…and the hits just keep on comin’!
Normally we’d start off with an introduction of some sort. But this week, we’re just going to jump right in.
Live from the U-Pull, here’s this week’s number one hit!
Despite the demolished roof, the left doors on this Impala must have made it through unharmed.
Not much else was spared, though.
At least someone got a good-running motor out of the deal. (When you see a crashed car in a junkyard, it’s usually somewhat safer to assume its drivetrain was good at the time of the accident… thus, motors and trannies tend to disappear quickly from wrecks like this one.)
Sweet ride, bro!
Uh-oh. Looks like somebody was bro-ing this one a little too hard…
…and eventually bro-ed it into something large and immovable…
…all within days (or perhaps even hours, for all I know) of owning it. Bummer, dude.
This Aztek isn’t wrecked now, but it once was.
Sweet repaint, man! (The cellphone picture doesn’t quite capture it – long story short, this one’s rear hatch and bumper covers had orange peel like you wouldn’t believe.)
So it’s agreed, then.
Moving on to vehicles that aren’t cracked up, here’s a set of 5-spoke alloys for your early 2000s Monte or Impala.
The caps are even present. As for the rest of the car’s contents… I suspect that the less I know, the happier I’ll be.
This Cougar, like many today, is looking pretty sad.
Is there anything special about a “Special Edition” Cougar? I have no idea.
Yup, this one’s been rode hard and put up wet.
You can’t spell Grand Marquis without Grandma – perhaps that’s who last owned this one.
Um-hmm, that’s a motor under there.
And these would be seats, and a dash.
That’s all I have to say about that.
As we wind down our tour, let’s take a look at this rather unremarkable Chevy pickup.
It may not be much of a standout from the outside, but this custom bench is rather interesting. Wonder how it came to be?
Last, but not least, we have one of the final full-size Blazers. These have been showing up with alarming frequency in this yard as of late.
Most arrive with more rust than steel, thus curbing much of my sympathy… but this one seemed to be a little above average (second and third resprays aside, and ignoring the strong possibility that there’s lots of Bondo underneath). My guess? Probably transmission failure.
Big things are coming to the Junkyard Outtake. Stay tuned in the coming weeks for more backroads junkyard action than ever before! Here’s a hint: among many other things, there may be wagons with illuminated Indian chiefs on their hoods.
I’d love those clean wheels for my wife’s ’04 Impala…Three of the four are peeling terribly; I bought the fourth in the junkyard. It’s fine.
Quote of the day: “You can’t spell Grand Marquis without Grandma.”
My grandma drove one. It was about as exciting as you make it out to be. 🙂
Um ;
A ” motor ” is tethered , vehicles tend to have ‘ Engines ‘ .
=8-) .
Happy Friday ! .
-Nate
So it should be Ford Engine Company, General Engines, Harley-Davidson Engine Cycles?
I see what you did there… 😀
I, too, chuckled… but in those cases, “motor” was short for “motorcar.”
In that case should the Brits be calling them “enginecars”?
Unless you speak Spanish and then car engine becomes “motor del carro o motor del automovil”. In Spanish it’s always “motor”, it doesn’t matter where it’s attached. So Keith didn’t said it the wrong way, he was using the wrong language. ;oP
I always look forward to my weekly junkyard trip through your articles Keith. I haven’t been able to get out to the boneyards in the last few years very much because my two young boys always want to tag along. At least I can get my fix on the net!
Back when I was a kid I would love going to the yards with my dad. But ever since liability and insurance companies took over the world those days are long gone. I guess it’s safer, but man did I love going to the junkyard as a kid!
Must have been a tree that fell on the Impala because the dent’s diameter is too wide for a telephone pole. So is the 3500 V6 a good engine?
That Chevy C/K and Blazer look good for rust belt cars. I rather have the C/K though. GM made two door full sized SUVs longer than anyone and that Expedition in the background was the face of things to come.
I hope that Grand Prix had a life of driving excitement before landing there.
