TheSamba.com :: View topic - Grimm's Auto Parts / Elwoods Auto Salvage

Fri Jun 21, 2013 12:53 pm

Hello all,

Just wondering...any chance there's someone on this list who lives near or knows anything about a salvage yard in Smithsburg, MD called either Grimms or Elwoods? Not sure which is the current name as both come up in Google search results for the same address. The place is huge, and we on the east coast aren't rolling in salvage yards. The satellite views seem to show a good number of older cars, but I'd love to talk with someone who knows more about the place. I'm looking for a complete Riviera top and thought the salvage yard circuit might be a place to look.

Anyway, if you have info please respond...thanks!

- Doug :-)

Fri Jun 21, 2013 1:17 pm

I've never been there, but after some Google Snooping, it looks great! Virginia is notoriously bad for junkyards, especially if you're in the northern part of the state. If you're close enough to Maryland, the Crazy Ray's junkyards might also be worthy of a look, though they're very popular so good quality popular cars can get cleaned out pretty quickly. Their yard in Baltimore is absolutely massive, but I don't recall seeing any Buses the last time I was there.

I shot a message over to a friend who lives in the area near Grimm's/Elwood's to see if he's got any insight on the yard.

Fri Jun 21, 2013 1:19 pm

Awesome, thanks! Is Crazy Rays a pick-n-pull place that one can browse, or do customers only see the front desk?

Thanks,
- Doug

Fri Jun 21, 2013 1:23 pm

DougB wrote: Awesome, thanks! Is Crazy Rays a pick-n-pull place that one can browse, or do customers only see the front desk?

Thanks,
- Doug

It sure is! The only downside to Crazy Rays is that they have such a high rate of vehicle turnover, that they generally do not have a very accurate inventory of parts or vehicles, unless it's something that's come in recently, or something very unique.

They also do not inventory parts, so even if they know that they have a certain type of vehicle, they have no way of knowing whether they have that specific part in stock. But they've got several yards around MD, and an abundance of vehicles. Parts are dirt cheap, too. We nearly filled my entire Forester with stuff and only paid about $100 the last time we went up there.

Fri Jun 21, 2013 1:29 pm

Hmmm...if the vehicles turn over quickly it almost seems unlikely that they'd even have aircooled stuff. Have you ever seen any there? I'd love to find a bus with a complete Riviera top from which I could just cut the entire roof. That said, I'd be interested in looking at any late model bus or Type 3 stuff. Ever see any?

Thanks!

Fri Jun 21, 2013 1:32 pm

Last time I went, I wasn't looking for Bus stuff, so I didn't venture to that side of the yard.

I might be heading up that way in the coming weeks if my Subaru keeps acting up, and I'll let you know if I find anything. :)

Fri Jun 21, 2013 1:38 pm

Awesome, that would be great...thanks! It looks like they have 3 locations and I'm not sure which one might be best.

Now I just hope someone chimes in about Grimms...

Fri Jun 21, 2013 9:26 pm

Doug,

Heard back from my friend near Grimm's and it sounds like they have a great selection of stuff. He mentioned that they have several different variances of my daily driver, and I need parts for that, so I'm going up there tomorrow (Saturday), and I'll report back.

If we don't find everything we need there, we'll also be heading to at least one of the Crazy Ray's yards (Mt. Airy, and potentially Jessup if there's time). I'll report my findings. 8)

I love junkyarding!

Sat Jun 22, 2013 8:07 am

Oh man, so jealous! Have fun & please report back (with pics!) :-)

Sat Jun 22, 2013 3:33 pm

Grimm's Auto Parts Co / Elwood's Auto Salvage in Smithsburg, MD currently, as of about 2:00 this afternoon, has three bay window buses. Unfortunately, none of them are in terrific condition, and by that, I mean they were pretty much crap. :( It smelled very foul in the general area of the buses, so I didn't stick around too long, and we were short on time, and had to get parts off a few other vehicles, so I didn't get too many pictures or parts inventoried, but hopefully this should give a general idea.

