A sickening find at metal salvage, '63 Lincoln

[46yblock]

I carried some metal scrap to the salvage today. The outfit has a new operation which I hadnt seen yet. I got out while waiting in line. They have a big crusher about 30 feet away. Square bales of what used to be cars and trucks were stacked up, and vehicles were piled on top of each other awaiting their baling.

Then I spotted it. A 1963 Lincoln Continental, suicide rear doors. Cream color. With mouth open I walked over for a closer look. Grill, front bumper, rear bumper, and everything else that the Chevy truck on top hadnt crushed was perfect. All it needed was paint due to exposure. A woman at the office said when it came in she looked it over and the interior, including headliner was perfect too.

It seems that there was a string of idiots involved in this. The owner, the guy who hauled it to the crusher, and the crusher. Or maybe I'm the idiot for caring.

[Ole Don]

Its not you 46, we are a dying breed. We care about the past. Did you see the space shuttles last flight on the news today? Did you get a lump in your throat like me?

[WRA]

You are not alone my friend. I saw a 67 chevelle SS in similar condition in 2009. They wouldnt sell anything. Believe it had a 396 but couldnt get the hood open cause it was under a Honda. Oh well what can you do....

[LukeDahlinger]

I see all kinds of good vintage steel being hauled across the scales. I was offloading a bunch of modern iron scrap and a guy backs in next to me starts his offload, tosses a victorian era wood burning parlor stove into the pile. Once it leaves the trailer it belongs to the junkyard and they don't sell crap.

This is in addition to lots of old Ford parts and the like.

[joe plumber]

I was at the local salvage yard late last fall and I spotted 4 Ford full wheel hubcaps .I looked at them and they were great shape .I went inside and asked if I could buy them .The person said go get them and bring them to him .He put them on a scale and said 175 .I asked again the price and he said 0ne dollar and seventy five cents .I gave him a five and said keep the change .I knew they were from a fifteys Ford .Looked them up and they were from a 57 Ford T-Bird .I got them hanging on my garage wall .Every now in then I stop by to see what they have .The person in charge told me they will sell anything at the current junk price per pound .

[3738]

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If you had the time, it sounds like you could park on the street at the entrance to the scrap yard and make offers to the sellers on interesting items before they drove on in....

[Daves55Sedan]

[QUOTE=I was offloading a bunch of modern iron scrap and a guy backs in next to me starts his offload, tosses a victorian era wood burning parlor stove into the pile.[/QUOTE]

I was still using a 1867 Missouri Box woodburning stove (mfr in Quincy, llinois) up until 2 yrs ago. I used that stove for a couple decades. In the end, there was nothing left of it. The bottom and side panels were cracked and peened. The top was paper thin. You could push your finger right thru it.
I hated letting it go. It was a peice of American history from post civil-war.
Seems like I can always keep my old Fords runnin for next to nothing, but if the time ever comes that it becomes more trouble than it is worth or costs too much to fix, it will go the way of the dinosaurs. But I get my moneys worth out of everything long past most peoples expectations.

[46yblock]

We have a local list, somewhat like Craig's list. If I can get the wording right, I'll post something to suggest people consider calling ME before they call the salvage guy. If the car isnt worth it as a whole, parts are sometimes rare items. One of the posts here has to do with a 1962 Ford with 406. Imagine finding that at the crusher!

[darrell]

i used to get all my parts from a scrap metal dealer.got a rebuild 272 back in 79 for 10 bucks.bellhousings for a dollar etc,great place for parts.

[streetdreams]

If I found a 406 Ford at the crusher in any kind of salvageable shape, I'd either own it or be on the 6 o'clock news...............

[LOWRIDER]

Originally Posted by streetdreams

if i found a 406 ford at the crusher in any kind of salvageable shape, i'd either own it or be on the 6 o'clock news...............

x2!

[W E Mack]

Originally Posted by Ole Don

Its not you 46, we are a dying breed. We care about the past. Did you see the space shuttles last flight on the news today? Did you get a lump in your throat like me?

Yes, we are a dying breed, but I suspect there are more of us than we think. Not just old iron nuts, but people who don't want to see an arguably better past replaced by, at best, a dismal future. Because of mandates and technical progress, we breath better air and drive safer cars, but they're also so easy-chair comfortable and quiet people forget that they're piloting two tons of metal and glass and drive faster than they can handle or the conditions allow. There's an old motorcyclist saying that " only 5% of riders can handle 100% of their bikes ability ", the same applies to car and truck drivers. Not to mention we can now text Stacey on the phone while we're on our way to the mall to meet her so we can buy the newest DVD about ' Jersey Shore '.

[28RPU]

What gets me is the poor or dumb business sense that some of these yard operators have. They would rather get a couple of dollars for a piece of scrap that some car nut would gladly pay hundreds of dollars for.They could sell the valuable stuff on the side and make a lot extra and sell the real scrap to their contractual metal buyers for the few bucks they give them per pound.

[W E Mack]

28RPU, it's a symptom of the dumbing down of society and indifference to doing things the right way and the attitude of " Mediocrity is the new Good! " Money is King anymore and Laziness is the Clown Prince.