(Photos by Chris Chenlo) – There’s something uniquely cool about the galleries we get from guys who have gone trolling through junkyards across America. Chris Chenlo was recently at Fox Wrecker Serivce in Harrrison, Michigan and sent us an awesome gallery of all the old muscle cars and generally neat American iron that’s located on the property. As this ‘yard is located in Michigan, it has the feel of the boneyards here in New England with trees, fields, and vegetation growing around and through stuff.
While most of the cars in this gallery are what we would consider “too far gone” to be saved for restoration purposes, they all have something left to give in the form of sheet metal, interior parts, or engines/transmissions/axles, etc. This place seems to have a lot of first generation Mustangs and a heavy dose of Mopar stuff to go along with the Oldsmobiles that keep popping up as well.
Our inner hoarder wants all of this stuff to keep and rub on and love, but it would continue to rot without getting the proper attention. Do you need parts, love junkyards, like seeing cars with lots of stuff growing around them, or just love awesome old cars? This is the gallery for you! Take a peek at a place you’ve never been, Fox Wrecker Service!
Thanks to Chris Chenlo for the photos!
GALLERY LINK: 
The perfect way to park Chevys . . . . (and yes I realize that the “Chevy” on top is a badge-engineered Pontiac Firebird)
….yeah, I think that Chevy 2 in the last picture might be too far gone…….
how does this happen ………..
Would you restore and preserve a ford focus? How about an escort GT? perhaps a Chevy Tracker?
Pontiac pursuit? Plymouth Sebring? How about a berlinetta camero from the early 80’s?
No? Well back in the day, these cars were considered just as unworthy of saving. There were plenty of 318 challengers, six cylinder or 302 mustangs, and soft suspension cameros.
Add one accident or a bit of expensively placed rust and it winds up at the wrecker.
They were all badly made disposable junk straight off the showroom floor anyway. Hoods that didn’t line up, windows that fell off thier tracks, and they didn’t call them barn doors for nothing. Adjustment via a block of wood and a pry bar.
The poor quality of late 60’s early through mid 70’s Detroit cars was the reason so many people started to buy datsuns toyotas and hondas.
The differences, of course, are:
1. The ’60s and early ’70s “disposable junk” was RWD and capable of Bangshiftable bolt-in V8 power, whereas, today’s “disposable junk” are FWDs which are difficult to work on and won’t accept V8s without massive fabrication;
2. Back in the day, the supply of Bangshiftable RWD intermediates, compacts and sports cars seemed unlimited (thus there was no demand for preserving marginal examples), while today, supplies of Bangshiftable RWDs that aren’t trucks are limited and relatively expensive;
3. ’60s and even some early ’70s cars are relatively unregulated whereas anything modern has to be either built for strictly off-road use, or comply with draconian emissions regulations in the most populous parts of the country — thus, “late model” cars will likely always be viewed as less “bangshiftable” than the old stuff;
4. ’60s and ’70s cars are simpler while today’s “disposable junk” is highly intimidating and difficult to restore (or even keep running once parts supplies start running thin).
All of that is certainly true.
However, it just means car enthusiasts of the future will just have to step up a little and learn the skills necessary, where applicable.
For example. The Nissan 200sx is a rwd car, and if you source a front clip from a JDM spec skyline, use the engine, trans etc from that car, you wind up with an bloody amazing bit of road hungry sports car, which will easily eat most “muscle cars” alive and do it on half the fuel.
I’m not as enamoured with the old school cars as I used to be. The newer engines with computer control are much more interesting in my opinion.
For example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHwlnshWBE4
I have no connection to the video maker, merely found it on YouTube as am example.
really? that piece of crap?
A Mustang is not a Muscle Car. But a 390 or 428 or Boss 302 Mustang is. I see a lot of pony cars that have small engines. Those aren’t Muscle Cars. Just a bunch of rusting iron in those photos.
Very depressing in my opinion. I hate to see these cars going to waste.
Oh, the humanities! So sad: early ’60’s Mercury Marauder S-55; ’60’s Dodge P/U; ’65 Ford Galaxie XL; all of the professional cars, etc. Sad, just sad.
They were junk when they were new MOPAR!
Come on, where is the love? Yes, there was thought to be an inexhaustible supply of 55 Chevys, 68 Chargers and early Camaros and Mustangs. Being Michigan, the cars in this yard were rusted out in 6 years. Looks like most of these have been residents for a long time, back when no one cared.
Thank you Chris for documenting this for us.
Agreed. A junk yard with cool junk: white Mustang fastback, Baracuda, and a Duster. Sad. Like Ermott said, some of the cars probably had structural problems and lacked the sentimental value of today.
Lots of cool cars there, I really hate to see them just rusting away.
This morning started so good…..and now I just want to cry……