Carspotting- Even Better Than Trainspotting!

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

I have come up with a new game to play while driving around. I call it Carspotting, and basically it is how many cool project cars can you find on the side of houses, etc while you drive somewhere? Today, I found several while on deliveries. Some of the better ones were a 1968 El Camino, 1969 Chevelle 2 door (Literally an old lady car in a old apartment complex!), 1971 Camaro RS, a 1969 Chevy Stepside Pickup, 1950's Caddy and I believe an old Plymouth from the 40's. The rules are they do not need to be for sale, but need to be somewhat distressed looking ( no nice finished cars!). On the sides of houses, in barns, parking lots, etc. are all allowed, and pics should be taken to post. You don't really win anything, but a chance to share some interesting stuff with the rest of us. If you want to add to the rules to make it more interesting, feel free. I will try to post some of my pics in the near future if anyone else is interested. I even have a pic of a 1958 Chevy Wagon with a big tree growing in the engine bay that was at least 25 years old. I saw that in New York when I went to visit friends last year. I saw an amazing amount of cool stuff in the farmland around Bingampton NY, some dating to the 1920's!

Here's a 1953 Chevy and a 53 Packard I found in the woods behind my friend's house in NY.

The 1958 Chevy:

 

[78Calais]

I too love to spot old cars and possibly future projects. I usually don't have a camera handy though. This is a 1930 Model A coupe I tried to buy for a street rod project. It's sitting in a grove on a farm in South Dakota where a guy I know grew up. It's his Dad's car which he drove back in his college days. He decided he wasn't ready to part with it yet. Maybe someday I'll get my hands on it. I did pick up a future street rod project last spring (47 Ford Truck)

Unfortunately that means this spring I'll be trying to sell my 78 Calais. I need to make room in the garage for the truck next to my 71 Malibu. I love the Cutlass but I'm more attached to my Malibu and the truck has sentimental value since it's been in the family since 1969.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

The Model A is a real shame because it will probably be beyond salvage if they do not do something to get it out of the weather soon.

I went junkyarding at the U Pull it's today, and saw a few neat things. A 1960 Pontiac 4 door, a 1970 Pontiac Catalina Wagon and a 1946 Dodge sedan. As for interesting finds, I saw a 1970 Chevy truck with a 350 that had an Edelbrock Performer intake on it, a 1971 Impala that someone took the roof off of-- but the 350 2 bbl was still there, several G body El Caminos (well... probably 30-40 G bodies all together between the 3 yards), and a Monte SS with the rear axle and steering box gone, but the 305 HO and TH200 4R trans still intact. I want to look up the trans code to see what it should be if it is a real MC SS trans. If it is, I will pull it for the Olds. Here's hoping it works as is since mine has a weird noise in it.

 

[v8power]

at our junk yard around here, there are allot of g bodys, but the people that run it are also stock car racers. so anything that comes with a good rear end and gears, or any performance get taken off real fast. but a few days ago me and my friend went and pulled a real nice non ac heater box. we found 4 good ones out there!!

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Around here, the non-A/C box is almost never seen, because you'd have to be nuts to buy a new car without it. I have not seen one for years, the last time being in a stripped Firebird from the 80's.

I am probably going to get rid of my first car later on this year. I have had it for 19 years, but my Cutlass (my 2nd car) has far more sentimental value to me. It reminds me of better times than the first one does, as High School was probably the worst time of my life and I drove the little AMC Spirit then. Plus, I want to move on to another project like a 4x4 truck or maybe a subcompact and I am out of room both in my house and in my life for multiple projects.