Junkyard Goodness!

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

I was tired of block sanding today, and it was my day off, so I went to the junkyard instead. WOW!!! I hit the mother lode! I got a mint dash, a T-5 manual trans, a beautiful upper door panel ( too bad the driver's was munched) and the late, good power seat track. I also saw some real oddities while there in the form of two extremely rare Honda Z600's, and a 1969 Toyota Crown station wagon.

If you have never seen a Z-600, you have no idea how small it is. It is what is called a Kei car, and is tiny (Smaller than an Austin Mini or a Smart Fortwo--and it seats 4!!) to fit a certain tax class in Japan and cut down on congestion. The engine is a inline twin and air cooled, with only 600cc's of displacement. The tach went all the way to 8,000 rpm's and the shifter is on the dash. It was cool to see two of them side by side, but a shame that they were too rusty to save. It is one of only two Kei class cars ever sold in the US, the other being the Subaru 360. According to the Wiki, it supposedly could get over 100mpg if driven no faster than 30mph.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_Z600

The last few interesting cars were a Mk1 Triumph Spitfire (1962), a MG BGT with chrome bumpers and knock off wheels, and a MG Midget.

 

[eddieb1969]

A friend of mine use to have (if i rem correctly ) A plymouth cricket when we were teens . I remember that was a small one , not quite that small , but small . It was cool though because we were always broke ( hasnt changed much ) and we could cruise all night on 3-4 dollars worth of gas . But............ think of the gas prices then too .

 

[jonnyslick]

Man I wish my scrap yards were that cool ... we mostly have school buses and old tractors in the ones around TN .. .hahahaha

 

[JDub]

Man I wish my scrap yards were that cool ... we mostly have school buses and old tractors in the ones around TN .. .hahahaha

no kidding. i feel your pain. i went to the biggest junkyard in OKC last saturday and was very disappointed. there was ONE gbody in the entire place. and old ttop cutlass. and it was already stripped bare. man, how am i supposed to show my new monte some love when i cant find the parts for her?!

 

[GP403]

The situation's pretty much the same up here in the Tulsa area, the yards rarely have anything older than late-80's FWD stuff. The G-Bodies either get crushed, stripped, squirreled away, or turned into track cars :evil: You still run into a few but its hardly worth running around everywhere trying to find them anymore. AND the fact that most yards all close at noon Saturday and most are closed Sunday.... 😢

 

[JDub]

The situation's pretty much the same up here in the Tulsa area, the yards rarely have anything older than late-80's FWD stuff. The G-Bodies either get crushed, stripped, squirreled away, or turned into track cars :evil: You still run into a few but its hardly worth running around everywhere trying to find them anymore. AND the fact that most yards all close at noon Saturday and most are closed Sunday.... 😢

ugh, those arent reassuring words. i had heard that there might be a place in tulsa that has what im looking for, but i guess not. lol. this is kinda frustrating. this is the first project ive taken on where ive had money just sitting around, but cant find the parts to buy. :evil:

 

[Poncho-gp]

G bodys in Knoxville Junk Yard

Hey I was at the Pull apart In Knoxville Tenn and they have a few Cutlass two Monte Carlo's two or three Regals one Grand Prix that hopefully I 'll get to visit again before every thing get's gone. Thought you all might like to know.[/url]

 

[Uncletruck]

I lived around Buffalo, NY from 1986 till last year, and G bodies were scarse at the yards there ten years ago, and nearly non existent today. Once the good stuff was gone from the shells, they were sent to the crusher. Most G and B bodies that saw more than about 8 northeastern winters were virtually useless for any type of body parts other than hoods. For a while it did make powertrain stuff abundant as engines and trannies were pulled and resold by the yards as a rule before the bodies hit the yard, often at dirt cheap prices. When I swapped the 305 in my '84 Pontiac Parisienne to a 350 around 1995, I picked up a nearly new looking
TH700R4 and everything necessary to install it to the 350 for $150.00, and I drove that car in to the ground and still got $1k for it when I sold it.
The days of finding good GM RWD stuff at the yards around my part of the country are long gone. The best hope is to find a good granny car that has been sitting around in a garage somewhere.

-UT-

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

You'd love junkyarding around Tampa. Most days, you get your pick of rust-free 80's stuff at reasonable prices. I didn't even get into all of the cool stuff I have seen in the last year, some of it quite odd. A short list of some stuff I remember: 1968 Olds Vista Cruiser ( VERY rusty), 3 Datsun PL510's ( RUSTY), a Mint 240Z, Renault 10, Renault Dauphine, 2 Datsun Roadsters ( Rusty), more old Benzes than I can count, some 2 stroke Saabs and a Sonnet, a few Chevelles, 5.0 Mustangs, 1987 Grand National ( Gutted), several Monte SS's, etc. What seems to happen is that the city forces people to get rid of long-held collections every now and then, and they end up in the yard. About 20 years ago, there was a period when we got a lot of imported British classics that wound up in the U Pull It's too. I remember a black London cab made by Austin, and a Ford Cortinia ( not a LoCort), among others.

By far though, my most interesting old car hunt was in Broome County, New York, where there were oodles of unused vehicles. I have pics of what I saw, but the high price of scrap has meant that many have started to disappear, according to my friend who lives up there. When I was there, I got a pic of a 1958 Chevy wagon with a 20 year old tree growing through the engine bay! I also walked through the woods behind my friend's house and saw a 53 Chevy, 53 Packard and 61 Dodge that had probably been parked there for 30+ years.

 

[Munkey B]

i went JYing thurs for my new GP.
my locals have no idea how to run a JY. most cars were there for awhile so either picked over or windows down.
i happened to be looking for interior parts.
found nice cutlass w/green int but windows down. parts were still in pretty good cond tho. may just go back and pick them up. found 2 firebird wing spoilers. i'm gonna pick up one of those for sure.