Buying brand-new sheetmetal to fix the holes in your classic car wasn’t always an option on the table. Those companies that sprouted up to fill the need did so because there was such a demand for certain items that everybody and their mother seemed to need. An entire generation of cars had developed followers that were willing to do anything to fix up what were effectively old, ran through the ground beaters. Restoring muscle-era cars became big business in the later 1980s and 1990s, and finding parts cars in yards became more and more difficult. Smart yard owners would do whatever it took to gather up the desired cars that were yard-worthy and would stash them away, waiting for the day someone needed that clean quarter panel, or that grille that hadn’t been hurt in the rear-end accident. Before you could order a new parking light lens online, you had to scavenge. You had to know someone who knew someone and you had to do the legwork to get what you needed.
As you follow along in this guided tour, look at each and every rusted body, every dented panel, every twisted frame. Each and every one of those cars was somebody’s shining moment when they were purchased. That was the brand-new car on the block. The paint gleamed, the chrome was perfect, the engine sang. Every last Satellite, Road Runner, Charger…someone’s pride and joy, probably many times over. Then they became another old car, were used and abused to within an inch of their lives, and in the case of what you see here, paid the price. Every car in this lot will remain in this lot. They are done, non-roadworthy, waiting to help the next customer who wants that one last factory-correct item to finish off their dream machine. Funny how that circle of life deal works sometimes, doesn’t it?
Stand quietly for a second, and tell me you don’t hear a 383 at idle.
