[rohrt]

I really miss the local junk yards I grew up with. Throw a bunch of tools in 5 gallon bucket and off you go to look for parts. All the junk yard I used to crawl through as a kid are now gone. We have only one yard in my town now.

All the remaining junk yards around are full service yards. The closes "pull your own parts" is 2 hours away now. These Full service yards are 2x to 3x more expensive. And everything is extra and nothing comes with the bolts or clips.

I needed a front bumper assembly. No bolts, no clips, grills are extra, driving lights didn't come with it.

Full service yard does have the advantage of me not freezing outside in the winter while laying in a pile of mud.

[goat69SD]

I know what your saying. I miss the old...well everything The yards we have here charge you to go in and look for a part. Before I moved out of NW Wyo. we had two yards with in 50 miles that had kept all the old cars and you could go get parts for older cars. I miss that for sure. I would go for a part and wind up buying much more.

[Jay S]

There are some rural salvage yards around with some vintage stuff. Getting to be fewer and fewer around though. I have an one hr and a half from me in southern Nebraska that has around 400 Chevelle’s, as well as other A bodies and a lot of vintage GM stuff. Kind of mind blowing, the pics were taken by a friend just a few weeks ago.

[OG68]

Our local pick and pull now charges a premium for anything older than 1980. Big sign on the older cars. SEE OFFICE BEFORE REMOVING PARTS FROM THIS CAR.

[goat69SD]

Originally Posted by Jay S

There are some rural salvage yards around with some vintage stuff. Getting to be fewer and fewer around though. I have an one hr and a half from me in southern Nebraska that has around 400 Chevelle’s, as well as other A bodies and a lot of vintage GM stuff. Kind of mind blowing, the pics were taken by a friend just a few weeks ago.

Where in NE? I go down that way often. My wife is from SE NE. We have kids and grand kids in Lincoln, Malcom and Peru NE. I am in the Black Hills area so usually drive down to Alliance and then take HWY 2 all the way to Lincoln. I actually lived in Norfolk when I was young. My parents were both born in that area.

[Jay S]

Originally Posted by goat69SD

Where in NE? I go down that way often. My wife is from SE NE. We have kids and grand kids in Lincoln, Malcom and Peru NE. I am in the Black Hills area so usually drive down to Alliance and then take HWY 2 all the way to Lincoln. I actually lived in Norfolk when I was young. My parents were both born in that area.

It sounds like you know the area quite well then. I am 10 minutes south of Nebraska City, and 15 minute or so from Peru, My wife teaches at Music at Auburn, which is generally were the Peru kids go to school.

There are two yards that have some vinatage stuff in the Wymore area, an Uncle has one and a nephew has the other. I know they go by different names but I just know them as Watts Salvage. They are just a few miles from each other, the one with all the Chevelles is further south. The nephew has the yard with all the Chevelles also has quite a collection. He kept about 30 SS Chevelle’s for himself. Including a 70 LS6 convertible, 69 COPO 427 chevelle, and a 66 or 67 375HP 4 spd chevelle, those are just the ones I know of. They are south of lincoln not far off highway 77. South of Wymore near the Kansas state line.

[Skidmark]

Man me too. I was telling the wife how I used to walk the junk yards in the early 80's and see so much cool stuff. If only I would have offered to buy those entire cars. They would have sold it no problem. I was hung up on the on title available thing. Huge mistake.

[goat69SD]

Originally Posted by Jay S

It sounds like you know the area quite well then. I am 10 minutes south of Nebraska City, and 15 minute or so from Peru, My wife teaches at Music at Auburn, which is generally were the Peru kids go to school.

There are two yards that have some vinatage stuff in the Wymore area, an Uncle has one and a nephew has the other. I know they go by different names but I just know them as Watts Salvage. They are just a few miles from each other, the one with all the Chevelles is further south. The nephew has the yard with all the Chevelles also has quite a collection. He kept about 30 SS Chevelle’s for himself. Including a 70 LS6 convertible, 69 COPO 427 chevelle, and a 66 or 67 375HP 4 spd chevelle, those are just the ones I know of. They are south of lincoln not far off highway 77. South of Wymore near the Kansas state line.

Now that is insane to say the least! My wife is from Nemaha! Lived in Stella , Humbolt and Tablerock all her life. Retired from Cooper Nuke Station. I lived down there till she retired. I had a personal shop in Nemaha so I could work on my cars while waiting for her to retire. I lived in Stella with her for a couple years. WOW small world. Her daughter Hope works for the school in Auburn.

[59safaricat]

I miss going to the junkyards and seeing a vehicle older than 1995. All of the vehicles I own are older than virtually everything in the junkyard these days. It's quite a shock, really.

[goat69SD]

Originally Posted by 59safaricat

I miss going to the junkyards and seeing a vehicle older than 1995. All of the vehicles I own are older than virtually everything in the junkyard these days. It's quite a shock, really.

A man after my own heart. I bought an 08 Chrysler 300 AWD and I love the Hemi but I said that will be the last new car I will ever buy. Everything else we own is 96 and earlier.

