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Sun Jan 22, 2012 1:26 am

Ok. First things first. I know you guys,(n gals) might not want to "spill" your current junkyard "secrets",and that's ok, but here's my take on junkyards,(dating to the 1980's) and questions about their future.

This is about self service multi-make yards as opposed to mostly VW yards.

Any feedback would be appreciated. I apologize for what, I am certain, will be a long post. :lol:

My first REAL experiences with junkyards was in 1984,(born in 1969). I say that because as a kid I went to random junkyards in southern Ca. before that with my Dad ,but by 1984 I moved to the Bay Area and started hitting the yards in EPA. East Palo Alto to those of you,"not in the know". That was back when cars were stacked 4-5 high and you climbed precarious stacks to grab the grub. There was no signing anything before you went in,cut yourself,.....Too bad!

I started hitting yards seriously about 3-4 years before Tom Klauer opened Pick-n-Pull revolutionizing junk yarding.Back when nobody was doing eco-friendly junk yarding. In 1989 I got serious about yarding and started buying every factory accessory item I could find as the cars were 20-25 or so years old,and back in those days a passenger seat ,(given the make I was selling),was damn near an option!

There were lots to be had for CHEAP. I was junk yarding with a buddy who needed specific parts who couldn't believe I was dropping $50 on accessories and was buying so many,(Genuine accessory rubber floor mats @ $1.25 a piece),Etc. !

He asked me what I was going to do with all those parts. I told him,"I don't know,sell them at a swap meet or something".

Then the internet hit and my garage became GOLD.

I hit junkyards every week traveling throughout Ca. and Nv. and cleaning up and did well for myself.

But here's the thing.
I was hitting junkyards before "everyone" was doing it.
Back in 1989 there were a lot of items that were factory accessories ,(like cup holders) that are standard today so there are a lot less factory accessories available now.

I knew an aquaintence who bragged about having taped a cast iron exhaust manifold to his back and walking out of a junkyard. (to save like $20).

Now there are sensors that are the size of a pair of nail clippers or slightly larger that cost $200 and are mostly plastic.

Back in the day I use to think about using scales,(to weight people coming of going) or metal detectors,(like I said a lot of the small parts are mostly plastic), to combat theft.

I have a lot more to say,(observations) and will respond to posts but don't want to be too long-winded.

Like I said,No need to spill your guts,but would appreciate your take on junkyards, Old & New.

I suspect what has happened is the bulky accessory parts morphed into the tiny high dollar parts...

Lets talk recycling then and now as well. Use to be my local PNP paid to have tires taken away. Now they are PAID for spent tires.

Lots more to say, Discuss :!:

Yeah,I know there a lot of VW or other related junk yard threads ,just didn't feel this fit those.

When you "spin in" the fact that most cars are becoming disposable due to all these small sensors,and their costs etc. what is the worth of cars now?

I did 20 years of auto repair so I'm not diving in blind, but have junkyards become a place for body parts & windshields,(plus the pocket profit),or .............??

Sun Jan 22, 2012 8:25 am

Dunebubby wrote: don't want to be too long-winded.
Wow, it's a good thing, I got tired reading this short post :wink:

Sun Jan 22, 2012 9:56 am

Ah yes, the 80's....Santa Ana...stacked with buses, bugs you name it...trim, jail bars, switches, seats, etc....even an occasional 21 window passing through...Those indeed were the days. 8)

Sun Jan 22, 2012 10:24 am

Yep...the 80's.
I had an Oval and was broke, so I had to scrounge. There was a VW specific yard here in San Antonio that had busses stacked 2 high. No body cared about them back then as Bugs were all the rage.
Now I tell all of the youngsters about seeing these busses stacked up like that and they don't believe..... :shock: :lol:
The yard (Big VEE) is long gone. Too bad, as the owner was a really nice guy.

Sun Jan 22, 2012 11:04 am

Yup, I remember the 80's. Broke and young, trying to raise a family. I found a great "salvage" yard, and used to do all my shopping there. I got into a good friendship with the owner, and used to get "under water specials" (the yard was 1/2 flooded due to rain). I never really grabbed anything I didn't use though, just what I needed at the time. Later on I moved away, and didn't really do that anymore, due to owning the more newer "throw away cars", that don't make it really worth while to go there any more, as the prices are now closer to the same as new. :shock: I heard from my dad, that the guy cleaned everything up, crushed it all, and sold the land about 15 years ago (before the EPA started cracking down). Last year I went to a pick-n-pull, and paid to get in (a sig was required too), and was surprised at all the newer stuff in them, along with a couple of older models. No VWS at all, just like my local place. :roll: Now I just use them for glass, and maybe sheet metal, for my other cars.

