What's new
CK5
Register an account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.

Boneyard Blues

Chief Brody

Chief Brody

"Amity Island Welcomes You"
 Premium
GMOTM Winner
Joined
May 18, 2010
Posts
9,606
Reaction score
1,980
Location
Alabama
So I got up this morning and had my 4 cups of coffee...noticed that the sun was shining and got the urge to go to the parts yard. The parts yard I go to is the only parts yard left around here with any square-bodies.

They have the same dozen or so trucks....they aren't getting any more...and each time I go out there they are disappearing a panel or clip or part at a time.

Today I went just because I was bored and wanted to get out of the house...I wasn't looking for anything in particular...and in a way, this was the most fun trip I have made there because it just gave me a chance to browse....

I walked from truck to truck, looking inside and all around...just taking in the totality and the finality of it all...I now know these trucks...I know what the guts and the skeleton look like from working on my own....and seeing these trucks dwindling away just struck me in a very strong way today...I wanted to take them all with me to make sure they didn't just go away...and part of me just wants them to stay right where they are...because I don't want to think about what it would be like to go to the yard and not see a c/k...

There are at least eight fewer than there were when I discovered this place three years ago...I hope they got used properly...I hope they went "to good homes".

I decided to look for small items...stuff I hadn't got yet and was afraid they wouldn't be there the next time I came back. I took all the oem wiper blades I could find...I got a parking lamp lens...there was a dash bucket I wanted but I didn't have the tools with me to remove it...

I saw a 1973 GMC truck...it had a nice emblem...I looked at it for a long little while...and decided it wasn't fair for me to take that because there has to be someone else who is looking for that and will be excited to find it....

Sorry I don't have any pictures...I purposely didn't take the camera...I didn't want to be distracted. I took mental pictures...I looked at empty engine compartments and looked at old faded stickers to see where they put them from the factory...

I was standing by a 1974 when an overwhelming emotion hit me...remembering when I was a child and my dad took me and my brother to the parts yard...I am now older than my dad was when we went to the parts yard...one of the few times I ever got to spend any time with him.

I guess it just hit me hard today...the mortality of things....those trucks are almost gone...they are a link to my past that is fading away also...I feel lucky to own one so I can just go sit in it. It has become a time capsule for me...and therapy in a way to understanding my father and my childhood.

I still owe Quint lunch and two cases of Apricot Brandy....and one of these days, when the Blazer is finished...I will bring Ellen her cup back as I promised...:rolleyes:
 
There's a 72 c20 longbed, in the yard by me.
Guy wants 600 for it.
It's killing me to not have the cash to save it.

It was somebody's prerunner.
It had a shop logo, or something, on it.
Really straight body... Shame.

Looks like one of those 70's desert trucks. :D

I feel yer pain, when it comes to the yard.
You look at the dozens, if not hundreds, of soul-less Japanese models.
Increasingly filling the rows, taking away the real estate that once held mighty trucks.
Mighty trucks, that have fallen from glory.

That sad part is... these trucks going into the yard, at all,
Is a great representation of what happened to America.
 
I feel ya...whenever I see a black round eye K5 I remember the night my Dad & I were shopping for a new truck - at night - I was a kid, I think it was 79...he fell in love with the k5, but decided to wait...he soon talked himself out of it.

whenever I see the "4x4" sticker on the automatic hubs I think of him. He had a 77, 78, 79, 81 & 87...all pickups.

he finally got an 86 k5, he loved it. his first 4x4...

I look at craigslist, I see all those 'burbs & k5s for sale cheap, knowing they'll most likely be crushed...I want to bring them all home.

I have 2 'burbs and my memories...(got some booty in the 81 :thumb:...told my girl about spy satellites, she never did it outside again :haha:)

I guess that's enough.
 
So while I have felt that same way in the past about some trucks, I don't seem to as much lately. Don't misunderstand me as I completely get you thoughts here. :bow: I had to get myself over trying to save them all a few years ago. But now you had to make me think...

I have had an '87 K10 sitting here for about 2 years that has given me so many frustating feelings that I was finally to the point of parting it out was the best option. I was tired of every time I looked, I found something else it needed and it isn't a amazingly clean body so I don't have much desire to save it. But it's an '87...... it has lots of things that they don't make anymore.:doah:
 
I have a bad habit of bringing them home.

At any given time, I probably have ten of them around.

Martin
 
I asked my boyfriend to come with me to a yard in Denton... he said no because he will have to bring a truck home with him...

I get a similar sad feeling when I see good working classic vehicles get smashed beyond usable repair by Hollywood in movies.. I always thing, "dang it.. why can't they smash a Taurus..??? There aren't enough of those cars (trucks) left to do them that way!!"

I haven't been to the Denton yard yet... I'm still waiting for a partner.
 
I can't believe you can't find anyone to go to a boneyard with you!!! Shocking!! There are plenty of us around here on this site but... LOL!
 
good point... who's in DFW and wants to go picking???????
 
I see only a few 73-87 trucks at the boneyards here now,one I used to go too often at one time a few years ago,had over 100 of them to pick parts from...but as soon as scrap went over 200 a ton,they squashed all of them,and many had all their drivetrains intact...they ruined any good body panels by shoving them around with the loader most of the time,and thanks to our salted streets and climate,few if any had decent cabs or panels left to grab....

