what is the world coming to?

[redneckracer305]

this sorta fits under g body tales i think. so i get my car running. runs great now for those who had seen me post i was having problems. but anyway. i go to the local wrecking yard to look for a power window pig tail cause my wiring was hacked up by the previous owner and the window doesnt work now and its stuck down and its cold haha. there wasnt a single car there 80s gm wise that would work for it.closest thing was a pristine olds wagon.and i asked the guys down there if they ever get anything in like mine and they said rarely. which could be goo i know. but they said if they do they crush em almost immediately. which i think is bogus, cause theres more than a few guys like me around here lookin for parts like that. so i go over the border into new york and try to see if this other yard has anything. nope same thing. the girl behind the counter looked like she was laughing at me when i asked if they had any 80s monte carlos,regals , cutlass's and what not. then i go to pull out and a guy was draggin an early 70s c10 pickup cab in that looked like some taken a sledge hammer to the roof, other than that it looked rust free. im drivin back home thinkin to myself, why do people do this? why is it that an old chevelle or a malibu, or even a tempest is looked at like gold even when its nothin but a mound swiss cheese but our newr but still 20+ year old g body are treated like dirt. im 19 and i cant stand things like that. i mean hell that first wrecking yard i went to, bam as soon as you pull in, bam mint well almost mint 86 z28 tpi, rust free. im goona see if i can nab it cheap just to save it from the crusher, my fianc'e wants one anyway.

 

[87MonteSS]

The answer is easy. There are 4 types of vehicle owners:

1) It's just transportation and I'll drive it until it dies and get another one

2) It's just transportation, but I want it to last a while so I'll take care of it with a good maintenance program, but will replace it every x number of years

3) It's transportation, but it means something to me and I see it as an investment, so I'll take care of it and keep it for a long long time

4) It's a show piece, I rarely drive it and it stays showroom fresh forever

The majority of the North American population are types 1 & 2. Type 3 is maybe 7% at best and type 4 is less than 3%. The numbers are my best guess, but you get the idea.

The yards are crushing the cars as soon as they get them because they don't make money on them sitting in the yard. There's a lot more salvageable steel by weight in the older cars too.

Another huge factor is the rate of leasing. Almost everyone is doing it and actually owning a vehicle is becoming more and more rare.

The one yard left here that keeps the older cars is suffering badly and I hear they might be going out of business in the near future. Times are changing, but I'm pretty sure the same conversations were going on when people were looking for parts for their 57 Chevy, 63 Impala, etc etc..

 

[redneckracer305]

i know what your saying as far as them needing to make me mor money but man it is really a shame

 

[Peter]

my local junkyard is kinda goldmine for me, he has 4 cutlasses there, 3 are 81-86 and the other one is a 78 or 79. One of them is even a 442. He has a lot of old cars, he is big on 80's camaros too and he even has some 60's and 70's cars there...I'm not really sure how they even make a profit but im glad it is the way it is.

 

[Derision]

I know all about that... it's the same here in Jersey. When I was trying to find the rear window trim for my GP, I searched every junkyard I could find. Out of fifteen or so that I called, only ONE had any G-Bodies available.

I got there and the guy told me that they'd just come in the day before, but I should hurry. I walked down to them and saw why -- they'd been there for a day and had already been stripped! There was an '86 Monte Carlo and a Regal T-Type. The Monte had the front end stripped off and most of the interior was gone. The Regal was missing the wheels, rear axle and differential, doors and interior.

As I was poking around, the guy who was working there strolled over. He said, "You want to see what's a real shame?" I said okay... he reached in the Regal and it started right up.

Apparently some kid owned it, decided he wanted a Honda or something, and had the thing junked. By the time anyone figured out that the car was in perfect running order, people had ripped the thing apart. Now it was going to the crusher by the end of the week.

