Dallas Junkyard Runs

The worst convertible of the 1990s, the Geo Metro convertible. Notable for having a payload including passengers of just 500lbs, it could not legally or safely carry any more than two football players or similarly large men. Which wasn't really a problem because men would not be caught dead in it. :p
Oy! :shakefist:

There's no space for more than 500lbs including passengers anyway, but it's still an awesome little go-kart. You should try it, preferrably in Finland in winter with the top down - you have a chance by meeting DaBoom with our Swift (which by the way won an award at the 2014 'ringmeet!). :p
 
Oy! :shakefist:

There's no space for more than 500lbs including passengers anyway, but it's still an awesome little go-kart. You should try it, preferrably in Finland in winter with the top down - you have a chance by meeting DaBoom with our Swift (which by the way won an award at the 2014 'ringmeet!). :p

I did actually try one at the time and found it terrible; the hard top it was based on wasn't much better (and I last drove one about seven years ago). I also knew of women who managed to pile more than 500lbs in the things and then wondered why the chassis broke. :p When they cut the roof off, they cut off anything resembling chassis rigidity, handling or fun. These convertibles were absolutely terrible to drive, and none of the hardtops of either generation were much better especially with the base engine.

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Keep in mind that our Metro isn't *exactly* the same as your Swift. Even in the US when the Metro and the Swift were being sold at the same time, the Metro was clearly missing a lot of content. For example, from 89-94, the Metro was mostly only available as a 1.0L three cylinder to the Swift's 1.3L four. The only engine option for the Metro was a deliberately *detuned* version of the 1.0. Even after 94, the four cylinder was an extra cost option.

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Just checked - yup, the one pictured was a 92 Metro LSi convertible, which means it had the 60hp 1.0L I3 engine. Horrible, horrible thing.
 
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Been hitting the junkyards a few times lately looking for Caddy parts among other things. Here's some pics from my last couple of visits; not too many pics this time. Clickable for larger versions as always.

First, as usual for junkyard parking lots, sometimes the most interesting things are in the parking lot and not in the yard... and sometimes most of what's in the lot really belongs *inside* the yard as scrap. Sometimes you get both.




The Merc W210 wagon had an interesting sticker or two on the back.



The rebuilder lot just inside the gates:





This is the first time I've seen a bug or air deflector on a Corolla (even one rebadged as a Chevrolet Prizm) made in the last 25 years. I'm surprised anyone bought one. Also surprised how well it integrated with the nose, I didn't even notice it at first. However, I'm not sure of the effectiveness. It also looks like the owner raided the entire Ventshade catalog of offerings for his car.



A Ford Aspire n?e Kia Pride.


Another one of those increasingly rare Box Fox T-birds.


Finally, a Fox body variant that Lincoln would probably prefer that we all forget they made - the bustle-butt 82-87 Continental:



These things were kind of interesting in that they had a full-width 'blackout' style all-digital dash. It didn't work very well and was not very popular for a number of reasons.
 
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The Merc W210 wagon had an interesting sticker or two on the back.
[snip]
That's the old zip code of Affalterbach. In Germany the zip codes were reorganized in 1993 from 4 digits to 5 digits (there was much fuss about it, I remember it even though it has been 23 years ago and I was just 13 by then), but the W210 didn't arrive until 1995. Of course, there are no AMG parts in the E320, but that goes without saying...
 
In the final push to get thomas' Cadillac together, I drove up to a small Cadillac/Saturn/GM specialist junkyard up near the Texas-Oklahoma border. Like most other non-bodyshop-professionals in DFW, I often forget this place is there - but then it's rare that I need an obscure GM specific part. Decent prices though it is a bit of a drive.

Crossposting a bit from the Random Vehicle Sightings thread:
At a junkyard up near the Oklahoma border, there was this 1941 Ford:






... and this 1950 Mercury:






Neither is being junked, they're owner/employee projects apparently. In this stack there's a Cadillac Allante, next to the classic Ford tractor.


Anyone want some Mustang parts?

A few more pictures from the yard:






 
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I always wonder how much change/cash is forgotten in those cars - stuffed between the seats, in the glovebox, center console, under the carpet. I bet its a non-negligible amount for all the cars in all the junkyards in the country, but not worth going hunting for.
 
Over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, I found myself down at the junkyards yet again. It was a four day half-price sale event at the Pick-N-Pull chain of junkyards so it seemed as good a time as any to pick up some stuff. Here's the rebuilder/reseller lot at one Pick-N-Pull:






Which included this 1966 Chevrolet pickup:








And this carbage (look at the headlights):


They also had this Subaru Legacy:




Three generations of small Chrysler sedans:


1973 Ford LTD:




Sadly, turned out that no parts from this could help Dr_Grip with his wagon. There was also this Buick Roadmaster Wagon that would be donating its climate control panel to thomas' Cadillac project.





