Here’s a bunch of photos with a good deal of Mopar iron uploaded by Hyperpack at the Cohort. I’m not entirely sure what’s going on in these images, but the cars (or what’s left of them) seem to lay in a yard belonging to GO CAR Sales at West Mifflin, PA. In any case, many of these have collision damage, and all have, let’s say rust issues. But that won’t keep us from taking a look around, right?
We’ll start with what to my eye is the most interesting of the lot, this 1970 Chrysler 2-door hardtop. A fascinating-looking thing that only seems to be missing wings to go along with its fuselage body to take off into the distance. Not that I would fly in anything near this one’s condition, but I think you get my point.
Unlike some of the others, the Chrysler’s body is pretty intact (if you don’t count rust). And here’s that loop bumper that is so 1970s Mopar.
Another bit of detail from the car’s rear area.
Let’s move on with this better shot of the Mopar row. In full view, a 1974 Dodge Dart with three on the three (as mentioned by Hyperpack). Also, with a decaying headliner that looks like rotting Venetian blinds.
Two green Dodge Dart sedans in the green, a ’72 and a ’73 respectively.
A couple of images from the ’73’s interior. Most instruments are gone, but the doors seem to be pretty complete.
Here are a couple of the collision ones (Hey, I didn’t say this was going to be pretty!), both from ’75, first a Dart sedan and then a Dart Swinger. Quite beat up the Swinger… but nice grille and hubcaps.
Now, the Swinger’s vinyl top seems to be acquiring a life of its own. Weird. Is there a mutant life turning up in there?
More organic life is sprouting in this ’79 Volaré’s flanks.
We may return in the next few days to check out a bit more at GO Car Sales, but for today, let’s close this brief Mopar tour with another image of the Chrysler.
Related CC reading:
TOTGA: 1970 Chrysler Newport — What Beautiful Music This Golden Oldie And I Could Have Made Together
Curbside Classic: 1970 Chrysler Newport Royale — Chrysler’s Deadly Sin #6, The Fuselage Years
Curbside Classic: 1974 Dodge Dart Custom — “A Body” In Motion Tends To Stay In Motion
Curbside Classic: 1976 Dodge Dart — A Car Of Few Words
As promised, I was going to try to document what is left before it’s all gone.
Mom says since 2017 54 vehicles have been sold or scrapped in the cleanup effort.
Most of the “good stuff” gone now. There are lots of contetn like what you see in the pictures shared with CC readers today by Rich Baron, (thanks Rich!)
This side of the shop is in an elegant state of decay. Many of the cars have remained languishing in the same spot for 20+ years.
There are more to share, but I ran out of time that particular day. As summer approaches I should be able to get more footage!
here is a good YouTube from a local fan taken pre-2017:
Enjoy!
Since it looks to be all metal, I’m surprised no one has pulled that Newport and put it online with a $5k price (with a “ran when parked”, “I know what I’ve got” text in the ad).
That 1970 Chrysler would be great in a Roadkill show episode! Great show!
1985 or 86 Caravan or Voyager in the second shot also. It looks to be lacking the rear side windows making it a working van. Maybe it’s a Ram Van?
Check out the Cohort. They are there for now. At least 4 of them in various flavors and generations.
What a blast from the past–both Mopar’s and my own. I grew up not far from there and would visit every so often to see what amazing time capsules George would get on his small lot. This guy had a knack for finding well-preserved older models to grace his showroom floor. Mopars were the most common, but he had a great selection of showroom-condition AMCs too. Nothing ever too flashy, but grandpa-mobiles in brown or green that were impressive for their norm-core perfection. Back in 1996, though, he had a mint-condition silver 69 Wildcat that he was selling for about five grand. A lifetime regret, but I was in college and it wasn’t in the cards.
I had to move my folks out to Los Angeles a few years ago, and in the current haze of my dad’s dementia, his only coherent thoughts are of going back to Pittsburgh, buying a good car from George at GO CAR, and getting back on the road. These images say a lot about the ravages of time and the elements, and of the decline of a small business, but also the desire to keep holding on to those things that once held value despite their current condition.
Whew–I didn’t think my morning CC visit would hit me so hard. Who’s cutting onions?
Yes sir, Thanks for the memories. I remember the 1969 Buick Wildcat well. I have a grainy picture from it in the late 90’s in the CC cohort somewhere. It was gigantic and had a 455- 4 Barrel
I “worked” at the car lot as a 9-year-old kid until age 21 every summer and then some.
We did have some AMCs on the lot – appropriate for the old Clark Motors Building that sold AMC new from this location ~1961-~1983
One of my greatest car lot memories and there are “lots” of them.. was the time a gentleman from Iceland contacted me via the web ads that I had of the cars from 1998-2001 on my old Geocities webpage. He flew in from Reykjavik Iceland to inspect our 1977 AMC Pacer D/L – He bought it, drove it to Baltimore, and put it in storage for 2-3 years until it was old enough to be legal for the 25-year import law. When the pacer was old enough he returned to the storage unit in Baltimore and flew the car back to Iceland. He was a commercial airline pilot for Reykjavik Airlines and he already had another AMC pacer in his collection in Iceland!
So sad to see.
I live in the San Fernando Valley California. Back in the late 70s and 80s, we had several salvage yards in the northeastern park of the valley. Most yards specialized by American manufacturers, and there were plenty of big American luxury cars that fell victim of the 1973 oil crisis due to the focus shifted to more economical smaller cars that got good gas mileage. Those yards were one of my favorite places to go on a Saturday morning. I would go looking for a specific part and end up spending the day. It was sad to see such beautiful American luxury cars reduced to such a horrible fate. As I would walk the yards I would repeatedly say to myself, “man if these cars could talk.” In many cases they did talk to me, since I was part car at the time. My favorites were the Ford and Chrysler yards. By the late 90s all of those big beautiful cars were gone by way of the crushers. I still love those 50s, 60s and 70s cars. For those of them still running, try to buy one. They are worth 5 to 6 times what they originally sold for. I can remember when people were giving them away just because they such gas hogs. As for me, I never stopped loving them. Today I only collect diecast models from back in the day. It’s sad to think we will never see cars like those from the Golden Age of American cars again. They weren’t just cars, they were rolling works of art that I will never ever forget them. The cars of today will never be the collectables from our past, and that’s just too sad.
I like that big blue two door hard top .
Sad that young ‘uns will never get to experience huge American land yachts .
Luckily I’ve always had at least -one- buddy who was a MoPar nut so I always got to ride in and drive Imperials, ex cop cars, darts on and on……
I too loved to spend and entire day perusing the finds in those old Sun Valley, Ca. yards .
Good times .
-Nate