First On Race Day? Fix Or Repair Daily? Whichever way you may view the pride of Dearborn, one thing’s for sure: there’s no shortage of Fords in the Back Forty. So for this Friday’s Junkyard Outtake, we’ll be chasing nothing but.
Throw on your overalls, grab your toolbox, and make the jump to see what surprises await!
By now, it’s no secret that I’m a GM guy. Sure, I’ve owned other brands – even a couple of Fords (briefly). But the vast majority of my knowledge and experience involves vehicles that wear bowties, arrowheads, rockets, and tri-shields.
So rather than try to provide interesting background on this week’s finds – many of which I know close to bupkis about – I’m going to make this a self-guided tour. Look around, see the sights, and comment below if anything catches your eye. (I’ll be over there in the meanwhile, fighting open some hoods in hopes of spotting a Nailhead.)
What will next week’s Junkyard Outtake bring? I haven’t decided yet! On the one hand, it’s time for a U-Pull article – but on the other hand, there’s also a good deal of Chryslers in the Back Forty. What to do…?
Multiple ’53 Ford’s on the same day? This has got to be a first!
The ’63 Ford appears as if it might be the lower level, one year in name only, Ford 300. Quite a rare bird, if it truly is what I suspect.
The red, two-door hardtop Mercury is sad to behold.
I had a ’74 Ranchero briefly; the one here looks like it has succumbed to leprosy.
Despite it being sinus infection green, Montego’s still fail to excite me.
Thank you for this. I enjoy this series, and you definitely picked some good Ford examples.
That’s one weird junkyard all right, can’t see how that business model makes sense but fun to see the stock.
I got a chuckle out of how the County Sheriff specializes in carpets and upholstery.
Im a bit of a closet Ford fan. Sorry way for some impressive blue ovals to die.
I think the last time I saw a 72 Montego on the road was when my Mom sold hers in 1978.
I could live without ever seeing another Mustang (except for maybe the occasional 71-73) but that seems like a shame to let a 5.0 convertible go like that.
I would love to kill a lot of tires with that Ranchero Squire.
A 66 Fairlane and 68 Torino are two of my favorites but at least it looks like the Torino might have given its tail to save another.
And that 72 Torino GT looks like it could save a couple of “Clint Eastwood Specials” Looks like there is a pretty complete 67 Cougar behind it.
Nice finds Kieth! Standing by for Chryslers in the Back 40.
The Torino is a 1973, it has the specific for 1973 bumper cushion and the laser stripe is also 1973 style. The Montego also looks like 1973 from the front fenders and grille.
Love the lines on the Torino…
I’ve also been waiting to see what treasures abound in “Mopar Land”. 🙂
Sadly, the 5.0 ‘vert is pretty picked over.
Last spring, a buddy of mine dropped off his ’93 ragtop 5.0 Mustang and asked if I’d take care of several minor issues it was having. One of them was a broken seat bracket.
After dealing with the rest, I drove it out to the yard to look for a replacement bracket. Needless to say, the yard owner did a double-take when I pulled in!
Unfortunately, I quickly discovered that anything I might have needed from said car was long since either sold or damaged. I ended up welding the original bracket instead (not an easy task given how/where it had broken, and considering that I’m not a very good welder).
Somewhere I had a picture of that car… too bad I’m not able to find it at the moment. I wouldn’t have wanted to own it, but it was a hoot to drive once I had it running right.
Only coupes? Oh never mind, no one’s interested in blue oval sedans. (ducks and runs)
Keith, is this an actual yard, or just one of these “collections” where some old guy snaps up every old chunk of iron he can find? Prior to crusher prices going through the roof, we used to have a few of those around here – and nothing was ever for sale, as they were always going to ‘fix them up one day’.
This is indeed a yard. Everything is for sale, and usually at pretty reasonable prices. It’s been around for many years – the owner decided some time ago not to crush any of the old stuff that still had parts to offer.
Most of their money is made on newer (20 or less year old) vehicles, which they tow in, sell parts from, and crush on a regular basis. Impound service, towing, and tires also help keep them in the black.
Meanwhile, all the old stuff can hang around. Years may pass between parts being bought from any given car – but land is cheap and there’s plenty of newer cars to crush, so there’s no harm in keeping the oldies around for the occasional buck they produce.
