I love junkyards, and have since I was a kid. There are fewer of them these days, but on occasion I still see a promising one on the edge of town, and I take the time to have a look. It all started when I was in the third grade in Santa Monica, California. To get to my elementary school I had to walk through an industrial area that included a tire shop, a lumberyard, and most importantly, an automotive salvage yard.
On occasion my pals and I used to sneak through the gate, past the small trailer that housed the proprietor, who was a hugely overweight fellow with a red face. We would climb in the cars and pretend to be chasing bad guys or running from the police, and we would check glove compartments for treasures such as bottle openers—that is until the owner spotted us and chased us out. We were young and agile, and he was the size of a Buick Roadmaster, so there was no danger of being caught.
My family moved away the next year, and things got tougher at salvage yards with the advent of junkyard guard dogs. Later, in my teens I remember going to Cavin’s Wrecking in Long Beach, California, to get yet another transmission for a friend’s 1949 Ford. (My friend Frank was hard on gearboxes.) We arrived when they opened, but before we could go out into the yard, Mr. Cavin had to place two big bowls of dog food in a large cage in his office, and then raised a trap door that allowed his two maniacal Dobermans with evil yellow eyes to come rushing in.
By the early 1960’s most junkyards had guard dogs, and they meant business. One salvage yard nearby was even reputed to have an old circus lion to protect the inventory. I also heard about a salvage yard in Detroit that acquired a full-grown chimpanzee for such duties. Unfortunately, the chimp decided to explore other parts of the city, and escaped. He was out for a week before he could be subdued. And then there is a friend in Indiana who told me about being chased onto the hood of a car by a junkyard guard hog.
That is all in the past now, thanks to cameras and electronics, and the fact that it is no longer acceptable to inconvenience thieves. Also, old-style junkyards are disappearing due to environmental concerns. But there are still a few good ones around. For example, in my area there is Pick-a-Part in Wilmington, California, where you can still get under and get dirty.
You need to be properly attired if you are going there. And I am not talking about a tuxedo. Overalls or blue jeans are appropriate, as are a long-sleeved shirt, leather shoes and leather work gloves. I would also take a pair of safety glasses and a small tool box full of hand tools such as combination wrenches, a Crescent wrench, a socket set, and maybe some WD-40 to loosen rusted parts. A multimeter is also handy if you are looking for electronic components.
Going to salvage yards for parts is old-school though. That’s because we have the internet, and of course, Hemmings Motor News, where parts for just about every car ever made are available by mail. I have used both for many years now, and have never been cheated or mistreated.
I call vendors and talk to them to find out if they have what I need, and sound reputable, before giving them my credit card number. Many of them ship worldwide. The only time I ever experienced credit card fraud in my life was at a restaurant in San Francisco many years ago.
Though I no longer frequent junkyards for parts, I still stop and look when I see a promising one. You never know what you’ll find. The last time I stopped at a salvage yard in the desert east of Los Angeles I found a 1947 Packard Custom Super Clipper, a 1967 Chevrolet Camaro, and an American Motors Gremlin. And all of them were restorable.
Junkyards aren’t as common as they used to be, but you can usually enter them without sneaking in, and there are no longer berserk Dobermans to tear you from limb to limb. For me it’s kind of like touring archeological ruins and seeing what once was. In fact, I have even been known to tour junkyards in other countries.
In New Zealand there is a super salvage yard called Horopito Motor Wreckers on the Central North Island that goes way back, and has cars and parts from all over the world. It is the Louvre of junkyards, with acres of cars from every era, plus a couple of huge warehouses. I can spend half a day wandering through their offerings. But that’s just me. If you don’t enjoy such pursuits, stay home and let your mind wander, and browse Hemmings, while sitting in your comfy chair with a cup of coffee.
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