Salvage Yard Wagons

I wish there were salvage yards, er junk yards like that here in the UK!

 

Hehe, sometimes here in America it's just off the neighbor's side yard or in their front yard. Granted the neighbor may be some miles away but I can list a few locations where I've seen such cars.

 

In some cities around me it's mandatory by city code to have at least two junk cars sitting on cinder blocks in the front yard.

 

You're kidding... You're kidding, right?

 

Sadly, Yards Like this aren't as prevalent as they used to be, but they do exist, even up here in the north West. Here is one in Ephrata Washington that I went through last year:

http://www.stationwagonforums.com/forums/threads/classic-cars-in-a-wrecking-yard.34293/

 

I remember that thread, cool yard.

 

Down here in the deep south only regular cement blocks are available. But they last years longer than the old cinder blocks and are safer than milk cartons.
As for junk....salvage locations.......... being closed, I can understand the reasoning. Most I remember were in and near creeks and there was gas, oil, grease, and rusty parts pulluting the water and land. Also the older yards were right in the open for the neighbors and othes to see.
Still I miss the original old junk yards of the midwest. Many of those were out in the woods or on farms with hilly or otherwise unfarmable land........... according to early usage.
New zoning and restrictions make owning a salvage yard more difficult now leaving mostly swap meets for old parts.
.

 

Scrapping an old salvage yard.

 

When I drove semis for a well known large company I occasionally worked overtime hauling their scrap to a large scrap yard. Over many years I saw cars put on large piles and eventually dropped into machines that chewed them up, crushed them, and spit the pieces out.
Same with many smaller junk yards when they closed. Portable crushers came in and the scrap was hauled out. Those places are now hotels, fast food joints, and shopping centers. Others HOA subdivisoins.
Today you are using a 1940 Dodge or 1937 Buick toaster or tea pot.

 

What a crying shame.

 

Near creeks, of all places. That must have been even before city ordinances were invented.
Over here in Germany, they banned most junkyards some 20 or more years ago. The excuse was also "environmental". The real reason was likely loss of revenue due to people fixing their own cars with inexpensive parts, instead of buying new cars or fixing their old ones with overpriced new parts. They had recently raised the sales tax to 16% (now they get 19%), back then. So, you can imagine how much personal resourcefulness was costing Europe's largest welfare office

 

The politically connected influencing local noise and nuisance ordinances, real estate tax rates and zoning laws to get their way in small town USA is as American as the proverbial apple pie. Who knows how many salvage yards, small airports, and local race tracks were put down because the "right" people objected to their existence.