I have two.

In 1984 my ex-wife decided to drive my cherry '63 Cutlass (under 90,000 miles) to work to show to a co-worker who liked old cars. This was after I told her to keep it in the garage and take her car because there was a forecast of possible hail. The co-worker didn't fully close the hood after looking at the engine. On the way home she ran into a violent storm and it ripped the hood off the car and a semi ran over it. This is a very small glimpse of why she is a deservedly ex-wife.

I finally located a 1963 hood in Waco, Texas by teletype. The yard owner said he would save the hood and send the rest of the car to the crusher. The next weekend I drove to Waco to get the hood. It didn't fit my car, it came off a 1963 Olds Jetfire, one of about only about 1000 early 1960's GM cars to be turbocharged. The aluminum block V-8 and turbo charger went for scrap. What I wouldn't have give for that car.

Around the same time I found a postwar Hudson pickup truck in Abilene, Texas. For several years I tried to buy the truck from the old geezer who had it sitting in front of his house. I offered up to $2000, but thought it was worth more. He had dozens of old cars sitting around his house ranging from the 30's to the late 50's, but that Hudson pickup was what I wanted.

One day I drove past the house and all the cars were gone. I went up to the door and it was answered by an old woman. I asked what happened to the cars that were out front and she told me that her husband died and she sold them to the scrapyard for $1000. Yeah, I ruined her day. After finding out which scrapyard, I went out there to find the truck. They said look in that gondola on the rail siding. It had gone through the crusher.

What is your worst junkyard experience?

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1983 300SD "Guderian"
1987 MR2
2015 Camry
2015 Chevy Spark
2006 Hyundai Tucson

Oh man, none of mine are going to come close to those. About the worst has been trying to get the cruise control on my Bimmer working with numerous computer modules and servos from boneyards, none of which have done the trick, and then trying to get the yard to honor the exchange policies they claim to have.

That and getting to the yard 20 minutes before closing, once needing only a hard to find bolt for a disc brake caliper and another time a dipstick for a ladyfriend's Volvo. The guy at the gate was adamant: no admission less than a half hour before closing. Traffic to get there had been a *****, it would have taken me 10 minutes in each case, but no, they don't want my business, right then at least.

Like I said, not nearly as painful as what you experienced. Who knows, might have been expensive headaches in both cases.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

The used car dealership I worked for in another lifetime needed an engine for a 300D. Went to the Pull-N-Save and through all the hassle of getting it out then he decided to put it into storage for several months. Finally got around to getting it in, went to turn it over and all we got was a "clunk". Got the upper pan off and found a broken and mangled #2 rod cap and cracked block.

I went through seven Junkyard engines 'til I finally got one that was good for my 86 Ford Escort, when I was 17. I pulled the original engine, and dropped in the new one, one time after the next for about two weeks, 'til the car ever moved again. Every single one of the first seven I got from this Junk-yard had a major rod knock in it. After all the work I kept doing to complete these swaps. The only good thing about it all, I was becoming faster and faster at the swap, every time I had to do it. Started out as a three day project. By the time I was done dropping the last, the eighth engine into the car, I was doing the job in 3 hours flat. This included swapping my freshly turned flywheel from the original set-up and whole new Clutch assembly...Practice makes perfect I guess..It really sucked a lot though. The engines were all warranteed, from the get-go, but I was doing my own labor. Everyone from Connecticut..Never shop for used auto parts at Chuck and Eddie's if you know what's good for you...!!!!




Nick

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[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

There was a junkyard on the west side of Baltimore that would pull all the engines, and place them on wooded stands in a covered shed. they had a little cart with battery and fuel that they could hook up and let you hear any engine before buying it. I got a 260 V8 for my '64 Falcon from them--back in the day.

Best junkyard story for me was when my lovely wife bent a fender on her Taurus. She felt so bad that she insisted on going with me to the junkyard. You must understand, my wife has always been a "preppy" dresser. You must also know that ALL junkyards are in low-lying areas that are always wet and muddy--at least in Maryland. Seeing her tramp thru all that mud, and "help" me with the tools was priceless. ( I could have done it in less time solo, but it was good for her to be involved.)

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1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

not MY worst story but a randon customers.

