My first motorized vehicle at age 8 a Villiers motor cycle my dad brought home for me, then a 47 Hudson before I turned 12. I remember measuring the length of that car, 22 1/2 ft bumper to bumper.
The Hudson had a flathead 6 with a cork clutch run in oil, I could get that old beast to do 45 mph in first gear. I soon found out though that you could only do this so many times before blowing a head gasket.
That car took a beating for tow years before getting parked, or rather replaced by a 51 Chevy which was the first car I ever rolled. Of the two buddies that were with me at the time one turned out to be a true friend he stayed while the other went home. Neil and I went back to my place to grab the tractor and some chain to pull the car back onto its wheels.
After we got her back upright, Neil pushed started me to get the old Chevy going, wow you should have seen the smoke form all the oil that had passed into the upper cylinders while laying upside down.
I managed to make it home but not without ruining the engine by over heating, when the car went over the engine had ripped from its mounts tearing the radiator hoses free from th rad.
From here I go through a succession of small English cars, Austins, Zephers, Vauxalls, Morris Minors and Oxfords, with a few Anglias thrown in. I hated these English cars.
Also have a strong dislike for the Dodge and Plymouth flathead 6's with their paper crankshafts any cop could follow my trail after throwing a rod through the pan, just follow the oil trail.
Now I get into the Fords, my first flathead a 36 ford truck, then a 54 Meteor, then I get into the Y blocks with the over head valves. the 55's 56 and 57's
By the time I'm 14 years old half our acreage was filled up with my cars in various states of disrepair. One day a friend of my dads happened by and offered to take a load of junk into the scrap yard for me.
Wow the kid makes a new discovery they pay you for this junk, a whole $20.00 a ton back in 1962. But that money back then would buy you a whole lot of goods, way more than I get from a $100.00 bill in todays economy.
If you think about it, scrap prices have not come up all that much.
My fathers friend had a farm full of old cars, one in particular I wanted was a 36 Hudson Terraplane, The Hudson did not look pretty but they had a strong engine that went onto win races.
A buddy had a 56 Hudson Hornet that could beat any Chrysler 392 Hemi or Red Ram.
I apologize for the long winded story, but it was relevant to how I had acquired so much junk at an early age. I have my dads friend to thank for teaching me that my junk was worth money.
All I really wanted to ask is how old were you when you took in your first load of scrap and what was the price per ton.
