Well I had last Friday off work so I thought I would burn up part of my morning by cruising a yard that is very close to me. I've been there 100 times but you never know, new things come in once in awhile and what better way to spend a holiday.

Episode 2:
So I'm heading off to the bone yard with my good buddy Dave. I get about one mile from the house when I realize I left the digital camera at home ....Dang... Sorry fella's no pictures again. Eventually I'll get this routine down to a habit and get you folks some pics. I got to admit a little voice in my head said don;t bother turning around you've been here a hundred times there will be nothing worth taking a picture of. ....Wrong again.
Anyhow it was a nice morning and I was avoiding the puddles "lakes" that remained from the downpour of ole storm Katrina. The yard was a little muddy to say the least. They had recently moved all their Fords to the back part of the quarry and half of them where in 1 ft of water. Mostly newer stuff, a couple in the 80's and an old 77 F250. I checked the 77 over pretty good. It was plain Jane and had a nice drivers door. The guy wanted 80$ for it and I felt it wasn;t so nice anymore especially since I didn;t need one. I then noticed a chrome piece on the side of a hood that had been propped up. Another Ford, let's go over there. It was in the corner on its own likely due to the water in the yard.
Turns out it was a 1972 dually with a big ole stock yard box on the back of it. Some farmer must have gotten fed up and hauled 'er in. Anyhow both Dave and I noticed right away that the doors and fenders looked really good for 30+ years. Must have spent the life on the farm I thought. I opened it up and noticed the floor was pretty well shot which was common. Funny good panels but bad cab? "Look at them doors again Dave something ain't right". The bottom sills were in great shape and the fenders sharp along the edges. After searching I finally found a "made in Taiwan" stamp on one of the fenders. Re-pops... probably about 2-3 years old. Somebody had tried to save this old girl but gave up for reasons unknown. Likely the front cab mounts because we know the engine wasn't seized. It was a 2 barrel, I figured 390. The truck looked pretty good I gotta say I see worse on the road pretty regularily.
As for being picked over it was pretty complete you could tell this one was fresh. Not alot of goodies on the inside as far as trim goes. One of the grills up front had been removed. The other one looked good as well but had a crack upon inspection so I left it. The motor bay was complete. We parted way to see her another day full of the memory and no dang pictures.

Anyhow I'm outta time for now. Hopefully our next adventure will turn up something a little more exciting with less farm manure in the back.... and yes pictures

Until the next adventure my time is up
TFC

 

It's a sad day when a dually gets retired
AL.

 

This a great idea.....allow me to relate a story.

Last year I spent hours on the phone trying to find engine mount perches for my '76. Well like most of us have found out, the price of scrap metal has shot up and anything more than a few years old is crushed. I was having no luck at all and was getting more than a little ticked of by the laughter at the other end of the phone when I told them the year of my truck! I found a sympathic wrecker who thought he had what I needed but it would take him a couple of weeks to make the truck accessible as he was re-arranging the yard. He did give me a phone number to try. Well that number lead to another number that lead me to John.

I called John and explained what I was looking for. John came across as very soft spoken, understated kind of tone. In his laidback way he said he was pretty sure he had what I needed "outback". I was thrilled, "can I come over this evening and take a look?" I asked . Well, turned out John wasn't going to be home that evening but I was welcome to come over and look around as long as I stopped at the house and checked in with "Ma" and that I would have to return when he was around to remove the part and settle with him. Well that seemed fair so I took a friend and went off on a Thursday after work with an understanding of the "rules" and the intention to return on Friday morning if I found what I needed.

