You pull is salvage yards for 67-72 stuff

[Gene]

Man I can sure tell ive been out of the game for a minute, all the old salvage yards I used to grab parts from are gone and out of business. Anyone know of any walk through yards in the eastern Oklahoma area?

[jumpsoffrock]

Buddy you ain't wrong. My town of ~400k people had three self-serve yards 15 years ago, and we now have one, a corporate entity....so no haggling or "buy a bunch of stuff and we'll give you a special deal".

You pay what their computers say.
Just a miserable experience.

[EagleChief]

There are a couple of places in the Tulsa area, although I haven't been to them. But, I believe they are all newer vehicles - National chain upull part places.

The only one I knew of that had classic cars in it shut down around covid times and has since been cleaned up. The original owners aged out and the kids closed it up.

[Luke87gt]

If you’ve seen 67-72 in your local yard beyond 1995, consider yourself lucky

Also, like many businesses, junkyards have gone corporate in recent times with companies like LKQ gobbling up much of the inventory.

[Steeveedee]

Decades ago, I used to frequent U-pick yards for parts. I stopped doing that around the turn of the century because what I wanted was pretty much unavailable. That's sadly even more true, now. And yes, LKQ is glomming up things. There was a big push at one point to take all the pre-'73 iron and just scrap it. There was a Pick-Your-Part about 20 miles from me that separated the older stuff in a lot just west of the main yard, called "Memory Lane". One day I went to get some parts for my '68 Skylark, and it was an empty lot.

[factorystock]

Originally Posted by Steeveedee

Decades ago, I used to frequent U-pick yards for parts. I stopped doing that around the turn of the century because what I wanted was pretty much unavailable.

Exactly, you could always count on a good selection of trucks to choose from from the 60's and 70's in Cali, then it dried up. People started to sell there trucks on their own as complete projects ( no parting out) instead of sending them off to the wreckers. And the few and far between that did show up at yards, they were picked apart in the first day in the yard. Once the employees started getting wise of the desirability of these trucks, they started stripping them of good parts for themselves to sell on their own.

[Luke87gt]

I do have fond memories of combing through Pick N Pull in the 90s. It was an adventure, you never knew what you were gonna find.

Admittedly, I was playing with Foxbody Mustangs at the time and the yards were full of them, many with aftermarket modifications that you could bring home at cents on the dollar.

Fun times, something kids now won’t experience.

[mike16]

U pull it in las vegas has a steady supply of crazy cars that ought not to be in a yard

[Luke87gt]

Originally Posted by mike16

U pull it in las vegas has a steady supply of crazy cars that ought not to be in a yard

What’s driving that?

Is it the exuberant lifestyle there?

[MikeB]

I feel your pain. Back in the late 80s/early 90s, the Pick N Pull junkyards were full of 67-72 trucks, and parts cost next to nothing. Got an entire instrument cluster with gauges for probably $20 or so. Also, bought all the parts needed to convert my truck to power steering. Don't remember the price, but I doubt it was more than $50.

East of downtown Fort Worth, there are still lots of junkyards all in a row, but few if any 67-72 truck parts.

[Gene]

Forcing us to buy overpriced used parts from vendors, its a shame

[72 tigger]

Video

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bcO_Ng...O1ajebQw%3D%3D

[72 tigger]

Interesting video on the downturn of yards

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bcO_Ng...O1ajebQw%3D%3D

[71CHEVYSHORTBED402]

I recall a local place had bunches of them, but in the 1990s they were crushed for the price of steel. A local distributor of OER parts once had "Uhaul trucks full of OEM parts" droppe off at the dump It's a dry climate here too.

[too much stuff]

Originally Posted by Gene

Man I can sure tell ive been out of the game for a minute, all the old salvage yards I used to grab parts from are gone and out of business. Anyone know of any walk through yards in the eastern Oklahoma area?

I just got back from picking in OK and N Texas. It is getting tougher to find yards and if you do find them the quality of parts is declining. Tom Myers was a good one in NE Ok, but that is getting close to the end. I will post up pics of my travels before long...

[EagleChief]

If you do find any places to pull from, I'd like to find an upper trim piece for my long bed. I don't need new, or even a very nice piece. I just need something to replace my missing one. All of my other trim pieces are faded or have small dents in them.

[Luke87gt]

I remember how much I enjoyed visiting junkyards as a teen.

It would be so much fun finding cool cars, wondering about their history, picking parts and scoring great deals, not being nickel and dimed.

I remember once in a while finding aftermarket performance parts like exhaust systems, lowering springs, aftermarket headers and feeling like I really scored on those lol

Times have really changed and the loss of U-Pick-It junk yards is a bummer.

[54blackhornet]

We still have a very good salvage yard by us in eastern Oregon. They still allow most folks to walk the yard. Every once in a while they will have a 67/72 but most of the good stuff will be gone already.

[HO455]

Heck, nowdays it's hard to find 1st gen S10 parts in the U-pull-it yards.