What car(s) have you sent to the scrap yard over the years and felt bad about?

[Maximus]

This came up in another discussion but thought it could bring out some neat stories about sad demise of some (now) classics...

I will start with mine...

The only car I sent to the wrecker that I had a little bit of remorse for was the 78 Formula Firebird I hacked up to give life to my '55 Big Window.
In the end it was the right move, the firebird had rotted quarters, an electrical fire took out the dash and wiring and title status was sketchy (was in the back lot of a used car lot, couldnt sell it)

There are not too many late 70's 400-4 speed ponchos floating around anymore, but I was sure to use everything off that rig (from fan pulleys to rear end, the entire drive-train was saved... even used the driveshaft after the drive-line shop worked it to length...

It was also poop brown...

At the end of the day, I would do it all again. I planned (still do!) on keeping my truck a "budget" oriented rig, and using the entire drive-train including subframe made the project very affordable, I just feel bad that a '78 400-4speed car had to give the car worlds "ultimate sacrifice" to allow my '55 to live another day...

I am in my 30's I am SURE some of you older guys have sent some cool cars to the wrecking yard after parting them out for other projects, or even wrapping them around a telephone pole....

[hewittca]

I know where this started. I'll repost here for relevance. I was "donated" a scrappy rusted out 2 door '80 Malibu that I thought was sweet and wanted to fix up. I also knew a guy that was getting rid of a rust free all original wagon of the same generation, and I kindly took it off his hands. I pulled all transferable parts from that wagon to fix my Malibu and then scrapped what was left of the wagon. Looking back, I wish I had that wagon for the cool factor and because I now have two kids and think it would be fun to cruise around in.

Here's the Malibu that the wagon was used to revive. I don't even have a photo of the wagon because I thought it was so lame at the time!

[raggedjim]

I'm in the same boat now with a '79 Trans Am 400 4-speed. Don't think I can get a title, so a 1 in 8,000 or so car may get scrapped...

I recently scrapped a '75 Trans Am after stripping it pretty thoroughly... I mostly bought it for the hood.

Rg

[Maximus]

Originally Posted by hewittca

I know where this started. I'll repost here for relevance. I was "donated" a scrappy rusted out 2 door '80 Malibu that I thought was sweet and wanted to fix up. I also knew a guy that was getting rid of a rust free all original wagon of the same generation, and I kindly took it off his hands. I pulled all transferable parts from that wagon to fix my Malibu and then scrapped what was left of the wagon. Looking back, I wish I had that wagon for the cool factor and because I now have two kids and think it would be fun to cruise around in.

My father balanced your bad juju in the 80's by buying a cop car malibu to repair our faimly wagon. Camping was great, you could stack firewood on that roof for DAYS!

Originally Posted by raggedjim

I'm in the same boat now with a '79 Trans Am 400 4-speed. Don't think I can get a title, so a 1 in 8,000 or so car may get scrapped...

I recently scrapped a '75 Trans Am after stripping it pretty thoroughly... I mostly bought it for the hood.

Rg

It is what it is... I hate getting too caught up in production numbers, I think there were less than a thousand of the firebird I killed produced with all its options, but it was POOP BROWN! shows like Graveyard Cars really OVERPLAY production numbers. "There were only ONE of these cars that had the 318, automatic, A/C AND overhead console in Panther Pink!!!!" (making up the details) but WHO cares? maybe there was only 1 for a reason, noon wanted that car!

[TJ's Chevy]

Ain't sent one to the scrap yard yet and never plan to....cause all I own are chevys. lol

[flashed]

I parted out and scrapped so many 74 up Firebirds and Trans Am's that would be restored by todays standards but were totals back then .I dont really regret it as they helped others live on by selling the parts .I have had at least 1 Trans Am since I was 17 and I am now 54 and still for the time being have one ,an 81 with 93,000 miles on it .It just sits waiting for me to do something with it or sell it .

[FleetsidePaul]

1969 Dodge Charger, i took off the vinyl top and the roof was Swiss Cheese, The top had been replaced sometime in the 70's and whoever did it sanded down the roof then laid new vinyl back over bare metal. With age the vinyl cracked, moisture got in, and it destroyed the roof.

