(first posted 8/15/2011. It’s still there, although some of the cars have been sold) Almost a year ago, I showed you pictures of the Official CC Graveyard, but from the outside. Now, I have pictures from the inside (don’t ask; don’t tell, but my back is a bit sore this morning), some 200 of them. And there are some surprises. Since a complete tour would choke our mini-server, we’ll break it up into bite sized morsels. And since it’s Corvair week…
And all are gen1 Vairs, except for a lone gen2 sedan, which was a bit of an odd duck. I also have more information on this history of this sacred resting place, thanks to a comment that arrived on the first post belatedly.
A comment by “Darnell’s Auto Wrecking” sheds some light:
That was Scott & Sons Auto Wrecking, which ceased operations circa 2005. Many of those cars were in the old lot on 6th and Fillmore or the former J&W Towing lot near 2nd and Chambers. I’m hoping to be able to buy the Hillman Imp and a 1978 Dodge Magnum that was in the J&W inventory, started and ran nicely for me when I looked at it initially in 2004 and shouldn’t be too hard to put back on the road. All of the cars are for sale and many are advertised on the Eugene Craigslist in the spring & summer.
Well, that makes some sense. It’s clear that these cars were junkers, but that the owners made sure to keep the ones that they either thought might be of some value one day, or just couldn’t bear to scrap. They’re mostly grouped by manufacturer, and clearly certain cars caught their eyes more than others. Including Corvairs. We’ll be back for more soon.
But before we leave, I’ll throw in a random shot, since not all of them are so clearly grouped.
Grouped by body style nice graveyard and some of the vairs look complete and savable I remember the original post and the lonely Imp why isnt it stacked amongst its cousins
I’m going to do a full CC on the Imp; but you’re right, it should be with them. Maybe because it’s not air-cooled?
Could be, the water cooling was one of the Imps problems, it didnt
Is that a ’68 Impala I see on the right in the fourth shot? (My parents’ car when I was a baby.)
In spring 1960 my uncle bought a brand-new pale blue 1960 two-door just like the one in the lead picture above. Now, I was only 8 years old at the time, but I seem to remember it having the “flying wing” roof of the 4-door, even though it was a 2-door. Is that possible, or am I remembering wrongly? I’m trying to find a photo in the old family albums but it’s eluding me.
I believe the 4-door was introduced in Oct ’59 and the 2-door was a mid-year introduction in about May 1960. That leads me to wonder whether any of the first two-doors had the flying wing roof. I remember thinking that his was different than the other 2-doors I saw that had the regular “coupe” roof (which I actually preferred).
No, the flying roof only came on the four doors. But there was a styling proposal for what your seem to remember, it just wasn’t built. Come back tomorrow, and I’ll show you.
There are multi-Corvair graveyards in so many places. As a Corvair owner it worries me. On the one hand, you always need some parts cars. On the other hand, I see so many photos of fleets of Vairs moldering away in fields like this that it causes me to wonder how many running and driving Corvairs we actually have.
Some of those, especially that blue ’61 coupe, look salvageable from the topside view. The real question is how much metal is left underneath.
I had a ’68 Impala Custom Coupe back in 1977. Northeastern rust bucket but rode well and was roooooomy. Hope someone salvages it…and these Gen I ‘Vairs.
“Hope someone salvages it…and these Gen I ‘Vairs.”
Don’t hold your breath. For one thing, it seems all who live in Eugene are old hippies, and no hippie ever had any money after drugs were paid for, and second, no one in general has any money to restore anything anymore!
Zackman, Please don’t perpetuate that stereotype of Eugene…it’s way too simplistic.
Anyway, Eugene “hippies” are much more likely to growing drugs than paying for them, and driving shiny new Toyota pickups and Four-Runners.
Professor Paul, I stand thoroughly corrected!
Actually, Eugene seems a wonderful place I’d like to visit, and my dad was in Oregon with the CCC during the great depression building roads, and always thought of it as “God’s country”.
Aren’t all the hippies living in Boise, Idaho, now?
Ah yes! This not your fathers Eugene!
Gardening and car restoration are great hobbies if done correctly one pays for the other.
Thanks for using the term “drugs”.
Years ago in the 1980’s, there was a Metropolitan(!) graveyard off Hwy 94 in Missouri, a few miles east of Hermann. Probably had a hundred of them parked in the grass on a hillside. The Corvair graveyard doesn’t surprise me at all.
It certainly would be interesting to be able to take a closer look ans see if any are truly salvagable.
By the way, that one photo – until now, I have never seen the crossed flags emblem on a Corvair! Cool! Must’ve been a Spyder. Or something.
