Some old cars......

I remember being able to visit a junk/recycling yard near us back in the 1980's or so and they had loads of stacked and long-forgotten dreamboats. At one time they also had a huge 28-cylinder R-4360 piston airplane engine from Pratt and Whitney. A bit big for any automobile but the 3500 horsepower radial engine powered a number of airplanes including the B-36 bomber and the one-off Hughes HK-1 flying boat among many other aircraft.

Never looked junk to me ever!  Visiting Junk Yards back in the day was one of the most things I remember when I was a kid.  In the early 70's I worked near Kaplan Steel in St. Paul and they used to do all the crushing of the junk cars.  There were always piles and piles of old cars on the grounds.  

I like to watch Road Kill Junkyard Gold on MT network. The host walks through junk yards pointing out important and varies makes, models and options.  Some cars he describes  what he would do to restore it. Then they use CGI to show how it would look.

Chrysler, Buick, Chevy, T-Bird; Oh the Humanity! Some decent looking starter points for restoration. Cool photo Chris!

Me and my buddies used to love strolling through various auto wrecker's yards in our teens.  There were no injury lawsuit concerns back then and the owners seemed to trust us to not steal anything.  I miss those days.....simpler times.

Yep!  All great comments guys....  Here's one of my favorite junkyard stories. Even back in the late '70's & early 1980's drivable, decent cars could still be had for $100 or less!

One day my best friend & I, while at the junkyard, spotted a really decent 1970 Torino convertible; the body was very nice, the top even nicer.... it needed an engine, but that was no problem for us.  My friend had a few of these before but was "on the fence;"  we drove away.  🤔 🤔 

Halfway home we concluded that if the floors were solid, he'd buy it for $75.   We drove back.....  opened the Torino doors and smashed our feet down on the rear floors...    We went right to the ground taking the carpet with us!  😬 😬 

We drove away.....  😏 😏 

Posted by: @chris

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Yep!  All great comments guys....  Here's one of my favorite junkyard stories. Even back in the late '70's & early 1980's drivable, decent cars could still be had for $100 or less!

One day my best friend & I, while at the junkyard, spotted a really decent 1970 Torino convertible; the body was very nice, the top even nicer.... it needed an engine, but that was no problem for us.  My friend had a few of these before but was "on the fence;"  we drove away.  🤔 🤔 

Halfway home we concluded that if the floors were solid, he'd buy it for $75.   We drove back.....  opened the Torino doors and smashed our feet down on the rear floors...    We went right to the ground taking the carpet with us!  😬 😬 

We drove away.....  😏 😏 

I remember visiting Al’s Auto Graveyard in Cicero Illinois in 1969. I remember buying a fancy gap cap and a seat belt spring retractor for my 1967 Mustang.

Posted by: @perrone1

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Gives all new meaning to "Flooring it!"

....sadly, yes.  😫 😫 

I remember going to the junkyard with my dad back in the 60’s…I learned that for every item you bought, you got a “complimentary” item at no cost. Amazing what we walked away with (so to speak)…

Posted by: @terryslekar

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for every item you bought, you got a “complimentary” item at no cost.

Wow!   That was some promotion!  😎 😎

Posted by: @chris

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Posted by: @terryslekar

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for every item you bought, you got a “complimentary” item at no cost.

Wow!   That was some promotion!  😎 😎

Yeah! As long as the item fit in dad’s toolbox! 🤔

Posted by: @terryslekar

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Yeah! As long as the item fit in dad’s toolbox! 🤔

 

In 1958 I got a call from a friend, the owner of a local junk yard, ( yes they were called junk yards then ) and he told me he had just gotten in a 1958 Oldsmobile Super 88 hardtop which was totaled in the rear. At the time my car was a 1950 Mercury coupe with a worn out flathead motor that burned more oil than gas. Turns out the Olds only had 13,000 miles on it and the 371 cu motor had the J2 tripower setup. I asked how much did he want for the motor and transmission and was told $150.00 but I had to take them out of the car. Within an hour me and two friends were there pulling the unit. Making new motor mounts to accommodate the Olds engine was my first attempt at welding and on my first drive one of the mounts broke loose from the frame. This 18 year old wasn't quite as cool as he thought but hopefully you live and learn.