crazy old coots

[Guest leadsled1953]

while over on the DeSoto site. there was a decussion on websites that did not return info requests on parts ect.i replied that people had forgotten the crazies we had to deal with in the years before this cyber space stuff.i remember the guy with the military junkyard on 206 in south jersey.he lived in his junkyard...had billboards claiming Nixon was a commie tradior.but he had the koolest stuff.its a empty field there now.but everytime i ride by i think of all the world war 2 staff cars lined up.and getting bit by a horse while talking to him one day.anybody elseremember these pre cyber space crazies? <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

[Amphicar BUYER]

In about 1980 I was doing survey work in Puddle Valley, Utah (Near Toele) and there was a red/white 57 Skyliner with the top mid-way between up and down with a sign complaining about Ford's engineering. When I spoke with they guy about selling it, he acted as if I just shot his dog. He wanted no part of selling it EVER! He said it had sat there since it was months old and would continue to sit there until he was dead. I would suspect that he made good on his promise. Onery old fart he was! Sad that once beautiful car was probably beyond saving and I would guess is now about a dozen Toyotas.

[Guest leadsled1953]

i rememember the crazy old man who had a junkyard in Hyde Park .i was looking for an flathead harley which was suppose to be along the back wall.i found the guy laying in a car looking like he was dead but when i opened the door you could tell he was passed out drunk.sometimes he would start yelling at you for looking at stuff.then the next time he would be nice as pie.

[Snappydwp1]

There was this old used car/wreaking yard called Glen's used cars in Selma, Calif. just south of Fresno off HWY 99. The guys and I would all stop by there on our annual trip up to the Turlock swap meet. The place had all of these 50's and early 60's cars on the front lot like it was 1963. It looked like someone had just walked away from the place one day and left the cars just setting there. Most of the cars had wide white walls that were bleached out from the sun over the last 30 years. The cars were in varied stages of decay and neglect.

Not to mention what was in the wrecking yard, among other cars there were two 40 Ford coupes that were original and another 40 Ford coupe that was an old lead sled custom from the 50s. I mean it was unreal. Throught the office window we could see on the desk a brand new telephone book and one time when we were there we actually heard the telephone ring. But in the 6 years that we had visited the place we never saw anybody on the property.

Then the last time we were there looking around, a car pulled up and out popped Glen. The guy just wanted us out of there. We asked him about the cars, are any for sale. He said he wanted to sell the whole yard with the cars and would not sell any individual cars or parts.

A couple of years later we heard that he had died and his family had a big sale and sold some of the cars and crushed the rest. And now it's just a big empty field.<img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

[Guest leadsled1953]

its as if they wanted to keep all the neat stuff for themselves.as a teenager there was a massive junkyard between atlanta and forest park.there was a big old guy in bibb overalls with a cigar half chewed[the things you remember]i remembered if you asked and promised not to touch nothing he would let you roam the junkyard looking at all the 40s and 50s cars.i believe that there are strip malls there now. <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

[Guest leadsled1953]

the craziest i ever ran in to was Oliver Bonnerworth.he had 2 junkyards in rhinebeck ny.he had a hundred packards.i almost bought a 41 caddie hearse from him for $300.but he was crazy and refused to pay his taxes.he finially threaten to kill a judge .then all his cars were towed away[crushed no douth]the land sold.my friend ownes the 25 arces the packards were on. <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

[Ron Green]

Years ago while restoring a Pontiac I needed some trim pieces and through a friend from VA found that there was a guy here in upper PA (Clarion) that specialized in Pontiac?s and had a small junkyard. Seems he was quite cantankerous and wouldn?t sell to just anybody. Sort of like the soup nazi on Senifeld.

After numerous phone calls he allowed my to come up to look around. He sort of interviewed you then granted you permission to roam. Having found and pulled my parts he invited me into one of his storage buildings where he had a great selection of old Pontiac?s he had acquired through the years including a 57 fuel injected Bonneville with 33K miles. He showed me in detail the process of leading of which he was good at.

When we were walking out to leave we stopped at one more building where there was the mother load of rare NOS parts still in unopened boxes from the 50?s & 60?s. It was his warehouse of private parts that seldom was seen by anyone. Needless to say the van was a little heavier going home then expected. Some of this stuff I haven?t seem since.

[R W Burgess]

Interesting story. What do you think happened to the fuelly Ron?

Wayne

[Guest leadsled1953]

i knew a neat old guywho had a junk yard upstate ny.he always told everone he was rich.sadly he was killed when struck by car by his junkyard.well it turned out he had a hundred shoebox fords behind his house.and school buses full of nos parts.but the nyc weekend crowd forced the daughter in law into crushing eveything.she had offered me the whole junkyard but i had no place to take it. it was a big loss to old car owners

[Ron Green]

Wayne, As far as I know it is still there however his health is failing him and Gibb is probably approaching 80. The last time he was seen in public was a few years ago at the national Pontiac convention. I inquired about him at spring Carlisle but no one new what was the status and I hate to call and bug him or the family.

Last year another old timer (Gerald) 50 miles north of my house who also specializes in Pontiac's and was a major vendor was found dead setting out in one of his garages. He too has ton's of NOS parts and rare vehicles however the family is currently fighting each other over all.

An interesting story on Gerald. He also has a 57 Pontiac Bonneville fuelly and sold it to a friend of mine from Minnesota last year for a reported 75K. The following night is when Gerald passed away and the family refused to go on with the sale as that is when the fighting must have begun.

