Ralf K. (aka Don Kincl) has a number of uploads at the Cohort that I need to get to. We’ll start with these, taken at Hidden Valley Auto in Maricopa, AZ. Obviously, this is not your typical Pick N Pull, but more like an Arizona retirement village for aged vehicles, and quite diverse ones at that, starting with this ’59 Dodge.
A ’52 Pontiac has already donated a few body parts and organs.
Lots of trucks of all kinds.
That exhaust on top of the Chevy Van looks rather sculptural.
Honda 600s. The well-finned cylinder barrels are visible.
Fiat 500. And a Vauxhall front end. How did that end up in Arizona. A Canadian snowbird car that wouldn’t go back up north in the spring?
And a Borgward Isabella.
Although it’s in the same batch, this one is titles as being at the Raceway Bar and Grill, also in Maricopa.There’s a lot of interest in this little grouping, including a Flxible Clipper, which Jim Brody has written up here.
The famous junkyard jackstand made of wheels is well represented. Those always scared the crap out of me.
I love the Borgward! And behind it are a Stude R series truck, an early postwar Lincoln sedan and a 55 Stude coupe. If we are taking cars by lot, then I would pick the ones in this photo because there is not a dull one in the bunch.
They don’t scare me, JP. I’m not at all an engineer, but as a layman I can see several positive factors about junkyard “jack stands”.
a] they have a wide, stable base. 14-16″ in diameter, which is bigger than most actual jack stands.
b] the upright portion is a wheel. A thing that is actually designed to hold the weight of a corner of a car.
c] the center portion of the cross-section is a deep V-groove, perfect for resting a frame rail or rocker panel in.
The only questionable point would be the welds themselves. Junkyard folks are certainly not master weldors (yes, that’s the correct spelling, even if spell check says no), but it’s 4 quick stick welds and you’re good to go. That sort of welding isn’t brain surgery.
Assuming the welds were good, I’d feel safer under a car supported by these (and especially on a dirt lot) than I would under a car supported by 4 Chinesium jack stands.
Me either, and yes I’ve crawled under a few cars with them. I’m more wary about where they put them, just like jackstands, a rusted floorpan won’t support the weight of the car.
Now the Lincoln Mark III teetering on the cinderblock, that scares me!
Evan, I agree with you on all counts, especially the difference between a weldor (a person who welds) and a welder (a machine used for welding).
Wow, that 1950 Ford looks about ready for a DougD junkyard rescue. Mrs DougD’s grandmother had one, it was her favorite car, I can still hear her saying “That little car had so much pep!”
I see my IH schoolbus back there as well, I could spend a day there…
I support the theory that the Vauxhall expired when on holiday from Canada, too bad there’s no shot of the license plate. You get in big trouble for that now, my cousin abandoned her Escort wagon in NY when the rear strut punched through the rusty shock tower, she got a lot of grief over that later, I think the next time she entered the US and they asked where her car was, because they knew it had not left.
I also spent quite a bit of seat time in an IH Loadstar school bus, a Thomas-bodied ’79 in my case. “Mine” (aka Guilford County Schools Bus #35) had a yellow painted grille without the silver panels this one sports though.
The Borgward looks like it is restorable and might be worth the effort and expense. I saw a really nice one at a car show in Frisco, Texas (Dallas-Fort Worth area) last October.
The one you’ve seen here is the prettier Isabella TS hardtop, whereas the one in the ‘yard photo is the standard Isabella Sedan.
Still worth restoring IMO, but the TS would certainly be worth more $ when you’re done.
Great shots!
That GMC van with the exhaust on top reminds me of an angler fish. 😉
What state’s (or province) license plate is on the front of the Borgward? I zoomed in but couldn’t make it out.
It’s the 1973 Arizona base.
Amazed that a Vauxhall Firenza apparently got that far out of Canada under its own power.
I love a puzzle. My guess is Arizona? The silver paint on the Borgward’s plate makes it hard. But the placement of letters and numbers makes sense, along with the print along the top and bottom.
It’s definitely an Arizona 73. I used to live in AZ and am very familiar with that plate. AZ law when I lived there allowed you to keep your 1973 plate when you changed cars if you wanted. I believe that law came into effect in 1973, whereas previously everybody got a new plate yearly with that year on it. After that, you would get a generic plate and get a sticker every year. When I lived there in the late 80’s to the early 2000’s, you would see a lot of cars with the 1973 plate, even on many cars made after then. It was a source of pride for some long time residents, in a state that had large numbers of out-of-staters moving in. I think perhaps the state outlawed the 73 plate at some point because I haven’t seen one on a car in a long time when visiting, even accounting for demographic attrition.
It’s a little curious that the car has the plat on the front as AZ doesn’t require a front plate.
To me that unnecessary AZ front plate just adds evidence to the Canadian Snowbird theory. How better to impress your Canadian friends with the fact that you spent the whole freezin’ winter warm and comfy? It is certainly something I would do, being that kind of guy….
The only evidence missing to confirm my theory, Watson old bean, is any knowledge whatsoever as to whether Canada required front plates.
As an old Arizona van man, I want that Chevy! The 64-70s are so rare, and I love all the cab-overs. Love that Country Boys sign too!
I always find these junkyard photos so depressing. Mind you, I’ve only been to a junkyard once about twenty-five years ago in rural San Diego County, it gave me the creepies. How did these once pristine autos wind up rusting away in these forlorn graveyards. That’s a ’56 Lincoln and a ’70 or ’71 Mark III in the shot with the ’50 Ford. Expensive, prestige cars in their time, you wonder how they came to rest here when they were once the pinnacle of autodom.
The really creepy thing is that junkyards are so much like our own lives. We all start out new and pampered. Like these cars, circumstances that we are exposed to have a big impact on our eventual outcome. Age and time break us down more. Some of us have the DNA of a Chrysler slant 6, and some of us a Yugo. Eventually we all end up used up and cast aside. Rinse and repeat.
I agree with you Don… A junkyard is like visiting a graveyard of fallen gladiators. I have an old Alfa Romeo, and when I visit my mechanic, I always take a few minutes to pay my respects to the fallen in the scrap yard behind his shop. I call it “The Field Of Broken Dreams”. Every one of the cars there was special to someone, and had great attention lavished on it, but one day came the end….
It always saddens me.
I visited Happy Valley back in ’85 to scrum parts for a ’60 Pontiac Catalina drop top. Happy to say I was surprised to find many, many, many examples – back then.
However, the biggest surprise was the number of cars with rattlesnakes living the good life!!
Had to leave and return with thick jeans, hi- top boots, welder gloves, and a sledge to take care of them while I picked apart.
I hit the U-pull lots on a regular basis. I’m always on the lookout for a Mercedes W124 ready to give up parts. I used to find two or three every visit, now one if I’m lucky. Those welded wheel jackstands seem pretty sturdy initially, but on a heavily picked over car, I’m a little wary. I would like to get a closer look at that 1955 Plymouth sedan sitting next to the 59 Dodge. I have a twin sitting in my garage.