Found a really nice set of four 60 Buick Electra stainless 15" hubcaps on a 86 ford F150 in Harrys U Pullit, 3 bucks each....Saw the two on the drivers side and said a little prayer the other two were there....The ones with the turbines. tri panel and bullets.

There on "Christine" my 64 daily driver, since the day she first breathed air.

Garbz

 

Found a complete set of the stainless trim for around our 1960's windshield, clips included...$7

 

My best junkyard find was about 20 years ago and I just about tripped over it. I looked at it and it did not register what it came from. It was a complete front suspension that looked interesting. I asked the owner what it came out of. It was a series 3 Jag sedan front suspension. I asked what he wanted for it and he said $75. I asked for a tape measure, took a bunch of measurents, went home and crawled under Willard. It looked like a great fit so I went and got it. I had it sitting around until over 2 years ago when it became Willards turn to be done. I bumped around online including FTE (that is how I got into this site). There was precious little information available online at that time but I found an old thread on FTE started by Mike Bishop of Ca, that kind of died. That led me to an old time drag chassis builder in Ca, Kent Fuller. Then I got hooked up with a couple of Aussies and Brits and the rest is well, history. In our forum we now have several who have installed the IFS out of the Jag sedan and more coming. I can not take credit for doing the first installation in our trucks (the Aussies and Brits are way ahead of us on thise installs) but I hope that I have helped others on this forum to go ahead with the Jag IFS. It fits beautifully in our trucks!

 

I found a 472 Cadillac engine like the one in my 56 F100 complete except for exhaust manifolds for $100 but didn't buy it because I had no way to haul it at the time. I talked to the junk yard owner a few weeks later at a local cruise-in and he said if I still wanted it come on and get it at no charge to get it out of his way. The engine is already out of the car. Several of the cars and trucks I have driven over the past 30+ years have come from the local junkyards. My daughter says most people go to a car dealer when looking for a new or used car to buy. Not dad , I go to the junkyard .Not exactly a jund yard find , but last week I went to a local flea market and found a complete spotlight just like the one on my 56 , which I believe is the original optional light for the truck . I paid $10 for it .

 

I have found tons of stuff over the years, both in junkyards and in old, long abandoned farrms out int he middle of no where.
Some of the junkyard stuff that has worked its way to my truck is;
Chrome rear step bumper - $20, and it was already removed from the donor truck
Port fuel injected intake manifold complete for my 500ci Caddy - $50 (hope to be able to adapt modern electronics to it)....someday.....
1963 Buick Riviera steering column - $25 hope to adapt it to my truck....someday...
I recently found a hood ornament from a 53 or 54 Oldsmobile, the center ornament, the big jet, not the smaller jets from the fenders. I paid $3 for it...woohooo. I won't use it on the truck but it looks good on the wall.

My job takes me all over the state of NM and into TX, I get tired of driving on the same main highways and am constantly taking backroads, dirt roads, etc. There are tons of old derelict farms, long abandoned, and tons of old cars that have been pushed into arroyos to be used as rip-rap to curb erosion. Its suprising what kind of parts can be found this way.

1946 Chrysler Town and Country--tailight housings
1965 Bonneville--rear seat chrome speaker cover (used as a speaker radio hole cover on my 49)
1964 Mercury front fender emblems-----ground down the contour and mounted as emblems on my doors
1963 Galaxie 500 "500" emblems from the glove box door---mounted on the sides of my hood (to indicate my 500ci engine)

Bobby

 

Hey Bobby, let us know when you get that port efi on your caddy!! That will be awesome!!! You just keep improving this truck!! I sure would like to take a ride in it!! Whoooooo Hoooooo!!!That would be awesome!! Sounds like you do what I do, look around everywhere. My wife thinks it's funny how I can see an old truck behind a barn or out in a field and know what it is. When I have time off from work, I go to the local junkyards and take a tape measure and a note pad and look around. I don't look at what it is, but what it can be!! I love the Darkside!!!! Even though I havent gotten any cookies yet! There is so much more freedom over here. You can do what you want to your truck and there are NO RULES!!! Just make it safe, and I've even seen folk that didn't adhere to that rule either.

