First off, no I didn't bother to take any pics, but the first car I saw in the yard was 1950 Ford two door sedan. Pretty solid car with minor rust and no engine. Instrument cluster was nice as was most of the trim.

After getting the part I was after I wandered over to the Mopar section. Right in the middle was a 1952 Plymouth four door sedan with a flathead six that looked like it had been rebuilt 30 years ago and never fired. Again, most trim was nice as was the body. Instrument cluster and dash trim was very nice as well.

My thought is that both cars probably came from the same estate, but what a sad sight to see both of these potentially cool cars sitting there likely going to the crusher soon...

If I was there I would have stripped the Plymouth for parts for my 51.

Haven't really seen anything that old in the local yards in a long time and what was there deserved to be.

Not quite as old, but sometime ago, I saw a '62 T-bird. Car was rough, but not rotted, and looked pretty complete. Probably could have been restored.

One that really upset me was a '79 Cordoba. I guess it had come from an Estate Auction/sale. I don't remember the exact mileage, but it was under 20K and the car looked it.

That's the bad thing about the PAP yards, there's no way to buy a complete car out of the yard.

Was just at the junk yard pulling stuff today too. Havent done that in about a year. Found a very clean 65 Valiant 2dr sedan. I pulled some pieces and took pictures. Few 70's Dodge trucks. Couple Jeeps. VERY productive day.

Last time I was there a ran across a very clean Corvair. Someone had pulled all the frt and rear window trim off it. I grabbed it and paid something cheap like $10. Thought a place that specialized in Corvairs would want it at my cost plus shipping. I called 2 or 3 places. No takers. I threw it away. I felt bad but at 57 I just don't have time to list stuff for $10, it gets damaged in the mail or lost them I'm out $10 + shipping + my time + a negative on Ebay. No good deed goes unpunished.

Saw a 68 camaro and a 69/70 mustang fastback back in the 2000's, still well beyond the time anyone should have seen those cars in junk yards. They were roaches, but rebuildable.

Here in IL, it became illegal for a junk yard to sell complete cars before the year 2000. They were licensed to sell parts (new or used), selling a complete car could cost them the parts selling license. At the same time, it became illegal for an auto dealership to sell used parts, they could sell you new parts, or new or used cars, but not used parts. I also believe they (the state) stopped the practice of issuing both a used parts sales license and a new/used car license to the same person or company. A few businesses that had both licenses before they started with the restrictions were grandfathered in and could continue, but I don't know if they sold the business, the new owners got both licenses. Some yards walked the very thin line that if the car didn't actually enter the yard, they could sell the complete car, but that was probably a risky adventure.
I wouldn'r be surprise if the IL laws were nation wide by now. You just hear of a few yards that are willing to sell a car and they can still give you a good title. Gene

Sure there is but it’s one part at a time. Couple decades back came across a 77 Doba that had no business being there but was already missing a few bits. I grabbed front and rear glass, both quarters, k frame, steering column, console, carpet, maybe a door, front bumper and probably some more of it. Saw another one maybe a decade ago - somebody else had grabbed the complete interior. It sucks but it happens.

I snapped this picture in a local wrecking yard a few years back. The car looked like it drove in there. Big ol New Yorker. Not sure on the year, maybe early 70's car?

Yeah I used that trick once to buy a '65 Coronet that was sitting in a yard. The car looked like grandma died and her kids told the yard to come pick it up. It was super clean with one dent where she must have run into something. I paid the yard $200 to hold it for me and then a buddy and I spent a couple of weekends pulling it all apart. We stripped it down to the unibody. Took everything that could be unbolted.

The self serve yards here can and do sell whole cars, but they generally are in a different part of the yard. Saw a '67 Buick Skylark in that section today with a rusted roof under the vinyl top. Valve covers were gone, but it had a four barrel intake (factory). I'm fairly certain that my son's TII '89 Le Baron convertible was sold complete out of this same yard several years ago because it wasn't there long. I had sold it to a guy who just had to have it. Six months later it was in the yard still complete.

Years ago, the Stockton Pick N Pull manager said that they could sell the cars that hit the yard but only if they were cut in HALF and sold without a title.

Back in the day it was SO much easier. I remember buying a '73 Duster out of the local yard. Odometer showed 35K (it was for sure a legit 35K). Torsion bar had pulled out of the mount from rust. Interior in the car was beyond mint. It was like brand new. I gave them $150 for the WHOLE car. Guy in the yard said it could not be driven. He pulled the coil wire off and threw it in the back seat. He pushed it out the gate and I told him I would be back to get it with my trailer later.....yea right. Came back, put the coil wire on and drove it home. Those were the days. Hindsight being 20/20, I should have never parted that car out...but I did.

years ago a buddy found a late '30s Dodge P/U in a yard. They wouldn't sell it whole because they send the titles in to the state. Truck looked like someone's unfinished project, pretty nice. SO he bought the body, and had a buddy come later and bought the chassis. Put it back together and got a salvage title. I was in a local yard a few weeks ago, and went down to the old car section. Late '30s Plymouth Business coupe, another unfinished project. Had several '60s T Birds, and one '50s T Bird that had the Continental Kit.

A few years back I saw a rust free Jeep Commando tub on a rolling frame. It is unusual to see no rust in this area. The front clip was missing so I don't know if it was the one with the CJ clip or the later V8 accommodating clip. There was no tag or plate of any kind either, but maybe Jeep didn't put one on the body tub.

76-77 . . . . I had 77, exact same color, car, with 440 . . .

