If you thought the Chula Vista yard was interesting then you should get a load of this one in Los Angeles California. The area has no shortage of wealthy people so you can image what winds up in the wrecking yards. The story was originally featured in Town & Country magazine, but we learned of it from a recent post on AutoBlog. A lot of people know about this place, but if you have not seen the treasures lurking inside, it is worth a look.
As a kid, there weren’t many things I enjoyed more than visiting the local junk yard with my father. While he was pulling parts he needed for his work trucks, my bother and I would explore the lanes. We would dream of finding something special out there and picking it up cheap. We would keep an eye on all the new arrivals just in case. About the closest thing to an exotic car to come through that place was a Datsun 240z. It was full of 50’s American classics and lots of other unloved junk. It was nothing like this place.
Writer Michael Mraz snapped a few photos through the fence and made up a good story to create some hype. The list of residents is impressive though. Supposedly there is a Mercedes Gullwing, a hand full of Lamborghini Muiras, and a bunch of rare prewar cars in there. We can spot a few Porsches and a Maserati in the pictures. Can you make out anything else noteworthy?
The owner of the yard has passed away and his sons are now running the joint. Supposedly they are not letting anyone in. The gem of the collection is a one-off 1935 Mercedes-Benz Caracciola 500K that is worth big money. This whole situation takes me back to when I was young. The thought of discovering something rare in there and picking it up for pennies is a nice one. Unfortunately, we have no doubt that the new owners know exactly what they have in there and precisely what it is worth. It is nice to dream though…
Source: AutoBlog.com
I think I see a Lincoln Continental MK II
From the limited pics available there seem to be two Porsche 356s, some 911s, a 914 or two, many M-Bs including at least one ’80s coupe and an SL convertible plus what looks like a 190SL and a Miura. Lets hope the owners are sane and don’t end up with a bout of ‘real bad attitude’ and send it all the metal recycler. I wonder whether the Beverly Hills Car Club has tried to buy any of these cars. Anyone know?
Another case of hoarding gone mad. These types would rather see things rot to nothing than make a sale and see a car back on the road. If you have a scrap Miura rotting do you really think these clods can care for a 500K? My guess is a family of rats made it their home long ago. I hope I’m wrong but its not likely.
Not that many of those are my styles to pick from, there’s not a one I wouldn’t take home and lather in complete refurbishment jelly to bring back to new to drive the dog out of it whenever possible.
Wow, great stuff in really horrible condition. All those cars are really rough. Looks like they bought all the bad “totals” from the salvage pool. Still, it would be fun to walk through. Spent a lot of hours in salvage yards in Socal back in the 70’s looking for parts for British cars, it was nothing to have 6-7 big Healeys to choose from at any given yard.
I dont see a miura in there but I do see an Ur Quattro
Dolphin,Are you referring to the what was once red car, on the far left, of the second pic as the Miura? I have seen these pics a couple a times and I had thought that that car was Bora or maybe even a Merak. I could be wrong though. Does anybody else wish to chime in?
It looks to me like a Maserati merak
seems like everything is stripped pretty well. not much left but a bunch of dented bodies. I am sure there are some there, rare enough, that somebody would want the body panels. sad to see it just rust away.
They may have become very rich already. The good stuff is probably in a car that is still driving around CA.
The burned red car is a Bora without the engine cover. A burned Merak would have lost its plastic flying buttresses, but would still have rear fenders with flat tops.
Half a dozen Miuras?? I wish they’d have included that photo. I think the newest car I saw in there was an Audi 90 or similar. That Ur Quattro is pretty cool.
I spent many hours at Pick a Part yards in So Cal in the late 80’s. By no means anything like this yard featured here. I was into Studebakers at the time and on more than one occasion found Larks, Hawks and a late 40’s Commander. I took as much of the trim items and jewelry pieces as possible and was able to trade and sell these pieces with other Stude owners. I enjoyed every moment of wandering those wrecking yards and viewing the remains of once proud rides.
@Bryan Cohn,It doesn’t look like he’s hoarding as their site shows plenty of sales. http://www.porfor.com/It is a salvage yard after all, and business is parts from salvaged cars – not the cars themselves.
The 1980 Stutz IV Porte they have for sale made me sick to my stomach. That needs to be crushed post-haste.
TMP:The car I thought was a Miura is in the top photo on this (Barn Finds) page. Of the 2 cars that are on the ground level I (not up on a rack), it’s the one just to the left of center, a white car that you can see only the front of but is partly obscured by a big black obstruction. I’m not sure it is a Miura, but the headlights and overall shape suggest it might be one.On looking at the pics some more it seems there are quite a few Porsche 356s…just hard to tell right off since they are in such rough shape. BradL:Thanks for the info & link to http://www.porfor.comInteresting to see that this junkyard is selling ‘whole’ (sort-of) cars that would have been sent to the crusher in decades past after the marketable parts had been sold off. I saw that happen to lots of interesting car hulks and even some more or less whole cars decades ago when I worked one summer in a junkyard as an underage teenager (15 yrs old). Too bad, but they had to clean out the hulks to make room for freshly crashed cars as they came into the yard. Saw lots of MGs, Healeys, TRs, ’55-’57 Chevys, and even a few Jags get hauled away to be crushed.Here’s an example that escaped that fate: the 1953 Austin Healey 100S prototype that raced at Le Mans in ’55 and was involved in the crash that killed dozens and ended M-B’s racing career at the time. This race car was all used up and sold in 1969 for the sum of $372 and remained in the same ownership until auctioned recently in very rough barn-find condition (missing some parts, no interior, etc) at at Bonhams Brooklands sale in the UK this past December for $1,323,915.00. That’s right, 1.3+ million. Who knows how many interesting or significant cars were sent to the crusher over the decades because no one recognized their significance or cared to find room for them? Well I guess that makes the survivors even rarer and current prices even higher.
Dolphin , I don’t think that’s a Muria on the ground 1st photo , just another mercedes pagoda with its headlight pointing upward and I think I see a hole for a transmission ????
I was at that yard ONE TIME, in the mid 1980ies.
Unbelievable what cars they had.
They somewhat had a monopoly of buying all wrecked Mercedes and Porsche in Insurance auctions or nobody had the same good idea…..
Anyway, that’s how old (my guess) most of that stuff on the racks is.
It sure looked better 30 years ago.
My buddy and I spent half a day there and were permitted to roam the whole place (the good old days).
Everything HIGH END Porsche and Mercedes you could imagine, they had it.
At the end they showed us a shed with 1/2 dozen Gullwings/ 300SL roadsters…
I’m guessing those have been sold off by now…….
I still have a stack of photos I took that day ,……somewhere…
A friend of mine was there and snapped some pics of the rare Porsches, a 904 and an Abarth. You can see the pics on my blog:
https://unobtaniuminc.wordpress.com/2009/05/04/abarth-and-904-pics/
—Adam
Rising values causes a re-evaluation of certain old wrecks. At one time these wrecks were only valued as “parts cars” as they were mined for spares. Now these same cars are project cars or “builders.” You had to have obtained these cars a really long time ago and been able to hold onto them for anywhere from ten to thirty years or more to see this kind of growth in value. The average guy is lucky if he can hold onto just one car.