I haven’t seen Spuds McKenzie in a long time. Bonus!
There’s a lot of technology in those old junk yard cars. It’s amazing an entire car like with all its designed in technology that can be purchased for $100 or $200. True, it doesn’t work. But just look at all the cool molecules you get, besides plenty of iron and carbon, there’s zirconium in the O2 sensors, platinum and palladium in the cat, vanadium, chromium, and/or molybdenum in many of the steel parts, chromium in the shiny parts, probably some titanium used here and there, lead and sulfur in the battery, the engine computer parts have gold, boron, phosphorus, and carbon. What am I forgetting? Oh yeah, copper, lots of copper in the wiring. And the machines which make the cars, the welding machines have that high melting temperature metal used in jet rocket nozzles, forget the name of that atom, hafnium? And of course tungsten is used in the machines that make cars.
Truly there’s a lot of cool stuff for the scientifically curious in an old junk yard car.
I just could not believe how much I enjoyed my experience. It was so cool to hunt or walk around and look at all the stuff there. then to actually find the type of car I was looking for was great. Now when I went into the car and saw the dash part that I needed, it was like heaven. I think I felt overall a big sense of WOW when I found what I wanted and it was in good shape. I did take a minute to pay homage to the car I was taking a part from. I did wonder what this car;s life was and if it was right to take parts from it so it will never ever be whole again. I then realized that if this car I am taking form will never be on the road again, then at least it can help other cars keep going strong. Overall, I am thinking that junkyards are a good place and that all people who like cars should experience it at least once. While I would not know how to take some parts off, I still think it is worth a try if you need something hard to find.
like a kid in a candy store, apparently 
almost sounds like OP had a life-altering experience 
I’m not saying that to insult or attack anybody. OP has a good point, in that junkyards are often the only place to find what you need
Suffice it to say, probably most of the regulars have scrounged at junkyards at least once. If not many times, like me
Our close one has many common parts on the shelves, I needed an electric cooling fan for my daughters car, they had 3, and got the choice based on year and miles, all the same price. Other parts not on the shelves they go pick it, will have it ready for you if you call ahead.
Well I’ll be calling them tomorrow to come and get my Olds to make my contribution. I’ve been running it about every month for the past 5 years and moved it out of the garage a month ago. Went to start it again and no fuel pressure. Pump no running. So that’s it. Good bye. I’ve been paying insurance and taking up garage space for the 5 miles a year I put on it. Doesn’t matter what they offer as long as they get it out of my driveway. It’s been a nice 18 year partnership but it’s over now.
I agree
If a car is quite old, doesn’t get used much, is costing you money to insure and register, and will never be a valuable classic, there may be a time when it should be junked or donated for a tax write-off
Regarding fracking and quakes, I remain with open mind on the corelation. I can say from experience living in Tulsa OK many years, there were some noticeable quakes there going back to my childhood that equaled what I have experienced here in St. Louis MO over the past 36 years. But the strongest quake I have experienced was being 20 miles from the epicenter of a 4.2 quake in New Jersey in the late 1970s.
@Bing writes …
my Olds to make my [junkyard] contribution
Not sure what year your Olds is @Bing, but those Olds 442’s from the mid 60’s were definitely cool cars. I still see them on the road – restored and often hot-rodded – here in San Jose once in a while.
The one thing these days is that the price of scrap is really low. Those yards may not be making nearly as much as you would think, especially when you think about all the costs of permits, proper fluid disposal, etc. I get car parts from my own working on vehicles that are junk, lawn mower parts and carcasses, farm junk, and lots and lots of different computer related parts from my working on them.
Honestly, I used to make several hundred dollars per pickup load of scrap. Now I am lucky to get $100. This includes me breaking things down into the individual components. If you sell a car without tearing it apart, you basically get steel price. That is 1 or 2 cents a lb right now so not much. If you pull it apart and it has aluminum intakes, a cat converter, some copper wiring, computer boards, motors, etc., you would get a lot more. I used to really spend time breaking stuff down but now it is hardly worth it if there is much effort involved. There are “dirty” categories that pay less but still more than the basic steel price. Copper, aluminum, and stainless steel are all down.
About the only thing still paying decent is computer boards. I remove all the boards from a desktop computer as some of them are worth quite a bit per lb when broken down and the casings just become a steel grade. I use an electric screwdriver or drill and have one broken down in seconds. I then remove easy to pop off heatsinks, etc. that are made of 6061 aluminum. I pull the battery for recycling and then the rest goes in a box for circuit boards. There are even different grades of these. Some are worth about 10 cents/lb while others are $10-12 or more per lb and there are plenty of grades in between.
The most recent load was mostly steel. I bought some junk riding mowers for the good engines and sent the remaining hulks off as scrap after the engines and other parts that fit my other mowers were removed. There were also the computer cases which are basically junk steel. The stuff costs more to look at it than it is worth if you ask me but I want it gone. This is basically trash disposal for me. The electronic parts and non-ferrous metals are worth more but still nothing great these days.
