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Thursday, December 22, 2016

Cars in yards: 1973 Dodge Charger

The Dodge was parked in the side yard at a house near Birmingham, Alabama. The tires were sunk up to the rims in the dirt.

Mopar or No Yard. At least hide it a little better! It was not in a shed or a carport. Not covered up with a tarp or visually blocked by a vast array of refrigerator doors. It was however, rolled to the edge of the yard. The very edge. A chain link fence, the sole divider, standing to protect the Charger from drooling Mopar fans
  How could a 1973 Dodge Charger be forgotten and relegated to the far, side yard? How could anyone forget this curvy girl? 


Side view shows the beauty of the long bodied 2-door Mopar.
See the Magnum wheel I love? Complete but incomplete with a strange rear side marker light and missing engine designation emblems.

Guess what’s under the hood?
  I don’t know what resided under the flat hood. But, the hood actually is a clue. Mopars with fatter motors often had a bulge in the hood. My guess is that a standard 318-cubic-inch mill provided a good balance of torque and fuel economy for this black beauty. Bigger engine-optioned Chargers were often proudly advertised via emblems and trim. None here, but this one hopefully packed some high octane muscle, in order to live up to the “If You Can’t Run With The Big Dogs” tag under the front bumper. Or was this canine sent to the porch? 

Who knows if this Mopar had a built 440 but it appeared to be a base optioned car.
To the porch we go!

Magnum shoes
  It was wearing at least one of my favorite Mopar wheels – the famed Magnum 500. It also had a way cool red stripe that does seem like it could be factory. The stripe broke up the sea of black sheet metal with a splash of color. It reminded me of the wide Rallye stripe that Dodge Charger made famous. Keep in mind this could be considered subtle when compared to the “High Impact” colors Dodge unleashed a few years prior to 1973. We could say with authoritative certainty this was not Panther Pink or Limelight Green. 


Hideaway headlights were no longer available on 1973 Chargers.
In order from left to right. Road, Ron, fence... 1973 Dodge Charger.

No hiding

  1973 was the year that Charger lost its hide-away headlights, but it did have an option package denoting a Special Edition known as the “SE”. That option gave the buyer a slotted rear side window where an ‘opera’ window would be located in other makes. Some Chargers also had a nifty hood ornament. Junkyard Life digs hood ornaments. 
  We can tell from the roof that this car was not an SE, although it does appear to once have worn a vinyl roof. We could not verify if the Charger had high back bucket seats or a bench with a sporty look. But Dodge fans may be able to help us identify them with one glance. Send us a comment/email.

  This Charger did not appear to be too far gone. Yes, it was rough around the edges. I would do floor pans, brakes, a 440, a primer hood, a touched-up set of Magnums and let this Dodge Charge! Again…what was it doing here????

Happy Hunting!
Ron Kidd
— Junkyard Life


Old cars are always on our mind at Junkyard Life.
We found this 1973 Dodge Charger in a side yard near Birmingham, Alabama.


Do you have a classic or muscle car in the yard or a barn find? Send us details and we’re on the way!  Send emails to Jody Potter at junkyardbull@gmail.com or Ron Kidd at Kidd403@bellsouth.net.

Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Ford Explorer misses out on million mile quest, destroyed by parking fail, tree wreck

Lucky that the vintage Yellowstone camper did not suffer damage.

Down, down, and totally out. Ron Kidd had a very bad day. His Ford Explorer took a hit from a neighbor’s tree. A hit so big, that it popped out both headlights, broke the rear door glass, puncture the windshield, destroyed the A-pillar, wrinkled the door, hood, fenders, roof, and planted a family of feral cats in the front seat. 
  Ron, as you can see, is very attached to the 4-wheel-drive Ford that carried him 350,000+ miles. That’s 14-times around the earth! I had no doubts that, in Ron’s care, the Explorer would eclipse 1 million miles on the odometer.
  “I had just parked it in the backyard,” said our woeful junkyard hero, Ron Kidd.

