Time was, you could wander down to the local scrap yard with a box of wrenches and prowl the rows of junkers to find-and pull-the part you needed. However, like the traditional rear-drive American musclecar, such a tradition is getting rare.
Traditional mom-'n'-pop salvage yards are scarce these days. Environmental concerns and a proliferation of larger, computerized wrecking yards make it difficult for the old-school junkyards to keep their grizzled, old Doberman watchdogs busy. However, on a recent drive through northern Michigan, we found a good, old, "if you want it, you pull it" salvage yard.
Spencer's Auto Sales & Salvage, operated for the last 25 years by Rick Spencer, is located just outside the wide spot in the road known as Whittemore, Michigan. Spencer, a former race car driver, is a "car guy" with a real eye for quality wrecks (Whether he got into the business because of wadding up too many cars in his race career, he didn't say).
After spotting a few '70s vintage cars from the highway, we stopped in to search for a set of taillights for one of our project cars.
"Yeah, I think we got some of those cars," Rick said, after our inquiry for the lights. He then pointed to a far corner of the yard. "You see that big tree? That's where the Chevys are. Go look."
Surprising for a rust-belt salvage yard is the number of '60s and '70s cars. We were thrilled by the number of good parts left on the older Chevys. Spencer's has a particularly good collection of Second-Generation Camaros. And though Michigan sheetmetal isn't always rust-free, the cars in the yard offered plenty of other great parts. In terms of Camaros, there were lots of great front fascias, taillamps, bumpers, and glass, and while most fenders showed cancer, the urethane front and rear bumpers of later Second-Generation F-cars were in mostly great shape.
Of course, any car nut worth his Craftsmans appreciates the hidden beauty of a salvage yard. You can't help but wonder how an old Nova SS, which was surely someone's pride and joy when new, ended up bent and rotting beneath a row of pine trees.
The ignominy of rusting, wrecked cars always fires the imagination, too. Each battered Bow-Tie looks like a jewel in the rough to an enthusiast's eye. In fact, it was hard for us to just grab our needed parts and not leave the yard without asking Rick Spencer what he wanted for the '71 Malibu station wagon shell we found. Hmm...Paint it red, bolt on an SS hood (with white SS stripes, of course), and drop an appropriate 454 under the hood-sounds like a fun phantom SS.
Although later-model wrecks make up most of the yard's inventory, there's still plenty of older Chevys with good parts to give, especially those Second-Gen Camaros. Give Spencer's a call at (517) 756-2147.