[goat69SD]

JayS,
Back when I would show a few of my cars I used to show at the applejack thing in NE City and the park at Auburn and Falls City and in a few places east of
there. All about 10 years ago.

[77 TRASHCAN]

Originally Posted by rohrt

I really miss the local junk yards I grew up with. Throw a bunch of tools in 5 gallon bucket and off you go to look for parts. All the junk yard I used to crawl through as a kid are now gone. We have only one yard in my town now.

All the remaining junk yards around are full service yards. The closes "pull your own parts" is 2 hours away now. These Full service yards are 2x to 3x more expensive. And everything is extra and nothing comes with the bolts or clips.

I needed a front bumper assembly. No bolts, no clips, grills are extra, driving lights didn't come with it.

Full service yard does have the advantage of me not freezing outside in the winter while laying in a pile of mud.

Back in the 60's there was a huge yard in the CR Hiawatha area. One of the main roads was near it, or went through it. I think it was called Van Dykes.

[Jay S]

Originally Posted by goat69SD

Now that is insane to say the least! My wife is from Nemaha! Lived in Stella , Humbolt and Tablerock all her life. Retired from Cooper Nuke Station. I lived down there till she retired. I had a personal shop in Nemaha so I could work on my cars while waiting for her to retire. I lived in Stella with her for a couple years. WOW small world. Her daughter Hope works for the school in Auburn.

Hah! Yes that is pretty funny. I just looked up your profile and it says you have a 70 Superbird. I think I just solved the mystery of what happened to the Superbird in Stella. It’s in the Black Hills now! Too funny.. The pictures I posted of that salvage yard were on friends scavenger hunt for the 64 GTO he bought last year, he is from Stella. He has talked about you. We have a similar car collection as you. 68 GTO, 71 Chevelle, to name a few. I don’t even know how many old Mopars I have. Working on a 69 Super bee right now.


My family use to be a regular at the U-pull-it’s in the area. Lots of great salvage yards around into the 90s. In Nebraska, there was an awesome salvage yard in Plattsmouth (engine in my 340 Duster came from there, Malcom had a good one, and near Columbus there was a big yard that had a lot of muscle car stuff. A friend that had a towing service had a decent collection of stuff in Nebraska City. The drivetrain in my 71 Chevelle came from him..RIP…Those days are long gone, but there are still a few hold outs, like the guys down by Wymore. We pulled a lot of cool stuff off of cars. Once at U pull it there was a 68 Lemans S with a 35O HO and a 3 speed. I was sick to see it sitting there. Someone took the heads before we could snag them. Felt like a car stripper there on some occations, robbed a ton of stuff from a big block 73 Charger Rally that someone just drove in the u pull it yard. To find something like that which just drove in, we didn’t bring enough money!

[Jay S]

Originally Posted by goat69SD

JayS,
Back when I would show a few of my cars I used to show at the applejack thing in NE City and the park at Auburn and Falls City and in a few places east of
there. All about 10 years ago.

I am sure I have seen your cars. My brother (Ty) says you have a maroon Superbird. You have messaged back and forth with him on another forum. I am the other half of that operation.

[Jay S]

I don’t ever remember any salvage yards in Iowa that let you wander around and look at stuff. There is a U pull it in Des Moines, but I don’t think it has been around all that long. I have 4 U pull it yards within a hour of me, one private yard has some older stuff yet down in Pawnee City,NE. The others are owned by the same company: a newer one that is pretty nice in Lincoln, 2 in Omaha, and one in Des Moines.

The first U pull it around here, which is still operational, is at the location of Omaha’s old dump (land fill)…And yes…what a lovely place for a u pull it! When I was a kid the road up to it was not even rocked. If it rained there were be people stuck on the access road and ruts going up and down the hill. A couple times I recall pulling some helpless people out, stuck on the road. (You had too if you wanted to get up the the yard, the road would be blocked, and better have a 4x4). As you can imagine, the yard itself had quite a stench being on top of the dump. The land firmed up over the years, and seems to get safer. But a lot of the cars in those early years, which were up on homemade stands made from wheels welded together were barely able to stand. Dad would go push on the fender before he would crawl under one of the cars. I did also after I watch him shake a car and knock down the 4 cars next to it down. Then there was the adventure of getting one of the forklift operators to pull an engine! If anyone was working near by we would warn them too take a break and watch the show, because more than once the car would come off those stand and was like watching domino’s fall, but with cars!

[78w72]

Originally Posted by rohrt

I really miss the local junk yards I grew up with. Throw a bunch of tools in 5 gallon bucket and off you go to look for parts. All the junk yard I used to crawl through as a kid are now gone. We have only one yard in my town now.

All the remaining junk yards around are full service yards. The closes "pull your own parts" is 2 hours away now. These Full service yards are 2x to 3x more expensive. And everything is extra and nothing comes with the bolts or clips.

I needed a front bumper assembly. No bolts, no clips, grills are extra, driving lights didn't come with it.

