Long, long ago there was a salvage yard dealer in Texas with a bunch of cars from the 30's. He no longer had titles to anything and would do nothing to help you get one. Back then, the late 60's, without the owners help getting a Texas title was impossible.

So he was selling nothing but parts cars. And he was not giving anything away.

All of the cars were rustbuckets. They had been stored outside for 25 years and back then auto paint was not as strong as it is today. So none of the cars were painted anymore. They were all one color: surface rust.

And if you tried to dicker with him he just said he would sooner crush them before he would sell at less than his price.

So they sat there and then he died. And his family crushed them all out in order to clean up the land so it could be sold.

So this crushing threat is not new. It's just dumb.

One salvage guy I once knew sold stuff for whatever offer he could get. Other dealers made fun of him for not holding out for more but he would just tell them, "Mine are gone but you still have yours."