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Question Of The Day: Which Car Makes The Best Parts Donor?


Question Of The Day: Which Car Makes The Best Parts Donor?

As rows upon rows of cars in any typical junkyard will tell you, not all cars get to live pampered lives with caring owners. It’s a sad reality. Among the abandoned 1970s tanks, wrecked trucks, and imports that went hundreds of thousands of miles before a lack of upkeep sounded their death chimes, however, are treasure troves, the cars that we gearheads trek out with tools in hand for. And that is where today’s Question of the Day comes from: which vehicle is the one you’d go hunting for every chance you got to go to the yard?

We know that this question does depend upon your particular affiliation or vehicle in which you are heavily invested in, but surely you readers can come up with several potential scrap yard gold finds. That sad-looking Lincoln Versailles gave up it’s biggest treasure: the disc brake-equipped Ford 8.8 rear axle. Maybe you want a full running gear setup, or maybe you’re looking for something interesting and useful. An Oldsmobile Bravada could donate it’s all-wheel-drive running gear, a 1999 Camaro Z28 can donate an LS mill and a six-speed, and together in a Chevrolet S-10 would become one nasty little street machine. Maybe you’re digging for old motorhomes for a builder Chrysler big-block, or hunting for a C4 Corvette for the independent rear suspension. Whatever caused you to throw on the greasy clothes and grab your toolbag, that’s the car we want you to provide!

4th-gen-camaro-yard


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4 thoughts on “Question Of The Day: Which Car Makes The Best Parts Donor?

  1. Mercury Man

    Many Versailles gave up their rear axle assembly’s because of the disc brakes.
    ( they were 9″ not 8.8″)
    I have had a few of them through out the year’s including having a pristine ’77 Versailles that was our summer daily driver. The big problem with the rear discs were that in order to keep them adjusted you needed to periodically drive the car in reverse while tapping the brakes, this “automatically” adjusted them. A much better setup now is the rear brakes from an Explorer.

  2. jerry z

    Always on the hunt for 99-up Silverado/Sierra/ Tahoe. Looking for a complete truck is tough in the junkyard since the day one does roll in, its quickly dismantled.

  3. Stich626

    I have a saved list of parts donors, as the years go bye you read of this part from this car does this and is easy to drop in..
    Want keyless entry in a car that never had it, you can,
    what auto lights on at dusk, you can
    need door weatherstrip for a 62-72 c-10/20/30/40/50/60 the midsized dodge truck mid 90 to 2000’s fits the bill.
    Many have a maxi fuse inline of the + cable, that is ideal for fusing the vehicle and a out of sight junction block, connectors,
    some year caddy’s with a s/s freeflowing muffler..
    2nd gen s-10 blazers 2wd front spindles, bolt on g-body’s and allow c4/5 brakes..
    The junkyard crawl is an awesome way to get good parts cheap, problem is today, most yards don’t hold vehicles long, and the parts adapted are off unloved vehicles ,so you can’t wait, if you see it you need to move and get what you need.

  4. Matt Cramer

    ’75 and later Mopar B and R bodies. They frequently have big block power, or at least a decent 360 core under the hood. And the 11.75″ disc brakes can be put on just about any ’60s era Mopar.

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