Words well said Steve about the nuisance laws. When I was a kid in Rhode Island my father would walk me through a few junk yards talking about how the cars were different made in the 40s 50s and 60s. When I became an adult and moved to South Carolina I took both of my sons to a couple of salvage yards while they were growing up walking them through showing them the old cars from the 60s 70s and '80s and what the differences were. Now that they are grown they only have pick-n-pulls left to walk through with modern junk. It seems all the old salvage yards are disappearing because the property values are worth too much. Salvage yards are truly classrooms. I'm still the guy at work that if someone sees an old car they will send me a picture because they know I will know what it is. Happy New Year Steve!
@Cstoreri I remember Finn's auto parts. And there was another big yard right off of 295 I believe near Johnston Rhode Island. I had to get parts for my 65 Plymouth belvedere in the mid eighties.
The reason why I doubt any legislator would champion saving junkyards is it would block developers from being able to buy said land for their projects if it any where close to the ever creeping urban sprawl.
A small but often forgotten upside to the torsion bar front suspension is that the ride height was adjustable. A socket and a long breaker bar or air impact and 15 minutes later your car had a new look and stance.
Not just the ride height, but swap out for larger diameter and get a stiffer ride for better handling, and the rising-rate of the torsion bars means the center of the action can be quite light, and then get more and more stiffer as the suspension deflects, so there is more control when needed. Works well enough for Formula1 to use.
Definitely need some legislation to help protect these outdoor classrooms and museums. Just like building model cars, frequent visits to the junkyard as a kid and teenager, taught me a lot about the differences in how cars were built, the evolution of safety in them, and shaped my preferences in cars. I was fortunate to have a family that Loved and appreciated cars and their artistic and mechanical wonders. I have followed your career from the first time I read your articles in Hotrod and appreciate your Love of everything car related, and the desire to keep the history alive. Thanks Steve!
America's greatest artistic treasure is pre 1975 American made automobiles, and it should be a felony to crush one. They were truly functional mechanical art!!!
I agree about preserving places like this. Once they are gone, that's it most of the cars will get scrapped and then someone will come and building a walmart or a bunch of homes. I've seen it happen before. These cars still have a lot to offer from spare parts, restorable cars, and a good history. There is a guy near where I live who used to have tons of classic Pontiacs outside. That's all he collected for 30 years until the county made him clean up the vehicles. Many were scrapped and a few were put into a pole barn he built. I'm sad when I drive by that place now. All that's out front is an old 1960s Grand prix that marks the driveway up to the old farm house.
That's because the new modernized people that are coming into the world that could care less about the automobile as much as well as it's owner. It's a shame that they cant keep these cars inside but its would have to be a huge building,you make a few bucks for every part you sell and take care of yourself. Sadly the automobiles sit outside,that's the reality but we still enjoy them even if we cant fix them up. I collect old automobiles,but I just dont have the funds to restore them but they will be worked on a little at a time,and they can all be fixed and running year by year. Chrome cost and special parts can cost alot,but you can make your own parts or swap them from another car. Youd be surpised at what parts you can interchange.
Totally agree with you on the nuisance laws. My brother and I certainly used the junkyard as a free museum of automobile history. If we had a question we either asked our father or the junkyard owner. I vividly remember seeing fairly new 1957 Mercury Turnpike Cruiser, in the junkyard, and wondering what a turnpike was. Of course, this was late 1950’s northwest Georgia and light years distant from any turnpike!
Hopefully, Steve, your words and images, along with the informative comments section will live on long after we all have 'oxidized'. A great crawl to start off the new year!
Ask the owner if you can buy it those cars a beautiful. They are collecting them now. I was just a child in the 90's my bother had an 88 T-Bird with two tone blue paint and dark blue velour interior. Everything had power,fully loaded! It was such a nice looking car and pretty fast too!
@Hitlow Unfortunately I was a day late. I purchased a 1985 Thunderbird Elan about a year ago. Took me four years to find. Almost had a 29K two toned in my own town. By the time I was going to pull the trigger, it was gone. Flash forward a couple of years. 90% of what I found were cars that needed alot of work or way over priced. The one I bought has 65K original miles, but needs quite a bit of work. Paint is really bad, body damage on the passenger quarter panel that extends to the door. Tan interior, which I'm not a huge fan of, but for its age and overall condition, I couldn't pass it up. The one in the yard has a beautiful color combo and excellent paint. It's also a 5.0 Elan that is in better condition than mine. I'm not disappointed with what I have because I can do all the paint and body work and make it look great. But, had the person who junked it would have just posted this beauty, I'm sure there would have been takers at more than what Pick And Pull gave him. Plus, it would still be on the road instead of the crusher.