Bus 1:

Unsure on year. Looks to be mid-late 70s.

Non-walk-thru Transporter. Missing passenger side door, sliding door, windshield. Some interior bits remain. Looks like it rolled or was pinched somehow... Roof is "tee-peed."

Bus 2:

Another Transporter. Unsure on year. Definitely Late Bay, though, judging by tail lights. Glass looked to be in decent condition for what was there. Too much undergrowth around to really get in up close, and I was too excited by Bus 3 to get a better look than this picture. Body panels look to be in better condition than Bus 1, however.

Bus 3:

Saved the best, if you can even call it that, for last. Early Bay (I think...) High-Top Westfalia/Adventure Wagon (Maybe a Riviera high-top, maybe some other conversion? Hard to tell, and I'm not well versed in the high-tops). Camping equipment is stripped and gone. Top looks to be in great shape, however quite dirty. Glass was pretty much gone, except for the hightop windows, which looked great.

All three buses have definitely been there a good while, meaning there's probably ample rust and rot... :(

They also had a massive load of Beetles and Karmann Ghias. Did not see any Type 3s, Things or any of the other more uncommon aircooleds there.

They did have a few Aircooled Vanagons, though, and a couple appeared to still have engines in them. Whether or not they're any good, well, that's anybody's guess.

As for Crazy Ray's in Mt. Airy, they didn't have a single bus according to the guy at the counter, and I didn't see anything aircooled on our quick walk-through of the yard. I was able to get just about everything I needed from Grimm's, but Mt. Airy wasn't too far out of the way that it made sense to stop there and see if they had parts for either of the other cars. It's a gold mine, if you have a late 90s to early-2000s Ford or GM sedan, though... :sleeping:

That's about all I have for today. Got a bit of a late start do to a maintenance issue with my apartment, and ran short on time. I'll definitely keep my eyes open for the Riv Top and any Type 3 stuff next time I'm out at a Junkyard.

Oh, one more thing, pricing at Grimm's is a bit higher than it is at Crazy Ray's, so if you're lucky enough to find something at Crazy Ray's, that would be the place to go. The yards are much better kept, no overgrowth of weeds and insects and horse manure, and with the exception of Mt. Airy, they actually seem to be organized fairly well. I know the one in Baltimore on Hawkins Point is very well organized and is absolutely enormous. If anyone I know is heading up that way any time soon, I'll have them keep an eye open for buses. :D [/img]

Sat Jun 22, 2013 5:44 pm

Thanks for the report! Not much there re: Busses, but Zi wonder if any of those Vanagons have BA6's underneath ;-)

Any other ideas for local, junkyard Type 2s?

Sun Jun 23, 2013 2:05 pm

I was talking with a guy today who said there's a decent junkyard, with many aircooled VWs, in a valley around "Marshalltown" (sp?), in western VA...he said you go on 29 as far as you can and its a town near where you hit @the road that goes south to the Carolina's"...he said it was like 2 hours from DC. Any idea where this place might be?

Sun Jun 23, 2013 6:27 pm

I know Marshall, VA, never heard of Marshalltown. Couldn't find it on a map. Marshall is only about an hour outside of DC, and 29 does go into the Carolinas. Could he be talking about 50 and 81? Middletown, maybe? There appear to be a couple places showing up on Google searches in that area. I don't know the place he's talking about, though. Sounds like a great spot, though! Hopefully we can track it down one of these days!

Mon Jun 24, 2013 4:27 am

Got a hood from Grimm's for my Scirocco way back when. I remember the cars were all organized by make and it was like a candy store. ;)

There are a few yards around Danville and Martinsville that fit the bill. Google satellite searching doesn't show much in the way that looks like buses Unless you count school buses). Barker's, and Autocyle seem the best looking.

kj