Rare occurence

[Dennis66]

I was vegging yesterday and did a quick search on the local boneyards. to my surprise, the Largo yard (about 15 miles away) has had a 66 500 sedan (95 HP, Powerglide - 102k showing) since the end of January. I decided I couldn't pass up the opportunity so I headed out there today. The car is pretty rusty, and has obviously been sitting a long time somewhere. The rear wheels, brake drums, and air cleaner had been taken, but everything else was there. I grabbed the alternator, starter, all the good little clips off the carb and choke linkage, and the one good thermostat bellows. I also grabbed most of the carb screws as mine were in poor shape from the gorillas who had previously worked on it (carbs on this one has worn choke shafts, frozen throttle shafts, and at 49.00 each, weren't a good rebuild risk). They charged me for the starter and alternator (I opted for the as-is prices), but threw in all the little stuff. I knew that I already have a good starter minus the snout, and I have a collection of extra alternator parts. I figured the starter snout, alternator housing, and fan were worth it. Dennis

[2LZ]

A great score!....but I hate seeing them rot like that. It's like where I bought mine from a "family trust". There were lots of Corvair's in various states of disrepair and rot. Painful to see. All we can do is salvage......

[Wittsend]

I've been going to Pick Your Parts (LKQ) since the mid 70's. I remember the days when you would see an early turbo Corvair there and not give it a second thought. From 1990-1992 I was busy building a house and starting a family. When I returned to the yards in 1993 I was shocked that the 1950's-1960's cars had significantly diminished.

Regardless I still went to their monthly 50% off sales for at least 30 years. And I maximized of my 90 mile round trip because there was a second independent self serve yard a mile from the first one. Chilling wind or 100 degree heat reflecting off steel didn't stop me. I'd be in line at 6:30AM and sometimes didn't return home until the "PM" of that same time. I'd be exhausted, filthy and happy.

But in 2016 the independent yard closed, Pick Your Part started charging extra to enter their Primo and Classic section - with elevated prices. More so "Classic" cars started to become 1990's Miata's and 80's Mercedes Benz. Limited stock of older cars and rising prices/"added fees" eventually caused me to stop going shortly into 2017. I was as sad as when the only slot car track around closed when I was 13 years old.

Anyway, I say all that to say I'm glad that some of the older cars can still be found in the yards. They can't all be saved and better that some get access than to be corralled in a farmers field guarded by his trusty shot gun.

[RexJohnson]

If you didn't get the alt adapter with the alternator you might consider getting that. People are always looking for them to upgrade a generator car.

[Dennis66]

I would have taken that, but I already have an extra one. Not sure how much they would have gouged me for it. As for considering "resale", I already have a bunch of stuff to be selling, and haven't made much progress with that yet. Dennis