I just walked through an AMAZING old salvage yard!!! Found a place called Austin Auto and Truck Salvage. I’ve got a good story for you!
So a guy from the Cutlass club sent me a phone number this morning. I’d mentioned that I was looking for a balancer for my Olds 350, and he said this guy would have it, to “tread lightly” with the guy. Ok. So I called him, he said he had the part. He sounded a little odd, so I called my Dad to see if he wanted to go out there with me over lunch. He came up here to my office and we drove out, and I just got back.
He does not advertise, there was not even a sign out front, took me a while to find it. It’s down a dirt road that made me start thinking about banjo music! It was only about 10 miles from Dell, and you would not believe THIS PLACE. You do not see anything but brush from the road. He has 6 ½ acres of almost all OLD cars, he said he has 110 Oldsmobiles, including a RUNNING and DRIVING 1965 Cutlass 442 that he was using as a yard car, a real 442!!! I saw four late 60’s-early 70’s Vista Cruises, a light blue 1991 Custom Cruiser, a maroon 93 Roady wagon, but the wild part wa all the rare 60’s-70’s stuff, some AMAZING cars. He has a 66, 67,68 and 71 GTO’s in there. REAL GTO’s, not LeMans! He said he’d sell me a rust-free dash and header panel for my GTO for $200! Hehehehehe. A 71 and 73 Trans Am, late 60’s and into 70’s Camaros, a 73 Hurst Olds, and on and on and on. All are BURIED under weeds and brush, but just to find them there, so close to home, was so cool! My Dad just kept walking around shaking his head.
The guy running the place was really nice, but kinda crotchety and he walked REALLY fast. The place is right near Samsung Semiconductor now, when he opened the yard it was in the middle of nowhere. Said the city has been on him about how cars are stored and oil and such. Not a fan of the govt this guy.
I had my phone but was afraid to take pics. I kinda got the feeling this guy didn’t WANT people to know all this stuff is back there. I found a shell of a 67 Cutlass Convertible, and he told me that it had been a complete car, and for the longest time he’d tried to sell it whole for $1500, but someone offered him $800 for the frame, so he broke the car up. He seemed sad about it.
He also has a T-top 87 442 in there with the 8.5 posi rear, 3.55 gears, and he said he’d sell it, and the shorter driveshaft, if I wanted to make him an offer. I told him I’d be back once my Cutlass was running. That 442 has TONS of good parts on it.
Oh and as for the balancer, we walked WAY to the back of the yard, and came up on an overgrown 84 Delta 88 sedan. The guy pulled out a big key rig (he has keys to all these cars!) and opened the trunk, and inside was a pile of balancers. He pulled out my exact balancer, off a 71 Cutlass 350. $35. Hahaha!
If you find someone needing something old and rust free, call this guy!!
Austin Auto & Truck Parts
4843 Yager Ln, Manor, TX
(512) 272-4114
So now I’m back at work…in my office, with a sweat-stained shirt and sand burs and such in my socks. I’m in shorts and have bug bits all over my legs. I look really professional! At least a lot of folks left early for the holiday!
What fun though, you just never know what you’ll see in your own back yard do you???
-Mike
So a guy from the Cutlass club sent me a phone number this morning. I’d mentioned that I was looking for a balancer for my Olds 350, and he said this guy would have it, to “tread lightly” with the guy. Ok. So I called him, he said he had the part. He sounded a little odd, so I called my Dad to see if he wanted to go out there with me over lunch. He came up here to my office and we drove out, and I just got back.
He does not advertise, there was not even a sign out front, took me a while to find it. It’s down a dirt road that made me start thinking about banjo music! It was only about 10 miles from Dell, and you would not believe THIS PLACE. You do not see anything but brush from the road. He has 6 ½ acres of almost all OLD cars, he said he has 110 Oldsmobiles, including a RUNNING and DRIVING 1965 Cutlass 442 that he was using as a yard car, a real 442!!! I saw four late 60’s-early 70’s Vista Cruises, a light blue 1991 Custom Cruiser, a maroon 93 Roady wagon, but the wild part wa all the rare 60’s-70’s stuff, some AMAZING cars. He has a 66, 67,68 and 71 GTO’s in there. REAL GTO’s, not LeMans! He said he’d sell me a rust-free dash and header panel for my GTO for $200! Hehehehehe. A 71 and 73 Trans Am, late 60’s and into 70’s Camaros, a 73 Hurst Olds, and on and on and on. All are BURIED under weeds and brush, but just to find them there, so close to home, was so cool! My Dad just kept walking around shaking his head.
The guy running the place was really nice, but kinda crotchety and he walked REALLY fast. The place is right near Samsung Semiconductor now, when he opened the yard it was in the middle of nowhere. Said the city has been on him about how cars are stored and oil and such. Not a fan of the govt this guy.
I had my phone but was afraid to take pics. I kinda got the feeling this guy didn’t WANT people to know all this stuff is back there. I found a shell of a 67 Cutlass Convertible, and he told me that it had been a complete car, and for the longest time he’d tried to sell it whole for $1500, but someone offered him $800 for the frame, so he broke the car up. He seemed sad about it.
He also has a T-top 87 442 in there with the 8.5 posi rear, 3.55 gears, and he said he’d sell it, and the shorter driveshaft, if I wanted to make him an offer. I told him I’d be back once my Cutlass was running. That 442 has TONS of good parts on it.
Oh and as for the balancer, we walked WAY to the back of the yard, and came up on an overgrown 84 Delta 88 sedan. The guy pulled out a big key rig (he has keys to all these cars!) and opened the trunk, and inside was a pile of balancers. He pulled out my exact balancer, off a 71 Cutlass 350. $35. Hahaha!
If you find someone needing something old and rust free, call this guy!!
Austin Auto & Truck Parts
4843 Yager Ln, Manor, TX
(512) 272-4114
So now I’m back at work…in my office, with a sweat-stained shirt and sand burs and such in my socks. I’m in shorts and have bug bits all over my legs. I look really professional! At least a lot of folks left early for the holiday!
What fun though, you just never know what you’ll see in your own back yard do you???
-Mike
