Anyone wander around them from time to time? Like it? Hate it?

Today a friend informed me he was at a wreckers, looking for a particular carburetor, and saw an early seventies Ford police car. Knowing that I was looking for a reinforced steel wheel for a project, he thought he would let me know. Not overly optimistic, I loaded up Princeton into the pickup and we drove down for a look. You can go years looking for this type of wheel with no success, so I didn't really expect much. Of course I was wrong, and there they were.

As I was taking them off the car, I couldn't help but look at all the wrecked vehicles. Some relatively new, others ancient, they were all strewn about. Most were damaged heavily or rotted away, while others looked not too bad. While I was waiting for the forklift to come lift the old Ford, I wandered around. I couldn't help but wonder what stories these cars had. Every one of them once loved, proudly driven home from the dealership and parked in the driveway so the proud owner could be king for a day while showing their prized possession to the neighbours. Now they were discarded, a carcass really, an empty and forgotten object, slowly decaying back into the earth from where it's steel originated. Walking among them, I'd look inside and find the most interesting things. Personal belongs, some decades old, laid on the floorboards. Stuffed toys, once held by a child and placed against a rear window now lay unloved underneath parts haphazardly thrown about the interiors. Old registrations, signatures long faded, were nearly as common as the discarded coffee cups brought in by other "pickers".

Lifting the hoods, some engines were complete, while others were in pieces. Cylinder heads laid again suspension components and manifolds laid atop inner panels. I can remember twenty years ago wandering through the same wrecking yard, and FE Ford blocks were strewn about, a $100.00 for the asking. Now they're all gone, either picked clean or melted down before people realized what they were.

In the "classic" section I could still see mid sixties Chevrolets with "SuperSport" script on the front fenders. The chrome emblems themselves gone, but the paint below darker than the rest. Lifting the hoods, only small blocks were present. Like the bigblock Fords, the 396s and 427s rat motors were long gone. As were any Mustangs and Challengers, with only a few Camaros left to be scavenged. A few full size Dodges and Chevrolets were left, but too far gone to do anything with.

I really found the entire experience kind of depressing. Here were once wonderful cars, loved and cherished when new. Once washed and polished, cared for and repaired, they were now left to die. Never again are they to be loved, and touching them with my hand I think they knew that. Maybe that's why I never sold my first car, and any car I've sold throughout the years, it's left with a tear in my eye. The collector cars will be cared for I know, but other more mundane cars were just as special, and I know what eventually awaits for them.

I suppose in the end a car in only a conveyance to most people. It should be to me to. But many times we've shared experience with these conveyances, and they've become a part of our lives. To see them so readily discarded seems horrible to me.

 

I agree. I actually cried when the wrecker came to pick up my mothers 1978 BMW 320i (this back in 1996-7). Its depressing seeing things that served us so well be thrown into the scrap heap because its old. And for what? To be replaced with plastic beige-mobiles? Its saddening.

 

I used to live very close to a strip of wrecking yards. About a mile of wrecking yards on both sides of the road. I've only wandered them a handful of times, but for the most part, the cars there weren't old at all. Most were involved in an accident and ins. companies wrote them off as totaled. I don't remember any really old cars that were there purely because of old age.

 

Theres a shooting range I frequent quite often, and its surrounded by wrecking yards/salvage yards. Once the shooting range was closed, so I poked in to the yard to kill some time, and its amazing the stuff in there. Especially the crashed vehicles, before they're dismantled and crushed.. yikes.

 

I wander through them quite often. You never know what you are going to find. Every time a friend has to go for some reason or another i always tag a long just to look around.

 

I was surprised as hell to find these wheels. Obviously a Ford police car converted to a cab sometime in the seventies. There they were, just sitting on the car. I just knocked off the bead of one of the rims, cut the tire, and looked at the tire side. FoMoCo stampings and the whole works.

 

It's been a while since i've been to one. I lived 15 minutes from one when i started driving, it was a lifesaver. I used to look at all the cars. Interiors, wheelwells, engine compartments, everything. It really teaches you a lot about cars.

 

i live across the highway from one. it has been there for a long, long time. the old owner used to walk around with me telling me stories of most of the cars there.

almost all of them were from the 40's to the early 70's. i bought alot of rb mopar engines from him over the years. he even sourced a complete front end for a 61 chrysler 300g that i wrecked.

he died a couple of years ago and his son sold the yard. some clown bought it, crushed all of the cars, cleaned it out, and started putting newer cars in.

 

Terry...I thought I was the only one who felt that way.

My best friend (practically my brother) had a 1995 BMW 525i that he did some very subtle and clever modifications to, one of which was installing the rear-seat reading lights from a 7-Series of the same vintage. We found one up in Olympia, Washington while on a day trip for something else and he set about trying to remove the rear seat map lights while I looked over this poor BMW.

It was a 1988 735i in gray metallic with a light gray interior and though it was relatively complete, the inside was a mess. Clearly the owner of this wrecking yard wasn't too concerned about keeping the leather and carpet clean but no matter, I settled into the driver's seat and gripped the tattered leather steering wheel with both hands and imagined myself in a BMW dealer in 1988, proudly taking delivery of this top-of-the-line machine that would make anybody jealous. I wondered who bought it new and worked hard to pay for it? Was it a custom order? Did they wait anxiously for months on end for that phone call from the dealership telling them that their new car was ready? Did they separate with it willingly or reluctantly and what lead their once shiny dream to this inglorious end?

When I got my Santa Fe one year ago today and I brought it home, I parked it in the garage and thought to myself, One day this too, shall pass. I know that one day, my Santa Fe will inevitably find its way to the wrecking yard along with countless other cars. But it makes me wonder if someone might walk up to it and say aloud, "This was once somebody's pride and joy. It was somebody's dream." And then they might wonder about its past life and owners.

Such is the life of a car...always observing, never saying a word.

 

The pain/feelings you described having reminded me of the way I felt the first time I saw the "Ferrari Graveyard" pics...

 

i've always loved wandering through junk yards. i can spend a whole day there. especially if they have classics. actually rather go there than a typical carshow.

 

there used to be a large junkyard about 30 mins from my house... i used to frequent there when i needed parts for my father's Park Avenue... it held mostly domestics and some older imports (mid 80's Hondas and Toyotas)... i used to walk around there for hours just trying to find some rare breeds.. the smell of gasoline in the air and muddy ground was always an adventure to navigate....

unfortunately that yard has closed and any yards in the area don't allow you to go and pull parts anymore... you call in advanced and they will go find the part for you and you just come and pick it up... boring...

 

I don't have a junkyard anywhere near me. I need to find one and go check it out.

 

I used to hit the junkyards down in FL all the time rummaging for parts for my old Civic (found quite a few rare accessories). In NY the junkyards that were near me wouldnt let you walk around. Youd walk into the office, tell them what you need and theyd look in the computer. I hated that.

The junkyards near me in VA suck.

 

 

I still like to walk around junk yards and see cars from different era's. The number of junkyards has been shrinking in MD slowly, alot of the older places have consolidated or gone out of business.

The last time I when to one they charged $1 admission and inspected your toolbox going in/out. I guess to limit the sightseer from the folks getting parts.