where things were. In any case... I'd seen a very early chassis with nothing left but the frame rails and front axel. The tie rod was there and it looked a bit similar to the one on the Cadillac. I bought it, for all of $5, and tried it on the Cadillac. It fit perfectly... and I mean really perfectly. Even the clevis ends were the right size so that all I did was paint it and bolt it on. It wasn't an early Cadillac chassis either... I knew enough to recognize that, and I never did find out what it might have been.

[JACK M]

When I was a kid there was a wrecking yard near me that almost always had a $35 car for sale.

I bought many of those and with a little fixing up could usually get $50 or $75 for them.

I was in heaven and got to drive a different car about every week.

Back then we didn't have to have insurance and the tires were usually bald.

This brings memories of all of those scores that are very valuable now, you know, the ones we all wished we would have kept.

AAHHH the old good days.

[GMPARTSMAN]

Two finds actually.

 

Complete front end overhaul kit for a 67 Pontiac Catalina from Kanter's about 1994. A local salvage yard would call me whenever they got in a 67 big car Pontiac. I popped the trunk cylinder and under a opened soggy bag of dry dog food and a couple sleeping bags with marinating with funk and mildew there it was.

 

I was acquiring all the parts for the front end build and power steering conversion and was about two days away from ordering that same kit from Kanters. All Moog parts except the tie rod ends.

 

Summer of 87 I was starting to collect parts for this car (long term project slowed by moving across country and lost four years of work time on it) and needed the clutch cross shaft and bracket. Of course pre Internet days and no one sold big car parts. Hemmings and Cars and Parts Magazine was about the only hope and that was hopeless. I was a GM dealer parts manager out west at the time, so anytime someone came in from the little settlements I gave them a copy of the parts catalog illustration showing what I needed. 

 

One guy said he saw one somewhere in his back lot and thought the parts were still there. Owned a small towing service and bought a part for his tow truck that broke down that day in front of my dealership   As he was about 150 miles from my dealership I didn't hold out much hope.that he would find anything, figured he forgot to check or just said he would.and blew it off.

 

About three months later he came in and said "Remember me?" Before I could say anything as I was on the phone he reached into a grocery bag and pulled out the parts I needed. I was stunned to say the least. I then traded a locking gas cap that he wanted for his pickup, cost me all of nine dollars!

 

 

[JACK M]

20 hours ago, GMPARTSMAN said:

Two finds actually.

 

Complete front end overhaul kit for a 67 Pontiac Catalina from Kanter's about 1994. A local salvage yard would call me whenever they got in a 67 big car Pontiac. I popped the trunk cylinder and under a opened soggy bag of dry dog food and a couple sleeping bags with marinating with funk and mildew there it was.

 

I was acquiring all the parts for the front end build and power steering conversion and was about two days away from ordering that same kit from Kanters. All Moog parts except the tie rod ends.

 

Summer of 87 I was starting to collect parts for this car (long term project slowed by moving across country and lost four years of work time on it) and needed the clutch cross shaft and bracket. Of course pre Internet days and no one sold big car parts. Hemmings and Cars and Parts Magazine was about the only hope and that was hopeless. I was a GM dealer parts manager out west at the time, so anytime someone came in from the little settlements I gave them a copy of the parts catalog illustration showing what I needed. 

 

One guy said he saw one somewhere in his back lot and thought the parts were still there. Owned a small towing service and bought a part for his tow truck that broke down that day in front of my dealership   As he was about 150 miles from my dealership I didn't hold out much hope.that he would find anything, figured he forgot to check or just said he would.and blew it off.

 

About three months later he came in and said "Remember me?" Before I could say anything as I was on the phone he reached into a grocery bag and pulled out the parts I needed. I was stunned to say the least. I then traded a locking gas cap that he wanted for his pickup, cost me all of nine dollars!

 

 

 

Being behind the counter is a foot up on being in the right place at the right time.

I was in the boat business in my past life and many people that needed to sell, or garage cleaning or for whatever reason would come to me with boat stuff. That doesn't happen anymore as I am retired and don't have that connection any more.

Also being a car guy there would often be some antique or hot rod parked around the place (we were on the main highway) and people would stop by to talk about their treasures.

[Amphicar BUYER]

34 minutes ago, Dave Fields said:

Jack an excellent example of a low wage job that could reap unusually high dividends. Young people often do not think of this when they look for a job.

 

 

They are only interested in the bottom line which often is NOT the actual bottom line! Hence the $15/hr demands for unskilled labor which will encourage the folks who provide those jobs to automate.

[8E45E]

Our local 'Pick & Pull' received a 1965 Studebaker Cruiser a number of years ago which they wisely placed in their 'Complete Cars for Sale' compound before being sent to the yard for dismantling, had it not sold.  I was fortunate enough to see it in there a day or two after it was hauled in, and purchased it whole on the spot.  It had a seized motor, but an excellent body, with very little rust.  Turns out its a rather rare engine/transmission combination, 6-cylinder with a 3-spd overdrive, with something like 74 1965 Cruisers made that way.

 

Craig

[BOPcollector]

A couple of years ago I found a black / gold '72 Pontiac Hurst SSJ in a Pa. junkyard. Complete car with original running gear and of course I was able to buy it. Yes, it is rough but well worth saving .

[zipdang]

In 1979, as a seventeen-year-old, I owned a 1966 Olds Cutlass convertible. While driving on the freeway one of the top latch hooks broke (got over before any more damage). On a lark, I stopped in at the local junk yard that was known to only handle newer cars - nothing as old as 13 years. And, no kidding, they just had an identical Cutlass hauled in and were getting ready to just crush it. I not only got my latch hook, but a perfect dashboard! You know, one of those plastic, padded affairs that always cracked as had happened in my car. Never been that lucky since.