Car crushing in Montana

[Highsider]

http://www.oldcarsweekly.com/blogs/s...&rid=246193895

[OrrieG]

Sad, but if the owners do not advertise people will not find them either. If there are indeed two more in the area the word needs to get out.

There is a big yard in Jerome Idaho. The guys goes to all the major swap meets and car shows in the NW to advertise what he has. Fair prices and he is making money. In the 90's when metal prices went thru the roof Jalopy Jungle in Nampa Idaho crushed all their remaining old cars, but most had been pretty picked over and were poor shells and frames.

[Old Truck Man]

I myself am sending lots of old vehicles for scrap. I tried to sell some on EBAY $200 starting bid no reserve. Didn't get one bid. One was a 62 olds complete car. has a 394 rocket engine. only missing one fender script and the horn ring. At 260 dollars per ton the old car will bring in the neighborhood of $750. Why should I waste time with lowballers & tire kickers? My opinion is any potential project vehicle that has a title is worth $1000. cash no guarntees. And no Im not going to let anyone come & pick & choose the best at scrap price. The scrap man pays cash and don't care about anything except what it weighs. The fact is there are not ready willing & able buyers who will pay even what it will scrap for. A person who has a large amount of vehicles cannot make more by parting them out or selling to the general public. The 62 olds 4 dr htp will be recycled in the near future. Ill strip off the copper wiring, radiator,heater core, and desirable parts ect.

[Old Truck Man]

Here Are pictures of the 62 olds im going to send to the scrap recycler.

[OrrieG]

Does not look like it, but if its a Starfire it has unique parts that are in demand and not repopped. I assume you have tried to sell all or parts and just no response??

[Old Truck Man]

Its a dynamic 88. Ive owned the car 15 years and haven't sold even one part. Now Im getting old and realize the time is fast approaching when something must be done with my hoard. I would prefer it was done now with me being in charge. There are simply too many pretty police & environmental wacos for me to be able to continue enjoying my hobby unfettered by the government. They reciently degesinated the two hwys at my corner as SENIC routes. Oh well it was fun for a long time.

[Fatherof3]

Did he try to sell the business?
Did he try to sell the inventory to other yards?
Sounds like some one who is all about the money and has no passion for it.
It's sure going to be hard to straighten all that stainless trim back out.

[Old Crow]

Old Truck Man. Not to hijack the thread, but I see you're not that far from me. You don't happen to have a Pontiac 455 somewhere in that hoard, do you? Doesn't need to be running, but it needs to be rebuildable.

[Old Truck Man]

Originally Posted by Old Crow

Old Truck Man. Not to hijack the thread, but I see you're not that far from me. You don't happen to have a Pontiac 455 somewhere in that hoard, do you? Doesn't need to be running, but it needs to be rebuildable.

No 455,s the largest Pontiac I have is a 400 its a really good engine. Im seriously thinking of swapping it into a 83 chev truck I have.

[Old Truck Man]

Originally Posted by Fatherof3

Did he try to sell the business?
Did he try to sell the inventory to other yards?
Sounds like some one who is all about the money and has no passion for it.
It's sure going to be hard to straighten all that stainless trim back out.

unfortunately any person who has a considerable amount of vehicles its about the money. Without it being about the money you don't amass a large inventory, collection ,hoard whatever you wish to call it. Over the decades ive owned a couple of thousand vehicles. some ive kept, some where quick flips, some parted out and a large portion sent to the recyclers. My passion isn't any less because I wanted to turn a profit. I pull all the stainless , aluminum, potmetal off before I recycle. I separate everything to try and get the most dollars from the scrap. I even sometimes cut the frames up for short iron. Its kinda nice to haul off three vehicles on my gooseneck and get between $1500 and$2000 for the cars and sell a couple hundred dollars worth of copper aluminum & stainless to boot. Being about the money isn't evil or even a little bit wrong.

[Fatherof3]

There was nothing kind, considerate, or generous about crushing that Cadillac coupe pictured in the article. I only hope that he tried other avenues first before crushing them and that the Cadillac was a rare exception and not the norm of his inventory.

[meter swinger]

A friend that I work with his dad just passed and he lived in idaho. The old man had about 35-40 cars from the 40's through early 60's. Myself and another guy at work had been talking with him about getting them advertised for sale. Then he came and told us that the rest of the family decided to scrap everything.