My Friend and I arrived at Johns around 6pm. We followed John's direction and eventually came to a field of cars and heavy trucks, trailers and assorted junk. Past the field we turned down the driveway and found a modest little home. We stopped and checked in with "Ma", who turned out to be a frail old woman in her 80's , at least.
Off we went on our treasure hunt. It turned out that the field we had passed on the way in was only part of the property. Further down the drive was a large garage/workshop and all around was scrap metal and older wrecks. The vehicles in the first field looked to be 80's and some 90's but past the workshop I started seeing things from the 60's and 70's. Then I spotted a '73 ford pickup. We headed toward it to check it out. Before we got to it we saw another '73-79 truck so we stopped at it first and popped the hood open. It had a big block, not what I was looking for. On to the next truck, lift the hood another big block but look over the hill another two trucks. This went on for a while everytime I got to one truck and cracked the hood open I'd see another a little further down. A few had what I needed so now it was a matter of which would be easiest to remove. After all I did not want to lift an engine. In a short time I found a truck that had no front clip and no drive train. Perfect, it had the correct mounts and i colud stand between the frame rails to remove them. We continued to explore the yard and found many relics from the past. Cars from the fifties the odd one from the forties or thirties. All were in terrible shape with trees growing out of them and rusted beyond recognition but there they sat just waiting for someone to re-incarnated some tiny piece so that they could live again. I came to believe that perhaps John was not the first generation to start this business. We made a loop and return ed to the drive way, stopping along the way to explore, opening a door here or a hood there to check things out. I was happy I had found what I needed today and made a mental note of things I would be needing in the future. It would be dark soon , time to go home.

Friday morning came, I had arranged to take the day of work so I left my place early and found myself back at John's around 8:30 in the morning. The house was quiet and no one was in the work shop yet. I took my tools and headed out to remove my mounts. I thought I'd get organized put would strt swinging a hammer and makin noise till after 9. So just after 9 I get started. About 15-20 minutes later I spot an older man who appeared to be in his late sixties. He was moving slowly towards me, wearing green work pants and a green work shirt. This must be John I thought, excactly how I pictured him from his telephone manner.
He continued towards me until he was close enough to speak in a regular voice with out yelling. "Are you Frank?" he asks. I had stopped working by now and said "yes I am , you must be John" and I walked toward him with my hand out to shake his. At this point I saw his eyes, his expression had changed to a fierce scowl, he picked up his pace and was "in my face" in an instant. I don't know what happened to the mild mannered guy I spoke with on the phone but he was gone. This John, laid into me like I had knocked up his daughter or something. He started calling me things I hadn't been called in a long time and he was using language that would make a sailor blush. I was all ready walking backwards trying not to stumble as my brain tried to figure out what to do next while trying to decode what John was saying.
Turns out I had really pissed him off, not for swinging a hammer at 9am like I thought but because I had left the hood up on every vehicle I looked at. I looked around and he was right you could trace my path through the yard by the open hoods. This after he had let me into the yard as a favour since he wasn't home. He was furious and rightfully so. "It's hard enough to keep these things from rotting with out "people" like you leaving things exposed like that".
Well, here's where years of customer service kick in and my brain starts working after getting over the initial shock of watching Dr Jeckly turn into Mr Hyde. Let him vent, let the steam blow off, apologize, apologize again, then make right. And thats exactly what I did. I ended up retracing my steps and closing everything I had left open. I took my time so as to let John cool down.
When I returned I found John in the shop and reported that all was returned to normal and I again apologized for starting off on the wrong foot. He grumble at at me a bit and I left to finish removing my part, thinking that I had just blown this thing , he's never gonna let me back in here again.
As things turned out John came out and gave me hand removing the mounts and we got along just fine. He had made his point and it was done, the soft spoken John was back! I had learned my lesson.
I have been back to see John a couple of times since and he always treats me more than fairly.
I need to go back again in a few weeks and will bring a camera this time too. Of course I wll ask John if it's OK to take pictures, after all you don't want to **** off John, trust me on this!

 

FP_5 Thanks for sharing your story. I love these junkyards and have many tales to tell. Yours reminds me of many that I have come accross. These guys can get upset in a snap cause alot of them know the jewels they are harbouring. Between the thieves, the goverment and the crushers the vintage stuff is getting harder and harder to find. I checked out your gallery and love the deserted truck shots. I'm also fan of the 73-79 years and like what you did with the engine swap.

Stay tuned for more tales in the future and feel free to jump with great stories like the one you shared..... and oh ya some pics of that yard would be sweet if you can swing it.

later
TFC

 

"Between the thieves, the goverment and the crushers "

Funny you should say that, any business is tough but when your entire inventory is outside, spread over a few acres it's even tougher so your absolutely right.
On one of my trips to Johns place I asked to borrow a two wheel dolly to bring things back up to my truck. He's says go ahead but be careful that s a $10,000 dolly. You know there just has to be a story to it. Turns out someone was stealing from the yard over a number of months and when the cops finally caught the guy he was running and left the dolly behind. John figured he had been taken for about $10k worth of stuff and all he had to show for it was the dolly! and the theif, he got community service! no justice for victims.