When i was 16 I was at Als auto salvage in Franklin, WI. They had just got a 50s car dropped off for scrap. A guy sees it and pulls in and makes a bee line for the car. He comes into the office spouting how rare the car is, priceless even. 1 of so many sold, you know the line. He says he has been looking for a windshield for 20 years. The counter guy goes with him to evaluate the windsheild and they agree its perfect. The guy asks how much. In the 80s a windshield in a bone yard averaged 50-100. He tells the guy $250. Te guy goes "how about $50, thats all its worth." The counter guy takes a tire iron to the windshield and says forget it.

I bet the guy still sleeps with one eye open

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1959 Gravely LI, 1963 Gravely L8, 1973 Gravely C12
1982 380SL
1978 450 SEL 6.9 euro restoration at 63% and climbing
1987 300 D
2005 CDI European Delivery
2006 CDI Handed down to daughter
2007 GL CDI. Wifes

if I find a rare car in the pnp I just act like its another run of the mill car.. that way the parts are regular or even cheaper...

17 or 18 years ago I helped a friend of mine change the heater core in his 1982 Ford Escort. We had removed the broken one from his car in his driveway, and drove over to the scrapyard with the tools we'd need to pull one from a donor car. The scrapyard worker helps us locate a Mercury LN7, which is basically the same car but with a stretched coupe body. I'm a small guy so I get to work inside the car by laying upside down in the passenger side footwell starting to remove everything through the glove compartment. My friend moves to the firewall in the engine to start disconnecting things from that end. Or so I thought.

Unbeknowst to me, scrapyard guy has decided he's going to "help" us by pulling out a cutting torch and cutting off the heater core hoses at the firewall. So I'm wedged into the footwell when the inside of the dashboard catches fire from the torch, the flames literally licking a foot above my head. Now keep in mind, these cars are just rammed together in the rows at the yard, so there isn't much space between them. I get my a$$ out of the car as fast as I can and we step back a few feet. Scrapyard guy, clearly not the brightest star in the sky, is tossing Sprite out of an open pop can to try and get the fire out of control. That doesn't work. He runs off and comes back with a fire extinguisher, which of course has no charge in it. By the time he comes back with a working fire extinguisher, the flames have engulfed the entire interior of the car. It was no more than 3 minutes, tops.

The bring out a tractor with some kind of forklift attachment on it and lift the car out of the row, so it doesn't catch every other car on fire. They lift up the car and try to drop it into the back of an empty dump truck so they can put the fire out in a controlled area. The idiot on the forklift drops the flaming car on the rim of the dump truck bin, and the car falls to the side of the dump truck. I am not making this up. They lift the car a second time and get it in the dump bin, and get the fire put out with a bunch of extinguishers.

We found another donor car, and buddy offers to help us again. We basically told him to go f himself, seeing as he'd just about burned me alive in the car. We got the heater core out quickly and got the hell out of there. I think this happened in 1988 or 1989. I had this story win in a Car & Driver "10 Best" issue about 3 or 4 years later, in the "Top 10 Junkyard Disasters" category. I got a $50 cheque and a C/D sweatshirt that was too damn big.

Woohoo.

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Jonathan

2011 Mazda2
2000 E320 4Matic Wagon
1994 C280 (retired)

Way back when, right after I got out of basic, I needed a new radio for my toronado (89 trofeo, nicest car I've owned... o well...)

It got stolen about 2 weeks before I left for fort knox, and I really didnt have time to replace it. So, being the cheap guy that I am, I went to the junkyard for an aftermarket radio... Cool, find an older pioneere that I liked (out of countless junk on the counter). Pay $45 for it with my check card, and go home to install it.

Pull the dash, get the wiring harness adaper installed, and plug it in. Nothing, nada.

Ok, wtf???

Go back, and he says try the fuse... Ok, get a new fuse for it, nothing.
Bring it back again, the guy says that I must have got a bad one, and grab another. OK, whatever. What's left is junk, there's a reason people leave this crap in the cars when they get junked...
Grab the closest thing to it, plug it in, nothing again... WHAT THE %^&*!!!

take it back, and the guy's like you must not know how to wire them, we test them all in the yard before we pull them.