Sun Jan 22, 2012 12:14 pm

I have a 1988 B2200 Mazda truck, very few of them still on the streets around here, see one (I'm talkin' 1986-1993 made-in-Japan ones) maybe every 3 months.

About 15 months ago a new U-Pick yard opened up about 80 miles away, but a location I'm near like each month. I got some nice parts for both myself and for other Internet friends, as the yard had about a dozen B-trucks. However, now they are down to one such truck. Apparently, when the yard started, they bought a whole bunch of non-running vehicles, so they tapped into the region's supply. But now as those truck parts have been used up, and the carcasses sold for metal content, there's no supply of such B-trucks to replace them, so the "gold" there is gone for me. By the way, the VWs there are pretty much completely stripped. The only thing I grabbed for VW was a fuel pump pushrod.

Sun Jan 22, 2012 12:52 pm

Talking generically of course, recycled auto parts are a BIG business in this area now and several online companies have wharehouses of parts. Talking about my non VW vehicle, I usually go to an autoparts yard as my car is old and rusty and I'm not putting much money, other than to make it run, into it. I am a recyclist at heart and have been doing yard sales for years. It is amazing what people throw out in apt bldg. It used to be if it worked, I'd clean it up and sell it for a few bucks. I'm no llonger doing that BUT this spring I have mega stuff to get rid of and I can set up my yard sales at my mechanic's (closed on weekends) while I work on my VW prepping for spring launch.

As to my Vanagon, I also don't have a problem with recycled parts because most of them are from the vintage era anyhow. There are some OEM's that I would kill to acquire but I'm not dedicated to stock. There are many yards around but I tend to go to the same one all the time as I am comfortable there and they let me go into the yard which is something I really like to do. When I had Jetta's I used to go there all the time for things I was missing.

I like the idea of this thread. I like that now they strip the cars of recyclable or toxic substances BEFORE they crush for metal. I think it's much better for the environment in an easy way. I've never understood why Canada has been so slow to develop new products out of recycled tires. Theres masses of things (good things) that they can make out of them.

Having said all that I do appreciate hearing and learning of places that have parts Vanagons. Most of them are bought up by the area Bus/Vanagon mechanics, but that's okay, one can track them down.

I think the bargains of yesterday are going to be gone as recycling of auto parts is a big business now that people are keeping and/or buying used cars rather than the overly expensive plastic models.

I have a big paper sign in my windshield (Van) that screams NOT FOR SALE!. It was the foot protector campaign of Krown Koating (annual undercoating)(soon coming to the States but under a different name). I was over the hump with old old repeated problems with Scooby and I knew I wanted to keep it for another year or two, so I got a clean one from them. Their campaign was directed at keeping your old cars and getting them re-Krowned annually at the fixed price you started with. I bring this up as I think that more and more people are keeping older cars on the road due to the prices and yes some inferiority of the new models.

There are even yards now that only handle one brand name (i.e. Toyota or Hondas, etc.)

gets down off soap box :wink: :D

Sun Jan 22, 2012 2:15 pm

Today its all about scrap metal. Cars are worth more crushed than parted.

Sun Jan 22, 2012 2:51 pm

I hear you but around here they take out the working parts, fluids, etc. before the skeleton is sold for metal. The yard I like to go to has many many vehicles before they get stripped. Not sure they can crush until stripped.

Sun Jan 22, 2012 2:55 pm

rusty57 wrote: Today its all about scrap metal. Cars are worth more crushed than parted.

I think it's quicker and easier to scrap a car rather then take up the space and wait for it to be parted out. Most of these places remove the valuable parts and crush them.. Is a car worth more parted out? I would say 90% of the time yes, but factor in the overhead and hassle and it's a different story. The sanford and sons type of people are becoming more scarse and the new generation is after the quick economical buck.

Sun Jan 22, 2012 3:10 pm

Another 80s flashback. We had one across the street from Camp Smith. Went there mostly for parts for my 66 F250. Took my 69 beetle there one day, the guy said he used to crush these things by the hundreds. They have since gone by the by. Great little yard though, used to be able to walk around and pick your part.

Sun Jan 22, 2012 3:35 pm

we have a pick n pull and a u pull it around here that are big yards and carry a bit of everything (the majority of the others have nothing I have no need for, don't own a gm or a ford so no use) I will no longer use the u pull it due to the owner being a crook, pick n pull is fairly nice, but its a pay to enter place

I remember when they used to do a deal before it became a pick n pull where you paid $50 and anything you could carry out you kept, had a few friends that carried out 426 hemis (one guy carried two chained to a weight bar

Mon Jan 23, 2012 12:02 am

i stopped reading at "3-4 years before". something about junkyards. :?

