Ever go to junkyards just to wander?
 

Note: There were absolutely no Porsches in the junkyard today, so no Porsche content :(

There is a junkyard that I love to go to just to wander. Kind of like going to a petting zoo as a kid. No supervision, no safety measures or organization. Just acres of cars in the dirt, waiting to be explored.

I had an eye for the old ones today. Pics are better than words:

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I wanted to cut the whole dash from the '48 Buick.
I did get the clock. :D

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Ever since I was 13! :)
For my friends and I it was like an outing. Still do it occasionally when I can.
That's some awesome stuff there!

Is that a Datsun 1600 roadster? Odd to find that in a junkyard.

Started as a kid. Learned how to take things apart without consequences there.

Yep. I hoard parts at home. I feel like I'm at a museum at the junk yard and I hoard parts at work. :)

When I was 15 I had a job at the local junkyard busting tires, picking aluminum parts and trim, and general clean-up. It was a great job for a 15 year old kid.

My favorite Saturdays now are a trip to Oklahoma Foreign. They let me out back and into their warehouses just to wander. It's a rare day if I don't come back up front with $2-300 worth of goodies.

I think so. 1970?
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From the web:
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Not far from it was a Datsun "Fairlady" Roadster:
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From the web:
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I've seen an occasional Fiat X19, MGB, TR6 and 7. Not many like that, but they are there (and they've had rodents in them for a few years). Still....

Ever go to junkyards just to wander?

I use to take my lunch breaks at junkyards when I was on the road. Now I own one.

Early on in my sales career (10 years or so 20 plus years back) when I was still restoring muscle cars I spent EVERY moment I could in backwoods junkyards, Great Memories!!!! Unfortunately almost every one of them are long gone.

I'll go by LA Porsche Dismantlers now and then and look with amazement.

All the time. Love the VW fastback.

Been doing it since I was a kid.

Can't so much here which is a shame, last time I did (late 80's) I saw a Lancia Fulvia and a Flavia next to each other, so wanted to take them home.

Last trip to Oklahoma I saw Oklahoma foreign from the freeway. Circled back but they where close. Definitely wanted to go in. You guys are lucky to have them so close.

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This is at a junk yard not too far from me. The guy has one of those little bug looking BMW's too. Isetta?

I used to love going to breakers yards as a kid in UK in the 70's.
My Dad was restoring a 1930's Singer & Austin 7 so we used to go looking for parts.
There was one yard that had a load of 1920's onwards cars in an orchard at the back that was hard to access - it was like a secret garden. There were even a few old American cars that had been left behind after the war.
I still have a few old badges - they somehow 'fell' into a toolbag!!

I would, but the biggest one around here treats you like a convict when trying to enter or exit. :rolleyes:

You took some wonderful pics. What camera did you use and what lens?

Back in the mid 90's, I took a trip to Arizona and made it a point to stop at a junk yard just to wonder around. I was really surprised to see so many old cars that looked like they have been hacked, sawed, chopped, channeled and poorly welded. Like a kid trying to make a hot rod and then give up halfway through.

The dry air makes southern Arizona and haven for junk yards. If you are into old aircraft (and some newer stuff put into storage) we have a number of boneyards. The best know boneyard is the one north of Tuscun off the I10. You can see the tails of the larger aircraft from the freeway.

For me looking and both the old cars and aircraft makes me wonder what kind of life they had before ending up in a junkyard. Especially when you see some of the old miltary aircraft.

Thanks, It was actually just a Galaxy S4 phone. I used to always carry a Panasonic Lumix, but for most daily (point and shoot) stuff, the S4 does well.

Two near legendary salvage yards here were Hudson's (near Harrah) and Wilson's (near Lexington). In the 1980s and 1990s we used to meander through those places just for the history lesson. Sadly, they are long gone now.

Here's a couple more pics from my last two visits. Again, no Porsche content. Just rusty old memories.


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Whoa! An X1/9 ! And not completely rusted away!

Had one in the late 70's. They were so prone to rust that Road and Track or Car and Driver mentioned that the carpet was a "structural component" in their review. LOL

I used to love roaming the junk yards when I was younger back on Long Island (Long Island Ave in Deer Park). For liability reasons a lot of junk yards won't allow you to do that these days. There's nothing quite like climbing into a car to remove a part and being attacked by a swarm of wasps! Hey, it builds character! :)

Maybe I'm just nuts but junk yards make me kinda sad. Each old car rusting away and torn up was new and shiny once and had sort of a "life of it's own"..... if they could talk some of their stories would be pretty interesting.... but now they're just rusting, abandoned, and sad.

Useful for parts yep, sure....but still kinda sad.

Junkyards are like time capsules, lots of interesting stuff.

When I was a kid, my friend and I decided to build a go-cart so we rode 10 miles on our bikes to the dump and found a bunch of aircraft tail-wheels, seats, lawnmower engine and stuff.

We had to stash our stuff aside as it took about 4 trips over the course of 2 weeks (woa...80 miles) to get all the stuff home, and we crashed in the ditch a few times on the way as we didn't have a good way of securing all the stuff on the bicycles so we carried, tied, dragged stuff the 10 miles home.

That's the era when kids had great unsupervised adventures and you didn't need to be watched over every second as a preteen.

That X 1/9 brings back memories. I owned a '78 from almost new to 1985. Great little mid engine slot car that lacked HP but made up for it in amazing handling . Easy to work on and fun to drive. I love my Boxster but I wish I had never sold that little Fiat.

Retroman, just curious how an Okie knows about Red Green, a Canadian icon?

I am from the South, Red Green used to come on our PBS (Public Broadcast Station).

Yeah, every time I walk out in my garage... [rim shot]

Seriously though, around here most "dismantlers" are closed yards.

Back in the 90's when I was still a proud (and broke) VW owner there was a place called Bry's in West Seattle. You would talk to Bry, who looked like Burt Rutan complete with side burns, and he would suggest a car you could find the parts on. You could even borrow his tools to remove the item.

Once you had it off you would pay him. He made change out of his wallet and no paperwork was involved. Times were good.

The last time I was there it was a closed yard, as are most yards around here now. They pay people minimum wage to take all the parts worth a crap off the vehicle, label them, price them and store them inside.

It's a better business model because you don't loose all the "extra" parts that people shove in their pockets doing it old school, and you don't need to worry about some guy gutting himself like a fish on a rusty fender. The parts are also inside where they last longer and the transaction is much quicker.

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That Lancia Beta Coupe is a cool one (one of my favorite cars from my youth). There was one just down the street that someone had in their driveway. One day it had a for sale sign on it. It hadn't run in years and the guy pretended to know nothing about it. I considered it briefly as a chump car candidate. Happily someone else bought it before I fell victim to my urge to have it.

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I occasionally stumble across the Discovery show "Fast and Loud". I'm STUNNED when I see people willing to pay $3-5K for a completely rusted out hulk of a car with virtually no redeemable parts. That Datsun roadster would be considered a prime candidate for restoration in comparison to what some people start with.

Ghost towns, graveyards and car scrapyards all have that nostalgic allure. They are quiet, withdrawn and bring up feelings of wonderment and conjecture as to the miriad of histories that are attached to each relic! Gotta love it!

I needed a few things for my truck and it was a beautiful day so I took some time to wander my favorite parts store again. Again, no Porsches in sight, but some beautiful old rust.

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