Hey all, I haven't posted in a few months because I've been so busy with school. I hadn't even seen the Cuda in months before Thanksgiving break. Anyway, over break I visited a junkyard I had heard about and thought you all might be interested.
A few years ago in the paper I read an article about a junkyard that had mostly 40s and 50s cars that was about an hour and a half from me. I kept the article, thinking I would visit and I never did. Anyway I lost the article and ended up going on the website archives of the newspaper and found the article again (from 1997!). I hit the junkyard last Friday all day. I got there around 10am and left at 5pm and didn't see all the cars. There were literally thousands and thousands of cars. It was in the middle of nowhere and the stuff had been there for a looong time. I first walked in and saw a 4 door 57 chevy bel air and a front clip of a 50's elvis style caddy. There were lots of 40's pickups and a pair of black 4 door JFK lincolns, one convertible. packards, nash's you name it. a gremlin. It was seriously unbelievable. I had no idea it was going to be as big as it was and every car was at least 30 years old. There was plenty of muscle too. I'll hit the Mopar highlights. Whole cars: 3 67-68 barracudas, 4 71 roadrunners, 2 69 roadrunners, 1 69 charger, 1 70 roadrunner, assorted darts and valiants, 2 69 coronets, 2 66 chargers and a 64 polara 2 door hardtop with bucket seats. Most cars were really rusty with the exception of 2 of the 71 roadrunners, 1 66 charger, 1 68 baracuda and the polara. The polara was the best of all, nearly complete and hardly any rust. I wanted to just drive it out of there. The 69 charger and 70 rr had the tops cut off. one 71 roadrunner had a 70 e body auto console with the seatbelt slots and a 71 up slapstick shifter and bezel. all 71 RR's had complete rallye gauge clusters. several 383's and 440's to be had. several 8.75 rear ends to be had, all 741 chunks. No 4 speed cars. Now for the parts, the cars they belonged to were MIA: 2 70 challenger grilles, one perfect, one with a hole in it. 1 set of 70 challenger headlight bezels, 1 flat chally hood, 1 70 chally lower valance with parking lights, 70 rr headlight bezels, 2 sets of 71 rr headlight bezels, 1 71 cuda tail lamp, pair of 68 charger tail lights, pair of 71 demon tail lights. a BUS LOAD of B-body fenders and doors (68-69 models). There was an entire shed of just headlight bezels and steering wheels. there were 6 buses full of tail lights, one bus for only Duster parts. there were several good duster grilles. I probably missed half of it. I had to start going so fast as closing time neared that I couldnt even look at some of the cars. I was basically running full speed down every little trail looking for an E body that I never found. Anyway, so I figured I had struck it rich and was going to sell all this stuff on ebay so I grabbed a little group of easy to pull parts as a "test" and had the old guy (75) price them to me. Well ever since some chevy guy paid him $260 for a '60 model steering wheel, the guy has decided that every part in the entire yard is worth at least $100. He quoted me $100 for the 71 cuda tail light, $75 for each of the (perfect) 71 RR bezels and $100 for my 70 Ebody woodgrain steering wheel. I paid it for the wheel and took that home with me because the woodgrain was the best ive ever seen on an unrestored wheel. It cleaned up really nicely and i think I'll leave it unrestored. But as far as my getting rich I dont think that's going to happen. I guess if I needed the parts and was willing to pay ebay prices for them I might have bought the B-body stuff, but I dont have a B-body. I guess its because of his prices that most of hte cars still have most of their parts on them. Now for the pictures. I wish I had taken more, but I was so pressed for time this is all I could get. I was looking for that 71 cuda that the tail light belonged to. Since I can't use any of the other parts in the yard, and there's not really any money to be made, I'll give out directions to anybody who wants to drive to Richmond, VA to see it for themselves. PM me for the loot. Enjoy the few pics that I did take (for y'all).
oh by the way, he justified his price for the steering wheel saying that a new one costs $400 at the dodge dealer. i wonder what that dealer is charging for new hemi cudas?
