Scrap Metal-Just about made me sick!!

My son sent me this picture. Going to the scrap yard. I hate to see it go.

I know what you mean. Had a new guy buy some land not far from my house. Field was full of old equipment. Went by the other day field is now empty. Ask him what happened. Told me he had all that worthless junk hauled off. So he got very mad when I told him about how much that junk was worth.

I have scrapped a lot of tractors, and will do lots more, if the collectors dont step up to the plate soon. Early bird gets the worm.

Nothing else you could do with that but scrap it.

Yep--people buy their kids shoes, send them to school, and they "eat the books!" Most folks nowadays, all they can see is dollar signs, when it comes to nice restorable machinery setting in some farm yard! And all it takes is for some savvy junk picker to offer them a bit of cash for it, and away it goes!
I tried for a number of years to buy an old car sitting in an old barn. The owner of the place said he was going to restore it soon (?).
Old car sat in the barn until the barn fell down on top of it, and squashed it so bad that no amount of restoration could bring it back!

It makes me sick too because this isn't just a piece of scrap, it is a piece of history being erased forever. But the fact is I cannot afford to buy them all (by any means) so it is out of my control. I have more projects now than I can keep funded. So just save what you can and be very proud of what you save. That is just how I look at it....

its only worth money if someone is willing to pay.

Most guys waste your time looking it over 2 or 3 times or never show up and want to buy for less that its worth for scrap they cry when its hauled away.

Saw that happen to a very historic church in Dallas. Had not been used in years,in poor shape. While everyone was fighting about how and who was going to pay to restore it. It feel in. A lot of history gone. There is a Packard Clipper in a field near here. Trees growing out of it. But the owner will not sell.

That's not an old Model A Ford near Dumas Arkansas is it? I saw the shed setting on it while working a crop claim.

I ask the old guy about it and he said "That car is right where I want it!" Not 100% sure what he meant, but he was a crabby ole fart anyway.

Gene

I do know that the local scrap man won't take anything with tires on it. Is this on the way to or from the man?

My partner at work's fatherin law is moving. My partner is a car guy from the 70's and his FIL is a car guy from the 60's and fooled around with cars, Croslys, Model A's , boats, you get the picture. Well acouple weeks ago my coworker tells me "I wish I knew a lot about old Model A's and 50's speed parts, because I could have made some money. Too bad scrap is down because we hauled a car hauler trailer full of parts to the scrap". He got mad because I told him that was stupid. They're both car guys and should appreciate the value of stuff like that. I would've bought the load for one price and put the lot up for bid on ebay or something. He says thats why my yard looks like it does.

at the end of my road there's a bunch of old cars pickup trucks and farm equipment.
also quonset building laying in a pile never put together. old guy wouldn't sell anything now his heirs get to deal with it.

What folks will do for crack comes to mind,,, most scrap yards pay cash...

Think about this,,, My water pressure has been low for awhile so I went down to the road and dug up the pressure regulator at the water meter (city water) and spliced in a pipe and put the new regulator under the house,,, well I had a small leak on the meter side of my splice and it was their when I started,,, after 4 attempts to stop the leak it got worst so i called my BIL that works for the city and ask who the ell do you call for after hours emergency service,,, he said call the police department,,, I did and they dispatched a guy on call from the water department,,, he was a mexican that talked a little English but did do the repair fast and proper,,, now it hit me folks that live in government housing are trained to call the local P.D. any time they have a problem,,, set back and smoke their crack and watch a mexican fix it

oh just think J.D. made so many that it dont really matter if a few get melted. at least its not a complete super wd9 that i saw get cut up.but i guess thats what brings the price up when they get scarce.i hate to see equipment get scraped also.

I have a '50 Chevy five window pickup sitting in back of my shop with no engine in it. About 15 years ago, the guy that owns it towed it to my shop and wanted a price for restoring it.

I know him and his father, and there's no way I'd do any kind of work for either of them. You'd be lucky to get half the bill paid. So I set the price high enough so I knew he wouldn't go for it. Predictably, he said my price was too high and left with the pickup sitting in front of my shop. I pulled it around behind the shop and it's been there ever since. Even has a tree grown up through the engine compartment.

Several years ago, his mother saw it, and insisted it had an engine in it when they brought it over, which it certainly did not. Now the guy got in trouble with the law and got fired from his job, and I'm sure he has problems far beyond getting a pickup restored. Dang thing can sit there till it rots for all I care, but I'm sure someone would rake me over the coals for leaving a desirable pickup rust down.

What I'm saying, is when you see some of this old stuff just sitting, there's usually a story behind it that goes far beyond it simply sitting there.

A guy I work with hauled a load of scrap sheet metal from our body shop. The boss puts the money aside for special lunches or parties for the shop. Buddy was fussing because of all the work loading it, and got $0.40 a pound for it. Personally, I can make a lot more making that scrap pile up, than what it pays to get rid of it... I don't keep up with prices of metals, so I don't know if that was a good price, but he was not impressed.

That was three 'D' John Deeres in one container. More containeers also. Real spoked wheels on one of them.

Check with your local "law enforcement professionals" as you do have a legal right to ownership of the truck after it's been abandoned for x amount of time. I know alot of guys that own repair shops and having vehicles abandoned with them due to the cost of needed repairs is a real common occurance. Given that and the fact that a title is needed to really do anything with the vehicles I know NC, and I assume other states, has a proceedure to get the title of the vehicle and take possession of it in order to dispose of it in the manner you see fit.

Even if no repair work was done and no therefore no money owed for a repair, you can still, by law, send the guy a bill for an amount of your choosing for daily storage on the truck simply because it has set in your way for all that time. I guess the time period required for payment may vary by state but in NC that bill alone gives you the right to the vehicle if not paid within a certain period of time. Personally I had a Ditch Witch that I was owed about $200 on and never got paid for even after numerous calls to the owner. I had torn it down and repairs were more than he wanted to spend so it was immobile and moving it around was a royal PITA. I eventually told him I was going to start charging storage for it being in my way but it didn't seem to matter. I eventually had someone see it and make me a cash offer on the machine so and after letting it set in my way for nearly two years I sold it for the price of the accumulated storage fees. That was a little more 'dicey' so far as the legalities since it had no title and therefore there was no real legal way to sell it without going to court and spending more than it was worth so that's why I waited that long but that was nearly 4 years ago when it was sold and that's the last I've heard.

All of that said I'm not going to flame you for letting the truck sit. Just remember though you do have certain rights to any property that was abandoned in your care.

Would $0.40 a pound be $40.00 per hundred pounds? Here scrap steel/iron is $5.50/to/$6.00 per hundred lbs.