Back in the day , a friend of mine somehow managed to borrow a bulldozer and decided to crush junk cars and sell for scrap. He said the easiest one he crushed was a '68 chevrolet, (wadded up like tinfoil). The toughest was a '55 olds, (managed to smash the roof down to the door tops, that was it). They don't build em like they used to.
Im sorry if you had to witness that,but I guess back in the day it's like now people dont think the car will be anything some day. Even now if the car is gonna be something then keep it. People even now with a 10 year old car thats rotted away,they send it to the crusher. But hey you never know how rare that car will be some day.
Amen! PROTECT THEM! I like that, Steve! You’re the man! Thanks for your huge mark on the history of the automobile and for your shared passion there in!
I can't imagine a world without a place for these old cars to peacefully rest and one day be discovered and restored or to be reclaimed by mother nature instead of the being unceremoniously fed to the crusher !
Yes Steve it is a tragedy to lose them old yard's. We had a lot of them in our area when I was young there all gone now what a freaking shame! I get to go back to them with you now, Keep up the great work.
YES Steve!! I agree totally with the commentary you had at the end about protecting salvage yards like these! They would rather clear these out and put up some more stinkin' wind mills and solar panels. We have to do everything to protect our history and heritage! God bless you for adding that at the end of the vid!
Absolutely agree with your editorializing! When I was in high school in VT in the early sixties, my best friend and I would skip school and spend all day crawling around junkyards learning about cars. Later when I had my B/Gas '40 Olds coupe, I ran Oldsmobile drive train, just like you said, it was the strongest.
Words of wisdom from Professor Mags. I wonder what a person will think watching this video 100 years from now. Preserving history one day at a time. Thank you Steve.
Thanks as always for the information Steve, I never knew about the x-frames! I completely agree that junkyards should be preserved for their historical significance and teaching.
Wow! Lots of cool information! And rusty cars. 😁On a more serious note, frame styles really had little to do with how well people survived a side impact. The cars' bumper that hit you would simply ride up over the frame rails/stiffened rocker panels/sub frame or whatever and hit you right smack in the door. Especially if you were driving a new ' lower style' automobile! This was what led to steel reinforcing beams in car doors, starting in the 1970s. And decades later to side impact air bags.
Yes, Ford (in some 1961 print ads) and even Oldsmobile (in a 1959 TV ad) touted their perimeter type (Ford) or perimeter and X frame combination (Olds) as superior. But it was mostly advertising hype. As you stated people rode above the frame or unibody. The structure underneath you means little when a 3,600 lbs car with its' engine up front smashes into your car door where you are sitting!!
"HERE HERE" Thankyou for putting it out there..Yes it is a Classroom And a Cemtery for our Transport history.The people Before Us worked hard to to give us what we have today Let's show them & History Respect 🙏 Let Them Rust in Peace..Have a Blessed 2023...
How convenient, having that variety of cars all in a row, laying on their sides, so we all get to compare and see all the different under pinnings. A very good episode Steve.
Great lesson Steve! Very interesting about the Oldsmobile frame. What a tank! My dad had a 56 Olds and we loved riding in that car. It floated down the road and you could just tell it was heavy! My folks were out to dinner one night with my aunt and uncle, and while coming home in a snow storm the big Olds engine threw a rod 10 miles from home. The old man pressed onward and it got them home! ( no way a modern car engine would do that). Next day, an engine was found in the local salvage yard and we switched them out! One of those legendary automotive stories many folks have about American cars from that era. Thanks Steve for bringing back these memories!
When I was a teenager these yards were everywhere. Great place to go for hours. Today they are long gone for the most part. Now cars are stripped of the most popular parts and then crushed and sent to be shredded and melted into bicycle frames. The insurance industry helped to ruin them too by requiring no access to anyone other then employees.
I wholeheartedly agree with you that these old parts yards should be saved. Where else can you go to see the bones of so many different types of vehicles. There used to be a yard like that just down the road from my parents house. My friends and I would go there in the summer just to look around. About 40 years ago the county made them clean it up, it was sad to see so many old cars and trucks bailed up. Thanks for another great video Steve.
I agree with you Steve about nuisance laws. It would be a long hard road to make both sides happy. But, if not tried then these "classroom artifacts " will be lost forever.
Steve I got to hand it to you,you study on these cars and it's a good thing because no one is doing this. The old timers that grew up with these fine automobiles are drifting away from us so it's hard getting enough history on these cars. This has to be one of the more useful classic automobile channels to watch.
It would be nice to see these car graveyards protected from the shredder as they are part of all of our history. I would love to see laws which would protect these cars from being melted down.