Love is a highway, but the Old Gray Mare is...
  Sure, Ron had swapped out the engine at least once. A junkyard engine, no less. Always kept fresh rubber on the wheels, A/C charged, fresh plugs, and the latest... ok, not the latest, tunes on the radio. The Explorer was his go-to, heavy-hitter. Always there for junkyard adventures. No job too big or dirty. Could this be the end of the road?  

Uh, Yes
  The insurance adjuster gave him the bad news. Total loss. It was a somber day for a guy who considers his cars a part of the family.
  He’s thankful that the tree didn’t take a swipe at his vintage Yellowstone camper. Maybe, just maybe, Ron can get by with one of the, seven-or-so, other vehicles in his stable?


The Ford was totalled by the significant damage to all sides except the rear tailgate.
The Ford Explorer was totaled by significant damage to all sides except the rear tailgate. A-pillar caved beneath the weight of the tree and wrapped over the hood on both sides.

Note: Four wild, stray cats bolted out all of the Explorer’s windows and doors when I moved in for a look at the damage. Yikes!
* No animals were harmed while taking the photo.  
 

Do you have a crushed car or a classic or muscle car barn find? Send us details and we’re on the way!  Send emails to Jody Potter at junkyardbull@gmail.com or Ron Kidd at Kidd403@bellsouth.net.

Sunday, December 11, 2016

Watch 1967 Chevrolet Bel Air 2-door post called "Dibs"


I want it! Ron Kidd dives into the details of a green 1967 Chevrolet Bel Air 2-door post, that he called “dibs” on, deep in the woods of Alabama. The car and our fearless Ron Kidd are featured in the latest Junkyard Life video. 

Do you have a classic or muscle car barn find? Send us details and we’re on the way!  Send emails to Jody Potter at junkyardbull@gmail.com or Ron Kidd at Kidd403@bellsouth.net.

Thursday, November 24, 2016

Abandoned 1967 Chevy Bel Air in the woods

The green 2 door post car is hard to spot among the plant life.

Call me green dibs. “Green Dibs” is the name of my future car. Why did I firmly convey my intent of owning this 1967 Bel Air that Junkyard Life brother Keith Lively found in the woods with a vast array of other forsaken Chevrolets? Who knows why I do the things I do, but in this case I can tell you. I (once again) have an intake with no motor or car to go with it. Details, I say. Mere details, that Keith has solved for me. 
  When Junkyard Life finds cars in the woods we find awesome cars in the woods. There was a 1970 Malibu (see video), 1968 Caprice 327, 1963 Super Sport 4-speed 327, and this lovely vision of green for me, me, me.

The fixed post supporting the roof ahead of the rear side window glass identifies this as not a hard top.
The ’67 Bel Air’s fixed post ahead of the rear side window, along with the framed door glass, are clues this is not a hard top.

Tell Them Again What This Is
  This is a 1967 Chevrolet two-door Bel Air post sedan. That is what makes it so irresistible to me is the spartan post divider. Why am I drawn to this barge? Keep in mind that by 1967 the Bel Air trim level was not as hip as the California hot spot for which it was named. The Bel Air was the top of the line in the mid-1950s, but by now Chevrolet had convinced us that property values in Bel Air were not what they used to be.


Originally equipped with a 327 engine, but no longer under the hood.
The two-door Bel Air is wheel deep in the earth after decades in the woods of Alabama.

 
The pecking order in 1967:
  • Biscayne: Bottom of the barrel, affordable, basic transportation. Some did not even have carpet.
  • Bel Air: Once top of the line, now barely next to the bottom. The name at least commanded attention, but the car was still a bit basic. Options could be had, but so much more could be waiting in the next level.
  • Impala: Usually a hard top or even a convertible with way more trim. Now you’re getting more pricey, but exciting. One might even say “Super”. Perhaps even “Sporting”. This is where you had to work up to in order to order the famous “Super Sport” package.
  • Caprice: The name introduced in 1965 as the top dog in the full-size line, this car was probably loaded. If not, what was the incentive to buy the top of the line name?


    Ron Kidd digs under the hood for the paint code on the 1967 Chevy Bel Air.