[Restorer32]

i remember the guy with the military junkyard on 206 in south jersey.he lived in his junkyard...had billboards claiming Nixon was a commie tradior.but he had the koolest stuff.its a empty field there now.but everytime i ride by i think of all the world war 2 staff cars lined up.and getting bit by a horse while talking to him one day.

Ah,yes. This particular crazy old coot was John Mahalcik. I was thru his yard several years before the sale. He had a '27 Cadillac Sedan, various Packards, lots of motorcycles and literally tons of Army surplus stuff. He lived in a steel teepee in the center of all this stuff. We were at the sale after he died but all the better stuff had disappeared by then. Wonder what ever happened to the locomotive or the dirigible contol modules?

[Clipper47]

There are at least two old coots in these parts that qualify as "crazy". One fellow operates a "business" and several acres of cars, trucks, buses, tractors and even a diesel locomotive. He lives across the road from his yard and you have to visit him several times before he will let you look or buy anything. Another fellow has probably 200-300 old vehicle ranging from about 1920 to 1950 on his property. Like the other coot he doesn't sell any parts unless he likes you and you have visited several times.

[Guest leadsled1953]

John Mahalcik was a real crazy guy.i hear that a lot of stuff[dirigible contol modules i'm sure]wound up in the smithonian .he had stuff that nobody else had.i wish i still had the pics of that junkyard <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

[Mark Huston]

I have been chasing old cars since the early 70?s when still in school. I did not have an old car but was actively looking for one for my first car when I turned 16. One of the cars I located was a 1933 Plymouth Delux Rumble Seat 6 wire wheel Coupe. The car was a low mileage unrestored original. The Nut who owned the Plymouth had inherited it from his aunt in the late 60?s and parked it in his driveway next to the house and directly in front of his garage. He would not sell the car, would not do anything with it and just left it sit in the driveway. For years I would drive by that house and each time the Plymouth was in a more advanced stage of deterioration. The Plymouth finally was covered with rust, the fabric top rotted way and the interior was then rotting way from the rain coming in the top, tires rotten and flat. By now the Plymouth was neighborhood blight on a street of 40?s vintage homes. With pressure from the neighbors and to many request to sell the car the owner finally after many years opened up his garage door and pushed what was left of the Plymouth into the garage. As far as I know the Plymouth is still in that garage continuing to rot away, but at least now that it is out of the weather hopefully is rotting at a slower rate.

Another car that I had located and had an agreement to buy was an early 1960?s Studebaker Convertible. This car was located in the mountains of California sitting off the road in a grove of pine trees. The car needed restored, top gone, interior gone, sheet metal was good and the condition of the engine was a mystery. The guy who owned the car was in frail healthy and told me he only had a few months to live since he was slowly dying of cancer. He wanted to sell the car before he died and we agreed on a price and I was to come back the next weekend to pay for the car and tow it away. Well the next weekend I show up with truck and trailer, cash in hand and the guys wife starts in on me with a verbal assault for taking advantage of her husband and that the car was not for sale and never would be for sale. She told us to get off her property and that as far as she was concerned the Studebaker could rot into the ground before she would allow it to be removed from her property. As far as I know her wish just might have come true.

I have had many other experiences dealing with so many people who would not sell their cars, but preferred to watch them rot into the ground. I guess they enjoy knowing that they have something someone else wants, even if they are destroying it in the process.

[Mike Cullen]

There was an old guy in Holland Patent NY who had a yard almost in the middle of the village. It was kind of in a gorge that made removal of anything impossible except from the back side where his house and shop were. It was loaded with teens through 40s cars and it was rumored that his shop was filled to the rafters with NOS parts. My Father and I drove by there every couple of weeks for years, there never seemed to be any activity at all, just beautiful old relics, getting worse and worse. Quite a few years later I had a contract job in that town. I asked around and the old guy had died, the town had all the cars crushed, and everything else hauled off to the dump. It brought tears to my eyes hearing that.

A few miles away, in Rome NY, An old excentric gentleman donated his house, barn, carriage house, and all contents to the local VFW to use as a post home.

The members of the post were shocked to find several 20s and 30s era luxury cars, (Pierce, Lincoln, Cadillac, Cord, Auburn, etc. perfectly maintained.) There was a freight elevator in the carriage house, upstairs there was an unbelievable assortment of NOS parts for all of the cars, special purpose tools and a workshop set up for his personal mechanic. The Post auctioned the cars and parts for a huge sum in those days (60s) and kept a few small relics for display at the post. I haven't been there in years. I often wonder what happened to all that stuff.

[JFranklin]

As a 16 year old in Santa Monica, California 1960's we were searching for parts for a friends Model A coupe we found the shop of the beach tram operator, and all his trams were ford A powered and maybe B also. a real long muffler kept it almost a secreat. He claimed he'd own all the A's around. It was a neat shop!

There was a man in my town that had a garage. He, and his father before him, had every car taken on lien, bought or dumped, ACRES! all rotting away. His widow really needs to hold an auction. but nothing last year. Ah, hope is eternal <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

[Guest leadsled1953]

i beleve there is info on John Mahalcik and his junkyard at the wierd new jersey website www.weirdnj.com .he had a lot of court fights over his yard.even had it taken away from him.but he beat the town/county ect in the courts.he may have been a crazy old coot but he always stood his ground <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />