There are things you just HAVE to do. When the Craigslist ad surfaced for a place called Gates Salvage in Hardwick, Vermont offering any car in their massive vintage section for $500 we knew we had to go there. Deadlines, work, and whatever else be damned we hopped in the car and drove to within about 40 miles of the Canadian border to check this place out. Oh, and when I say “we” I didn’t have a mouse in my pocket. Worse in fact. I had Craig Fitzgerald of BestRide.com and occasional BangShifty contributor fame with me. Fitzgerald was also intrigued by what seemed like an awesome offer. After violating the speed limit in multiple states, we made it to Gates Salvage and the place did not let us down. If anything it left us completely breathless and full of questions.

The town of Hardwick, Vermont has a population of 3,000 people. The population of the entirety of Gates Salvage is likely larger than that. The vintage vehicle area is comprised of tens of acres of cars and trucks that have, for various reasons met their end and ended up in this place. Many of the cars in the vintage section have been there for decades. Trees are populous and said trees are protruding through lots of cars and trucks in the yard. This is all interesting but why were we there again?

$500 bucks drew us in. Every car in the vintage section is for sale for $500. This being a New England junkyard we were expecting rust and lots of rotted stuff but we were also going to keep a keen eye on stuff that looked like it had $500 worth of potential in it. When you start looking at glass and trim, the money comes quick.

We’re going to hammer you with photos from this starting today and rolling through the week.

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