    Be More Specific — Back to Ron’s car…
      For a Bel Air, this car is full of toys. It is painted one of my favorite
    colors… green. In this case Mountain Green. It shall stay that way. It was born with the optional 327-V8 engine, power steering, power brakes, and air conditioning. It seems to be wearing Rally wheels and it is a post sedan. We love post sedans. 
      It will be wearing hub caps and powered by a 454 engine and whatever transmission I can find. How does an under hood intake with two 4-barrels sound? Remember the intake I mentioned I had? What a coincidence! It also has circular gauges that would be absolutely perfect for a tachometer.
      You know how much Junkyard Life loves tachometers. We do make a big deal about them, don’t we? Before I get into a front disc brake upgrade, I suppose now I should concentrate on getting the deal secured. Where will I put it? When will I get to it? How do I get it out of the woods? 
      Details, blah, blah, whatever. I already said “dibs” several times.

    Ron Kidd
    — Junkyard Life



    Ron Kid, Keith Lively, and Jody Potter gather around the 1967 Bel Air that Ron claimed dibs on.

     
    Ron’s Full Size Chevrolet Fun Facts:
    • Bel Air really was a trim level that indicated top of the line for Chevrolet in the early sedan days.
    • By the time Green Dibs was born, The Bel Air name plate was almost as low buck as a buyer could go. 
    • The name and trim line “Impala” trumped the Bel Air in 1958.
    • Chevrolet stood their ground with the name despite going from the best selling and memorable car in 1957, with the Bel Air, to the not as exciting, much less popular 1958 model and calling it “Impala”.
    • Impala is a small deer-like animal that runs really fast. They run not by grace, but for fear of their lives, as they are being chased by several predators. Bewildering that other car builder’s advertising campaigns didn’t play on that fact. Such as, a Cougar (Mercury) could feed on an Impala (Chevrolet) because they could catch them. 
    • Although not a fun fact. The Impala can been seen on full-size Chevrolet emblems and steering wheels.


    Trio of round gauge pods framed by the 1967 Chevy steering wheel.

    Cross flags and 327 emblem was a popular sight on Chevrolets in the 1960s.

    Engine bay is empty on the 1967 Bel Air. 327-V8 long since removed and the carcass left for dead in the woods in the 1980s.

    Mountain Green paint is almost the same color green as summer foilage in Alabama.
    Mountain Green paint is almost the same color as summer foliage in Alabama.

    Bel Air bling carries little weight by 1967. The name was tired and Chevy relegated it to the cheapo model.

    Wood Chevrolet was a big time Birmingham, Alabama-area car dealer for many decades including the muscle car era.

    It was a hot day when we checked out Keith Lively’s new found stash of Chevys. The threat of snake bites and poison oak will never deter us.

    Full-size hot rod dreams are made of post sedans.

    Chevrolet script emblem decorates the trunk of the 1967 Bel Air.


    The car looks a mile long from this angle.

    Aluminum trim extends beyond the grill wrapping onto the sides of the big 1967 Bel Air Chevy.


    Keep hunting for prizes like this 2-door 1967 Chevrolet Bel Air in Mountain Green. They exist!

    These ’67 Chevy tail lights may soon glow again if Ron Kidd can haul this baby home.



    Do you have a classic or muscle car barn find? Send us details and we’re on the way!  Send emails to Jody Potter at junkyardbull@gmail.com or Ron Kidd at Kidd403@bellsouth.net.

    Saturday, October 29, 2016

    Junkyard Emergency: 1934 Ford Tudor race car found in woods, rescued

    1934 Ford Tudor sedan was a local Birmingham, Alabama race car in the 1940s and 1950s.

    Deep woods dig for 1934 Ford. I found a ’34 Ford Tudor sedan race car stashed deep in the woods of Alabama. Weathered lettering spells out “JACK MASSEY ‘THE DUKE’ of the SPEEDWAY” across the roof. The number on the door, J-2, has almost been erased by time. This piece of auto racing history deserved to be rescued. The Junkyard Life crew jumped into action. Follow us, just make sure you’re current on tetanus shots, have mosquito repellent, and snake bite proof boots.

    Keith Lively built a monster Jeep, just what was needed to haul an old 1934 Ford out of the deep woods.
    Keith Lively’s home built “Money Burner” Jeep is more than capable of pulling a vintage 1934 Ford race car out of the woods.


