Unfortunately, some of those junkyard operators can be a bit, shall we say, independent? Also, some people think they have something no one else has, trying to be contrary, as it were. I had a Fox-bodied 1980 Thunderbird once and needed a plastic emblem for one of the headlight doors. After this guy did the hateful routine, he quoted a price for this little piece of plastic and I politely thanked him and started to walk away. Funny, he wanted to deal then. Some people.... Then there was the time in northern Maine, there was a junkyard near Loring Airforce Base that apparently a guy would go to the base and pick up cars that deceased soldiers had owned. A friend of mine was restoring a 1960 Ford Thunderbird and needed the door glass with the circular FOMOCO emblems. Luckily for me the original owner had died and his sons would sell you anything. They had tons of anything you wanted! I like CPVI's, also! Craig.
That guy sounds like a ghoul For years we have only had privately owned junkyards and the prices for parts were all over the place. Sometime it seemed to depend on what kind of day the owner was having or how much money he made or didn't make that day. One guy still has a junkyard that has old cars in it and he sells a walkthrough video of his yard for collectors. Problem is that there are Mavericks/Comets in that yard and he groups them in with the GTO, Road Runner and Mustangs that he has. Another yard still operating is ex-Cup driver Jimmy Spencer's family yard in Berwick Pa. A few years ago I took a ride up in the yard with Jimmy's Dad, Ed Spencer, and he only had 1 Maverick left. I did a 2 minute walk around of the car and couldn't find a thing left that would have interested me. We now have a few of the u-pull-it yards but Mavericks are still rare to find in them. The good part of these yards is the prices are really low. The bad part is people from NYC come in and pick it clean to take the parts back to the city and get top dollar for them.
I'm right with you. I guess these people think I have idiot stamped on my head and granted I'm not the brightest bulb on the string, but, if there is one in the world chances are there are two and salvage yard operators know some people haven't done their homework and will pay whatever. Then there is the, "I won't sell just that, but, I will sell you the whole car" routine. I'll have to say the u-pull-it's we have around here are pretty good about that. Craig.
My 69.5 was originally a 6 cylinder automatic. In the early 90's I went to a private owner junkyard looking for a clutch/brake pedal assembly. I had to go up with the owner first to look at the cars and see if I could find what I needed. At that time there were a bunch of Mavericks in his yard and I found 3 cars that had everything that I needed. Now keep in mind that I only wanted the interior pedal parts, nothing like the engine pivot ball or frame linkage. So the owner tells me he wanted 20 bucks for everything if I take it off the blue 70 that had the 6 cylinder in it. I asked him what that had to do with anything and he tells me that the other 2 originally had V8 engines and he wanted 100.00 for those pedal assembly. I thought "Huh??" but I told him "no problem" and that pedal assembly is what I have in my car now. That's like saying "Well, that tail light is from a V8 car so I have to charge you 5 times more money"
