After our first junkyard being so successful, Bob & I went to the next yard. This yard specializes in what looked to be pre-1979 cars and trucks. They had quite a selection.
This yard was packed with many 50’s & 60’s cars trucks, with the occasional 40’s car or truck mingled in. I wished I had taken more pictures, but I was awestruck at just how many cars there were, and how I had never found this yard before! Bob’s been pulling these awesome junkyards out like a magician pulls a rabbit out of a hat. This yard had a rare 1958 Ford Courier, which is like my wagon, but has no rear seats, no rear side windows and one large one piece tailgate that hinges open like a hatchback. It has 1957 Fairlane front fenders and sheet metal. It was “Not for Sale” at this time as the yard owners have delusions of grandeur of one day fixing it up, along with the other 50 cars they have stowed away. I can’t blame them, as the Courier is extremely rare. Here is a photo of what a courier is:
The Courier was mostly used as a commercial delivery vehicle for dairies, dry cleaning, Newspapers, or other business uses. They were usually one color and had almost no options or additional trim.
The Third and final junkyard we went to was in Vancouver Washington and is called All American Classics . It is a very big yard and they specialize in classic cars from the 30’s on up to the mid 80’s. They had afew possible donors. Here is a very rusty 1958 Ford Custom 300:
It’s previous owner had started to fix it up, compiling many spare parts that we found piled in the trunk and interior of the car. But like so many projects, this car was either too far gone or the owner lost interest. It was pretty rusty in spots, but the RH door was not in too bad of shape. It needed some minor rust repair:
The fender wasn’t too bad either, only needing a small patch panel on the lower part near the door. However after getting a price quote from the yard guys, it was a little too pricey. Especially with both the door and fender needing rust repair. Pre-rusted body panels should be discounted, not jacked up!
A very interesting car Bob and I stumbled upon in the back row, which means it is going to be crushed VERY soon:
It WAS a ’57 2 door ranch wagon that someone shortened (cut the body behind the doors and the rear wheel well and removed that section, than welding it back together. Thus making it “shortened”). It was also sitting on what looked to be a Jeep 4×4 frame! It was a strange car to say the least. There were some decent parts on it but it is striking close to midnight for this cobbled together concoction of a Ranch Wagon. I think it was begging to be put out of its misery.
It was a very good Saturday overall. We found a ’58 2 door ranch wagon to cannibalize for parts (and did) and found a few parts cars in yards that are possible candidates if I can’t find anything else better & cheaper.
We also made a long,long,long drive to the Oregon coast to look at a ’58 Ford Custom 300,……. but that story is for another day.
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