Full service yard does have the advantage of me not freezing outside in the winter while laying in a pile of mud.

im in your town & we have more than just 1 junk yard. the 2 big ones that have been here for 40-50 years are still there but one changed ownership/name about 8-10 years ago. 1 is still pull your own as of last year when i went there, and 1 wont let you in the yard, which as you said is more expensive but they always have been.

there is another medium sized one less than 10 minutes out of town to the west, will let you pull small parts & wheels etc but not for larger parts.

then there are 2 large yards very close, 1 straight south about 25-30 mins away & 1 straight north about 30 mins away.

i agree junkyards are dying out, but there are still all kinds of them around the country, our town is rather small & has been clamping down on things like junkyards or other "old & dirty" buildings, houses, etc, i used to keep 2-7 trans am parts cars on my small residential property, city put a stop to that about 10 years ago, cant have any non running vehicles visible on your property, i still get away with 1 or 2 if they are kept neat or somewhat hidden in the backyard, usually takes a neighbor complaining or city employee to drive by & see it before you get a warning.

Originally Posted by 77 TRASHCAN

Back in the 60's there was a huge yard in the CR Hiawatha area. One of the main roads was near it, or went through it. I think it was called Van Dykes.

van dykes is still there, its on the very south edge of town on 6th st near the interstate & is called sunline now, it is & always has been the most expensive and wont let you step foot in the yard. the town of hiawatha is at the very northern edge of CR with no junkyards near it.

[mgarblik]

We have several LKQ Pull your Part locations within a 100 mile radius. One about 15 miles away. Large, clean and efficient. Open 7 days a week and most holidays. On Holidays everything is 40% off. Huge crowds those days. They bring in a couple food trucks and make a little party out of it. I bet more LS engines get pulled those days than you can imagine. Only problem is almost nothing older than early 90's cars. For the old cars we love, we have a couple very old school yards still operating. One called Stark Wrecking is pretty big and still has cars from the late 1940's and lots of 50's and 60's cars. But after sitting in moist Ohio mud and weeds for 60-70 years, almost nothing usable on any of the cars. Everything very rusty, moldy, or impossible to remove. Generally, just an exercise in futility and sad memories. Couple of cars I remember being in this yard, 70 TA, 65 2+2, 66 2+2 hardtop and convertible, Chrysler 413 long ram, Hemi Roadrunner, Boss 302 Mustang, 3 first gen 400 Firebirds, 69 Camaro Indy Pace Car still with some Orange interior pieces. This was all at least 10 years ago though.

[goat69SD]

Originally Posted by Jay S

I am sure I have seen your cars. My brother (Ty) says you have a maroon Superbird. You have messaged back and forth with him on another forum. I am the other half of that operation.

I wonder what other forum (Mopar?) I have been a member of a few different ones as I have about all the big 3 in my cars. I used to cruise around that area in a 76 blown corvette back then.

[goat69SD]

Originally Posted by rohrt

I really miss the local junk yards I grew up with. Throw a bunch of tools in 5 gallon bucket and off you go to look for parts. All the junk yard I used to crawl through as a kid are now gone. We have only one yard in my town now.

All the remaining junk yards around are full service yards. The closes "pull your own parts" is 2 hours away now. These Full service yards are 2x to 3x more expensive. And everything is extra and nothing comes with the bolts or clips.

I needed a front bumper assembly. No bolts, no clips, grills are extra, driving lights didn't come with it.

Full service yard does have the advantage of me not freezing outside in the winter while laying in a pile of mud.

Thank you for starting this thread. Oh the memories of going into those old yards. I started doing that with dad when I was about 6 years old. Now at 67 and dad gone years now. I am old school and miss the old ways in the old days. And so many of us at this age still share so much that comes from these old cars. There more than just cars to us. There our history.

[besserspat]

I really got into cars and racing em around 13 yo , before that I was only into racing dirtbikes and sportbikes. My friends and I, had older brothers that drove old cars and needed to got o the junk yard for parts on a regular basis, so we always jumped in the car seeking adventure...

Back then Camaro 12 bolts were selling for 200$ , a good running 455 for 300$ etc... The yards were full of cool 60s cars and trucks , heavy machinery and smaller items we could take off the cars were like 5$ when declared at the office on the way out.

You never knew what youd find at the junk yard... Secretly I was dreaming to own my own junk yard one day...

Well 4 years ago I bought one, LOL , it was started in the 60s by two brothers and while most of the cars left were no older than mid 80s -90s the 4 buildings ( the office, dismanteling shop and two warehouses all good metal buildings from the 60s were still in 1960s condition. like a huge time capsule.

I spend the last 4 years cleaning , decontaminating soils and rehabilitating the place. and early springs I always dig about another dumpster full of car parts before the tall grass and tree leaves grow and make it impossible to search for more stuff.

There are no cars left on the grounds , except the warehouses full of my projects and parts to complete them.

Still have the permits from the city to run a salvage yard, but I dont think it will ever go back to a salvage year, at least not under my ownership.

Its a really cool location, near everything but still in the woods, bordered by a a railroad and to the north by an industrial park, its 10 acres cleared and flat and 50 acres of forest with streams all mine... I searched 10 years for a place like that. now its my little pre retirement project.

Peter