Junkyard Classics: Grantsville, Utah
– Posted on September 12, 2020
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Thanks, Don! An eclectic array of sheet metal; those twin Volvo 544s really got me. Between the two, looks like there’s enough raw material for a redemption project.
Some nifty old stuff. I have to wonder about those two Hudsons that both had their rear side glass cut out of the body. Weird. The Cord-Graham-Hupmobile shell is quite a surprise. It could be made into a very interesting hot rod in very talented hands.
Looking at some pictures for reference, I’ve ruled out the Graham Hupmobile possibility and believe that this is a 1937 Cord 812 Beverly. The protruding trunk is the key clue.
SO….MANY…STUDEBAKERS!
My favorite is the ’56 Golden Hawk, which once had a Packard V8 up front although now there’s no sign there was ever an engine compartment. Is that car even still on its frame? I’m also trying to discern what the original color scheme was – I see white, red, green, and whatever that orange/copper/gold is called.
Also, that removed front door from the Lark in the last pic makes it clear how tiny they had to make the window in order to accommodate the curved windshield this car was never designed to have.
I think the Golden Hawk started out as green and white, and got a repaint to the gold used on the 57 Golden Hawks. The only places where the green shows is where trim was removed – the band over the back of the roof and the fiberglass fins.
It looks kind of bent.
I find myself surprised to see so many early foreign cars in SLC, a place I figured to be one of the most conservative, pro-America cities in the US. BYU professors, maybe?
BYU as in Brigham Young University in red-as-red-can-be Provo? No sir. Look to the den of secular iniquity that is the University of Utah on SLC’s east bench. BYU still considers beards to be a violation of the honor code for student and faculty alike, a delightful irony given the facial hair of the university’s namesake. Almost as delightful as the irony of contemporary patriotism given the powder keg anti-US sentiments prior to statehood.
A french car at BYU may threaten tenure.
What interests me is that these were found in podunk Grantsville so far west of the city.
Seems to have been a discerning collector. Rare cars, and rare types of common cars. Ford Customline club coupe, ’52 Nash two-door, ’57 Olds wagon. All were rare when new.
Perfect lighting… The DS looks rust free and perhaps a victim of the wrong oil in its suspension by a ham fisted mechanic who’s long gone.
Maybe, but I reckon it’s the missing engine!
Not always easy to tell if it’s there or not on a DS, where one always got a lot of underbonnet tubes and unidentifiable other things for one’s money.
So what exactly are we looking at here? Is this an abandoned plot? It doesn’t appear to have been a functional junkyard anytime in the last 40 years (i’d say 50 years if not for the Charger and Ford pickup), and there are few remaining usable parts to be found.
I think the lack of the back glass on the Barracuda improves its looks.
I have to agree with you. I always liked the glassback Barracuda but this car makes me wonder about a two seater with a Breezeway window and a long trunk.
A junkyard with a view! How many of them can claim that?
What superb photos, Mr K. Quite something.
How is that old players like these look less like suspended motion than they do yearning, melancholic?
I suppose it is the fact that for all that they are still visibly themselves, lined up as if in traffic or a drive-in for the cinema of those views, there is no rescue coming, now or ever.
Dennis McBride had a great junkyard and is a great guy.
Sad that it is all gone now.
Cool pics. I have a boatload of pics from here throughout the years. And tons of memories.
Nice solid sheet metal relative to here in East. Too bad all the glass has been knocked out, they might be better preserved. Cord-Graham-Hollywood body shows the leaded seems of the seven-piece top build.
So many Studebakers, so little rust! The white Hawk looks like the hood latch failed at speed.
I have always figured there would be money to be made by hauling worn-out cars with rust-free bodies from the desert west to the rusty midwest/northeast.
What a collection.
Remind me how the DS and Jaguar Mk1 got there…….
What is the small white sports car?