And it had a blown motor.

I didn't have the money to fix it, so away it went. Too bad , it was a nice car.

[alsriv2]

2 1969 Buick Riviera cars. Both were rust free California cars, one bought privately, one bought from a yard in Merced. As a young Air Force NCO, couldn't do anything with them. When the BRAC came around and I was forced out with 1000's of others, I had to take both of them to the yard. I still regret that day.
Hence my handle "Alsriv2"

[Warrens69GMC]

I too scrapped a 1979 TransAm . I bought it because I was told it had a 400 pontiac and Turbo 400. A complete car I couldn't lose money? Right. The engine had the intake and heads off, so found out it was a 403 olds and th350 transmission. I was deflated. I started parting it out but kept the disk brake rear axle.

[raggedjim]

Originally Posted by Warrens69GMC

I too scrapped a 1979 TransAm . I bought it because I was told it had a 400 pontiac and Turbo 400. A complete car I couldn't lose money? Right. The engine had the intake and heads off, so found out it was a 403 olds and th350 transmission. I was deflated. I started parting it out but kept the disk brake rear axle.

Yeah, a true '79 400 will be 4 speed (and will have rear discs and 8" snowflakes)

The 75 ta I parted had a pontiac 350 in it! But at least I knew it before I bought it...

Rg

[Maximus]

Originally Posted by TJ's Chevy

Ain't sent one to the scrap yard yet and never plan to....cause all I own are chevys. lol

there are PLENTY of chevy's that deserve to end up in scrap yards... I have scrapped a couple square body (88-90) Caprices for the engine, as well as a 91' round body for the roller motor and 700r4.

also sent a 92 firebird to its resting place after pulling the 305/700r4.

the only one I sorta felt bad for was the 78 formula though... As far as the 8" snowflakes, my 78 was not a WS6 package car, so it had 15x7 snowflakes. I hung on to them for about 10 years, and sold em off last year. one of those rims that ONLY look ok on one car....

[hewittca]

Originally Posted by Maximus

My father balanced your bad juju in the 80's by buying a cop car malibu to repair our faimly wagon. Camping was great, you could stack firewood on that roof for DAYS!

Thanks, that makes me feel a little better.

[richard2717]

I will always regret lettin mom allow the junk man to come get her 64 Corvair convertible Spyder. Someone vandalized it about 80% of the way thru restoration. Motor freshly rebuilt all new interior & top. Was already in sealer all it needed was final color, new tires and trim work. Someone went thru the neighborhood over the weekend and vandalized several vehicles and hers just happened to be one of them. She told me I could have it but I was getting ready to go thru a divorce and had no place to keep it. I did save the spyder hubcaps though and still have them today.


.

[abig84]

ive scrapped way to many 80s chevys over the years that i hate to think about. back when i got into them in the late 90s they were everywhere for dirt cheap if not free so i guess i was kinda spoiled, wish i grew up on a farm as i would have saved all of them. most of them i did strip down pretty good before i recycled them.

probably the worst looking back on was a 1985 cucv blazer that was in pretty good shape, but wanted a pick up truck



a few years later at the grave yard it was smashed up a bit after a few years of offroading but still pretty solid. paid $800 for it stock

[supercheyenne]

My first 1972 became non-op so I hid it in my backyard for a couple years. Neighbors put their house up for sale and I "suddenly" got a letter from the city telling me to hide or get rid of it. I had no space to hide it so the quick fix was to call the junk man. Gave it away for $100 but that took care of the problem. At this point the local junk man had emptied out his yard so this truck went straight to the crusher. 5 lugs/AC cab/15x8 Rallies/4bolt standard bore 350 and all.

Sad part about it all was those same neighbors had an inoperable tractor in their back yard prior to placing their house up for sale.

I don't have a kind word to say about them so I'll just stop now.