I like the concept of protected status for these true old school "Junk Yards". Museums in the wild if you will. I grew up around garages and loved exploring the junkyard with friends to see what old cars were out beyond the treeline.
Thanks Steve! Great history lessons with these. So many great ideas have been either lost or don’t work with all of today’s restrictions. And nuisance laws-GRRRRR!!! In a just system, whoever was there first prevails. But politics rarely works that way, sadly...
What a fantastic place! I wish I could go there. I hope these sort of places are saved because once they're gone they're gone forever. I've seen similar videos about junkyards in Australia but sadly here in England yards like this are virtually extinct. There used to be one that was basically untouched since the mid sixties near to where I grew up. I managed to save some bits for a car I was restoring but sadly it was sold off to a company that wanted the earth for the old stuff and once they realised people were not prepared to get stitched up they crushed the whole lot. There were some vehicles that went back to the early thirties and possibly earlier. Thanks for another fascinating video Steve.
i like body on frame , preferably perimiter frame, mostly country driving gravel roads and put standard factory tow hooks on all 4 corners on ALL vehicles
Funny how history repeats itself. Consider that some auto manufacturers today put fake exhaust cutouts into the rear valences for "that look" and yet that Oldsmobile had them back in 57. Happy New Year, Steve.
Wise words about protecting these collections against sweeping and thoughtless legislation. Does hurt to see these beautiful cars tipped on their sides and rotting though 😢
Steve you are doing a great job and I love Learning about the history of any vehicle you very helpful keep up the great work. From 🇨🇦 Saskatoon Canada 🍁.
I couldn't agree more on protecting these kinds of yards! In my region of the country (up to about 20 years ago) just about anywhere, you couldn't drive more than 10 miles without coming across at least 2 junkyards - from large private stashes like this one, to 3-4acre little "parts places" that literally had a little of everything, and always someone "next door 3 miles up the road" with a scrapyard full of cars nobody had even heard of (it was way better than California as far as choice and quantity for a long time, believe it or not). That's all gone now. We have 3 (THREE!) LKQ's in the whole tri-couny area, and we all know how SHIT they are as a company and junkyard. They were all put out of business is very arrogant and unnecessary ways. Won't get into that, but now that it's too late, the people that matter are only now starting to realize what a colossal f'up it was. Now you're hard-pressed to find and buy a wing mirror for a 15yr old vehicle
Amazing episode Steve. Such a wide range of information about design, fabrication, engineering, and performance in one video and across all major brands. Keep them coming!
Excellent video love to see the variety and the differences from manufacturer to manufacturer. I like this comparison format. I hope you do more of them.
It shouldn't matter if it's a nuisance or not, if it was there first everyone around it should have to deal with it and if they don't like it they should have to build their own fence or they shouldn't have moved there! I like old junk yards I think they're very interesting
Whenever I see the fuel filler of a 50’s era car located in a unique location like that Oldsmobile I think of the night a few years back when I landed in a bitterly cold Minneapolis and threw my bags into the open hatch of my Ford EcoSport rental car. When I arrived at the hotel and went to retrieve my luggage I simply could not figure out how to open the rear hatch of that car back up! After shivering and groping around in the dark for about five minutes with no success I finally pulled out my iPhone and thankfully discovered that someone else had had the same problem and posted a UA-cam video showing how Ford had integrated the hatch release into the passenger side rear taillight of the vehicle! Now that I know where the release handle is I think it’s actually kind of a clever design but that night in the below-zero hotel parking lot I may have said “bad words” about the Ford engineer who came up with THAT idea…….😂
Great words about the nuisance laws ! I’m from the uk and this kills me every time I see these amazing American automobiles sat rotting away , then to think someone will just crush them one day. Even if they are beyond repair, they should still just sit there and let them rot into the earth. Get that out in writing Steve
I totally agree that these yards should be spared and saved. I used to love going to yards when I was younger. Even if I was looking for something specific just looking over all the different old cars really was fun. There used to be a yard here in MA off of RT.70, Bob Dufours. He had a huge yard with cars going back to the 40's at least. Used to really enjoy going there when I had my older Mopars. I think they came up with some BS EPA reg. violations to use as an excuse to shut him down. Didn't waste anytime in developing the land afterwards.
I was driving my ‘66 Chrysler Newport convertible back from Carlisle PA at damn near 80 mph when one of those torsion bars snapped clean in half, boy what a surprise! It tore the Y pipe away from the rest of the exhaust system and one side of the car was resting on the frame but it still drove and got us home. The next day I went to the bone yard and got a good used torsion bar, cranked it into place with a pipe wrench and a breaker bar, fixed the exhaust pipe with a sleeve and that was that!
It is a tragedy when they disappear when I was in grade school a friend of mine his parents had TONS of fuselage Chryslers I remember a Pontiac firebird about I want to say a 67 nova's imperials mustangs you name it it was there they had about 200 acres and a bunch of roads and at the end would be maybe a Chrysler dump or a Ford dump the county (Itasca) came in about 1985 and crushed it all because some newbie didn't like it.
Every episode we always appreciate the work you do, but this one was really enjoyable. I've always had an interest in older frame Construction and suspension geometry, and the way they evolved from the 1930s and up. You have even answered a question or two for me on that in the past. Thank you again, this one was extremely informative and interesting. Happy New Year my friend
Happy New Year Steve! I thoroughly enjoy all of your presentations; well-researched, and described! A lot of vehicles that you feature in your clips bring back plenty of memories from when I was a kid! In the opening frame of this segment (pardon the pun!), before you describe the '51 Chev, it looks like the car to your left, with the fender-mounted mirror, is a '65 Ford Custom. My late father had one; I can still vividly recall every detail - four-door sedan, black with red interior, 352 T-Bird engine, 3-speed column shift, Arm-Strong steering...it was the family car! If you ever come across one in your travels, it would be fantastic to see one featured in a future episode! Love the channel; keep on keepin' on!!
This is the first time I've heard a plea for protected status for junkyards. The nuisance laws seem to be more about the perceived eyesore than any physical or environmental harm they cause. I might be endangering other drivers with my inability to keep my eyes on the road when passing by, and my daydreaming about what I would do with one of these rusty roadside treasures!
Those damn white headlights if someone is going blind how the heck is it gonna help them see better at night when the very same light is shining in their eyes. Get your health in check and use halogen lights,they are perfect as long as the headlights arent faded. sometimes the plastics need polishing.
Words well said Steve about the nuisance laws. When I was a kid in Rhode Island my father would walk me through a few junk yards talking about how the cars were different made in the 40s 50s and 60s. When I became an adult and moved to South Carolina I took both of my sons to a couple of salvage yards while they were growing up walking them through showing them the old cars from the 60s 70s and '80s and what the differences were. Now that they are grown they only have pick-n-pulls left to walk through with modern junk. It seems all the old salvage yards are disappearing because the property values are worth too much. Salvage yards are truly classrooms. I'm still the guy at work that if someone sees an old car they will send me a picture because they know I will know what it is. Happy New Year Steve!
Remember Jacks in Bristol?
@@Cstoreri Jack's is still there. I haven't been there in years. Maybe this summer I'll stop by.
You ain’t wrong, there was a cool scrapyard in the suburb of Montreal. They sold to a builder of high end homes almost 20 years ago.
@Cstoreri I remember Finn's auto parts. And there was another big yard right off of 295 I believe near Johnston Rhode Island. I had to get parts for my 65 Plymouth belvedere in the mid eighties.
Are you related to Joe Godbout? Perry's was my main junkyard along with Carruther's.
Top shelf 👌 Steve thanks love when u say Oldsmobile lol 2023 can u believe it HNY 👍
Happy new year!
The reason why I doubt any legislator would champion saving junkyards is it would block developers from being able to buy said land for their projects if it any where close to the ever creeping urban sprawl.
Politic$
One of your best episodes yet. I really enjoyed the tour through the different approaches to frames.
Glad you enjoyed it!
depositories of American industrial history.........Great terminology ..love it
You show so many things i forgot about. I love all these old cars. Save then don't crush them.
It would be nice to preserve these junk yards, but unfortunately the government hates cars.
Steve, The first video of 2023 teaches us a valuable lesson. It is much more space efficient to store cars on their side rather than on their wheels 😉
Amazing to think of how much metal is being reclaimed by the earth.
A small but often forgotten upside to the torsion bar front suspension is that the ride height was adjustable. A socket and a long breaker bar or air impact and 15 minutes later your car had a new look and stance.
But don't forget to "touch up" the front suspension alignment or you might start chewing tire treads. Thanks for watching and writing. -Steve Magnante
Not just the ride height, but swap out for larger diameter and get a stiffer ride for better handling, and the rising-rate of the torsion bars means the center of the action can be quite light, and then get more and more stiffer as the suspension deflects, so there is more control when needed. Works well enough for Formula1 to use.
@@SteveMagnante and my 2022 GMC Sierra HD 2500 STILL has the torsion bar design !
Definitely need some legislation to help protect these outdoor classrooms and museums. Just like building model cars, frequent visits to the junkyard as a kid and teenager, taught me a lot about the differences in how cars were built, the evolution of safety in them, and shaped my preferences in cars. I was fortunate to have a family that Loved and appreciated cars and their artistic and mechanical wonders. I have followed your career from the first time I read your articles in Hotrod and appreciate your Love of everything car related, and the desire to keep the history alive. Thanks Steve!
America's greatest artistic treasure is pre 1975 American made automobiles, and it should be a felony to crush one. They were truly functional mechanical art!!!
I agree about preserving places like this. Once they are gone, that's it most of the cars will get scrapped and then someone will come and building a walmart or a bunch of homes. I've seen it happen before. These cars still have a lot to offer from spare parts, restorable cars, and a good history.
There is a guy near where I live who used to have tons of classic Pontiacs outside. That's all he collected for 30 years until the county made him clean up the vehicles. Many were scrapped and a few were put into a pole barn he built. I'm sad when I drive by that place now. All that's out front is an old 1960s Grand prix that marks the driveway up to the old farm house.
That's because the new modernized people that are coming into the world that could care less about the automobile as much as well as it's owner.
It's a shame that they cant keep these cars inside but its would have to be a huge building,you make a few bucks for every part you sell and take care of yourself.
Sadly the automobiles sit outside,that's the reality but we still enjoy them even if we cant fix them up.
I collect old automobiles,but I just dont have the funds to restore them but they will be worked on a little at a time,and they can all be fixed and running year by year.
Chrome cost and special parts can cost alot,but you can make your own parts or swap them from another car.
Youd be surpised at what parts you can interchange.
I think you are truly correct brother we need to save these places and not force them to crush everything. Happy new years all.
Totally agree with you on the nuisance laws. My brother and I certainly used the junkyard as a free museum of automobile history. If we had a question we either asked our father or the junkyard owner. I vividly remember seeing fairly new 1957 Mercury Turnpike Cruiser, in the junkyard, and wondering what a turnpike was. Of course, this was late 1950’s northwest Georgia and light years distant from any turnpike!
Happy New Year Steve! Thanks for the lessons!
Good morning Mags ! Very good class Steve will help many young people to understand what a real car looks like. LOL ! 1957 Olds , Steve !
Stay the course in ‘23 Fellas …🤙🏼👊🏼thanks for the Lessons🍻
Hopefully, Steve, your words and images, along with the informative comments section will live on long after we all have 'oxidized'.
A great crawl to start off the new year!
Great episode. I agree 100% about preserving these museums.
Couldn't have aid it better. Once they are gone, you can not get them back. Just saw a pristine 1985 Ford Thunderbird at a Pick and Pull.
Ask the owner if you can buy it those cars a beautiful.
They are collecting them now.
I was just a child in the 90's my bother had an 88 T-Bird with two tone blue paint and dark blue velour interior.
Everything had power,fully loaded!
It was such a nice looking car and pretty fast too!
@Hitlow Unfortunately I was a day late. I purchased a 1985 Thunderbird Elan about a year ago. Took me four years to find. Almost had a 29K two toned in my own town. By the time I was going to pull the trigger, it was gone. Flash forward a couple of years. 90% of what I found were cars that needed alot of work or way over priced. The one I bought has 65K original miles, but needs quite a bit of work. Paint is really bad, body damage on the passenger quarter panel that extends to the door. Tan interior, which I'm not a huge fan of, but for its age and overall condition, I couldn't pass it up. The one in the yard has a beautiful color combo and excellent paint. It's also a 5.0 Elan that is in better condition than mine. I'm not disappointed with what I have because I can do all the paint and body work and make it look great. But, had the person who junked it would have just posted this beauty, I'm sure there would have been takers at more than what Pick And Pull gave him. Plus, it would still be on the road instead of the crusher.
Back in the day , a friend of mine somehow managed to borrow a bulldozer and decided to crush junk cars and sell for scrap. He said the easiest one he crushed was a '68 chevrolet, (wadded up like tinfoil). The toughest was a '55 olds, (managed to smash the roof down to the door tops, that was it). They don't build em like they used to.
Im sorry if you had to witness that,but I guess back in the day it's like now people dont think the car will be anything some day.
Even now if the car is gonna be something then keep it.
People even now with a 10 year old car thats rotted away,they send it to the crusher.
But hey you never know how rare that car will be some day.
One of the things I love about this channel is I always come away having learned something. Thanks Steve.
Amen! PROTECT THEM! I like that, Steve! You’re the man! Thanks for your huge mark on the history of the automobile and for your shared passion there in!
We need more teachers like you Steve. Always love learning from your videos.
Great video!! thanks
Glad you liked it!
@@SteveMagnante your enjoyable videos prove that so called “junk yards” are in fact the classrooms and museums you claim them to be.
