Junkyard shopping just for fun

I have a problem where I go to the junkyard and look at the newest arrivals to see if there is anything I can’t live without. Anyone else do this? Friends think I’m nuts because I enjoy it. I stock up on Tahoe parts I don’t need because I find a thrill in snagging a hard to find part. I just scored a factory sub box and the rear quarter trim panel with the perforated holes from a 02 Tahoe that is the same color as my 2003 for $25 for both things. I dont know if I will ever get around to installing it but I couldn’t pass it up. Also got 4 like new kicker 6.5’s for $10. What have you guys bought that you didn’t need?

03greenZ71 said:

I have a problem where I go to the junkyard and look at the newest arrivals to see if there is anything I can’t live without. Anyone else do this? Friends think I’m nuts because I enjoy it. I stock up on Tahoe parts I don’t need because I find a thrill in snagging a hard to find part. I just scored a factory sub box and the rear quarter trim panel with the perforated holes from a 02 Tahoe that is the same color as my 2003 for $25 for both things. I dont know if I will ever get around to installing it but I couldn’t pass it up. Also got 4 like new kicker 6.5’s for $10. What have you guys bought that you didn’t need?

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My local LKQ is my happy place. I can spend hours there just browsing. Can't beat their pricing for things like speakers and trim pieces. To them, a speaker is a speaker. I brought home some minty 6.5" Alpine components with crossovers for their price for a "small" speaker- something like $3 each. Factory stainless exhaust tips they write up as "trim" for around $5 that, otherwise, would've been nearly $100 each. Sometimes, just seeing the terrible things people do to their rides is entertaining. I've bought lots of the rare and hard-to-find trim pieces for other people back in my S10 days. Sometimes it was just a clean non-rusted item like a fuel door that was needed to be mailed to someone in the salt belt.

Oh man do I love junkyard field trips. Like you all say, feels good finding hard to find gems. And just the feeling of freedom and calmness browsing the lots, until you find something you want and either can't get to or cause you ******* forgot to bring the right tool. Lol

I can find a cheap car or truck as oh. Now pull it apart and it’s like wow look at that I could use A , B and C.

I do this, too, just to see what's there (at UPull). Mostly I go for a part or two that I need right away, but always check the online inventory to be able to scour for vehicles that I'm interested in. You never know what you'll find for parts, and you have to be ready to pull them since the vehicle may not be there the next time you go.

JYs around me have been garbage for the last few years........I miss my JY adventures

Been thru my share of junk/salvage yards looking for finds that I just could not pass up. When my wife was alive, she had a Pontiac Firebird Trans Am with the 5.7 engine in it. She liked to go fast. She had a center console cover that was cracked and she always went with me to these yards looking for that cover. We would get out in the yard and she was gone on the hunt. I would call her when I was ready to go because our paths hardly ever crossed out in those yards. She never did find one that was the right color. She wanted one that was the correct color instead of just painting one. She looked at ebay and the internet sites with no luck. I was not involved in the search because she wanted to do it herself.

The hunt is more often the fun part.

It is calming, it’s actually one of a few times I can legitimately say I can’t take any of the kids with me because they have to be 16 to enter. Just peaceful time digging around a bunch of cars.

PNW VietVet said:

Been thru my share of junk/salvage yards looking for finds that I just could not pass up. When my wife was alive, she had a Pontiac Firebird Trans Am with the 5.7 engine in it. She liked to go fast. She had a center console cover that was cracked and she always went with me to these yards looking for that cover. We would get out in the yard and she was gone on the hunt. I would call her when I was ready to go because our paths hardly ever crossed out in those yards. She never did find one that was the right color. She wanted one that was the correct color instead of just painting one. She looked at ebay and the internet sites with no luck. I was not involved in the search because she wanted to do it herself.

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All 3rd gen covers were the same color as far as I remember. 5.7 was in 87-92--from factory. There were gray, and the older--82-84 were black, but a different style.