Parts cars, donor cars and project cars - sad afterthoughts

I went visiting and playing and parting out some stuff today.

My first car was a 1960 mini-minor with no floors, rusted out everywhere - I paid $10 bucks for it. My second and up to my 6th car were a bit better and i never paid more than $100 for any of them, back in the late 1960s.

What I saw in a few yards today for junk, would have been nicer than any cars on my block back then. Not dented or rusted either. I don't get it. A motor blows and you throw it away? Or a tranny?

I recall a rather haughty Canadian Op-ed on our national broadcaster's website, maybe 3 or 4 years ago, maybe 5, trying to demonstrate how Japanese throw 1 and 2 year old TVs and Electronics in the bins. Perfectly good condition, working, just out of style.

Look at us now. Throwing away repairable vehicles that might be 5 or 10 years old, because they are 'OLD'???

And some that were even older and in nicer condition than the newer ones. We have lost the sense of the value of money. The value of our work transferred to what we own, drive and destroy. Really wierd.

Sure its sad, but this is just a total waste. We here, are scrounging around looking for 'repairable rusty parts' and folks are throwing away rustfree transportation.

I can see some young family losing a home, a car and needing a new one for a job in a distant suburb, like blue-collar workers doing a construction job. These ones I saw today, would be perfect for a 'Revive-your-overtaxed lives" car. A kickstart to rebuilding their family economies.

The more I think about it, the more I'm tempted to write a letter to the politicians in poor neighbourhoods who are running for election and need a new idea over their ho-hum partisan pablum.

 

True, we do through a lot of stuff away without even a passing thought of fixing.

That would never work 50 years ago or in Cuba. Even I am guilty. My father always without fail at least attempted to repair something. I always attempt a repair at least before I buy new.

 

You know what, you can't just scoop these, get them roadworthy and give them away, but... you could set it up that the car is theirs, if its to give a hand-UP (new job, new baby, new school, just out of the forces with no support - Canada) and they get the title once the dough rolls in.

Too many opportunists out there, on both the poor and higher income groups. But getting people working again, turning their and our economies around, sure beats shredding a perfectly good set of wheels and packing it off to Japan or China.

 

It's just simple economics, Norm.
Restoring an older vehicle as a project is one thing, but there are far, far too many old vehicles out there for them all to be saved. When it comes right down to it, if it would be cheaper (or easier) to fix an old car rather than just purchase a running vehicle, it would happen. This is happening in various parts of the world (Cuba, parts of the middle east, eastern Europe...) mainly because of low supply, making (running) used vehicles worth a lot more.

And hey, if your local salvage yard didn't have 'new' stuff coming in all the time, you would be bored real easy......

 

Norm, I'm in agreement with you. To a point. We sold off all but one of our new(er) cars - keeping the five year old truck to tow the trailer south in the winters or in weather we wouldn't want to use the '57. We get great pleasure out of bopping around in the older vehicles and there are so few of them on the roads today.

I've been told in BC that any car older than 1996 is being written off if it is in an accident where the costs are more than a few thousand dollars (or less depending on who is telling the story) because they are finding that this is a great way to move people to newer vehicles that do not pollute as much. Like mentioned, I have not seen this officially anywhere, but I've seen some low mileage decent vehicles "totalled" with less than $1,000 damage. It is sad to be a part of a throw-away society, even if one is not an active participant.

Oh well..........

 

This video takes about 20 minutes, but is worth the watch. It says it all...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLBE5QAYXp8

 

my 93 jeep YJ was so rusty that the frame snapped....i sold it to a welder!! he is still driving it!

i don't believe in junking cars until it is too hard to make it run or there isnt anything left.
for instance, my cousin jack had a 71 gmc pickup that was so rusty ...the cap held the outer bedsides on!!!
my brother in law had a 78 dodge charger (looked like a Cordoba).
we used to carpool, when it was his turn to drive i had to sit indian style on the seat because if i pulled up the carpet...there was no floor on the pass side! he loved that car!

