stopped by the local yard today......

[MisterC]

**wipes a tear away from cheek**

[SFTorange]

I've always been worried that Kelly'd start crushing trucks. It's sad to think how I took Missoula Auto Salvage and Kelly's Wrecking for granted when I lived just 30 minutes away from both. Thanks Jon for posting the pics of what will soon be "the way it used to be".

[lil hoodlum]

Originally Posted by jonzcustomshop

sad day.... all the big trucks are gone, and the entire center row: the ones that aren't up against the fence.....
wish I had had more time and money.. lots of stuff that I just wasn't able to salvage.
Of particular sadness to me, some stuff I didn't have a chance to get:
2 factory sway bars.
1 mint rust free bare 61 cab.
1 61 3/4 ton detroit locker posi.
1 mint 65 lwb LH bedside.
1 very nice 63 deluxe seat.
2 60-61 c/60 grilles
1 set of 61 knobs with the "V","C","T", and "L" printed on them...
1 deluxe 61 steering wheel.

there is a bunch of other stuff that I was sad to see go into the crusher, quite a few 60-66 deluxe guage packages, about 30 good high hump floor tunnels, and lots of miscellaneous parts....

I think steel is at $230 a ton around here, this stuff is just disappearing fast, it has been a few months since I have been out there, and on the ride back I noticed that 5 other 60-66's that I knew about in fields, and on farms were gone.

It is happening down here in the North Texas/ Oklahoma area as well. There is a HUGE salvage yard just North of Denton where I live and the recently scrapped some trucks as well. Everyday I see semitrucks with flatbeds going south on I35 to Dallas, Texas and there allways is some old iron squashed flat and loaded up. There is a facility in Dallas that has a shredder. I presume all of this metal is going to China or down to Mexico.

It makes me sad becuase I really believe in less than ten years it will be very difficult to find salvagable trucks for our hobby. It also bothers me when I see people online that will scrap a truck because it has rusty rockers or they just wanted the bed or something else like that.

Seriously, if I ever won the Texas lottery, I would go on a shopping spree buying all the 1960-1972 trucks I could and stockpiling them just to preserve our hobby and history of these old trucks.

Thanks for sharing the info and great pictures.

Keith

[aerotruk63]

If I won the lottery, I'd tour the yards and post up the stuff I found online and take orders then ship. It would require a 1963 Tractor Trailer Truck with an enclosed van for storing the stuff and advertising on the side of the trailer to indicate that I was looking for 1960-66 Chevrolet/GMC trucks. I'd have a small area at the front of the trailer as an office/living space.

Tell you what Jonz, go to the yard and gather all the stuff you think is salvageable and put it on the scale. When all those parts weigh a ton hand him the $230.00. I'll send you the money.

[csa daddy]

Originally Posted by lil hoodlum

It is happening down here in the North Texas/ Oklahoma area as well. There is a HUGE salvage yard just North of Denton where I live and the recently scrapped some trucks as well. Everyday I see semitrucks with flatbeds going south on I35 to Dallas, Texas and there allways is some old iron squashed flat and loaded up. There is a facility in Dallas that has a shredder. I presume all of this metal is going to China or down to Mexico.

It makes me sad becuase I really believe in less than ten years it will be very difficult to find salvagable trucks for our hobby. It also bothers me when I see people online that will scrap a truck because it has rusty rockers or they just wanted the bed or something else like that.

Seriously, if I ever won the Texas lottery, I would go on a shopping spree buying all the 1960-1972 trucks I could and stockpiling them just to preserve our hobby and history of these old trucks.

Thanks for sharing the info and great pictures.

Keith

amen

[pope]

Is there anything left up there? I would like a decent 60-61 front clip if there is one... What a shame...

[Blue Blood]

Ridiculous to see all that get scrapped...that guy could've made a killing on the 'net if he had a few guys to help him disassemble & catorgorize it all.

[aerotruk63]

I talked to a guy who owns a yard, after paying a guy to remove the part he can't get people to buy it at a fair price. It's easier to simply crush the stuff. If we made a list of the stuff we wanted and how much we wanted to pay for it plus shipping would it be worth his while?

[81ShrtBox]

This is saddening

[Blue Blood]

Originally Posted by aerotruk63

I talked to a guy who owns a yard, after paying a guy to remove the part he can't get people to buy it at a fair price. It's easier to simply crush the stuff. If we made a list of the stuff we wanted and how much we wanted to pay for it plus shipping would it be worth his while?

Ballpark is $400. per U.S. tonage(2,000 lbs) what's a truck weigh? Maybe the yard owner is right.I work in aerospace manufacturing(5-axis CNC),& deal with scrap metal thieves who see dollar signs everywhere.
Scrap metal guys are scum.

[LostMy65]

2000lbs = $230

A fender weighs 15 lbs. = $3.45

A door is 68 lbs. = $15.64

A hood is 84 lbs = $19.32

Okay,

So let's double that.

2000lbs = $460

A fender weighs 15 lbs. = $6.90

A door is 68 lbs. = $31.28

A hood is 84 lbs = $38.64

It is plain stupid to scrap these trucks.

[jonzcustomshop]

Originally Posted by pope

Is there anything left up there? I would like a decent 60-61 front clip if there is one... What a shame...

not much left, about 30 trucks still, but most are pretty parted....
the ones that got squished, actually most all of them, had all the decent sheet metal gone years ago...

of course, our version of a junk door/fender/hood up north here is a bit different than that of the guys from the rust belt......

the bottom line is money,, that was a quick 12k for him... I would of much rather seen the line of ad (47-54) trucks in the row behind go away, in those there really is nothing left but weight.

I knew this would be coming, I wish I could have had a little advance warning so I could have finished them off a little before they went... for example one had the radio knobs sitting on the dash... would have taken a second to remove them instead of throwing them away....
the guy is 62 or 64, and he will be retiring soon, I expect when he decides to retire the rest of the yard will get crushed..

[DLOE65]

So sad
Posted via Mobile Device

[paulspickupparts]

I buy a lot of parts from a local yard. One of the few who gets to take off parts before they are crushed. Its all about economics. Put yourself in the shoes of the owner. Sell a few hundred dollars in parts or thousands in scrap. Taxes,health insurance, epa, workmans comp if employees, and best of all reproduction. I have been selling since 1980 as a hobby. It gets harder every day . Every day that China makes another repro part. The repo parts are junk but they are new and they do sell. Do they fit? Well try fitting a 60-66 fender to an original grill support. And the add says exact reproduction!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Politicians watch idly as factory after factory move to China. The lowdown is China needs our iron for their robust economy. Everytime you by anything made of metal (not just truck parts) from overseas it puts another postage stamp on an old truck. One last drive to China. Another little side effect the politician cannot understand is why unemployment is high. Duh, we do not make anything. I used to live 60 miles from the original Vice Grip factory. As of 2 years ago I now live 12000 miles away from the new Vice Grip factory. Innovation hell. Its abut 80 cents an hour labor, cheap shipping, and no epa rules. Not looking good for the country or for old trucks.

[csa daddy]

yeah i belive that we should ban all imports of any sort an quit selling them our iron an take back our country from the gov. its suppossed to be by the people for the people not for the rich or for gov employees

[BillyDeluxe]

I see thousands and thousands of Dollar sleeping there. In Germany you would get thousand Euro (which is 1300 Dollar) for a hood or a pair of doors. Your're rich guys over there :-)
Andy

[paulspickupparts]

Great , how many do you want? I have over 20 good hoods . Where should I send them?

[SBTork]

man, that's just dissapointing!! I would love to have the time/money to trailer out there with a grand or two and buy a truck, or at least all the parts to make one.