Torsion bars mean lower unsprung weight and, compared to struts, the strong and heavy metal is kept low to the ground.
I can't imagine a world without a place for these old cars to peacefully rest and one day be discovered and restored or to be reclaimed by mother nature instead of the being unceremoniously fed to the crusher !
So interesting I love to see the underside of the ol cars and seeing the frames
Absolutely a museum nothing less
Yes Steve it is a tragedy to lose them old yard's. We had a lot of them in our area when I was young there all gone now what a freaking shame! I get to go back to them with you now, Keep up the great work.
Great stuff Steve ! Thanks for sharing.. Yes ! Save a junkyards and junkyard crawl unlike motortrend ...just saying lol
Right on
YES Steve!! I agree totally with the commentary you had at the end about protecting salvage yards like these! They would rather clear these out and put up some more stinkin' wind mills and solar panels. We have to do everything to protect our history and heritage! God bless you for adding that at the end of the vid!
Absolutely agree with your editorializing! When I was in high school in VT in the early sixties, my best friend and I would skip school and spend all day crawling around junkyards learning about cars. Later when I had my B/Gas '40 Olds coupe, I ran Oldsmobile drive train, just like you said, it was the strongest.
Words of wisdom from Professor Mags. I wonder what a person will think watching this video 100 years from now. Preserving history one day at a time. Thank you Steve.
A race against Mother Nature reclaiming her assets. Some yards use old rims welded together as jack stands. Surprise we don’t see more of that.
Excellent video Steve. Parts yards do need to be protected. Automotive history is important part of our culture
Glad to have you steve I follow your work daily and you are and excellent historical treasure of your own.
Thanks as always for the information Steve, I never knew about the x-frames! I completely agree that junkyards should be preserved for their historical significance and teaching.
They had two piece driveshafts with a carrier bearing. Bearing was in that tunnel so the shaft had to be wiggled to get it to bolt up
@@patdesrosiers6423 Thanks
Wow! Lots of cool information! And rusty cars. 😁On a more serious note, frame styles really had little to do with how well people survived a side impact. The cars' bumper that hit you would simply ride up over the frame rails/stiffened rocker panels/sub frame or whatever and hit you right smack in the door. Especially if you were driving a new ' lower style' automobile! This was what led to steel reinforcing beams in car doors, starting in the 1970s. And decades later to side impact air bags.
Yes, Ford (in some 1961 print ads) and even Oldsmobile (in a 1959 TV ad) touted their perimeter type (Ford) or perimeter and X frame combination (Olds) as superior. But it was mostly advertising hype. As you stated people rode above the frame or unibody. The structure underneath you means little when a 3,600 lbs car with its' engine up front smashes into your car door where you are sitting!!
Thank you very much Steve !
You are welcome!
Happy New Year!
I look forward to these videos everyday. Keep up the great work.
Glad you like them!
"HERE HERE" Thankyou for putting it out there..Yes it is a Classroom And a Cemtery for our Transport history.The people Before Us worked hard to to give us what we have today Let's show them & History Respect 🙏 Let Them Rust in Peace..Have a Blessed 2023...
I agree 100% what you said Steve.
the junkyard is the classroom.
How convenient, having that variety of cars all in a row, laying on their sides, so we all get to compare and see all the different under pinnings. A very good episode Steve.
Great lesson Steve! Very interesting about the Oldsmobile frame. What a tank! My dad had a 56 Olds and we loved riding in that car. It floated down the road and you could just tell it was heavy! My folks were out to dinner one night with my aunt and uncle, and while coming home in a snow storm the big Olds engine threw a rod 10 miles from home. The old man pressed onward and it got them home! ( no way a modern car engine would do that). Next day, an engine was found in the local salvage yard and we switched them out! One of those legendary automotive stories many folks have about American cars from that era. Thanks Steve for bringing back these memories!
When I was a teenager these yards were everywhere. Great place to go for hours. Today they are long gone for the most part. Now cars are stripped of the most popular parts and then crushed and sent to be shredded and melted into bicycle frames. The insurance industry helped to ruin them too by requiring no access to anyone other then employees.
9:29 well said , and I completely agree… keep up the great work Steve !!
I wholeheartedly agree with you that these old parts yards should be saved. Where else can you go to see the bones of so many different types of vehicles. There used to be a yard like that just down the road from my parents house. My friends and I would go there in the summer just to look around. About 40 years ago the county made them clean it up, it was sad to see so many old cars and trucks bailed up. Thanks for another great video Steve.
I agree with you Steve about nuisance laws. It would be a long hard road to make both sides happy. But, if not tried then these "classroom artifacts " will be lost forever.