Keep us up to date Bobby, what's next on the agenda?

 

Terry,

I really want EFI badly. The old Caddy port injection systems from the 70's were fairly primitive and the electronics were expensive and junk. I'm hoping to adapt modern electronics to the old hard parts. I have all the hard parts, manifold, 8 injectors, fuel rails, fuel regulator, throttle body, etc. I'm hoping that the injector drivers in the newer ECM's are compatible with the early injectors. My fuel tank is even plumbed for the extra line as well.
I think what I'm going to have to do is buy me a running early 70's Caddy and do my experiments on it so that I don't have to disable my truck for any length of time....someday.....

I always have an eye out for stuff and yea, my wife thinks I'm completely nuts as well.
Bobby

 

The only yr Olds had the smaller rockets on the front fenders was 1957.

Post the pic of the ornament, I can I.D. it.

 

Bill,
Cool! I'll take a pic of it this afternoon and try and post it this evening

Bobby

 

My best find was this Edmund's intake. Ironically when i found it it was laying in the cab of a 53 and all that was on it was the fuel pump, Walked out with it for 50$ bucks.

 

When hitting the yards, don't forget to look under the front seat, and behind the seat in pickups. Is the spare tire still mounted under the bed? The original jack and tools may stashed above the wheel. Cars: pull out the back seat cushion, and look on the floor. Free money is always nice to have.

 

Bill,

Here is a pic of the hood ornament. I was wrong (it happens) about it being a 53. I have it labeled as a 56 Olds 98. The ornament hanging underneath it is I think a 53 Caddy (I'm not sure I found the hood all by itself half buried and rusted through in a ditch) I managed to get the ornament and the long trim tht goes behind it as well.

Here are some more random emblems that I managed to bolt onto a panel and hang it on my garage door.


Bobby

 

The GMC badges are off the 1948/54's hood sides, the thin badge I can't make out. The Studebaker crest, if enamel with a metal back, is off a 1951 hood, if plastic, it's off a 1956/57 Studebaker Hawk's grille, or off a 1957 President hood. Ford truck dash plate, circa 1941/47. Apache plates are from a late 50's, early '60's Chevrolet truck. Buick crest from the mid 1960's. 1956 Chebbie hood ornament. 1948/54 Chevy truck horn button. Hood front ornament, 1942/46 Cadillac. Cadillac grille script from 1963/65. V6 emblem = prolly GMC 1960's truck, not sure. 1967 Ford 500 quarter panel emblem. Cornbinder dash plate, prolly 1950's. Buick Eight is the clock block off plate used on Buick dashes 1950/53. Running 'Stang ornament (C5ZZ-8A223-A), from the grille center 1965/67. __500 from 1966/67 Fairlane. Fairlane 500 script 1963/64. Sedan (C7AZ-7125622-B) is from a 1967 Ford station wagon, the script Country (C7AZ-7125622-A) would have been in front of it.

In 1956, Olds made three models...the 88, the 98, and the urinate, for p!ssing around town in.

 

Best find so far this yr, two 70 Mustang Toploaders, 1 4spd, 1 3spd.
For $25.00

 

The weirdest thing I ever found at a junk yard ( not a wrecking yard) was my 55 effie. It was sold as scrap to the yard, and sold to me for 75.00 with a title. The pan was off , the rod caps in the mud. I replaced 1 rod bearing, put the old ones back in, put a new gasket on the pan, oil, battery all at the scrap yard. I then asked the yard owner if he could open the gate so I could take the truck out and he asked "wheres the tow truck?" You should have seen the look on the guys face when I drove the 55 out the gate with only a light knock. I drove that way for about 2 years as I was turning wrenches plus had other rides to deal with. What a great old truck. It is still around, but now has a 312 tb in it.
Last year I found a hood ornament from a Merc. for 5 bux just for decoration. Researched it and find it to be from a 1944 and very rare. It is in great shape too and it is in the garage waiting for the next owner.
Jon