LA classic-car junkyard?

[Formerly Steve Wilkinson]

Either this failed to post last night when I first wrote it, or it was removed because of perceived non-tech or non-Porsche content, which is hard to imagine....

Anyway, does anybody know of a classic-car junkyard in LA, either near LAX or the Santa Monica Airport, where a guy who reportedly recently died stored outdoors a considerable number of classic and even rare Porsches and Mercedes-Benzes? He supposedly had enough of the Mercs that Mercedes' Classic Center used it as a source of parts for their restorations and service jobs.

Anybody ever hear of such a thing?

[TRE Cup]

Rudi Klein (r.i.p.- his son now?) has a junkyard on Alameda in Los Angeles. He collected an incredible amount of unusual and rare german cars. Gullwings used to be stacked up on each other, Beutler and Glockler 356's, and more mundane standard offerings

The Evil Cockaroach (my 914-6 ) was rescued from their yard way back when

[1982911SCTarga]

Those Glockler-Porsches were neat cars.

Brian

[Wayne 962]

Right, I had heard of that place, but never been there. Alameda was the street, drove by it once. I think I called over there a few times, prices on used parts were higher than I could buy them new!

-Wayne

[TRE Cup]

yeah- prices were pretty high up there- Aase Brothers, So Cal Auto Wrecking were the places to go instead

[fbarrett]

Friends:

Many years ago, while I was writing a history of Gloeckler for [I]Porsche Panorama/I], my pal Lynn Wineland (ex-editor of Hot Rod) persuaded Rudi Klein to let him photograph the Gloeckler, a coupe, probably the last of the few cars made. Lynn said the place contained some unbelievable hardware and that Klein was extremely secretive about it. Will see if I can find the photos.

Last week I coincidentally learned that RK died as the result of a heart attack suffered during a major argument with his son(s). When was this? Surely some of you SoCal old-timers have interesting stories about the place...

Frank

[1982911SCTarga]

Frank, it was from your "Panorama" article that I first learned about Herr Glockler. That article is reprinted in the "Up-Fixin" series.

Walter Glockler might have been the original Porsche R Gruppe hot-rodder. More here: http://www.sportscarmarket.com/Profiles/2008/April/Race/

Brian

[fbarrett]

Brian:

The car in that article got me started on Gloecklers. Larry Braun, a Loveland, Colorado automotive sculptor, had bought it and wanted to learn more about it, so he called me. Ex-Max Hoffman, the car had been kicking around the Denver area for years and needed total restoration. I'm glad it finally got it.

Frank

[Shuie]

I know this is an old thread.

Someone posted a new thread about the Rudi Klein wrecking yard on the 914 forum. I did a search here and figured I'd bump this thread instead of starting a new one.

here's a link to an article about some rare Mercedes that was found there.

One-off Mercedes 500K barn find discovered in South Central, LA salvage yard

and a couple of photos of what is supposed to be the place.

[Koizumi]

Fascinating & tragic. Thanks for the link. I guess it would be pointless for me to drive by... They wouldn't let me in anyhow.

[redturbo911]

Wow I would love to get in there. At least to just drooooool. man I bet they have some great things.

[86 911 Targa]

A few decades ago, a few of Rudi's close friends confimed to me that when Rudi bought a house in PV, he found a suitcase in the basement containing 200K in cash.

They saw the suitcase, and the cash!

I only met Rudi once, but something like this could only happen to Rudi...........

Incredible............

[WagonMaster68]

in 1972 i purchased a beat up smoking 1964 Porsche cabriolet. I took it to Henri Tokar at French body shop in Van Nuys to have it repaired. He replaced the complete front end and both doors and paint the car. I've got a beautiful top from Rudy Klein for $360. It was perfect except for a cigarette burn that happened when somebody flipped up the sun visor with a cigarette in their hand. I sold the car for $3800 to a customer of my Volkswagen Porsche shop. I needed the money for parts and such and thought I got a good deal at the time. I had gone through the engine transmission Brakes electrical everything on the car was mechanically top of the line. The customer loaned the car to her boyfriend who ran it off the freeway embankment and rolled it over several times. I went to Rudi Klein
A few years later to look for a rebuildable 356 engine. I happened to notice my Cabriolet in his yard. I asked him if it was for sale he said he will not sell it under any circumstances. I often wonder whatever happened to that car.

[boxster03]

I suspect there are a few cars that might have made it to that yard that someone likely doesn't want the vin # found