[G&R's57GMC]

You know there is a market for American cars and trucks in Europe . That Olds would bring some $$$ . Its just a mater of them finding us. That would take advertising on e bay.

[Old Truck Man]

Originally Posted by G&R's57GMC

You know there is a market for American cars and trucks in Europe . That Olds would bring some $$$ . Its just a mater of them finding us. That would take advertising on e bay.

You are welcome to buy it from me for $750 and make yourself a fortune .

[mr48chev]

As Old Truck man so aptly said, all too many 'bargain hunters' won't pay what the scrapper will pay in cash green money and whine If you ask enough over that to make it worth you while to sell to them.

Add to that, when the yard owners or his decedents do hold an auction they all too often don't make an effort to present the majority of what should be decent sellers they way they should be. It doesn't take that much time and effort to clean out an area of the property to set the ones that should sell at decent prices out spaced out where people can see them and get around them without climbing over junk or wading through hip deep weeds. I know of one yard that the old fart that had it for 50 years wouldn't sell half

[Old Truck Man]

Ok Edsels are supposed to be rare and worth lots of money? A guy I know took a 59 4 dr htp and restored it. its a pink car. really nice new interior etc. He has been trying to sell it for several years. took it to auctions. listed it on the internet etc. cant even get a offer for 10% of what he spent. I told him you gotta find a edsel lover a 4 door lover and lover of pink cars. and they gotta have deep pockets. Now if he would have restored a chevy even a 4 door from between 55 thru 64 he could much more easily find a buyer. The fake stuff shown on TV in no way relates to what the real situation is for the average Joe.I worked running a car crusher 45 years ago. My job was to jump down and using a air impact remove all the lug nuts & tires. Then I would pull the lever and the 4 cyl Detroit would scream and the big hydraulic cyls mash that car flatter than a flitter. Great fun for a 17 year old kid. The guy I worked for would let me take parts off and give them to me. I took of any speed equiptment things like intake manifolds ,4 bbl carbs ,Mallory ignition, 4 speed trans ,mag wheels, floor shifters even the ocassional complete engine and I still have a lot of those items today. I have a huge collection of mag wheel lug nuts. I seen 55 & 56 crown Vicky fords, tri five chevys, caddys all kinds of old 40,s fifties & sixties cars & trucks get mashed and hauled to the shredder. It took about 16 of those big cars to load a semi trailer. and it was good it reduced the inventory and made what survived a little more valuable.

[Old Truck Man]

Originally Posted by mr48chev

As Old Truck man so aptly said, all too many 'bargain hunters' won't pay what the scrapper will pay in cash green money and whine If you ask enough over that to make it worth you while to sell to them.

Add to that, when the yard owners or his decedents do hold an auction they all too often don't make an effort to present the majority of what should be decent sellers they way they should be. It doesn't take that much time and effort to clean out an area of the property to set the ones that should sell at decent prices out spaced out where people can see them and get around them without climbing over junk or wading through hip deep weeds. I know of one yard that the old fart that had it for 50 years wouldn't sell half

Lok at the picture of the olds. its is spaced out where you can walk around it and open all the doors. the goats & cow keep the weeds down. I placed a dozen cars that where at least 95% complete in a row mowed around them , washed them. took lots of pictures and listed them on Ebay a few years ago. $200 starting price no reserve. didn't get any Bids. Got some phone calls. folks wanted them to be in running driving cond for scrap price. One a 53 buick I eventually sold for $650 about 6 months ago. I scrapped 9 already I still have the olds and a 65 chev 4 door left out of the dozen. I pulled the engine & trans out of the chevy. sold the powerglide trans for $100.

[67GMCkid]

I don't sell any cars whole, anything I get my hands on gets parted. Yesterday the few remaining piece's of rotted sheet metal and the frame of what once was a 55 Plymouth went to the scrap yard.. Anyone who can't make money parting a car ain't doing it correctly.. I have never made less than $2000 on a parts car..

That Olds should be listed for parts over on the hamb, I have seen want adds there many times for Oldsmobiles in the 62-64 and 394 motors wanted..
Sitting at your computer you have the world at your finger tips,,,USE IT to your advantage, it will pay off..

