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Jeff In The Junkyard: Tiverton Forest

Tiverton Junkyard

After taking a weekend off to attend a wedding, I thought this week’s edition of Jeff in the Junkyard should feature one of my favorite stops from last year, an active salvage yard in Tiverton, Rhode Island. This business has been around for years and has a small amount of changing inventory, but in the far reaches of the property lie some junkyard veterans who have literally been put out to pasture. As always, there’s a mystery find or two for our eagle-eyed readers at the bottom of the post – share your guesses below!

beetlebusiness

This Volkswagen Beetle was a classic air-cooled example that had provided its owner with some free-advertising back in the day. It would be an excellent candidate for a rat-rod restoration with plenty of patina to preserve, but you’ll need to find new rear quarters – the rear fenders, deck lid and panels up to the back windows had been removed.

imperial

I believe this is a 60s era Chrysler Imperial, but I’m not certain on the year. Its upright posture was almost lost against the trees, considering its moss-green paint provided an ideal camouflage for its wooded surroundings.

jeeps

Jeeps – both postal carriers and civilian versions – abounded in this location. The red one has a hearty-looking winch on the front, likely once used to pull stranded drivers out of snow banks during Rhode Island’s winters. It practically begged you to hitch its tow line to a firm anchor outside of its forest dwelling, but the winch is rusted solid.

karmmanghia

Air-cooled VWs are a frequent site at almost every old-school junkyard. This one was no different, as this Kermit-colored Karmann-Ghia had been a long-time occupant with most usable parts long gone. Like the neighboring Imperial, this particular car’s painted panels kept it well-hidden from wandering eyes.

mg

Despite the words “Do Not Junk” sprayed on the fender, this MG still ended up in the junkyard. Perhaps it was a message to the yard owner himself, that there were still plenty of good parts to pillage, thus reminding him not to send it to the shredder.  While it looks a little down on its luck here, there did appear to be a plethora of smaller items still in respectable condition – perhaps Jesse needs a part or two for his project?

mgb

Yes, another MGB. I couldn’t help but capture a photo, however, as it appeared like this British roadster tried to escape one night for another summer day at the beach, only to get hung up on a nearby rock. The factory body graphics were still sharp against the faded blue paint, but most panels were losing the battle with the tin worm.

mystery

Here’s our first mystery find: what’s that big black sedan with part of its fender (or was it once an engine cover) gone missing? I can’t be sure, but it looks like it may even have suicide doors based on the shadows of what appear to be adjacent door handles under the B-pillar. Log your guesses below!

portholes

This one is too easy for a regular guessing game – clearly, it’s a Buick Roadmaster. But the question is, what year Roadmaster is it? The porthole designs changed ever so slightly from year-to-year, so let’s see how sharp your memories are for which generation these were affixed to. My quick round of Googling shows it as potentially a ’51 or ’52 – what do you think?

Remember, you can always find previous editions of Jeff in the Junkyard by searching our site for ‘junkyard’ or clicking here and here.

Comments

  1. Avatar Alvin J Savoy

    The roadmasters have 4 portholes on the fenders , 1953 ?

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  2. Avatar MikeH

    The sedan is a 46-48 Chrysler or DeSoto. That’s my uneducated guess.

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  3. Avatar Matt

    1948 DeSoto Custom

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  4. Avatar DENIS

    Aw c’mon, these were all to easy…you can do better…..nailed ’em
    Holy shit, does that mean I’m old?????????????????

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    • Avatar Jeff Staff

      OK Denis, one more: what’s parked NEXT to the DeSoto?

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      • Gary Gary

        a Willys jeep wagon

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  5. Avatar Craig

    parked next to the deSoto,,,,,,,, a Jeep pick up

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  6. Avatar Wayne

    The Chrysler sedan is a 66 Newport.

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    • Avatar Jeff Staff

      We should have made that one a guess, too! Thanks for the clarification, Wayne.

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  7. Avatar Andrew Minney

    Nah, lads the car next to the Desoto is a Citroen Dyane.
    My question is how many of THESE came to the States?
    Andrew in sunny Twickenham

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  8. Avatar Rob

    Those are ’51 Buick Super portholes

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  9. Avatar jim s

    in most of the photos you can see other vehicles in the background, they all look to be losing the battle with the brush/trees. i wonder if the motor is still in the chrysler.

    Like 0
  10. Avatar Chris

    Willys-Overland pickup next to the Desoto

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  11. Avatar PRA4SNW

    Either Tiverton has a lot of auto salvage yards, or I’ve been to this one before. I drove down there once to pick up a manual transmission for an XR4ti. I had one that had a big appetite for them.

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    • Avatar Jeff Staff

      There are a handful of them, for some odd reason. There’s really not much else in Tiverton to see! Are you still in the area?

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      • Avatar PRA4SNW

        I live in NH actually. Back when I had the Merkur, good pulled transmissions were hard to find. Off the shelf, they were expensive.
        I wasn’t really hard on them, but the original transmission died, so I had it rebuilt. Then the one from Tiverton died and I had that one rebuilt.
        When I heard the telltale whining noise again, I dumped the car.

        Like 0

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