Salvage Yard Cars Can Be Hidden Gems
Posted on 01. Feb, 2012 by Auto Mack in Cars, Posts, Salvage Cars
Several years ago, a gentleman passed away and left his entire estate to his son, a man who had not been home in a number of years. When he returned home, he found quite a bit more than just the old homestead. In the 20 intervening years that had come between him and his father, the old man had started a salvage yard. He found a trailer deep in the back lot of the property that was chained shut. After working to open the locked storage trailer, he found to his utter amazement, one of the lost Shelby Cobras parked right behind an Alfa-Romeo. Hanging from a series of chains above the cars on the floor were a 1968 Camaro and a Mustang GT500.
This story, and hundreds more like it, gather in the collective conscious of car enthusiasts worldwide. The thought of unearthing what is euphemistically known as a “barn find” among the collected junk of your local pick and pull yards is a dream that drives many people not just to find cars hidden forever by time, locks and weeds, but those treasures to be found among more common salvage cars, as well.
When you visit pick and pull yards, keep in mind what you’re searching for, because there’s always a lot to be seen. It can actually be helpful if you ask the attendant at the yard if they’ve seen the particular part you’re looking for, or at least the car that the part came off of. Of course, if you’ve got a Saturday afternoon with nothing else to do, finding treasure among salvage cars can be a great way to get you out of the house for a few hours.
One thing that should be made abundantly clear is that you aren’t going to be finding any model T or A Fords in a salvage yard that are actually worth dragging out of their grave. Likewise, you aren’t going to find Bugattis, Ferraris, and even one of the last Shelby Cobras that are as yet unaccounted for, regardless of how often you peruse the aisles. That said, it is common to find late 1940s and early 1950s Fords, Chevrolets and Dodges, and some of them really aren’t in terribly bad condition. In fact, some of these hidden gems might need little more than a reworked engine and some fresh tires to get them running again.
Use internet-based satellites to determine how promising a salvage yard will be before you visit it. You want to see cars that stretch back several hundred yards from the road, or that appear to be nearly overgrown with weeds. Salvage yards that appear to have well-worn tracks around vehicles positioned further to the front of the yard, but few, if any tracks toward the back of the yard may have interesting finds, but are likely to be well picked-over.
When you find a yard that looks promising, have a look around, and spend some time among the rust. You may well be standing in a storehouse of classic vehicular treasure.