I don’t know how I missed this one but I did. Elana Scherr from Hot Rod visited Aadlen Brothers Auto Wrecking which is in Los Angeles and got the whole tour and a look at the process cars go through once they enter their end of life stages at a junkyard. There are LOTS of EPA horror stories regarding junkyards, so a place like Aadlen Brothers is gracious to allow cameras behind the scenes. It is also proof that they run their business the right way and have nothing to hide, which is doubly cool. Anyway, in the video you’ll see all kinds of cool old stuff sitting in the yard waiting to be picked over. In one scene there is a cherry looking 1968-1972 Nova body (more door) sitting on the ground. You’ll see neat old trucks and unless you live in the desert area of the country, you’ll shake your fist at the number of great cars sitting in there with parts at the ready. All the cool old stuff rots in half up here and in most areas of the country.
Anywho, after lamenting all of the cool old cars in there, we got to paying attention to the video and by far the coolest part of the whole deal is when the giant excavator with a shear on it is shown ripping apart an old Volvo wagon. The slow motion shot of the machine literally twisting the hood up like a gum wrapper is cool but the capper is when the machine rips the motor trans and everything attached to it straight out of the car. This is also shown in slow motion and it is completely awesome. The fact that the driveshaft comes out still attached to the end of the transmission is even better.
The car recycling business has been around since the automotive industry first got rolling. Hot rodders are some of the first “recyclers” in the modern world. We’ve been at it since long before WWII broke out and we’ll be at it so long as there are junkyards filled with parts to be used, modified, abused, broken, and replaced again. This video should give you a little more insight about how the business works. Oh, note that the place is fully paved/concrete. Remember that the next time you are lying in a mud puddle with bugs and snakes flittering around. Damn you California!
PRESS PLAY BELOW TO SEE A WRECKING YARD FROM THE INSIDE OUT AND SOME TRULY COOL VIDEO!
Olyea i work n a scrap yard n roanoke va. I see this every day but! 1 day a man brought n a chevy and a dodge logn trucks t0 scrape n be 4 i used my crain t0 unload them off his ford logn truck i hoped out an lifted the hood on the 1 ton 1953 ish dodge an about shitm lol the man said ow its just a big v 6 but when i moved the leaves off the back of the motor i read red ram dodge an looked back an the man an smiled an said yep! Hahahaha while i was shutn the hood. I bought that 241 hemi for 25.00 hahahahaha now its layed out over my kitchen tablean floor. Waitn an wantn a model a t0 put it n.
I didn’t realize the cars were in the picking row for only 30 days or so. That 2nd gen formula looked like a good project car.
I loved the slo-mo of the Volvo having it’s drivetrain ripped out…it was like some ancient Mayan ritual of ripping out someone’s still beating heart…a horribly awesome fate leaving a mere husk of form that minutes earlier was a ‘living being’.
We had a Volvo once. Would love to think it last moments were just like that.
A salvage yard is also a good place to find project cars. Most of the ones I’ve built have come from them.
But in Georgia ya have to buy the car before the title is sent in to the state or you end up with a salvage title and can’t get a decent price for it when ya try to sell it.
After that volvo was flattened some one had to get the camera’s out, lol.
I hit up three pick-a-parts yesterday that are on dirt and it looks like they are taking their ground management way more seriously than they did 16 years ago when I first started going. I was impressed by how clean (I use that relatively) the ground was all in all. Seemed groomed of crap and petroleums.
GREAT SWEATER MEAT