    Why was I in the woods?
      Travis Brown, friend, fireman, and Ford loyalist, remembered stumbling upon some old cars while searching for a missing elderly man in the woods one night. After some prodding and permission to look, we arranged to check out the long-forgotten stash of old cars. It was sometime in 2012, when Brown took me down a wooded hillside (we call it a “holler” in the south), to find a 1934 Ford Tudor, 1951 Ford Victoria, and a mangled VW bug. A flat head V8 engine and various car parts and scrap metal were found all around. How long had they been down in those woods? I could only guess… 40 years, maybe longer?


    Jack Massey of Locust Fork, Alabama is in the Alabama Auto Racing Pioneers Hall of Fame.
    Built by the greatest generation and still surviving after 40+ years in the woods.

    Who owned the race car?
      L.Z. Strickland or “Strick”, once owned the property near the 4-way intersection known as Crosston. That land is where Strickland unloaded a ’34 Ford that he had wrenched on with the Massey brothers from Locust Fork, Alabama. It’s possible that Strickland may have swapped the engine over to a newer body and wound up with the old ’34 race car shell.
      “L.Z. lived in Tarrant but had his summer place out in the country for planting a garden. Had plans to move out there when he retired,” Patricia Rawlinson said. Rawlinson was married to Strickland’s son, Larry. “He kept up a little garage and always had some cars to work on.” 
       The elder Strickland never got to move to the country. In 1977, at 61 years old, and less than eight months from retirement, Strickland was crushed to death while working at U.S. Pipe. His cars and tools sat untouched for decades. The cars at his summer place out in the country forgotten.

    L.Z. Strickland move these cars onto his property many years before his death in 1977.
    1934 Ford and 1951 Ford Victoria sat at the bottom of a holler in the woods of Alabama for more than 40 years. This is how they looked when I first saw them in 2011.

    OK’d to rescue the car
      L.Z.’s daughter-in-law gave me permission to rescue the ’34. It took me 5 years to connect with her and get written consent. The 11-acre property where the car sat never changed hands from the original family. A portion of the land has been rented for many years but the car remained out of sight and hard to spot.
      Note: Always get permission to hunt for junk on someone else’s property. 


    Moving the 1934 Ford was a challenge because of all the trees.
    Moving the 1934 Ford Tudor was a challenge because of all the trees, roots, and difficulty moving a vehicle without wheels and a rear axle.


    Trapped by time, tree roots
      The old race car, lacking wheels and a rear end, had sunk into the earth and was losing a battle with nature. Several feet of tree roots grew along and into the rear frame rails. I dug around and under the body for many hours over the course of several sweltering summer months. When I reached the point where I could saw through the tree’s roots, the junked jalopy was finally free. 
      Next obstacle? Moving it. I cut the surrounding trees down and jacked the car up and sat it on blocks. My dad, Joe, and I managed to slide it several feet using metal rails, blocks, and a chain and come-along. The railroad track method was effective but was going to take forever, unless I could get a car trailer down into the woods. The nearest navigable path was 300 yards away from the car. 

    Slow, safe method of moving an 82-year-old car.
    My dad, Joe Potter, works the steel tracks into place as we devise a plan to move the 1934 Ford. He was quick to produce a McGyver-like plan using the available resources.

    Time to call the a recovery team!
      I gathered the Junkyard Life crew, starting with Ron Kidd and Keith Lively. These guys are always up for automotive adventure at the drop of a hat. Keith rescued a 1969 Olds Cutlass S convertible from the scrapyard just before it hit the crusher and Ron
    is drawn to cars like a kid to a lost puppy. He can’t say, “No!” 
      We needed to get the car out, sooner rather than later!

     
    The “Money Burner” Jeep that Keith Lively built is the ultimate junkyard rescue vehicle.
    “Money Burner” is the ultimate junkyard rescue vehicle. LS 6.0 liter power, 1-ton axles, dual winches, onboard air compressor and welding capabilities.


