I wouldn't normally condone passive aggressive behavior, but in this case,
it only seems fair. What or why? I'll tell you.
By chance, I discovered a wrecking yard here in Omaha that has plenty of
British cars within. With much excitement, a friend and I went out to see
what there might be. The owner is a young twenty-something kid, hereafter
referred to by his name Drew, who just took over for his deceased Dad. When
we originally inquired, he stated that there were a few Spitfires out there,
but he didn't have an inventory, and couldn't say what was there.
We arrived on a Saturday morning, cold, windy, melting snow and mud aplenty.
What we discovered was the following inventory:
8-10 Spitfires, mostly 1500's, 2 or 3 are round tails.
6 TR7's (to include an '81 with fuel injection engine, vin# reveals it
was made in the last month of production.)
1 TR6
2 Heralds
5-6 MGB's
1 MGB GT
3 MG Midgets
Enough to create much excitement, no?
Well, it really isn't as good as it sounds for us Spitfire guys. Most of
the Spits were piled three high by forklift, and all motors/transmissions
were gone. Not much salvageable at all, save some steel wheels, and some of
the older center lock wire wheels. There were two chrome rear bumpers, no
fronts, and some body panels/doors worth saving, but that's about it.
I won't include an inventory of the other cars, but can say the MGB"s are in
the best shape, engines, all panels attached, plenty of Smith's gauges to go
around.
OK, you ask why I call this 'JUNKYARD WARS?" Well, Drew, the young guy
that runs the place wants nothing to do with parting out or selling parts
from these cars. Gerry, my friend, made a deal to buy the '81 TR7 for $300.
I managed to get the rear bumper for $45, when Drew could get around to
pulling it. We arranged to get a few Flatwater Austin Healey members, (our
local British car club) to show up with a trailer to reclaim the TR7 on
Gerry's behalf. When we arrive, Drew announced that we needed to go look at
the TR once again as a few things had changed since we last looked at it.
The few things that changed, was the entire car! The kid decided to fork
lift the car to the front of the yard, and in doing so, dropped it upside
down, the used the fork lift to ROLL it over upright. Nothing was
salvageable.
I asked when he would be able to pull the bumper from the Spit, ( I had been
waiting six weeks now) and he said "When I get to it."
He then went on to say, "He didn't want us guys coming around anymore,
because those cars weren't the time or effort for him." He said, "I tired
of ;you guys coming in here and offering $2-3 for parts." In our defense,
that wasn't true. Lastly, he says, "I'm sending all those cars to the
crusher, so don't bother coming back to look around."
Now do you understand the 'JUNKYARD WARS?' Here is where my passive
aggressive nature emerges. The junkyard is called: Roger's Import Autos
the kid's name is Drew, and the telephone number is 402-331-6666. If any of
these cars hold any interest for you, call him, bug the hell out of him,
make him sorry he even thinks about crushing these cars. I wouldn't
recommend his business to you, but certainly inquire about parts if you are
interested.
Joe, I didn't have any paper/pen to write down commission numbers so we
could at least add these to your database as 'retired'.
Thanks, all, for letting me rave on....
Mike Nelson
Omaha
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