I like old jalopy’s, that requires some “salvage yard” time.

I have almost always had old cars, some older than others but I have only had 2 brand new ones in my life, a 1989 F150 lariat and a 1999 F150 lariat, both nice trucks with nice payment plans. If memory serves me, they were about $350 and $750 respectively. I have had a number of Nova’s, including a 66 that I did a frame off restoration (yes I connected the sub-frames with rectangular steel so there was a full frame when I was done. I love the look and style of the older cars, new ones are homogenous amalgams of lightweight steel, plastic and who knows what else. Old cars are not that at all, they are steel, steel and then a bit more steel bolted to that. I would not be surprised if the bumpers on my current Jalopy have more steel than could be found in every bit of a new Honda Hybrid.

There is another big plus with the old jalopy’s, no car payments. I have not had a repair ever that cost as much as the book of car payment tickets, although I don’t know if they have the little books anymore, all computerized I bet. When I was younger I drove old cars mainly because I could not afford the payments, now I am older I still have the same problem. Not sure what happened there but it works out because I don’t want any more car payments anyway.

Over the years I have spent a lot of time in the Junk Yards, yes back in the day they were called Junk Yards. There were old cars sitting in the dirt in whatever order they were brought in. There were no computer printouts or anything more than a proprietor telling you there might be one over that way and another over there when you asked about a 71 Nova steering wheel. My favorite was an OLD place between the Virginia, North Carolina border. I can’t remember the name of the place but I went there a lot when I was stationed in Norfolk Va. I got to be good friends with the old man who ran the place and even gave him a couple of junkers when I was done with them. He had a pretty good handle on what he had and where it was, all the way back to the 1920’s and there were over 100 acres of them. I remember nearly buying a Chevy 409 out of a 62 Impala just because I did not know anyone who had stuffed one in a Nova.

My current Jalopy is 52 years old and I really enjoy it, I find it almost therapeutic. Like most folks my work is never ending, especially in the broadcasting business since we are chasing listeners and viewers to all corners of the technology ridden world. With that always on the go mentality there is no end, so the Jalopy becomes an ongoing project. Each small project portion has a beginning, a middle and then an end. When it is complete I do not have to worry that the ball joint is not in the right format for I-tunes or that the speedometer cable is not compatible with the software version of the transmission. Those sorts of issues just do not come up when working on the jalopy. I find solace in its simplicity. When I rebuilt that distributor, I followed the same steps and used the same parts that a guy in 1961 would have done and used. There was no worry about what version of points or if the rotor button was able to handle the higher voltage of electronic ignition systems – same, simple and relaxing, at least to me.

So the other day I drove the jalopy out to a place called “Ace Pick a Part” looking for a part for our van. The driver’s side window stopped going up and down, occasionally I could get it to work if I whacked it. As I received my two page computer printout that detailed every place that switch could be located, the range from row T14 through T17. Each vehicle also had an ID number written on the windows although I did not need that since I could tell I was looking for a Chrysler product. I have been here a number of times and am amazed at how well organized and easy to use this place is. No trees, bushes or even grass or dirt. The whole place is covered with gravel with an asphalt substance on the main thoroughfares. All the vehicles are relatively new and all are sitting up off the ground about 15-20 inches. sitting on the rims of some other cars.

I like it in some ways and hate it others. I like it because I can go right to the place where the part I am looking for is, I mean right to it. The vehicles are clean and the ground is covered with gravel with nary a weed growing through. I hate it for the same reasons. There is not a lot of adventure, I like wandering around and when you are working on jalopy’s you need to wander. That part you need might be on several different makes of car. For example I could take most parts off a Pontiac Ventura and they would work on a Nova. I could get parts off the 58 Fairlane and they would work on my 58 Ranchero. The adventure was and still is something l like because it is also discovery. You may find something on a car you are not even working on that will spark your imagination in some creative way and give you ideas about how to change something on your car.

The old yards are still around, they are harder to find and in Florida I worry about poisonous snakes lucking inside the door when you are pulling out the window regulator. I wish the newer style yards kept cars around longer, to find something more than 10-15 years old is a challenge. I still like driving my 52 year old jalopy to look for parts for my minivan, the juxtaposition makes me laugh out loud most times I do it and mainly I just like saving the money over buying a new car or a new part.  I found the switch for 27 bucks, and that is $103 dollars cheaper than a new one - yep, I am smiling.

If you are in Jacksonville I HIGHLY recommend you use Ace Pick A Part located at 9152 North Main Street - 904-756-5507