Next on the chopping block,, a 1960 Dodge Matador

[Old Truck Man]

Originally Posted by 67GMCkid

I don't sell any cars whole, anything I get my hands on gets parted. Yesterday the few remaining piece's of rotted sheet metal and the frame of what once was a 55 Plymouth went to the scrap yard.. Anyone who can't make money parting a car ain't doing it correctly.. I have never made less than $2000 on a parts car..

That Olds should be listed for parts over on the hamb, I have seen want adds there many times for Oldsmobiles in the 62-64 and 394 motors wanted..
Sitting at your computer you have the world at your finger tips,,,USE IT to your advantage, it will pay off..

Next on the chopping block,, a 1960 Dodge Matador

Ive been a long time member on the HAMB. That car has been advertised in the HAMB classifieds. Ive sold lots of parts on the HAMB. things like a flathead V12 lincoln engine. A flathead 6 ford truck engine, the buyers drove here and picked up the engines. did you ever try and ship a engine? Ive sold & shipped bellhousings, wheels,Stromberg carbs etc. I did pretty good until the fuel went above $4 per gallon. The shipping is a deal breaker. Tell you what bring a trailer & cash and Buy a dozen from me at scrap price and make yourself a killing. Now certain things do sell for big money on the HAMB. Ive been offered big money for a 401 nailhead that is equipped with Weiand goodies & speed equipt.

[speesh]

I have a sad........

[mr48chev]

Originally Posted by Old Truck Man

Lok at the picture of the olds. its is spaced out where you can walk around it and open all the doors. the goats & cow keep the weeds down. I placed a dozen cars that where at least 95% complete in a row mowed around them , washed them. took lots of pictures and listed them on Ebay a few years ago. $200 starting price no reserve. didn't get any Bids. Got some phone calls. folks wanted them to be in running driving cond for scrap price. One a 53 buick I eventually sold for $650 about 6 months ago. I scrapped 9 already I still have the olds and a 65 chev 4 door left out of the dozen. I pulled the engine & trans out of the chevy. sold the powerglide trans for $100.

The problem with the Olds as I see it is that it isn't a highly desirable model to restore or even make a mild custom out of. Even though your asking price is more than fair guys are still looking at the same cost of restoring it as they would be looking at restoring a two door hardtop of the same model that would be worth three times as much when both were finished to the same restored level. Worse problem is there is probably a guy within 200 miles of you who dearly needs the nose off that car along with a lot of other pieces who would hand over 1000 bucks in a heartbeat if he knew it existed.

On the mowing around the rigs I was actually writhing about going to an auction in an old wrecking yard and having to tromp through weeds waist deep to get to the cars being auctioned because the outfit that owned them didn't feel the need to clean up a section of the yard to line them up in an orderly fashion to best present them. Not being willing to put in a week or so's work getting things ready for the auction probably cost them 30K because a lot of the potential bidders didn't want to tromp out in the weeds to check out some fairly decent cars. I ended up with a number of truck parts that I was the opening bidder on including a nice hood and fender for 10.00 each. The stacks of parts went last in the 3 day auction and by the time they got to them those of us who were still there were checking with each other to see who actually wanted what. I've still got a bunch of stuff from that auction in the sheds.

[Old Truck Man]

Originally Posted by mr48chev

The problem with the Olds as I see it is that it isn't a highly desirable model to restore or even make a mild custom out of. Even though your asking price is more than fair guys are still looking at the same cost of restoring it as they would be looking at restoring a two door hardtop of the same model that would be worth three times as much when both were finished to the same restored level. Worse problem is there is probably a guy within 200 miles of you who dearly needs the nose off that car along with a lot of other pieces who would hand over 1000 bucks in a heartbeat if he knew it existed.

On the mowing around the rigs I was actually writhing about going to an auction in an old wrecking yard and having to tromp through weeds waist deep to get to the cars being auctioned because the outfit that owned them didn't feel the need to clean up a section of the yard to line them up in an orderly fashion to best present them. Not being willing to put in a week or so's work getting things ready for the auction probably cost them 30K because a lot of the potential bidders didn't want to tromp out in the weeds to check out some fairly decent cars. I ended up with a number of truck parts that I was the opening bidder on including a nice hood and fender for 10.00 each. The stacks of parts went last in the 3 day auction and by the time they got to them those of us who were still there were checking with each other to see who actually wanted what. I've still got a bunch of stuff from that auction in the sheds.

