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Unhinged: Junkyard Finds On An Otherwise Unsuccessful Day At The Yard


Unhinged: Junkyard Finds On An Otherwise Unsuccessful Day At The Yard

Of all of the cars that inhabit BangShift Mid-West, it was the two “daily drivers” that got me to haul my butt back down to the LKQ yard in Nashville yesterday in the pouring rain. Haley’s Silverado SS is currently suffering from body panel alopecia, so I now have to replace one of the body kit pieces that had unglued itself from the door (and subsequently got smashed between door and the front fender.) The other is Angry Grandpa…at the end of the PRI show, the oil pressure sensor packed it in and proceeded to give me a heart attack when the car’s oil pressure read ZERO. That’s fixed. But what isn’t good (and what is still giving the ECM fits) are the connectors for both the oil pressure sensor and the oil temperature sensor. LKQ had several 5.7L LX Chryslers in the yard, and I figured that I could hunt for Fox body stuff, check out what was available for some other mods I want to do, and as usual, scout around for interesting stuff. I threw the tools I needed into the Mustang and made the drive.

To say it was a miserable day at the yard would be underselling it. Rivers of rainwater flowed between derelict vehicles, completely unavoidable as I walked among the skeletons, a soaked spectre among the dead. There was no sight of the plastic panel, not one 5.7-powered anything that hadn’t been completely gutted…cars, trucks or otherwise…and as for the lone Fox body in the yard? Well, keep scrolling down to see that mess. But I did find a couple of interesting gems that I figured some of you might like to see:

First up was this 1996 Chevrolet Impala SS. What a heartbreaker…I love the big barking B-body. When the Impala came out as the answer to “why does the new Caprice suck?”, everybody wanted one…low, loud, on those ROH-designed wheels, the Impala defined 1990s awesome. This one looked like it may have had an underhood fire, or maybe was just ragged out and left for dead. There was no sign of the fully analog gauge cluster or the 1996-only floor shifter and console.

It’s been a few years since I’ve seen a Ford Courier anywhere. This 1978 stood out like a wildflower in the concrete…not even a solid layer of algae and mud could cover up that bright blue paint, and a quick look inside confirmed what I suspected: mini trucker style on the cheap.

This 1968 Fairlane 500 looked like one of those cars that sat outside in the field since the Carter administration, waiting for a repair that just wasn’t going to happen. Coated with a layer of pollen and rust, it may have had potential at one point, but I have a feeling that when the hood folded up, so did any hope of this green beauty ever hitting the road again.

This 1966 Pontiac Bonneville seemed to have an even worse fate. I’m suspecting that it was running up until it got hit in the driver’s rear…it was too complete. But the marks tell the tale: no matter how much hammering and work they were going to do, there was going to have to be some sheetmetal replaced, and that was just one step way too far. Dig the original dealership tag over the trunk lock!

I haven’t seen moss grow on a car like this 1989 Mustang has since I lived in Washington state! It was thick enough in places that you could actually uproot the plants out of the side trim. And no, you didn’t want to see the inside…I could use the shifter in this car, but I’ll need to leave the doors open for at least an hour to clear out the spores first. Getting past the disgusting part of the car, though, this looks like it had been a well-kept four-banger droptop. There are no signs of what sent it to the yard other than neglect.


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3 thoughts on “Unhinged: Junkyard Finds On An Otherwise Unsuccessful Day At The Yard

  1. Herb

    Some of those crazy body swap people could put the body panels of the 68 Fairlane on the crashed Lincoln beside it. Be a cool lookin’ nice drivin’n car if it could be done

  2. john t

    there would still be scope to sell these on in Australia ( we don’t mind a few extra doors) – looking at the fairlane in particular but it looks like your wrecking yards have gone he same way as ours – dreary 90’s plastic cars nobody wants to save and the old cheap stuff already gone – sad

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