Ben's auto wrecking yard in Calif.

[J Franklin]

Does anyone out there remember from the 60's a Model A Ford salvage yard in Pacoima California? We are looking for anecdotes and any photos of this place for an article. Thank you. I remember model A's 3-4 deep and stacked 2-3 high. A great place when I got my A-bone

[Bob Johnson]

[Neil Mylar LakewoodCA]

Does anyone remember a place in Gardena, CA called Classic Cars. They had stacks of antique cars, not just Model A's. I visited it often. I think I remember seeing a car with a straight 8 cylinder engine. Anyone know what car that would have been?

[QGolden]

Originally Posted by Neil Mylar LakewoodCA

I think I remember seeing a car with a straight 8 cylinder engine. Anyone know what car that would have been?

Pontiac, Duisenberg, Buick, all had one. Several European marks did. A mark df luxury.

[ken ct]

Originally Posted by Neil Mylar LakewoodCA

Does anyone remember a place in Gardena, CA called Classic Cars. They had stacks of antique cars, not just Model A's. I visited it often. I think I remember seeing a car with a straight 8 cylinder engine. Anyone know what car that would have been?

Lots of cars back then had straight 8's // Buick OHV, Packard, Olds , Pontiac , these 3 were flatheads.Most likely some others I cant recall. ken ct.

[Tom Wesenberg]

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Studebaker had a straight 8 also.

[modeleh]

And Nash had one with 16 plugs.

[james hitchcock]

Wow. Ben's looked like a great place. What year is the advertisement from ? I guess he closed up once everyone went through those 85 cars.

[Kevin in NJ]

Interesting,

Plug the address into google.

Still a wrecking yard today. Cars are piled high. No A's sitting outside from what I can see.

[Art Bjornestad]

I used to frequent Ben's quite a bit. I remember he had a large sign on his front fence that said "No Roadster Doors".

[Greg out west]

Hi Neil,,


Yes,,I remember that place in Gardena..Sometime's Ford Obsolete wouldn't have something & I'ed swing by there on the way home..I loved it,,, like you said all kind's of old stuff...too bad both places are gone


"And" Ford Obsolete became a "Thai" Resturaunt....!!!!!!!!!!


Greg out West,

[Kevin in NJ]

A more interesting question.

Does anyone know where those cars are today?

Like the woody in the background. Looks like a cabriolet there too. Certainly the bodies look much better then what guys are restoring today.

[100IH]

I remember Classic cars, Ford Parts Obsolete, and Ajax in Gardena near Classic Cars. Used to ride my bicycle even to Rosemead from lynwood.

[Neil Mylar LakewoodCA]

Greg,
I would spend hours at Classic Cars just walking down the aisles and looking at the cars. I bought parts, but never a complete car.

Do you remember when Ford Parts Obsolete was in Los Angeles on Florence Blvd? The Goodyear blimp used to be housed in a hanger nearby.

I would ride my bicycle from Inglewood to FPO in Los Angeles.

Neil

[Chris Haynes]

Classic cars was big into Packards. They were straight eights.
Ford Parts Obsolete. 616 Florence. As a teenager I made many trips there in the early '60's getting parts for my '31 Sport Coupe. Sadly there is no place that I know of in the Los Angeles area to buy parts for old Fords today.
There was the Old Ford Parts guy in North hollywood. Valley Ford Parts. Also long gone.

[Neil Mylar LakewoodCA]

Chris,
There was also a place in Redondo Beach, run by an older gentleman named Bob Moser. Did you ever go there?

100IH, I'm not sure if I ever went to Ajax in Gardena.

Neil

[Wick]

In New Kent Va. there's Phil Bate's cars all over the place. I have never been back in there but there no shortage of rust.

[tombia]

When I was a kid we used to frequent Washington Auto Parts in Murkirk, Md. (DC area) Lots of v12and v16 caddiliacs, Big Packards and such. I remember a fellow drove in a 1939 Ford Convrt. sedan which they turned on it,s side and doused with gas and burnt. This would have been 1954 or 55.

[Neil Mylar LakewoodCA]

Tombia,
That's quite a story.
Why did they burn it? Was it because it was a Ford?

[Keith True]

To get top dollar for scrap you had to burn the cars first.It was still being done here in N.H.into at least the mid 70's.I was just starting to drive truck a little then,and hauled a few loads of burned cars when I first started driving.My uncles used to do it a lot when I was little,they would get $7.50 for a stripped car,(no tires,gas tank,seat cushions,)but they could get $10.for burned cars.Burned cars are nasty things to haul,put a load of them on a 40 foot trailer and the soot seems to blow right up in your cab.