Steve I got to hand it to you,you study on these cars and it's a good thing because no one is doing this.
The old timers that grew up with these fine automobiles are drifting away from us so it's hard getting enough history on these cars.
This has to be one of the more useful classic automobile channels to watch.
I agree Steve, save our museums/junk yards/parts store/classrooms. Let's do this!
It would be nice to see these car graveyards protected from the shredder as they are part of all of our history. I would love to see laws which would protect these cars from being melted down.
I like the concept of protected status for these true old school "Junk Yards". Museums in the wild if you will. I grew up around garages and loved exploring the junkyard with friends to see what old cars were out beyond the treeline.
👍🏻❤️always learn something new here! I sometimes shake my head at the wonderful and obtuse details of your storytelling!
Thanks Steve! Great history lessons with these. So many great ideas have been either lost or don’t work with all of today’s restrictions. And nuisance laws-GRRRRR!!! In a just system, whoever was there first prevails. But politics rarely works that way, sadly...
Glad you enjoyed it
One of your better vids, Steve! Thanks again.
🥳Happy New year 🏆Steve 🏆 schools in session every day of the year with you😆 what a kick-ass School 🍀thank you 😎✌️
What a fantastic place! I wish I could go there. I hope these sort of places are saved because once they're gone they're gone forever. I've seen similar videos about junkyards in Australia but sadly here in England yards like this are virtually extinct. There used to be one that was basically untouched since the mid sixties near to where I grew up. I managed to save some bits for a car I was restoring but sadly it was sold off to a company that wanted the earth for the old stuff and once they realised people were not prepared to get stitched up they crushed the whole lot. There were some vehicles that went back to the early thirties and possibly earlier. Thanks for another fascinating video Steve.
Happy New Year, and keep er going. #1
Happy new year!
I agree 💯 with you Professor! You have some of the best videos on all of UA-cam! Wishing you and your family a Happy and Healthy New Year!
i like body on frame , preferably perimiter frame, mostly country driving gravel roads and put standard factory tow hooks on all 4 corners on ALL vehicles
Enjoyed!! 👍🙂
Glad you enjoyed
@@SteveMagnante 🥂
Funny how history repeats itself. Consider that some auto manufacturers today put fake exhaust cutouts into the rear valences for "that look" and yet that Oldsmobile had them back in 57. Happy New Year, Steve.
Informative as always. Thanks Steve, I always learn, or at least get reminded of something from your videos. Love the dog.
What dog? I don't see a dog. Thanks for watching and writing. -Steve Magnante
Wise words about protecting these collections against sweeping and thoughtless legislation. Does hurt to see these beautiful cars tipped on their sides and rotting though 😢
There's some around here where I'm at in VA.i think the one called whitlows is still open.i haven't been there in years.
Just think...all those old rusty vehicles just got another year older!
Happy new year 🎇, love your videos, keep it up 💯👍
Happy new year!
A great episode to start the new year!
Steve you are doing a great job and I love Learning about the history of any vehicle you very helpful keep up the great work. From 🇨🇦 Saskatoon Canada 🍁.
Happy New Year Steve!! ✌️ from Iowa!!
Good idea about the historical significance of places like this.
Best Junk Yard crawl to date! Thanks for being a great teacher Steve!
I couldn't agree more on protecting these kinds of yards! In my region of the country (up to about 20 years ago) just about anywhere, you couldn't drive more than 10 miles without coming across at least 2 junkyards - from large private stashes like this one, to 3-4acre little "parts places" that literally had a little of everything, and always someone "next door 3 miles up the road" with a scrapyard full of cars nobody had even heard of (it was way better than California as far as choice and quantity for a long time, believe it or not). That's all gone now. We have 3 (THREE!) LKQ's in the whole tri-couny area, and we all know how SHIT they are as a company and junkyard. They were all put out of business is very arrogant and unnecessary ways. Won't get into that, but now that it's too late, the people that matter are only now starting to realize what a colossal f'up it was. Now you're hard-pressed to find and buy a wing mirror for a 15yr old vehicle
Amazing episode Steve. Such a wide range of information about design, fabrication, engineering, and performance in one video and across all major brands. Keep them coming!
Excellent video love to see the variety and the differences from manufacturer to manufacturer. I like this comparison format. I hope you do more of them.
It shouldn't matter if it's a nuisance or not, if it was there first everyone around it should have to deal with it and if they don't like it they should have to build their own fence or they shouldn't have moved there! I like old junk yards I think they're very interesting
Whenever I see the fuel filler of a 50’s era car located in a unique location like that Oldsmobile I think of the night a few years back when I landed in a bitterly cold Minneapolis and threw my bags into the open hatch of my Ford EcoSport rental car. When I arrived at the hotel and went to retrieve my luggage I simply could not figure out how to open the rear hatch of that car back up!