[68C15]

74 Buick Apollo (Nova twin) 2 door hatch back

74 Buick Electra 225 Limited

79 Renault LeCar. No, I don't feel bad about that. There is a looooong story involved. Best shared over beer

70 Dart 2 door

71 Old 88 4 door hardtop

The list is long and I'm tired

[abig84]

Originally Posted by 68C15

74 Buick Apollo (Nova twin) 2 door hatch back

74 Buick Electra 225 Limited

79 Renault LeCar. No, I don't feel bad about that. There is a looooong story involved. Best shared over beer

70 Dart 2 door

71 Old 88 4 door hardtop

The list is long and I'm tired

i dont think im old enough to have owned any thing cool like those. i have so many friends or people at work who always talk about having a 69 camaro or mustang that they got for a few hundred bucks and gave it away or sold it for nothing after a few years and is probably worth a ton of money now

my first two cars were a 1981 toyota corolla that was involved in 3 accidents before i got then i moved on up to a 82 ford escort so no harm done junking those things

['63GENIII]

Grandfather's hand me down '67 Cadillac DeVille Convertible. . My father passed it on to me as he couldn't keep it. Black on black on black. 472 was swapped for the 500. I was 19. Had a bad transmission and I couldn't afford to fix it. Neighbors kept calling the City about it and the heat became too much.

I ended up selling it to a "friend" who ended up abandoning it a couple of cities away. I had heard that it was towed by the city so I went and tried to find (in hopes of getting it back) it at the yard only to learn it had been crushed the week before.

Young, stupid, broke ass kid. Still breaks my heart to think about it nearly 30 years later.

[Maximus]

That poor caddy. Its hard to think that these cars, when they were 15 or 20 years old they would be crushed, but I can also see so many modern cars, like say a mid 90's BMW convertible rotting away. in 40 years our grandkids are gonna say "You saw a '99 m3 in a junk yard!!! Woah!

oh how fast time moves....

[Palf70Step]

Growing up in the saltbelt (western PA), anything I sent to the junkyard, was WAY beyond saving/use. Same way down here, the couple I sent down here in coastal Mississippi, I save what I could, but junked the rest as scrap. So no regrets from that subject. However, regrets on what I sold in the past......that is another story.

[In The Ten Ring]

I have never scrapped a vehicle but I did let my parents talk me into selling my 1988 Honda Accord. Their rationale was "it has 175K miles, it'll throw a rod any day." That was complete BS. Honda engines keep on going. My current Accord has 171K and I have complete faith in that engine.

I traded my 2003 Civic to my mother for her 2002 Accord.....it was a very smart trade as her car had very low miles and had been garage kept where mine had served me as my travelling salesman's daily driver. My mother was determined to give her car to my niece....I knew that was a mistake but I came out ahead. I did love my Civic though.....my niece rear-ended a lady within 3 months of getting my car and ran a stop sign within a year, got T-boned, and the car was completely destroyed.

[old Rusty C10]

I pick up cars most days and take them to the scrapper. most don't bother me one bit because they are junk or no title... I try to save as many as I can tho. What bothers me is I pick up cars for a local charity that makes the news regularly for being a scam and people still donate to them... but money pays the bills

[67ChevyRedneck]

None. I've only ever sold three vehicles in the past 20 years, none were scrapped. An 86 Toyota truck, 1999 S10, and most recently I traded in my 2000 Z71 I owned for 11 years for a 2015.

[abig84]

Originally Posted by old Rusty C10

I pick up cars most days and take them to the scrapper. most don't bother me one bit because they are junk or no title... I try to save as many as I can tho. What bothers me is I pick up cars for a local charity that makes the news regularly for being a scam and people still donate to them... but money pays the bills

at my old job weve scrapped a few running cars or cars in great shape, problem was most the time it needed a extensive expensive repair worth more then the car. i remember scrapping a high mileage saturn that needed a transmission, so basically a 2k car that needed 3k worth of work. everyone at the scrap yard was eye balling and asking why i was junking it. but the boss always hated listing crap on craiglist and dealing with the idiots on there so he just scrapped everything

[TwoFiftyShifter]

Originally Posted by raggedjim

I'm in the same boat now with a '79 Trans Am 400 4-speed. Don't think I can get a title, so a 1 in 8,000 or so car may get scrapped...

I recently scrapped a '75 Trans Am after stripping it pretty thoroughly... I mostly bought it for the hood.

Rg

In GA and AL, you wouldn't need a title to get plates and registration. Could you have someone there put it on the road, then 'buy' it back?