Loving the ‘yard today. That 53 Ford wagon with Overdrive would be fun. A Ford flathead is still on my bucket list, and the 52-53 version would probably be the easiest to live with in the modern world.
I also have a thing for those early 1963-64 Fairlane hardtops. It has always amazed me how in the space of a decade the mid size line went from those taut, crisp Fairlanes to those floaty, bloaty Torinos. As for that lone green Montego, I do not ever recall seeing that vinyl roof treatment where the body-colored band goes across the roof like a roll bar. Or a combover.
I owned three 53 Fords and a 53Merc way back when. I always preferred the 49-51 style but never owned one. IIRC the flathead changed in 49 so there is no difference between living with the 49-51 versus the 52-53. The 54 looks the same but had the ohv v8. IMO the six was a better engine during all those years even if Henry hated it. A friend had a 50 coupe with a flathead six and he could sure outrun me.
I typed flathead sic at first and would have left it but the hidden meaning would have been too much for you grammerians.
Or grammarians.
Hehehe
Would have done better leaving that one alone. Flatheads were a little bit sic in my opinion anyway.
It’s a Custom Package, mid-year intro, so pretty rare.
A 68 fastback Torino(or it’s Mercury Cyclone relative)has been on my wish list for many years.One of America’s best looking cars
It makes me feel old to see a late-’80s Fox Mustang in a junkyard – a blue one was my first new car.
Wow, that Econoline is tough, I would have thought there would be some buckling from having a Crown Vic on its roof.
It took it surprisingly well. I actually climbed up on that van’s roof and sat in the CV in order to pull the aftermarket Havis console that was installed in it. (Said console is now in my Suburban.)
Only thing sketchy about it was climbing the side of the van without opening any doors – I wasn’t crazy enough to see what would happen!
In full trim a Crown Vic is relatively light ~4000lbs +/- depending on the year and exact model. However this is just the body shell removed from the frame. They often stack unibody cars that still have drive trains in them two high on each other and their roofs held up by 4 or 6 little pillars are much weaker than a van that has 6-8 pillars on each side under that skin.
“First On Race Day”? Now that’s one I have never heard! I’m only familiar with “Fixed Or Repaired Daily” and Frequent Overhauls, Rapid Depreciation”!
Doesn’t matter, I like the wagon in that opening shot. Used to see lots of those. Just the right size, too.
See? I don’t hate all Fords after all, just a lot of them… I do have a special soft spot for the 1968 Torino, but not in fastback form, just a hardtop coupe. In green.
You should have lived in my family. At home, Fords were cars for the mentally impaired or financially destitute. Period. Anybody with intelligence or class drove a Chevrolet.
That’s the opposite of the crown I hung with way back when. The Chevy guys could barely spell “IQ” but the Ford guys actually knew what it meant…
The OCD in me wants to break into that place with a forklift and line up all the old cars in these things called “rows”… well, after picking up all the orphan tires, car parts, etc on the ground & bush hogging the place.
Let me know when the place is left unattended (for a month)… thanks.
Ugh!
Funny, I was thinking the same thing. Would it have been all that more trouble to push them into lines when they were dumped off? It certainly would have used a lot less space.
That’s the opposite of the crowd I hung with way back when. The Chevy guys could barely spell “IQ” but the Ford guys actually knew what it meant…
Ranchero Squire. Nice, even with that front bumper.
Flip Over, Read Directions
Full Of Redneck Drunks is what used to come to me when I would see those big FORD letters on the tailgate along with the rifle hanging off the gunrack across the rear window. I wonder if there is any hope for that little window beetle. From what I can see I think terminal rust.
Shame that the ’50s overdrive wagon was scrapped after it made it into the screened-state-name license plate era.
I’ve always heard it as Found On Road, Dead.
The wagon is clearly from the time when the ‘blue oval’ was on hiatus as an actual badge on cars. A quick Google search didn’t provide any definitive info, but some image searches suggest that it disappeared (from North American models) around 1940 and didn’t re-appear here until the early 1980’s.
The Blue Oval was the Corporate logo during that time period. Example, on 60’s Fords/Mercs/Lincs, the oval was on the rocker plate, just like ‘Fisher Body’ on same era GM cars.