Junkyard Expedition (56k beware)

[widebody911]

First of all I have to say: I love old junkyards. I don't care what brand of cars populate them, I just like digging thru them.

Last week a guy came up to me and asked if I bought VW parts. I said "watcha got" and he told of a stash of epic proportions which would probably take a semi trailer or two to haul out.

He was right - sorta.

///Mink (here on Pelican) and I went up their with our VW single cabs to check it out.

Well, there's enough stuff there to fill several semi trailers; the guy really needs a rail spur. Unfortunately, there wasn't much VW stuff apart from a 1955 oval-window bug and some random doors/hoods/short blocks and a transaxle. We filled both of our trucks, and I have to go back to get the bug (anyone in the Sacramento area have a tow vehicle/trailer who wants to go on a rescue/exploration mission?) I got the whole mess for $500, which was an 'eh' deal. A lot of the stuff was pure crap: 40hp short blocks which had been open to the weather for 20 years. Doors from a baja bug which had been completely submerged in a lake for over a year. Sadly, even some of the better parts were ruined because he just laid them in the dirt 20 years ago, like an '57 bus wide-window (deluxe/standard) hatch. I got a bus crank-start apron in the mess though. In a formula of parts vs effort vs cost, I'd give the trip a 3 out of 10.

The real story is in the rest of the stuff out there. You see, the stuff belongs to these two brothers. The younger of the two, from who I bought all the VW stuff, was the slacker, and only a tiny bit of the stuff in the lot was his. He told me he'd spent a lot of time doing dope, and had never even learned to read. The older brother has his act together, and years ago bought the property, built a nice house, and set to collecting cars, buying up obsolete NOS parts from auto parts stores, etc. In fact, I cleaned out almost all of the younger brother's stake in the whole mess.

The older brother was really into American cars, and had a vision of collecting them and selling off the parts over time. He had money, land, and patience, which is the only way you'll succeed at a game like this. You need some luck, too, and it seems some of his gambles aren't paying off. For example, he told me he thought Corvairs were going to be huge, but the market never seemed to materialize.

The stash is mind-boggling huge, and staggeringly diverse at the same time. Unlike your average amatuer junkyard, he seemed to actually have a plan and stuck to it for a number of years. Mentally deconstructing the junkyard by looking at the cars, when and how they appeared to be placed there, I guess is that 10 to 15 years ago he got bored/gave up and stopped putting as much effort into it.

The newest car in the yard is a '67 Impala which actually belongs to the younger brother. The next youngest (from what I can tell) is a '62 Corvair. Every car that has a plate has a California black plate. There are a few complete cars, mostly mid-to-late 40's to mid 50's, but tons of parts going back to the 'teens. A lot of the parts are actually organized by category: doors over here, hoods over there, fenders in a stack there. Wheels for days. Piles of engine blocks, heads, manifolds; mounds of axles, brake drums. You name it, there was a pile of it. It was probably very organized up to a point. Even more interesting are the cars filled with other parts: one huge 40's car was filled with early headlights - the kind of headlight where the headlight had it's own 'pod' that mounted on the fender. There was a Corvair Greenbriar van filled with early hubcaps from cars that I've never heard of before.

Sadly, a lot of the stuff is returning to the earth. Some of it was placed on timbers, long rotted away, when stored; the rest was just set on the ground. There's a Corvair Lakewood wagon and a Greenbriar van which have sunk up to the rockers in the dirt.

The most bizarre thing I found was a bus transaxle with custom-made 12" diameter wheels bolted to it; the wheels were normal wide-fives that had modified outers welded on. The trans was mated with a 40hp engine of unknown provenance, and he wanted $150 for the whole thing. I passed, but I'd love to have the wheels just for a conversation piece.

The younger brother said I could take pix, but to not let the older brother catch me. I took a quick run through with the camera and got what I could. The whole set is at http://rennlight.com/junkyard

This stuff is for sale. I can get you the guy's contact info if you're interested.

[widebody911]

Oh, and the bug. It's a shell, but it's in OK shape except for the aprons. It's sitting on a '63 pan, but it came with a '58 pan, which the guy swore up and down was the original '55 pan He was going to make a baja out of it, and it's full of random baja conversion parts.

[emcon5]

I love old junkyards. Looks like some interesting stuff there.

http://rennlight.com/junkard is 404.

Tom

[widebody911]

Oops! I fat-fingered the URL

http://www.rennlight.com/junkyard/

[tabs]

There are Millions there, if you sold every piece off indivdually...

[tabs]

What bout this....a 72 911S....just sitting outside in the Desert...

[Hugh R]

Wow

I saw a guy turn the front end of a 57 Chevy and firebrick it and turn it into an outdoor fire pit. Some of those front ends would be a good candidate.

[singpilot]

Watch out KevP73.... There were some Nader unapproved air cooled rear engined nightmares in there....

Thom;

I just found one of these yards like that for some bikes. I came out of there with two Honda turbos, one a parts bike, and the other a runner. Then he showed me another that was 'sorta better'. I got all 3. There were oak trees growing THRU the frame of the parts bike. I am still killing black widow spiders in all the boxes, and the guys in the next door hangar keep asking where the Hell the oak tree is that is shedding leaves all over the ramp.

They came from Monterey.

[Joeaksa]

Tabs,

How about some more info on the red car??? joeaksa@yahoo.com

Thom,

Fantastic find and glad you posted it. I have a friend who restores Corvairs and will turn him onto this.

Joe A

[M.D. Holloway]

Thom - not knowing much about restoration, is there anything that would be feasable to bring back? Or is most of that stuff too far gone to really do anything with. It seems that some of the shells that still have paint on them could be saved. Be cool if there were some before and after pics of someone who brought something back to life.

[1967 R50/2]

I'm not suprised about his optimism for the Corvair. If you ever read any old motorbooks like Modern Classics by Rich Taylor he was very high on the Corvair too. But that was back in the early 80's.

[widebody911]

Originally posted by LubeMaster77
Thom - not knowing much about restoration, is there anything that would be feasable to bring back? Or is most of that stuff too far gone to really do anything with. It seems that some of the shells that still have paint on them could be saved. Be cool if there were some before and after pics of someone who brought something back to life.

Anything is possible. Some are better candidates than others.

Here's a 1955 European-delivery Westfalia I pulled out of a field and restored a few years ago.

[M.D. Holloway]

WOW! That looks amazing!