    Money Burner

      Keith Lively, instigator of automotive mayhem, was the man for the job. Lively built a monster Jeep known as “Money Burner” that has a 6.0 liter LS engine, 43-inch tires, and a winch among its recovery tools. It has a TJ front clip on a YJ rear which was extended into a 4-door by stretching frame.
      After two days of chainsaw work, clearing somewhat of a path down into the holler. Lively and “Money Burner” navigated the steep hills, trees, stumps, and other obstacles, such as the discarded flat head Ford V8s in the leaves with ease. 
      “The hill doesn’t look steep but trust me it was hard to walk up and down,” said Lively. “The large amount of pine straw made the Jeep slide when I used the brakes.” 
      Ron Kidd and I assisted on the recovery by using a massive pulley and the winch. We were able to fish the ’34 Ford between trees. The process required pulling from a dozen different angles and directions. Lively cinched the ’34’s frame up in the air and dragged the vintage racer to freedom. 


    Jody Potter and Ron Kidd steered the 1934 Ford while the Jeep and Keith pulled using a winch.
    Jody Potter and Ron Kidd steer the 1934 Ford clear of trees while Keith pulled using a winch on the Jeep.


    Ron Kidd and the 1934 Ford look small next to Lively’s Jeep.
    Ron Kidd and the 1934 Ford look small next to Lively’s Jeep.


    Massey raced in the late-40s and 1950s in Alabama. He is in the Alabama Auto Racing Pioneers HoF.
    The inset photo shows cars on the Iron Bowl track in the late 1940s. One of the tracks from the time period that Massey’s 1934 Ford raced.


    Who raced the car?
      Jack Massey, whose name is on the roof, was the wheel man on the ’34 Tudor. Jack and his brothers, Sam and Joe, also raced during the late-1940s through the 1950s. All three brothers, from Locust Fork, Alabama, were inducted into the Alabama Auto Racing Pioneers Hall of Fame several years ago. 
      “J-2 was Jack’s number and my husband, Joe, always drove the J-1 number,” Anne Massey said. “We got married in 1952. I never went to the races, but they raced at the Fairgrounds (B.I.R.) in Birmingham on Sundays, the Iron Bowl, Crystal Springs, and in Tennessee sometimes.” 
      Anne wouldn’t commit as to who was the best driver out of the three brothers. “They raced for the fun of it,” she said with a laugh.


    Jack Massey always ran the J-2 number when he raced.
    Jack Massey always ran the J-2 number when he raced. He raced for several years in the Alabama region.


    Racing Pioneers disappear
      The tough-as-nails men that raced the dirt tracks in daredevil jalopies have disappeared. Jack was killed in an auto accident while driving an 18-wheeler in Florida in 1988. Sam succumbed to cancer in the 1990s. Joe operated a wrecker company and died in 2010.
      The history of Alabama auto racing is rich and many stories are left untold. This car is a testament to the racing community. Thousands of race car drivers, and mechanics were born in the Birmingham, Alabama area. Hopefully this car can shine a light on those stories so they are not forgotten.

    Jody Potter
    — Junkyard Life

    Read moreRebuilding the 1934 Ford race car found in the woods, Part I


    The recovery trip lasted until past dark. The 1934 Ford race car saga continues.
    Junkyard Life recovery team, Jody Potter, Ron Kidd, and Keith Lively. The recovery trip lasted until past dark. The 1934 Ford race car saga continues. Stay tuned.


    Safety equipment, such as this roll bar, was crude but necessary. The 1934 Ford was still being built with wood inside the body shell for support.

    Dash in the 1934 Ford Tudor race car.

    Inside the forgotten ’34 Ford round tracker.


    Tape still on the steering wheel of the 1934 Ford race car that has been sitting in the woods for more than 4 decades.


    Long process to acquire the car but worth it to save a piece of history.
    1934 Ford as I first saw it almost 5 years ago. It was a long process to acquire the car but worth it to save a piece of history.


    Read moreRebuilding the 1934 Ford race car found in the woods, Part I



    Know details about this old race car? Have a find of your own?  Send us the word and we’re on the way!  Send emails to Jody Potter at junkyardbull@gmail.com or Ron Kidd at Kidd403@bellsouth.net.