I also prefer the 2nd gen models. The 1st gens remind me too much of my awful 1961 Bel Air 2 dr. sedan I had before I entered the service. Piece of junk all the way!
The crossed flag emblem indicated the presence of the NON-turbo hi-po engine option for 1962-64. With higher compression and a different camshaft, it produced 102 HP in 1962-63 as opposed to the base engine’s 80. In 1964 those figures went up to 110 and 95 HP respectively.
That last pic made me cringe. I had a 76 Celica GT for three years and I miss it.
Right after Harold LeMay died, a field of wrecked/abandoned cars was auctioned off, and there was a row of fifteen or twenty first-generation Corvairs in one corner of what I remember as a ten- or fifteen-acre lot.
Ah yes, Mr. LeMay, I have been to his place many years back on the open house Labor Day Weekend event (do they still even have these since he died?). I rediscovered a custom T-bird in his collection that I had seen at the Portland Swap Meet a few years before.
I knew a few people growing up in Eastern WA who were into the Corvairs bigtime, and I believe there used to be a guy somewhere north of Pasco that had hundreds of them out on his farm. My neighbor had a 1965 with the non-turbo’d engine with a 4-speed in it, and he really liked it (used it as a daily driver in the late 1970s).
I eagerly await the rest of the tour auto graveyards are wonderful places google Horopito Motors NZ a walking tour in there is a magnificent experience next visit Ill take a camera I,m looking for speed equipment for my Minx and they have it so Ill be back again
Thanks for the shout-out.. Paul, if you could get pics of the brown Magnum with the louvered opera windows, intact glass, mismatched hubcaps and aero side mirrors (I think the license number was #TBA282 with 1995 tags), or do a Curbside Classic on it, I’d appreciate it… now Mrs. Darnell will be disappointed with me bringing home Sunbeams and a Magnum…
Here is an update for this wonderful article …Copart Auction’s Classic Car dept will be auctioning off all of these cars, equipment, parts, 100’s and 100’s of hub caps and basically the accumulation of a lifetime or two of the contents of the Scott and Son’s Towing and Garage Yard starting on the 21st of October at Noon (through their Eugene Auction and Yard)…
These cars have been cleaned up and will be available for previewing starting almost immediately this week. There are over 175 vehicles including Thunderbird’s, Corvairs, Citroen’s, Fiats (including a really nice 51 Mayflower that is complete and has been kept inside put of the elements this entire time with several others) 50’s era Edsels, Bel Aires, Mercury’s, Corvairs, VW’s, Pacers, Pinto’s, Fiat’s, Citroen’s, Sunbeam’s, Hillmans (imps), 50’s Trucks from Ford and Chevrolet, 100’s and 100’s of parts, hubcaps, lubesters, Tow Trucks, Cadillacs, a bunch of 60’s Mustangs, a couple of Cudas, Chrysler Newport’s, Fairlane’s, Ramblers, Falcon’s, Nova’s, Chevelle’s, a pretty amazing snap shot of history …
Sounds like Copart plans on taking their time and doing it right to find suitable homes for these orphaned children which means that they will likely end up spread all over the globe. If you have even the slightest bit of interest in seeing what is there make sure you call the Copart’s Eugene Oregon Facility and getting a list and description of the numerous lots.
Please also help get the word out so that these cars get every opportunity to be bought by people with the where with all to bring them back to life once again. Having cars like these preserved helps us all out and protects and preserves a huge part of our history and culture.
The first 10 or so cars including a Corvair go on the block at 12 noon on Tuesday November 4th at the Copart Eugene OR Yard #104 auction … expect to see another 20 cleaned up and ready every 2-3 weeks after that … If there is something you would like to see auctioned sooner rather than later then just shoot an email to roger.alvey@Copart.com
Link to part 2 does not work
All four parts are going to run today, in one-hour intervals.
It’s interesting what the passage of time does that changes our perception of old cars. When they were plentiful and cheap, they were just old used cars. Beaters. Any with a mechanical problem that rendered them immobile, was considered a parts car or junker. Later on as they became more desirable and valuable, these junkers became project cars. As even more time passes, these junkers become “builders.” Now many of these cars that are pictured in this series would be considered as “restoration candidates.”
These old ’50’s and ’60’s cars can be rescued and rebuilt fairly easily if not totally rusty. Most interior parts are made of steel, seat frames can be reupholstered, and suspension and chassis parts are still available. In fact there are many suppliers of reproduction parts as close as your computer! The best part is they lack all the computer, electrical and relay junction boxes as well as emission control equipment that is hard to source.