Death of a Yard
2 posters
{ Scaring babies and little old ladies with open headers since 1964 } :: BENCH RACING :: Shooting the breeze
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Death of a Yard
Friday I had to go look at a job about an hour and a half from where I live. I knew there was an OLD yard somewhere near there. I had seen it traveling through but couldn't remember exactly where. When I pulled out of the job site. I looked across the street and there was a body shop. Behind the shop was one of those carport things with a Shoebox and a '64 Impala under it. I thought "I bet they know where it is". Stopped in and asked the guy behind the counter. He said "You must be talking about old Claude Holt. I'm not sure if he's even still alive but Frank will know." Anyway Frank did know and these people went way out of their way to get me in touch with him. He told me the Mercury stuf wasn't moving and he had gotten rid (crushed I am sure) of it. So no front valance although he did have 1 front bumper left. I decided to go there anyway and see if he would just let me look around. The guys at the body shop warned me he was hard to get along with. He's like 70 years old. When I got there I told him who I was and he told he still didn't have any Mercurys so I wasted a trip. I was still looking for spindles so i asked him if he had any Granadas left with the front spindles on it. He wanted to know why. I told him I was putting disc brakes on my Merc. He asked me if I was from "that damn Mustang shop in Lewisburg" and I told him no I didn't even know about it. He says good, I'll crush it all before he gets any parts from here. Any way I asked if I could take a look at the Granada he wants to know why he said they were there and they are there. We go out in the yard, turns out there is 110 acres of it, and he goes straight to the granada that probably hasn't been crushed because it has a '55 Chevy sitting on top of it. "There they are " he says "$100.00 if you pull 'em $200.00 if I pull 'em." Told him I wanted them but would have to borrow tools to pull them. "Nope" he says "don't loan out tools. I lose enough without some yahoo that don't have enough sense to bring tools to a junkyard helping me. I asked if I could come back on Saturday and he informed me it was a free country and I could go pretty much anywhere I wanted. I told him I would be back but I'm sure he thought I was blowin' smoke. Saturday morning I load up the tools I will need and call my daughter (the one with the '67 sitting in my shop) to see if she wants to go with me. I knew she would jump at it and she didn't let me down. She was sitting on the front steps waiting when I got to her house. When we got there the old man was gone and we told his wife why we were there so she calls him to ask about it and he tells her that I know where they are he can go get 'em. When we got to the car I realized it was sitting right in the middle of a big patch of poison ivy which I am really allergic to. Brittney says no problem Daddy. So I became the tool hander and jack man while she pulled the spindles. Sure makes a father proud. I was sure glad I asked her to go or it would have been a wasted trip. Then we spent about a hour just exploring. I counted over 100 Tri-5's. He has stuff going back to the Forty's and up to the Eighty's. You can tell that's when he started slowing down. He has some late model stuff but not a lot. When we went back to the house to pay up, we spent some time talking to his wife and she said if scrap goes up much more he is going to start at the front and crush to the back. But she said he won't know what to do with himself. He hasn't done anything but work that yard since 1958. She said they still sell whole cars every now and then and can't believe how much work people put into them. That people usually drive back what gets hauled out on a roll back and she's glad that some people want to save those old cars before they are all gone.
I liked the old guy. He wasn't hateful, just matter-of-fact and to the point and maybe a bit eccentric. I wish it was closer to my house. I believe I could spend some more time there. It will be gone when he dies though even if he doesn't crush it all. He only has a daughter and she's not like mine. His wife told us that developers have already tried to buy it and the city wants it gone but they can't do anything unless they buy him out and he's not selling while he's alive.
I liked the old guy. He wasn't hateful, just matter-of-fact and to the point and maybe a bit eccentric. I wish it was closer to my house. I believe I could spend some more time there. It will be gone when he dies though even if he doesn't crush it all. He only has a daughter and she's not like mine. His wife told us that developers have already tried to buy it and the city wants it gone but they can't do anything unless they buy him out and he's not selling while he's alive.
Arieldouglas- TN Chapter President
- Number of posts : 1915
Registration date : 2011-07-03
Age : 65
Location : Watertown, TN
Re: Death of a Yard
It sounds as if you had an interesting trip. I wish my son would help me like your daughter does. You got lucky getting the spindles, being he wasn't home. He sounds a lot like my Grandpa when he was alive. He had just about every car dated back to the 20's before he passed on. It seems the old man had some bad experiences with his neighbors in the past. They go and get one part and pick something else up on the way out and not pay for it. It makes it bad for the next person that comes along.
SMOKNZ- Scrounger
- Number of posts : 664
Registration date : 2010-04-19
Location : Florence, Ky
Re: Death of a Yard
Anybody need a wheel cover? Just part of what is there. He has a set of Mercury covers with Mercury's head on them but he wasn't home and his wife wouldn't price them. Got to make a return trip. He doesn't seem to answer the phone and hasn't returned a call yet.
Arieldouglas- TN Chapter President
- Number of posts : 1915
Registration date : 2011-07-03
Age : 65
Location : Watertown, TN
Re: Death of a Yard
Found two full sets of the Old's covers.
Arieldouglas- TN Chapter President
- Number of posts : 1915
Registration date : 2011-07-03
Age : 65
Location : Watertown, TN
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{ Scaring babies and little old ladies with open headers since 1964 } :: BENCH RACING :: Shooting the breeze
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