This is currently in the LKQ near me, looks like nothing wrong with it.... 04 Ram 5.7 hemi

A lot of the local yards are picking up abandoned vehicles off the streets by police orders, or they are buying cars that don't sell from auto auctions. Also most larger towns have yards where all the police impound vehicles go if they don't sell at an auction.
Most of these vehicles belonged to people that couldn't pay the fines, or towing and storage fees. For example, if your driving a nice ride and would get busted for DUI, the vehicle gets towed in, and is required to sit for at least 14 days at the impound yard. Towing and storage start adding up the day they tow your ride in, and keep adding up until you pay them cash for the bill, but you have to have the authorization from the police before they will release the vehicle.Depending on how long before you can bail your car out, the tow and storage can add up to a grand or more. (I know this because my shop was next to a towing company's storage lot). Once the storage time reaches a specific time period, the towing company can seek to set up an auction to sell your car. Since law enforcement and most towing companies really don't have space to store them very long, they have to go some place, and the pick a parts often end up with them. You and others get the chance to get a good buy on parts where there is little info about the vehicle.
i agree, with some cars and trucks, especially old ones, you really wonder what the real story is. It kind of saddens me such a nice vehicle ended up in a pick a part that is in better shape then the one like it I'm driving around, until I get to buy parts off of it cheap so I can keep my heap running. Then I'm not so sad. Gene

There have been a few times where I have gone and seen three or more of the same type of classic all show up at the same time. I always figured that they were once owned by hoarders like us that either passed away or had to move into a smaller place with no room to store the cars.

LKQ..................owned by Keystone Automotive. And LKQ owns a lot more than junkyards - I think LKQ is a very questionable business. They may be owned by the Iranians or China for all we know. Used to have a GREAT late model wrecking yard in the Detroit area - this place made millions - it was a gold mine. This was back in the 90's - I used to play hockey with one of the guys that worked there - he had a very good job. Then one day, he was gone & the place had all new management & ownership - it was called LKQ. Then I see LKQ businesses popping up all over the country. Just seems very fishy to me.

That's a 76-78 Chrysler New Yorker "Brougham"

Built in 74-75 as the Imperial LeBaron, Imperial name ended after 1975 but the car (slightly different body than the Chrysler New Yorker, as it had the waterfall grille and hidden headlights) continued as the Chrysler New Yorker Brougham (separate from the regular Chrysler New Yorker, which had a different grille and exposed headlights).

JS

Last weekend I was in a junkyard full of stuff like this, almost untouched. I've known about this yard for more than a decade now and assumed it was picked over, but it's not. I'll be heading back soon because there is one car I plan to pick clean.

This one boils my potatoes. Local yard. Well known fool owns it. Famously does not sell ANYTHING. The yard is his personal collection. He also runs a towing company and the word around is if he gets his claws into, it won't be seen until the estate sale. He also has two sons that work at the yard. One is a car guy and great to deal with. He understands that they're at the tipping point where it's start selling parts now and get SOMETHING or else it's all going to go to scrap. Sadly, he's the younger brother. The older brother is just like the old man. But, the young one has to run every sale by his Dad and the answer is always "No."

The last time I was there was in 2006 to make a final offer on these Gremlins. He WILL sell them. No keys, no papers and in absolutely horrible shape. $5000 EACH.
The Jolly Green one is a real, '73 Gremlin X V8 car. It is also an air conditioned car. The White/Yellow is a '74 or '75 also a Gremlin X V8 with disc brakes. Both Automatics.
Sadly, neither are worth anywhere near that. My buddy, who is the human version of Ned Flanders went there a few years ago to try and start some sort of dialogue with the owner and with cash in hand, went to make a reasonable offer on the pair. No dice.

And so they sit.

15 years ago, they might have been restorable. When I first saw the '72.... the grille was not broken, and neither was the windscreen. It WAS a viable car. With our winters out here though, these cars probably aren't even good candidates to part out. Especially not at the prices he's asking.

What's worse is this yard is the oldest operating junkyard in the area. The owners' father started "collecting" back during the scrap drives of WW II. There's model T's there... or, what's left of them. Model A Deuce coupe Fords, wood-body Chevrolets, Buicks and Chryslers from the 30's..... lots of late 40's cars.... the selection of 50's cars would make you cry. The muscle at the yard would make you pull your hair out. 429 Eliminators, dozens of Mach 1s, 3 or 4 Boss 351's.... Duster 360s, Aspen R/T's, more big-block C-bodies than you'll ever see in one place. The A-body section used to make me cry because he had all the parts my '71 Swinger or '75 Valiant needed but he wouldn't sell anything. The real shame is he's run out of property so the spread has now turned to stacking. A lot of the older stuff is on the bottom and the 80's and 90's stuff is on the top shelf.

Some people....you just want to kick them in the crotch.

i had a mature lady friend, passed away in october, who owned a 76 like this.
hers was silver with burgundy top and interior. there is a StRegis nameplate in the top also. i think she said it had 100K on the odo. but it looked good the couple times i saw it.
car hasn't been driven in the 15 years i knew her. she said the car had carb problems is why she never drove it.
i volunteered to work on it and get it running. she politely declined the offer.

her husband has a 70 300 convert that's torn apart in the garage that will never get put back together,
he also has a 68 imperial convert that drives. i installed rebuilt stainless lined 4 piston ft brake calipers and brakes on it 10 yeas ago. it needed some carb work and a good tune up to be really driveable when i put brakes on it..
sad to say unless i rescue them somehow they will probably end up in the scrapyard when the hubby passes away. he won't sell anything to anybody and he only has 1 brother who hates cars.