Is there enough clearance between the ball hitch and the Cougar’s rear bumper for a trailer’s tongue?
“I’m Kasey Krashem, countin’ ’em down on American Back Forty!”
“And the hits just keep on coming” is also the title of a Mike Nesmith album, although I doubt any of his songs made it onto Kasem’s show… Nesmith’s post-Monkees work is an acquired taste that I’m still working on acquiring…
Nesmith hit the Top 40 once post-Monkees, with the song “Joanne” in 1970. That song was on the chart a few months after American Top 40 made its debut over the 4th of July weekend in 1970, so Casey Kasem did in fact count it down. Here’s a listing of songs played on the September 26, 1970 episode of American Top 40, with “Joanne” at its peak position of #21:
http://www.oldradioshows.com/at40/092670.html
The Junkyard Outtake is heard every week on great
radio stationswebsites like Curbside Classic in Eugene, Oregon… and the countdown continues!Strangely enough, I’ve been refurbishing some turntables for a local radio station this week, which was as good an excuse as any to dig into the ol’ stacks of wax and enjoy listening while I work. Last night it was a classic AT40 episode from November 7, 1972.
Almost all of my collection has come from client stations who were disposing of their old media while I was present. What can I say? Sometimes offering to take out the trash really pays off!
That was how Harold LeMay (as in LeMay Museum) got his start. His firm had garbage contracts in several places in western Washington. A good many of his lesser vehicles were ones that had obviously been retired in place. I suspect that his garbage truck drivers tended to notice old cars more than the average garbage truck driver would.
That silver Grand Marquis dash reminds me of a hi-fi set from the 70’s…
I was amazed to see that this MGM dash is actually different from the one on No. 1 Son’s 1989 model. Door panels too. I guess I was never actually in one of the Mercury versions from the early 80s.
Your son’s ’89 model still has the same dash, just with different wood/cloth/plastic inserts throughout the interior (I just checked your article to be sure). The hard points on the door panels stayed the same from 1979-1991 though. They added the entirely new “smooth” dash with a big, flat strip speedometer in 1990 along with an airbag, which, amazingly, carried over unchanged into the ‘aero’ bodystyle until 1995 when the MGM revived the Crown Victoria’s updated dash.
Yes, I should have made clear that the difference is only in the trim pieces, but those differences certainly make for a different look.
I was thinking the same thing. Love the silver gauge faces and for some reason I even kind of like the fake wood placement.
The dash in the ’91 Crown Vic I owned was nowhere that elegant-looking.
Don’t be dissin’ on that Panther… 😀
The Panther Marquis is pre 1986, or pre-EFI. But, has the horn in the steering wheel where it should be, compared to early models with the stalk activated switch.
Azteks are ‘box office poison’, and dying off fast. I see more Nissan Quests pre-2004 than any Aztek.
Hey, my Fairmont’s horn is stalk activated… and I like it 😀 !
That GrandMa reminds me of an issue I am wrestling with. The AOD tranny in the MGM that lives at my house seems to be giving up. Every time I think about a junkyard tranny for one of these, I come to the conclusion that it is probably tranny failure that sends most of them into the yard these days, so the odds don’t seem great. Decisions, decisions.
I had a law school prof who always used a particular character in his hypotheticals. He called this guy the “PDB” for poor dumb bastard. I thought of the PDB when I saw that Camaro, as it appears that he was the guy who destroyed it right after buying it. Probably before he insured it, too.
Smashing job on this one, Keith. Good thinking on pulling mechanical parts off a wreck, that’s always my first choice because you know everything needed to make it run was working. (unless it happened to be parked on the street, but I don’t think airbags would go off in this case).
I believe that Cougar is a 25th Anniversary edition, alas with the 5.0L instead of the 3.8L supercharged V6.
Its been a while, but a good friend and I use to visit the junkyards around here. No health and safety issues in this town I’m glad to say. The cars are stacked up three high and one is welcome to browse at leisure. And just look what is available! One for the supermarket parking lot I think….Never mind the queues; run ’em over.