Belton Texas Wrench-A-Part Pics TODAY - 2/28/13

Hi all! Got some pics for you. I decided to take the time to TEST the horns I'm about to send to a friend in Oregon last night. He's doing the 4-note "tugboat" horn conversion on his Custom Cruiser wagon. I found out the C -note horn was dead.

Dang!

I decided to take a long lunch make a mad dash to the Belton Wrench-A-Part, which is about 40 miles north, but a straight shot up I-35 from work. I'm pretty sure I was the only Dell employee that went to the salvage yard today at lunch. I even stopped by my Dad's and took him with me. It was on the way.

ANYWAY I got a replacement horn off a '92 Roady sedan. It came off a car from Kansas, so it has a little surface rust on it, but if it works, that's what matters. Will test it after work and then re-box everything.

BUT I stayed longer than I planned because they just got a load of cars in, and there was some COOL old stuff. Nabbed a lot of pics. They get better toward the bottom, some great old cars there today.

It's a totally gorgeous day here today and it hurt to come back to work.

Oh and fair warning, there is one car with a hood mural that is somewhat R-rated, but I was laughing so hard I had to take the pic for you guys. You have been warned!

Here we go:

Walking in they had a near-perfect Mercury Granada (Monarch) in the For Sale section. I mean you could wax the sucker and go to the cruise-in as it sat. I bet Grandma died and the grandkids called the salvage yard and just gave it away. They wanted over $2K for it...but it was CLEAN. Hahaha.

First car at the beginning of the GM section was an 80's Delta 88 Coupe. Picked over but lots of good parts left


Next a Monza "Town Landau" Coupe

Followed by a SAD '87 Grand Prix. Hit HARD! Buckets, floor shift, and Rally II wheels, but demolished




1982 Z-28 with good glass T-tops still attached

90 Caddy Brougham

I search out this Ciera GT and International Series cars because they have the Olds Sport Steering wheels I like so much. The Coupe had the more modern design, but the sedan had the classic 2-spoke that I have on my '88 Cutlass and '92 OCC. The leather was shot but it would be a great core to have recovered.





BIG LeSabre

 

Another 80's Olds 98

Great El Camino parts car. Tons of good stuff left

'92 Roady Sedan that I nabbed the C-note horn from.


Clean '82 Caddy with the funny little HT4100 engine with factory chrome valve covers


This old Chevy sedan had a GORGEOUS perfect chrome front bumper and very nice chrome door handles. No pitting at all




Poor G-body Cutlass...very picked over

Hold on to your lunch and hide the kiddies eyes, and check out this "Caprice Convertible"



Another sad T-top Camaro


How about a sharp '68 Cutlass.....with "opera lights" on the rear pillars???

 

Check out this HUGE fastback Monaco 500 with factory buckets and floor shifter





Oh God Peg, it's my Duster! - Al Bundy



Check out this '68 Pontiac Catalina. I found a PERFECT owners manual, warranty booklet, Protecto-Plate and all kinds of records in the glove box, right back to the original bill-of-sale from 1968. Car was sold new in Temple Texas and it never left! I nabbed all the docs and can't wait to read them tonight.
This car has a perfect dashpad, factory a/c, factory AM/FM radio (that's GOT to be rare) and the stock 400 under the hood. TONS of good parts!

 

Now check out THIS Bonneville. Talk about cool lines and gorgeous trim. These were SUCH pretty cars. Factory air car too, awesome dash design.









How about a BIG Lincoln




Mustang Whee!


Huge Electra 225

 

Another '69 Chevy sedan

Rambler Ambassador - neat dash! Factory "Weather Eye" A/C and original radio. Reclining seats too





The valient Valient. What a wacky design!



And a more normal Valient



Oooohhhhh Barracuda

One thing you can be sure of seeing in Texas is old trucks. I wonder how many are still in barns of back fields? I like the last one here. That GMC is one of the UGLIEST designs ever dreamed up, and this one had the rare GMC-designed V6 engine.

 

How about a totally picked-over Thunderbird and Charger? Someone was nice enough to put the Bird's front fenders in the engine bay. The Charger still has what looks like a good factory automatic floor shifter and it's rare tail light panel was on the ground ready to go home.



And ANOTHER huge Lincoln...with a LeMans dash in the trunk, complete with Rally Clock option




Who else remembers the original French Connection? Looking at this all I can think of is Popeye Doyle under the subway train....

A dandy Dart


And some TOTALLY PICKED OVER Chevelles. Still some good part left. Need door glass for your SS? Here you go!


Check out this Plymouth Fury. Commando V8 and hubcaps in the car

 

Ford Ranch Wagon


And we'll finish with this pretty Skylark Convertible. Sad to see this in here. TONS of good parts. I believe the GTO/Chevelle/GS/442 used the same top frame and parts...here ya go!



I can think of worse ways to spend my lunch break!

-Mike

 

Thanks Mike. Son looked with me. Said the Gainesville, Florida U-Pull-It was set up much like this. I've never been in a salvage yard that nice. We gripe about loosing the old junk yards. At least some are available to go through and are actually better than before.
Did you buy that white hood for yard art?


I missed half of these as I looked and typed. There are some nice looking cars just going to waste. I always say there are worse looking cars on the roads around here.

 

I think he said he was going to hang it on his living room wall...........

 

Saw the green '67 Plymouth Fury 2-door near the end there and immediately had a flashback moment to Driver's Training class in high school during the summer of 1967. All the cars were white '67 Fury 4-door hardtops. I can remember how they drove (like a boat). I can remember how they smelled - nice and new at the start of the class, but by the time we were done each day, it got kind of rank. Teacher and 5 kids loaded in the barge. At least they had A/C.

 

When I buy that Donk wagon near Chicago I'll put the hood on it.

 

I really like the Belton yard. It's such a weird mix of cars. For those who don't know, Belton is smack in the middle of Texas. It's kind of a suburb of Temple and Killeen, both good-size towns. Waco and Dallas are to the north, Austin and San Antonio to the south, and just to the west is Fort Hood, the largest military base in the country (it's so FREAKING HOT in the summer there it's flat amazing....good training for the Middle East I guess. You make it through Fort Hood in the summer and you are a TOUGH DUDE).

Anyway, being where it is, it gets a ton of rust-free cars from all the major areas that surround it....they do not rust AT ALL in this area....BUT with the military base next door, a lot of cars get abandoned when soldiers ship out, and many are from other parts of the country, that the soldiers drove here, so you see some major rust-buckets in the Belton yard too. It's a funky mix.

Oh and most folks in Texas are leering to buy cars from Temple and Killeen...scared of where they came from. There are a TON of new and used car dealers in Killeen that cater to the military base. The troops come home from deployments with money in their pockets...huge car market...but again...the cars come from all over the country...

Always fun!

-Mike

 

Great pic's. Although I shouldn't be surprised, hard to believe the mix of old iron there and still some mostly complete. That Bonneville ,Monaco, 66-67 charger and no less than 2 69-71 mark III's. as well as the rest of the vintage you photgraphed, Pretty wild. It is amazing how many old vehicles we are loosing to scrap on a daily basis.

Thanks for the tour,

 

Shoot it'd bolt right on my Custom Cruiser. Think Misty'd like it? :banana:

 

That 68 Dodge Monaco 500 is one RARE car, and looks to be mostly complete. A shame to see it sitting in a yard like just some other old wreck. A great many of those cars are in much better shape than any of the cars over 15 years old you see on the roads around here! As for that Monarch in the first picture, that one needs saving! It looks to be simply beautiful! I would hate to go through that yard, because I'd feel like the pied piper, and want all the great old cars to follow me home!