I hate seeing what was once the best trucks on the roads becoming scarce here now....all you see in boneyards here mostly now is POS fwd cars and the few trucks they get it dont stay put long,they usually crush them within a few days to weeks now....unfortunately there are fewer guys like me who still own one and need parts,about all they keep from them is maybe a dana 60 or a engine thats carbed....

I get nostalgic when I roam thru the yards too,and wish I could go back 20+ years in time and do a lot of things over ,RIGHT this time.like not let the few GM trucks I had that were pretty rust free ROT...I should have dumped drain oil on them as soon as I got them and kept doing it often...

I only junked one of my trucks,and another badly rotted one I got free that had a lot of parts already stripped...it hurt to see the loader squash my 77 GMC's cab ,I regret junking it now,along with selling my first generation trucks and k5's...should have parked them in the woods behind my house!...
 
Chief Brody said:
I saw a 1973 GMC truck...it had a nice emblem...I looked at it for a long little while...and decided it wasn't fair for me to take that because there has to be someone else who is looking for that and will be excited to find it....
Click to expand...

If it's still there next time you are, I could definitely put it to use! (whole grille in fact)

Please let me know!
 
76k5grrl said:
good point... who's in DFW and wants to go picking???????
Click to expand...

That's what I am thinking as there has to be someone around you to go picking with. I have a buddy that is 60 miles away who I regularly get together with to gather parts and work on things. The knowledge, help and friendly B.S. is great! If it wasn't so far from me I would come help you out, but I would defintly come home with one of the crew cabs I have seen on craigslist in Texas!! I don't think my wife would like another addition to my collection!!:haha::doah:
 
ok I'll put it out there- anyone who is ever in Dallas and wants to go, PM me and if I'm not working- I'm down!!!! I used to go for my van all the time, and that was in Maine where everything was rusted... can't imagine the glory of TX boneyards!!
 
sokoloka said:
If it's still there next time you are, I could definitely put it to use! (whole grille in fact)

Please let me know!
Click to expand...

I will have a look next time I go...they are pretty picked now...but the cabs are still very usable on most...there are some very usable doors with just small rust in the usual lower corners.
Firewalls are good on most of them...I don't think there is but one that couldn't be hauled, chassis removed, a little metalwork, cutting and welding....
the rust isn't vicious here like it is up north, not as good as it is out west...but somewhere in between.

there is one Blazer...don't know what year...the part I was looking for was gone...that metal strip at the rear of the bed that holds down the carpet
 
Chief Brody said:
I saw a 1973 GMC truck...it had a nice emblem...I looked at it for a long little while...and decided it wasn't fair for me to take that because there has to be someone else who is looking for that and will be excited to find it....
Click to expand...
You just made your first mistake. There are no "fair" and "unfair" in salvage parts. Its first come, first serve. Take it and do what you need to with it. Chances are if you pass on it that someone else will take it and sell it for an obscene amount of money or......nobody will claim it and the yard will simply crush the emblem leaving no one to take it.

Don't feel guilty or use emotions as an excuse to prevent you from getting something. Get it whether you think you'll use it or not. You'll get more satisfaction giving it or selling it to someone else rather than finding out the yard crushed the truck along with the parts you passed up on.
 
76k5grrl said:
ok I'll put it out there- anyone who is ever in Dallas and wants to go, PM me and if I'm not working- I'm down!!!! I used to go for my van all the time, and that was in Maine where everything was rusted... can't imagine the glory of TX boneyards!!
Click to expand...

Your not kidding...I am actually thinking about planning my next vacation to go to some yards. I don't know how to find out where the yards are out that way...how can you find them and how do you know which ones would have healthy numbers of C/K?

Yards aren't on the internet...and you can call by phone but most don't know what is on their yard..
 
thatK30guy said:
You just made your first mistake. There are no "fair" and "unfair" in salvage parts. Its first come, first serve. Take it and do what you need to with it. Chances are if you pass on it that someone else will take it and sell it for an obscene amount of money or......nobody will claim it and the yard will simply crush the emblem leaving no one to take it.

Don't feel guilty or use emotions as an excuse to prevent you from getting something. Get it whether you think you'll use it or not. You'll get more satisfaction giving it or selling it to someone else rather than finding out the yard crushed the truck along with the parts you passed up on.
Click to expand...

You make a good point...if I pull stuff I can't use, I know that somebody here will be able to...a similar analogy would be fishing...if I catch and release so that there are plenty for the generations to follow, some nut with some dynamite will come right behind me and fish with the dynamite...
 
I am blessed with several yards to choose from that rotate stock every 140 days.

There have been a few that I would go back and regularly visit and I would sit in her and make vroom vroom noises. Then one day she's gone and I have to find another.

It's also a great place to meet & greet. I've pulled a few 14 bolts with some members here.

...I don't know why I never pulled one for myself :screwy:.
 
A San Diego yard must be a sight to behold....it must look like a 1970's-1980s used car lot :dunno:
 
Yes sir. I can't believe it sometimes.

I've found city trucks with full maintenance logs in them sometimes dated a month earlier.

Sometimes people actually carefully disassemble and lay the parts out on the bed so the next guy can just come along and pick it up.

You might see an old used car salesman out there every once in a while.:rolleyes:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest Posts

Top Bottom