The real value seems to be finding parts I can use for cheap these days. I picked up quite a few T-posts for farm fencing for a $1 each. That is nothing compared to the new price around here. Then there was another junk riding mower with a good engine that I bought as I always like to have spares in case I blow one. Then they also hold back computer components that they know I might want as sometimes they have actually had some decent video cards, RAM, server power supplies, etc. The proceeds from the scrap itself nowhere near covers my time, wear and tear on vehicles, and the cost of fuel. The two reasons I take things in now are to dispose of crap from my work and hobbies as well as find additional items I can use.
I visited the second of 2 local pull-your-part type salvage yards in my area yesterday. All I can say is this is how it should be done everywhere!!
About 10 acres of concrete with all the cars lined up in rows roughly by make and type of car. Each car is supported by 3 stands made by welding an upright wheel to one laying down. It raises the cars so you can easily and safely work beneath them. Wheelbarrows are provided to take tools out and bring parts back. I saw 2 guys pulling an engine with a large A-frame on wheels with a chain hoist. They told me the yard provided the hoist. I don’t think any of the cars had fluids in them as the engine the 2 guys had out didn’t leave a puddle of any kind.
Most cars were 10 years old or older. Pretty much the cast-offs of the salvage world. Prices were very low - $70 for a hood, $60 for a door. They were being stripped by guys driving the auction-offs of the used car world to keep their cars running. The yard is run by a large scrap metal business. The customers strip the cars for them and the shells are scrapped. Its a good deal for both.
Well $100 to pick up my 95 Olds Aurora is a little less than I expected, especially with the autobahn package, but hey, it’s not starting and blocking my garage door and I need it out of here. Saves me a $100 towing charge to the junk yard anyway. Too bad the hail missed it last night with full coverage and everything-just kidding. I’d never file a claim for hail damage on it.
[scrap steel goes for ] 1 or 2 cents a lb
I thought scrap steel cost more than that, but I checked via Google and sure enough, scrap steel goes for around 3 cents per pound. The reason the price surprised me is b/c a couple years ago my neighbor gave me a 100 lb 2-inch thick steel plate configured in a disc shape with a hole in the middle he didn’t want and told me he paid $50 for it. I use it as a base for an outdoor lighting fixture. That fixture isn’t going anywhere … lol …
Just curious, does it make sense that a 100 lb of 2 inch thick steel in a disc shape would cost $50? That’s 50 cents a pound, right? Why would scrap steel cost 3 cents, and steel plate cost 50 cents per pound?
It depends on the scrap. Auto bodies are low grade scrap, while that heavy steel plate is very high grade scrap.
Scrap was down to 1.5 cents/lb a few months back around here. I know as I took some in then. The big issue now is that some of the other metals of higher value back then are now WAY down too. This includes the various grades of copper, aluminum, stainless, etc. The last load I took was barely worth my while. It would have been a total waste if not for the disposal of junk and me picking up some other items I could use for cheap.
Scrap steel was over 10 cents/lb several years back. I know that certain cast iron and heavier grade steels are still worth more but not much.
As for the large steel disc, where did this come from? Did your neighbor buy it at Home Depot, a welding shop, or the scrapyard? Either way, the place that sold it was making a profit and paying for the manufacturing cost. Remember that buying an alloy wheel isn’t cheap but that several hundred dollar rim might only sell for $10 in scrap value. It is just bought as a raw material to be crushed, shredded, melted down, and turned into something else. The finished product is no longer in the value of that item when sold as scrap. Also, my scrapyard sells items that are brought in as scrap to make money. Those steel T-posts I buy for a dollar each get dropped off for 3 cents/lb or whatever so they make a nice profit off each one sold. I have also bought some junk mowers for parts at way more than scrap value. I pull the parts I want and send the rest right back to where it came from.
For example, computer heatsinks usually cost several dollars if you need to buy one. A new one of reliable quality is generally $15 or more with the fan included. I might get 15 each cents each for these in scrap with the fan pulled. I still come across Pentium 3, 4, etc. type computers that I end up scrapping. They may work as well as they day they were bought but are just junk as no one will buy them today. These generate lots of scrap material as well as newer units that just broke down and cost more to repair than they are worth.
I suspect one of the above factors plays into why that steel disc cost as much as it did. I had a few lbs of steel plate made into some brackets at a welding shop and it cost me $80. This is probably worth less than $1 in scrap!
I’ll have to admit a little lump in my throat when the guy loaded up my Olds Aurora to take it to the highway in the sky tonight. She served us well for 18 years and looked good and proud on the back of the truck. The only time it failed to start in all those years was when I was going to drive it to the junk yard. Maybe mechanical things really do develop a spirit. I kept the owners manual and a hood emblem as usual and cleaned it out but I did pull a fast one and left the wheel chair in the trunk. I hope they don’t call me to come and get it. I bought it for the wife and thought we should keep it be she said she’d never sit in it again so figured it might as well stay with the car. So long ole buddy. Maybe you’ll return as a CTS or something down the road.
Mrs JT has similar feelings for her Silhouette. We’ve had it for 13 years and 165,000 miles. I suggested replacing it with a new SUV a few months ago and she said “replace my van, MY VAN? No way.”
You’ve gotta dance with the one that brought you. 
CSA
My pleasure
@jtsanders
"My pleasure"
JT, I meant Mrs. JT and her van, but of course it involves you, too! 
CSA