 

That's a bombshell for politicians. Wow!

We just had a presentation about the how the chemicals in food-safe cans (tomatoe juice, pop, beer, canned diet and dogfoods, plus...) plastic containers and food wrap (medications like cold syrups, juice, baby food, cafeteria/disposable food service item - plates, cutlery, plus...) are in more than 95% of us, and screwing up our immune system. Bi-phenols is the most toxic of these beasts.

Here, where I live we have the highest rate of Radon gas on the planet because the mine-leachings from our Uranium and Radium mines, North and West of us, flow right down into the underground aquifer and into 3 major rivers. Winnipeg is an Aboriginal word that means Muddy Waters. I'll bet that if we used photospectrometry, and turned off the lights that we'd see them glow like a nuclear warning detector. I've written letters to every Premier and Prime Minister and never had one reply. They don't give a fock! My family found and formed the El Dorado Nuclear mining corporation, and I can tell you, they were a pair of aholes of the first order. When it was expropriated in 1958, by our government, under pressure from the US. They left a bunch of the First Nations employees to 'clean' it up. The survivors and their next 3 generations all suffer from so many diseases, that they won't let them into the main population because they are full of nuclear radiation. They just started building a special treatment facility to help them survive and carry on the 'cleanup'. Aholes, those 2 great uncles. Retired in florida, when they got their $83 million dollar buyout, back then. Somehow the miserable bastards survived to 82 and 84.:banghead3:

Thanks for the flick. Well worth the time. I went to their site and theres a whole lot more 'Stories':
http://www.storyofstuff.com/

 

Here's what I took pics of that have virtually no serious body damage or rust. These might have mechanical issues, but they aren't junk-grade. I'll post the classic pics I took at the same yard. I think that anyone looking for a new car, should go to any junkyard that scraps and shreds to see what they should avoid. This same yard had more Ford Probes and Asian plasti-cars and vans than I could bother counting.

This 760 Turbo Intercooler Volvo has no issues that I saw.



That red Mopar ragtop likewise. looks driveable really.

The Burgundy Imperial looks driveable too!


They weren't worn out taxis or service rides, either.

 

I think the cash for clunkers was done wrong.

There are people who can't afford a new car and keep a real clunker on the road actually polluting.

Check the list of cars that were actually"clunked or junked".

 

ahhh the story of stuff.... one of the best liberal propaganda films ever made!

 

Here's the Classic stuff at the same junkyard

All of these are at:

http://www.backyardauto.com in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

There's a few posts. I resized them all to 800 X 600 to save space, but I don't know how many I'll get in each post.

These are stored in a special shop.


Somebody was looking for 1965 Mustang Spinners, but these 3 are from a 1970 Mustang, hung on the wall, in another heated shop.


Back to the main yard!


This Volvo looks like it could be revived.


Her cousin too:


A few old trucks in the back, and a couple parts cars in the foreground:

!964 Poncho HT and a 1958 Ford sedan next to it:

 

Got 12 in that one! Used to be 5. I'm getting the RED bar warning, that I'm using up my Pic allotment. Might have to do some whining to Stef.

Another 1958 Ford parts car:



Rear view of the 58 Ford and 64 Poncho and a 1969 Chevy convertible.


A Mustang Ragtop (parts or a diehard Mustanger project)


A dieing Mopar HT


AND The Cherry Project rides, in another special area:




It was a gray and wet day today. The rain was just a drizzle until I left here and then she came down like no tomorrow. Good timing. Enjoyed the day in my playground.

 

So Norm....you are saying that the government should take these cars and put "the people" to work on them??

 

Good thread topic Norm.

Bummer on the ancestors - good thing people are far more aware now than they were even 50 years ago. Here at least, not in many countries outside of North America and Western Europe.

Having a newer car is a huge status symbol for so many people because it exudes success and their ability to generate enough money to buy it, upkeep it, and eat the deprecation. Then there's us folks who revel in our ability to keep the old stuff alive and safely functioning.

Great pics - sad pics - but great pics.