#*!! NO, I make the guy come over to my geo tracker, and I hook the positive, memory, and ground up (it should turn on at this point)

The guys like "now there's no way I'm giving you another one, you just gave it the full force of the battery"

I said that it was junk, and he didnt know what he was talking. I called my bank and tried to dispute the charge, and they said it's gotta be $50 or more...
I came back, radio in hand, and demanded my money back. He said go away.
I said last chance... He said f off
The office is right next to their bay area where they work on their customers cars.

I stared my truck, backed out and turned for the gate. I stepped out, and whipped the radio at a saturn, anniolated the passengers side window.
I left soon after such incident, feeling better about myself.
Havent gone there since. They have about a million saturns down there, so I didnt feel bad, whatsoever. I figure the net labor costs for r&r plus cleaning would be worth around what I paid.

Spicklers of Chippewa falls wisconsin.
They also charged a friend of mine $150 for two rusty and crusty fenders off a toyota camery, made him pay before they were removed, and wouldnt give him his money back either.

~Nate

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95 Honda Shadow ACE 1100.
1999 Plymouth Neon Expresso. 2.4 swap, 10.5 to 1 comp, big cams. Autocross time attack vehicle!
2012 Escape, 'hunter" (5 sp 4cyl)

My worst junk yard story....hmm....

I used to work at one!

The end.

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past MB rides:
'68 220D
'68 220D(another one)
'67 230
'84 SD
Current rides:
'06 Lexus RX330
'93 Ford F-250
'96 Corvette
'99 Polaris 700 RMK sled
2011 Polaris Assault
'86 Yamaha TT350(good 'ol thumper)

Intense story. I read about a guy who was using a cutting torch under a vehicle and nicked a fuel line, gas still in the tank, poor guy pretty much burned his face off. They had a picture of his dad visiting him in a home where he lived. Just a mask of burned flesh with some orifices.

I put in my own Cat converter recently and I took the whole exhaust line out, clamped it to a 2x12 and cut the cat off with a grinder and sawsall. Not going to get near the underside of a car with a blowtorch lessen it's up on a lift. Then I used the 2x12 as a jig to hold it in the proper configuration while I welded the cat in with some concrete board under it.

Not to be an ass, you'd probably do it different now too, a heater core is such a ***** to swap out, I'd buy a new one. Oh well.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

My friend found a set of super rare brake calipers from a 400E at a PNP once. We got to the checkout stand and they wouldn't take his credit card because the card said Jon and his license said Jonathan. That's probably the worst story I have. The yards around here really aren't that bad, and I like to go at least once a month. The new house I'm moving into next week has a yard right down the road. Usually find at least 7-10 MB's there.

Hell, one time I found six euro w126's at one yard in Long Beach. Tons of MB's at the yards around socal.

When I was 15 I had a dodge colt.. It needed a new dash since the original had flaked off... like.. dorrito chips so I go to the local pnp and find a good black dash with a rare in dash clock.. so I asked how much.. dude says $50.. so I take 45 minutes pulling it and such.. I trudge back from the far back corner where they shove the imports.. I place it next to the counter and hand him a $50.. he says that's 100$... I was replied "but you said 50"... he said" I changed my mind" .. so I was like.. forget it...and left it at the desk.. he yelled "you can't leave that here".. and I took was like.. up yours ass face(cleaned up for interwebs)... and left that idiot redneck to his overpriced parts

I bought the same dash from a colt forum member for the same price and had it shipped for 20$ to my door..

I hear ya, but when you're 17 years old and driving an $800 car, you don't have $150 for a brand new core, so there we were. Nowadays you'd just do a search at usedautoparts.com and have it shipped right to your home.

Although on that Escort it was easy to get out. It took all of 10 minutes to remove. I guess that's the benefit when your car has nothing in the way of options or technology. That thing had a one bbl carburetor and a 4 speed manual transmission!

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Jonathan

2011 Mazda2
2000 E320 4Matic Wagon
1994 C280 (retired)

Those were the days, huh?

Hell, what am I talking about, I got a core at a boneyard for an old Dodge van (late 60s) I had once. It worked, but getting at it wasn't as hard as it is on a lot of cars these days -- not nearly as buried.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K