The thermal night vision camera on a 2000 Deville. Sadly, it was already broken.


Some dead Mitsu Galant carbage:


Someone attempted an interesting 'repair' of their craptacular GM truck headlights.




Second generation Cadillac Cimarron, the best J-Body ever made - which isn't saying much:


1977 Cadillac Eldorado, powered by the 425cid/7.0L Cadillac big block V8:


The underhood snakes' nest typical of smogger-era vehicles. Little wonder why they made people unhappy.


Dead 9C1 Chevrolet Caprice cop car:


Here is a recent Chevy Malibu that went on fire *after* being drained of all its fluid, the battery removed and the car placed on the yard. Notice the damage to the neighboring hulks.





When was the last time you saw one of these 5 door Corollas that were sold as Chevy Novas?




A last gen Fiero:


That tan/brown 1993 Cadillac Fleetwood is looking more and more stripped.


And from the "what's outside is sometimes more interesting than what's inside" category, this riced BMW:


This running Geo Metro (haven't seen one in a while):


And this beautiful Dodge A100 pickup:
 
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Dallas Junkyard Runs

How is that even possible? :lol:

Either 1: It's a Malibu and it decided self-immolation was how it wanted to go out, 2: Some idiot brought in a power saw or cutter (against the rules) and wasn't careful, or 3: Someone used a power tool battery or jump box to power up the car and the car had a short that caused a fire.

It is also remotely possible that it was hit by lightning or God found this Malibu so offensive to His eyes that He decided to smite it. Most people would probably agree with God in the latter case, these things were pretty damn bad. :p
 
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3 a tobacco product shed a hot ember onto something.
 
Dallas Junkyard Runs

3 a tobacco product shed a hot ember onto something.

Possible, but it's highly unlikely - it's very, very, very rare to see anyone smoking in the Pick N Pull junkyards. I haven't seen someone using an actual burning cig there in... dunno, three years? E-vape and snuff seem to be the only common tobacco consumption methods in the yards; conventional smoking is banned there.
 
New year, new junkyard run. The Pick-N-Pull chain had a four day half-price sale for their loyalty club members; I had noticed there were some vehicles of interest to other FG members in a PNP yard on the other side of the Metroplex that I rarely visit. This would be the Fort Worth Pick-N-Pull location, which is much smaller than the other DFW area yards, but which is less frequented so parts 'last' longer there for popular vehicles. A buddy of mine from the Bronco club came with me to check out what was on offer and to lend a hand if need be - and since we were going to be in the junkyards anyway, if there were some parts we personally could use, we'd grab them in passing. The day started cold and misty, but grew warmer and a hell of a lot foggier.

This carbage was in the PNP Fort Worth parking lot.



So, not only did the owner carbage up this truck, he then went and got a GM or Mopar (can't decide which) badge to indicate that he has the worst, least powerful and least reliable engine his truck could have come with.

Just inside the yard was the rebuilder section. Here's a panoramic picture of the area - you can click on this and all other pictures for higher resolution versions:


Once you get past the rebuilder area, the yard extends off to the right around the building.


And wraps around behind the building.


Spotted this Range Rover sitting there.




Unfortunately, it was well stripped. Someone apparently wanted the dash pretty badly.


Nearby was this horrible pile in its rightful place.




I considered taking these Land Rover headlights - someone is working out a way to retrofit them to 87-91 Ford Broncos and trucks - but I realized I'd ideally want to take the header panel behind them and I didn't have sufficient metal cutting tools.


Hey, rick? Might want to consider an internal roll cage or exo cage for your Jeep if these are any indicator.






There was this lonely little post-facelift WD21:




More cars, getting towards the west end of the lot.


Since Thomas' Cadillac was in need of some parts, we checked all the B and D body cars on the lot. This was the engine bay of a 92 or 93 Buick Roadmaster that we speculated had spent some time in the bottom of one of the local rivers. That L05 TBI V8 just looked nasty and mud caked.


We did find the car we'd been expecting to find - an absolutely base model 1996 Fleetwood. Someone had had an aftermarket landau roof installed (poorly) then removed when it degraded. What was left was an absolute mess.










More on this and the parts we scavenged over on thomas' Caddy thread later. Moral of story, aftermarket landau tops suuuuuuuuck.

There was this very dead Pontiac Grand Am proudly displaying its 'Ram Air' plenum a couple spots away.




The first I've seen of the crushed cars resulting from the VW Dieselghazi buy backs (more pictures here):


Then we found the other vehicle we'd specifically been looking for - a 1972 Ford LTD. This was to provide parts for Dr Grip's wagon - specifically a clock (which unfortunately turned out later to not be working.)














Part 2 coming shortly.
 
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