Mon Jan 23, 2012 3:25 am

Bobnotch wrote: Last year I went to a pick-n-pull, and paid to get in (a sig was required too)

I always used to sign in as Joe A Blow, but I don't think I've been to a Pick & Pull in 5 years.
Back in the 80's my buddy Lee and I would hit all the yards in Phelan, Monterey, and 10th street area in San Jose, Ca.
There were a lot of yards with cool stuff in them back in those days.
Last time I did a Pick & Pull there was a lot of nothing I was interested in.

Mon Jan 23, 2012 10:41 am

Our junkyard at the family garage (50s, 60s to mid 70s) was fenced in behind the sales lot in a residential area on the main street. Not entirely fenced in- the drive was open to the shop and anyone could go in anytime there was no gate or doors. We kids played in there all the time--none of us ever got tetanus either LOL. We never ever saw anyone else in the lot scavenging for parts either--strange. Yet the actual scrap yard we took the real junkers to were were on a bog also surrounded by tall fences, gated and protected by real junk yard dogs--stranger now to think of it!! But I guess the scrap was their bread and butter.
I asked my Dad once why the junkyard wasn't gated and he said people'd just go in an wreck the place if we did.

Good times tho!!!

Mon Jan 23, 2012 10:48 am

I haven't been to a junkyard in a long time. I also have been driving newer cars (only 5-10 years old) mostly and those don't need parts unless you're in a fender bender, and haven't had one of those for awhile. I was in one bigger accident, but there just let the insurance company pay the body guy to get it done. Now I kinda doubt I'd find anything for a 60's Type 3 in a random junkyard anywhere.

I liked going to the yards, but was put off in the 90's when it seemed more of them were inventorying their parts, getting linked up to other junkyards in networks, and then they'd ask you in the front what part you wanted. "Uh, I just wanna walk around and see what you got, if I see something that's better than what I got, then I'll buy it". Nope, they wouldn't let you walk around, especially unescorted.

So now I just do an internet search instead of going to a junkyard. Doesn't mean junkyards are obsolete, just a different mode of business (and less satisfying to me). Plus, living in suburbs like I do now, you don't see junkyards in the neighborhood.

Mon Jan 23, 2012 10:55 am

Dunebubby wrote: I knew an aquaintence who bragged about having taped a cast iron exhaust manifold to his back and walking out of a junkyard. (to save like $20).
perhaps this is why you can't roam thru them anymore, but just a guess on my part

Mon Jan 23, 2012 11:01 am

Pick-n-Pull (pocketpart) is a necessary evil. I prefer yards i can browse myself but charging $1 just to get in an look is a total joke. I argued with them about this but they stated that they would look up cars I was interested in before I paid the entrance fee. That's a joke as well as 1.) the idiot behind the counter looking up cars isn't versed on what other cars are interchangable and 2.) they can't guarantee that the part you want is even there IF they have the car in stock.

I know of no other business (walk in based) that charges you to shop. Pick-n-Pull isnt a new concept around here. There was the exact same business model running for nearly 15 years before Pick-n-Pull bought them out.

Cars are getting to the point where the average person cannot work on them or is too scared to with the electronics etc. Unless you have expensive diagnostic equipement you can't diagnose what is wrong with the vehicle sometimes. People now purchase cars and drive them to the point where it is no longer viable to fix them. I see cars that are 5 years old in Pn'P. It blows my mind as to me they are still "new". Cars wouldn't hit the yard so quick "back in the day" because people were able to fix them on their own.

Mon Jan 23, 2012 11:15 am

I think salvage yards will be a thing of the past in another 5-10 years, as people continue to buy new cars vs keeping their older cars going. I went to my local u pull it yard,and they were crushing cars that had barely even been picked.
Another yard sold half its land and started crushing cars since people stopped buying parts like they used to.

Mon Jan 23, 2012 11:26 am

I have a ton of pick n pull stories. I really don't mind paying the $2 to get in the door at all. Lord knows I grab enough bolts and washers off of vw's when I see them there. Once I threw a brake rotor over the fence to get it later. I was worse than broke...

I dont think pick n pull will go away in any of the major cities. I just went yesterday to score some bumper brackets for my lady friend's truck. Tons of people there, with long lines to pay. In this economy, every bit helps and a $30 fender does the same job as a new $200 one

I used to snatch up vw stuff I knew would be cheap. seats, pop-outs, early fenders, early bumpers, rims, etc. Bay window buses sometimes have good rubber mats, z beds, and ice boxes. I don't see as many vw's at the yards here, but the one yesterday had a pretty complete 72ish bay window and a 65 bug that was almost gutted