I just walked through an AMAZING old salvage yard!!! Found a place called Austin Auto and Truck Salvage. I’ve got a good story for you! So a guy from my local car club sent me a phone number this morning. I’d mentioned that I was looking for a balancer for my Olds 350, and he said this guy would have it, to “tread lightly” with the guy. Ok. So I called him, he said he had the part. He sounded a little odd, so I called my Dad to see if he wanted to go out there with me over lunch. He came up here to my office and we drove out, and I just got back. He does not advertise, there was not even a sign out front, took me a while to find it. It’s down a dirt road that made me start thinking about banjo music! It was only about 10 miles from Dell, and you would not believe THIS PLACE. You do not see anything but brush from the road. He has 6 ½ acres of almost all OLD cars, he said he has 110 Oldsmobiles, including a RUNNING and DRIVING 1965 Cutlass 442 that he was using as a yard car, a real 442!!! I saw four late 60’s-early 70’s Vista Cruises, a light blue 1991 Custom Cruiser, a maroon 93 Roady wagon, but the wild part wa all the rare 60’s-70’s stuff, some AMAZING cars. He has a 66, 67,68 and 71 GTO’s in there. REAL GTO’s, not LeMans! He said he’d sell me a rust-free dash and header panel for my GTO for $200! Hehehehehe. A 71 and 73 Trans Am, late 60’s and into 70’s Camaros, a 73 Hurst Olds, and on and on and on. All are BURIED under weeds and brush, but just to find them there, so close to home, was so cool! My Dad just kept walking around shaking his head. The guy running the place was really nice, but kinda crotchety and he walked REALLY fast. The place is right near Samsung Semiconductor now, when he opened the yard it was in the middle of nowhere. Said the city has been on him about how cars are stored and oil and such. Not a fan of the govt this guy. I had my phone but was afraid to take pics. I kinda got the feeling this guy didn’t WANT people to know all this stuff is back there. I found a shell of a 67 Cutlass Convertible, and he told me that it had been a complete car, and for the longest time he’d tried to sell it whole for $1500, but someone offered him $800 for the frame, so he broke the car up. He seemed sad about it. He also has a T-top 87 442 in there with the 8.5 posi rear, 3.55 gears, and he said he’d sell it, and the shorter driveshaft, if I wanted to make him an offer. I told him I’d be back once my Cutlass was running. That 442 has TONS of good parts on it. Oh and as for the balancer, we walked WAY to the back of the yard, and came up on an overgrown 84 Delta 88 sedan. The guy pulled out a big key rig (he has keys to all these cars!) and opened the trunk, and inside was a pile of balancers. He pulled out my exact balancer, off a 71 Cutlass 350. $35. Hahaha! If you find someone needing something old and rust free, call this guy!! Austin Auto & Truck Parts 4843 Yager Ln, Manor, TX (512) 272-4114 So now I’m back at work…in my office, with a sweat-stained shirt and sand burs and such in my socks. I’m in shorts and have bug bits all over my legs. I look really professional! At least a lot of folks left early for the holiday! What fun though, you just never know what you’ll see in your own back yard do you??? -Mike
OH and now that I have the balancer I have the last piece for my 71 Rocket 350 swap. I know what I'll be doing this weekend!
Ok, ok, I know I should have painted it gold...but the 307 was black, so the 350 now is as well. We'll tell people what it really is though!
Hey...I'm one of the one's that opted for painting it black like the 307. In fact...if it were mine...I would not put that decal on it! Let people think it's a 307...and then smoke the tires!
What a great find Mike! Thanks for sharing...can't wait to see how the Cutlass turns out. Did you see any 66 Nova's out there?
I saw a 62 or 63, but not a 66...but then was not looking for one. I WILL be making a trip out there again, but may wait until the fall/winter so I can SEE the cars....and not just the deep grass.
Yep, so do I! It shows it in the wrong place though on the map. The yard is the long rectangular-shaped plot of land off Yager to the left, just before you get to Cameron Rd. If you zoom in you can see a lot of the cars. Oh and when you first open the link the large parking lot and building on the upper left are Samsung Semiconductors. That complex is gigantic. http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&r...code_result&ct=image&resnum=1&ved=0CAkQ8gEwAA There is no sign at the yard enterence, you only see some overgrown cars and there was a 69 Cutlass and an early 80's El Camino on the dirt road itself. I parked on the side of Yager Ln, and walked down that long skinny dirt road with junkers on both sides of it, and found the guy that runs the place about halfway down the hill. You keep going downhill and then the yard opens up. The school bus you can see in the center is near where he found my balancer. Neat yard! -Mike
Cutlass is not done. Was hoping it would be running today, but took a lot longer to clean up under the hood than I thought, and now am trying to make the pulleys line up. Fun!
