The Automotive Equivalent to a Graveyard

[Jetboy.]

First, a little history lesson.

Our family owned this plot of land since the early 1900's. Along our plot were many adjacent farms, including this huge one...spanning (with fields) a square mile. Eventually, this large farm was bought by the Donaldsons. The farm was then transmogrified in to a wooded area, and eventually a scrap-yard. This was about then the mid 50's. In its heyday, the full scap-yard opperation spanned the entire square mile and housed about 5,000 (!) vehicles. Everything and anything could be found in there. My grandfather, then 20-25, worked here for "Mean old Donaldson." They depleted the entire place down to 1,000 cars, still plenty. Fast-forward to about 2002, when I had my first escapade into heaven (for me).

In 2002, our one Dachsund had managed to break its chain and decided to chase rabbits into the 'yard. The place has always been off limits from me, but given the circumstances, it was necessary. Oh man, was I in for a suprise.

I could never take a full list if I had ever wanted to... Let's see: (these cars mostly apply to Americans) About 5 Bel-Airs alone--one with a tree growing straight through the engine bay. And the engine itself? Way up in the tree. ( ) Ever hear of a Pacer? In case not, this was the small blue hatch in Wayne's World in which they worshipped. This was our pizza car from the 70's, complete with the pizza-cone on the top! There was a Complete 1978 Firebird Trans-Am, the Smokey-and-the-Bandit Edition, with all the proper ID and everything. It was unbelievable. A Hemi 300 from '58 (according to the tags), and all the Fat-Fendered-Fords of Hot-Rods Dreams. S-10 Cameos, El Caminos, A Cadillac Ambulance for the sake of it! Specialty vehicles were in abundance: More ambulances, ex-military surplus vehicles, bull-dozers, water trucks, School Busses, and God knows what else. Corvairs, muscle Camaros, a FIAT, Mustangs, business coupes.... And then I found the Ultimate Bomb on Wheels: A Ford Pinto. The legend about this pathetic waste of steel, in case our English Cousins had not heard, was deadly. The bumpers, or the braces themselves, were made of flint. This flint bumper was placed right beside a fragile fuel cell. You guys can do the math when there was a rear-ender. Blam. What was worse...when such a situation did happen, the frame would buckle to where it would jam the doors shut. In essence, what wasn't killed in the initial blast got cooked alive. Hooray for Ford. I watched as they did crush the rest in 2003. The giant loader ran over one of the Bel-Airs and nearly tipped in the process, but he got what he wanted. That same Chevrolet (in classic Turquois/White trim) is now reduced to one bench seat. The list went further than that, but I will not dwell on it for another hour for you guys to read.


Point is, I went through this same place yesterday, and my God how it changed. There was 23 cars left. That's it. 23. Of what I had originally seen, only the two Dodge Powerwagons seemed familiar. I walked through and thought, "What a waste. All of them, posibly all restorable, gone.
I suppose I wasted all of your time with this rant for somebody to relate... But why, I ask? Why make such a waste when all of this classic Iron, especially the Hemi 300, when it is so valuable? How much more stupidity can one idea contain? 👎

 

[240Z]

Eh...

I was in Wendover, Utah, for the Bonnevile salt flat races. There's an old military base there, and while I was poking around there I saw some interesting stuff. In front of some of the old barracks, you could see many old American cars (couple Mustangs, etc., don't know much about American cars, so I couldn't tell you what else). I also saw a restorable Fiat 850 Sports coupe nestling next to a hangar, and what appeared to be a very early MG or TR, sans body.

 

[Sniffs]

sounds like the house yard out here, where my temporary hosing is currently parked. a lot of people take these old restos and simply destroy them to get them out of the way...they also need the money.

among the goodies scattered around in this area were a 'Cuda, stripped to the body, A sattelite (i stole the tailights), the cab and bed off a 73 body f series, a 70's lebaron, a 76 Maverick that coulda been run (it still had the book in it...with the seat belt interlock, to boot), a leBaron in nice shape, an LTD II with stacked quads...and a 67 Sedan De Ville with only the front bumper missing.

all of these vehicles, plus what was meant to be my first car, an 80 Fairmont Futura (i still have the title for it), were towed and scrapped. later they came back for a late 70's Olds Coupe that was gonna be engine swiped, and the bits and peiced of an 86 Taurus 3 liter...they had the thing yanked five seconds before I got MY version, which is the exact same...the only thing left is the hood and the front door pannels. damn, I coulda used the parts.

 

[T5-R]

like the sound of bell-air with REAL wood trim haw haw (sorry)