Your correct on most of your post. the mythical guy within 200 miles who would pay $1000 most likely don't exist. every day I get on craigslist and scan the wanted section. Ive advertised the car on craigslist. I know the scrap man who has ready cash does exist. If you do a internet search of the EBAY category Salvage Parts Cars there are hundreds of vehicles for sale on a buy it now at near scrap price. many of them GM pickups that are much more desirable than my olds. I bought the olds at a estate auction. that day I bought the 62 olds a 61 ford galaxie, a 63 Pontiac tempest,a 63 chev II station wagon,a 64 Short bed chev Pk and a 53 ford car. Ive sold more parts from that $5 that's correct five dollar 53 ford than all the rest of them combined. I sold & shipped the hood hinge air boxes to the west coast for $200. the stainless trim went quickly. the front brake drums hubs & bearings went to Oregon. Ive got a 76 caddy complete car never sold nothing off it. used the alternator myself. its going for scrap. What im trying to say is that many folks find it real easy to tell others what they ought to do and how to do it. however they personally are not willing to put their money where their mouth is. the fact is the only one who knows what someone ought to do is that self same someone. its all good if the seller & buyer are satisfied.

[joedoh]

"passion" and "interest", neither one folds like cash. I am pretty tired of the picker and pawn shows that teach people the myth that a good starting price is half the asking price. most guys who offer half on what I put on craigslist, I dont even respond to. some act interested and then wait till they are in person to lowball. makes you not want to deal with anyone. They always say "gotta leave some meat on the bone for the next guy" or "I aint buyin it to break even" or any of the other history channel show malarkey cliches. Or when they ask "whats the lowest you will take?" I always ask whats the most you will pay?

If its a good deal, buy it. I dont care what you do with it afterwards. nobody should care what I do with it when it doesnt sell. I parted out a truck once and hauled most of it to scrap. guys said "oh I wish I had gotten the grille/dash/wheels", I had it listed as "make any offer" for months. regret is a pain in the ass.

seems like both buying and selling are in decline though, I called on a local car for my daughter, asked the seller if he still had it, yes, asked if anyone had made an offer, no, I said ok, I'll take it for your asking price. all I need is directions and you will be paid cash. he actually said "no, tell me your story why you deserve the car, I want it to go to someone who really needs it". I said keep it, good luck. his price went down 200 bucks a day for a couple days before I assume it sold. thats the price of magnanimity I guess.

[Old Truck Man]

If you click on the link to the home page of old cars weekly. from the post that started this thread. you will see a article about a salvage yard in wisconson that started saving the older cars. there is a 61 olds in much much better shape than my 62. ad it looks 100% complete. now think about it. a great looking car in the Chicago Milwaukee region at a well established advertised business and even they haven't sold any parts from it. If anyone wants me to ill post pictures of all the vehicles im planning to send to scrap in the near future. At present im not convinced its in anyones best interest for me to keep them around.

[mr48chev]

Originally Posted by joedoh

"passion" and "interest", neither one folds like cash. I am pretty tired of the picker and pawn shows that teach people the myth a good starting price is half the asking price. Or when they ask "whats the lowest you will take?" I always ask whats the most you will pay?

Personally I think that those shows and the flipper shows are the bane of the whole auto enthusiast hobby as we have known it.

I pretty well bailed out of the hot rod and truck hobby about 12 years ago because every time I took the truck somewhere there was a stream of mouth breathing WWE tank top wearing clowns who only wanted to know "what's it worth?" Not how much did you chop it, how did you do the suicide doors, how many louvers do you have in that hood or what engine is in it? but they only wanted to ask what the cars and trucks on display were were worth because that is the only thing that interested them.

As I live on one of the main North South highways in the state I get a few would be pickers showing up every once in a while to see if they can make a deal on "those old trucks by the farm house in the hayfield'. I have had a few interesting conversations out in the driveway a time or two.

When I get the truck on the road again the thing I'd love to hear from some ten year old is "how fast does it go?" That would make my day.