After shivering and groping around in the dark for about five minutes with no success I finally pulled out my iPhone and thankfully discovered that someone else had had the same problem and posted a UA-cam video showing how Ford had integrated the hatch release into the passenger side rear taillight of the vehicle!
Now that I know where the release handle is I think it’s actually kind of a clever design but that night in the below-zero hotel parking lot I may have said “bad words” about the Ford engineer who came up with THAT idea…….😂
Great words about the nuisance laws !
I’m from the uk and this kills me every time I see these amazing American automobiles sat rotting away , then to think someone will just crush them one day.
Even if they are beyond repair, they should still just sit there and let them rot into the earth.
Get that out in writing Steve
. Not only am I learning, about old school frames, I like the dog, and his bark . it's a hard life, it's (MULDEW)
Man great cars rotting away! Great history Steve! Thank you.👌😎👍
I totally agree that these yards should be spared and saved. I used to love going to yards when I was younger. Even if I was looking for something specific just looking over all the different old cars really was fun. There used to be a yard here in MA off of RT.70, Bob Dufours. He had a huge yard with cars going back to the 40's at least. Used to really enjoy going there when I had my older Mopars. I think they came up with some BS EPA reg. violations to use as an excuse to shut him down. Didn't waste anytime in developing the land afterwards.
I was driving my ‘66 Chrysler Newport convertible back from Carlisle PA at damn near 80 mph when one of those torsion bars snapped clean in half, boy what a surprise! It tore the Y pipe away from the rest of the exhaust system and one side of the car was resting on the frame but it still drove and got us home. The next day I went to the bone yard and got a good used torsion bar, cranked it into place with a pipe wrench and a breaker bar, fixed the exhaust pipe with a sleeve and that was that!
Thanks again, Steve. You are an automotive encyclopedia.
Great school on frame work design, having cats all up on their sides, thumbs 👍 up
Same stout frame and rear axle in my 57 Catalina as that Olds. Though mine's rot free. Thanks for the lesson today!
Steve, you should have asked that dog what he thought about those cars, and had him say "Ruff". a Happy & Prosperous 2023 to all.
Great video Steve, the cars on their sides really provided excellent visual aids to go along with your insightful information.
Thanks Steve
It is a tragedy when they disappear when I was in grade school a friend of mine his parents had TONS of fuselage Chryslers I remember a Pontiac firebird about I want to say a 67 nova's imperials mustangs you name it it was there they had about 200 acres and a bunch of roads and at the end would be maybe a Chrysler dump or a Ford dump the county (Itasca) came in about 1985 and crushed it all because some newbie didn't like it.
Thank you Professor Magnante…
Every episode we always appreciate the work you do, but this one was really enjoyable. I've always had an interest in older frame Construction and suspension geometry, and the way they evolved from the 1930s and up.
You have even answered a question or two for me on that in the past.
Thank you again, this one was extremely informative and interesting.
Happy New Year my friend
You said it Steve.
Agreed on the importance of boneyards.
Happy New Year’s Steve! 🎉🎉🎉
Happy new year!
Happy New Year Steve! I thoroughly enjoy all of your presentations; well-researched, and described! A lot of vehicles that you feature in your clips bring back plenty of memories from when I was a kid! In the opening frame of this segment (pardon the pun!), before you describe the '51 Chev, it looks like the car to your left, with the fender-mounted mirror, is a '65 Ford Custom. My late father had one; I can still vividly recall every detail - four-door sedan, black with red interior, 352 T-Bird engine, 3-speed column shift, Arm-Strong steering...it was the family car! If you ever come across one in your travels, it would be fantastic to see one featured in a future episode! Love the channel; keep on keepin' on!!
This is the first time I've heard a plea for protected status for junkyards. The nuisance laws seem to be more about the perceived eyesore than any physical or environmental harm they cause. I might be endangering other drivers with my inability to keep my eyes on the road when passing by, and my daydreaming about what I would do with one of these rusty roadside treasures!
Moving your eyes off the road to avoid the blinding oncoming headlights also. Even on sunny days. 😟
Those damn white headlights if someone is going blind how the heck is it gonna help them see better at night when the very same light is shining in their eyes.
Get your health in check and use halogen lights,they are perfect as long as the headlights arent faded.
sometimes the plastics need polishing.
Happy New Year to Steve and his viewers!
Thanks for another enlightening video to start the year.
Keep em coming👍
Can't forget the early X-frames, my 1950 Pontiac has a full x frame underneath along with frame rails on both sides