Junkin’ It

The mountains are nice at least.

When you think “family outing” you automatically think of a picnic, , bowling, hiking, day at the beach or visiting a landmark with your next of kin in tow.

We go to auto salvage yards.

I was going to post about our day in the salavage yard. But it turned out to be a novel to beat War and Peace. And boring. Especially if you’re not a petrolhead.

I’ve done a post on this before here.  In short, this past weekend we traveled to a much larger place and cannibalized a Taurus SHO, a 2002 Chrysler Sebring and a early 90′s Ford Ranger. And saved a man’s life, well sort of. He wasn’t about to make the walk with his equipment up the hill to the check out booth in his condition, so we offered to get one of the yardmen to go down and get him in the bus shuttle. And they did. And the ambulance took him away. And my little Ford Exploder almost did just that going up and down these hills on the way there.

The one thing you will always be when you go to one of these places is dirty. Not one person, not even the pretty Latino lady with her scarf, pointy ass highheels, tight jeans and big hoop earrings (WTH?), is going to leave without getting at least dust in the hair. Or greasy hands. It’s just a very dirty place.

The Sebring I got my visor clips from.

But for car geeks, it’s a lot of fun!

I do belive that was a Ford Pinto at one time. That's a Jeep CJ7 on top I think.

If you own older cars (like we do), more than likely it’s going to be missing some parts. Or you will have to replace something that is no longer made. And finding a part or piece can be challenging on the internet and very expensive after paying shipping. So go to the junk yard. Granted you have to take the part off yourself but it’s worth it.  And less expensive. And you do meet some “interesting” people (psst, some don’t have teeth if ya know what I mean…like maybe they’re from “The Hills Have Eyes” or something…..).

 

 

 

It’s All In The Details

When I walk around a car show, I noticed that the guys look at the engines. They like to see if it has an 8 cylinder, flathead 6, turbo, 5.0, 350, 351, 427, 429, a Ford engine in a Chevy, a Chevy engine in a Ford, original parts, etc. I have no desire to look at the engine. Yeah, there’s a chrome air cleaner, chrome headers, chrome alternator, shiny new wires, clean and painted block……that’s all nice (and a ton of work and $$), but the thing I like looking at is a) the paint b) the interior and c) the little details.

Dash from a 50's Cadillac Eldorado-Obviously drinking and driving wasn't an issue back then.

You could fit the entire contents of my house in the trunk of this car. Love the extended tailgate! This would never fit in my garage!

There was another one just like it on the other side that had the same thing.

If you love purple, this is the roadster for you!

Yes, no mistaken this was a '55 Oldsmobile. You could put two cases of beer in that cooler!

This was one of two Triumphs at the show. There was also a beautifully restored Austin Healy Sprite as well. Nice to see Great Britain represented at the show!

1922 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost produced in America. The steering wheel is on the right side as opposed to the left side.

1987 Mustang Convertible. Guess what color it was?

Not sure if pipe holders were standard.

Ignition from a Model T

GTO Mascot

This guy could have used Rain X if it was invented back then. One wiper? Geez, was it an option or something?

This is what I see when I attend car shows. My eye goes right to these little elements

Wheels

At that point in my life, I didn’t care. I needed a car! My best friend was selling hers, taking her father’s which was identical. So I bought it for $350 back in 1980.

It was a 1971 Pontiac LeMans 350. It was blue with a black vinyl top, 2 door, power steering, 8 cyl engine. Just your base line Pontiac. Wasn’t a GTO. Ripped headliner, NO speedometer! I’d like to say it had “personalized pin striping” done previously by said friend. She managed to sideswipe a couple road construction metal “horses”. Nice job.

Massive gas guzzler! The exhaust system was constantly being fixed. I think we had about 4 or 5 juice cans clamped onto that system at one time!

Windshield leaked in heavy rain.

My boyfriend installed an AM/FM Cassette player in it since it only had AM radio. I was rollin’ now!! Cut out a piece of blue carpet left over from I believe my brother’s bedroom and put that on the back shelf. Tre chic!

Since it had no speedo, I hadn’t a clue how fast I was going when I hit the highway. I was doing well over 70 because I was passing people like they were doing 25mph. I never got a speeding ticket. I loved and lived in that car!

I rolled it once. Added to the “pinstriping”. It kept on running, though!

I cried when I had to sell it because the transmission finally went in 1984.

To add insult to injury now, someone in my town owns one that looks EXACTLY like it. I drool when I see it (it’s also in much better shape). I miss that car!