[1]For many of us, hitting the local junk yard is like hitting the craps table – sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Finding a part for a classic car has become much harder to do, because people either completely restore them, or they get crushed.
But there are some yards in the U.S. that specialize in classic cars, and one of those yards was Bob’s Auto Parts in Fostoria, Michigan. Sadly, the yard closed after being in business for 70 years, so YouTube user “mymopartv [2]” put together a video as a tribute to Bob’s.
Sadly, the owner of the yard, Bob Zimmerman, passed away a few years back and the lot was auctioned off. Anything that didn’t sell was eventually scrapped. This was one of the last classic car yards with vehicles from the 1930s through the 1970s. The yard itself had opened in 1938, with Bob and his wife Chris as the owners since 1958 when they bought the yard.
[3]It was said that the yard had over 1,800 cars auctioned off after his death, and the auction was so big that a remote parking lot with shuttle service was put into place, with minimum bids of $400 on any car. Can you imagine going to a wrecking yard and finding nothing but classic cars, instead of the typical find these days of FWD and imports?
While some cars were clearly beyond repair, it’s still great to see such classics all in the same yard, and wonder what the story was behind some of them. Imagine how valuable some of them were when at the time of their demise were probably considered disposable. How many of these classics to you recognize?
Do you know of any wrecking yards (we find it difficult to call them “junk” yards) that have lots of classic cars for the picking? Share it and let us all know where you like to go for your domestic classic car parts.
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All photos: Greg Cockerill.