 

[redneckracer305]

that is a shame id love the drive train outta that, thats more what im talkin bout. people junkin perfectly good cars that they could have actually sold to us enthusiats and make a little bit of a buck to put towards there vehicle of choice. kids my age these days kill me.they look up to cars like mine and other muscle cars but only if there pristine.why not learn how to turn a wrench?i mean theres kids around here that ive "raced" with my car and stomped and there like what do you got? when i tel them a mild 305 they dont know what im talkin bout half the time, but they know its a v8. there excuse is always well thats cause its got a v8 and i got a 4 banger. well hell if you want somthin quick why are you driving that fart canned pile of plastic and not tryin to get somthin like an old peice of iron that really goes. im not sure if im makin sense but it disgusts me how stupid some of these kids are, i have 305 which is a slug really compared to other engines and these kids think its fast. i dont know what im gettin at other than people are resorting to pure stupidity on many things.

 

[megaladon6]

there was an article in a tuner mag years ago about a guy who put a supercharger in his v6 accord. he did it right, pulled the engine, beefed up the bottom end, changed the cam, etc. the mag made a big deal out of how fast it was, it ran a 15sec 1.4 mile.

yup, 15 whole seconds. what's a stock g-body with a 305 run? i think it's about 15 seconds for a monte ss. and they're impressed by this? right then and there i lost all interest in tuners and their opinions. and over the years, especially when i was a mechanic, my opinion of them went even lower. i think it's in the negatives now.

 

[Derision]

There's a lot of ignorance amongst people, especially with cars.

I always liked these cars -- and B-Bodies and X-bodies and all the other biggies -- because of how much can be done with them. If my engine goes then I can very easily throw another one in... or a better one, if I want to. It's a lot easier than "tuning" a car to squeeze another couple of horses out of an engine that's being put to it's limits and isn't going to last 20,000 miles.

I've gotten mixed reactions with my car. Both fairly ignorant. The first is that people look at it and immediately peg it as a garbage pile. It doesn't matter that the underbody has no rust and the bushings are brand new and pristine. It doesn't matter how much I've fixed the suspension and how much I've patched up and fixed. It doesn't matter what engine it has. What matters is the fact that it's got some dents in it, that the paint on top has faded and that there's primer in spots. What matters is the rust spots on the doors that'll be getting replaced in the spring, and the primered-over area where the vinyl roof used to be. I tell them that, once I've got new doors on it and have finished stripping and priming it that it'll get painted, and they laugh. "Why would you ever want to paint a POS like that."

And then they all ogle and drool at the Monte SS that grumbles down the street. I feel like smacking them and yelling, "It's the same car!! The drive train is the same! It's just a different name and body panels!" I know it won't make a difference, though.


Then there's the other side... the people that are afraid of my car and revere it for something it's not. My roommate is one of these people. He's got a 2004 Mustang GT which -- despite my distaste for Mustangs -- is rather fast. I was working on my car one day and he walked up, saw the engine and was like, "Wow, that's big." It's five liters, I told him. He was impressed; his is only 4.6. D'oh. He now refers to my car as "the old muscle car," and eagerly tells his friends how awesome my car is. Attempting to tell him the truth about this automobile is easily as productive as peeing up a rope and, though it's flattering that a Mustang guy would think so highly of my G-Body... it's just flat-out wrong.

I don't know. I think maybe we should start classes for these people.

 

[megaladon6]

how many of those people who wonder why you're doing body work have a lowered honda with the front air dam ripped off or smashed?

i see that all the time around here and the idiots never learn. the new fad seems to be stock 14/15in steel rims and tires up front and 18in rims with rubber band tires in back. what the hell is the point of that?

 

[redneckracer305]

you get a lot of that around your area to? thats what they all are around here. either set up like you said with steelies in the front and the bigger rims in the rear, or they look like the whole suspension has been cut out of em so there slamned on stock steelies draggin around a fart can with missing or broken body panels and more primer, bondo and mis matched paint than some of the worst back woods relics ive seen. yet they have the nerve to say my cutlass aint worth the trouble. i used to think it was funny id park my elcamino i sed to have, next to a buddies monte ss, and another friends fox body stang in school. the three of us got a long well, but the el camino always got razzed cause of its faded paint and little rust spots and anemic 305, but in the end people at the school are still talkin bout my elco that lay posi strip up and down the parkin lot all day long. course now its my younger brothers pride and joy and everyone including teachers are dying to see it come back in the spring to see how it looks after 3 years of being off the road.