Wayne Graefen asked if anyone had been to Roblin's Garage, which
is a salvage yard in Eastern Ontario. Here's their web page:
http://www.roblins.net/
I was there yesterday to get some headrests for my 75 Olds Custom
Cruiser.
Mr. Roblin is a very pleasant fellow, about 65 - 70 years old, I
would guess. He directed me to the road that goes along the east
side of his yard. The cars are arranged in neat rows. There is
grass on the ground and few bits of brush trying to grow between
the cars. Cars of the 1970s and newer are in a second field, to
the south of the main field. Although I had left my Olds on the
dirt road, and walked through the fields, Mr. Roblin has a
4-wheel-drive yard SUV to take his tools to the cars, and take
the customer and the parts back to the main road.
I kept my eyes open for Forward Look cars, and saw a few, but
didn't get any real opportunity to wander around and check out
the cars. I did get a close up look at a 59 Chrysler New Yorker
four door. It was a bare body shell, no drive train, interior or
trim. I saw a 1960 Dodge four door sedan, from a distance. Also,
a 1957 or 58 Plymouth four door sedan.
Mr. Roblin knows the story behind some of them, such as a 1950
Dodge four door that he or his family (I believe Roblin's was a
new car dealer, long ago, anybody know?) sold new, and then
bought back at the end of its road life.
In general, Mr. Roblin's cars have been sitting there a long
time, through many Canadian winters and summers. Some of the cars
have broken in half, due to rust. A 73 Olds had rust holes
through the roof that you could put your arm through; the vinyl
top that likely caused that rust was long gone. I saw a shiny
bumper on a 73 Chev, but it was the exception. Ontario's heavy
use of road salt through seven months of winter eventually takes
it toll.
The plastic steering wheels of the 1970s cars were all cracked in
half a dozen places. The dash pads (I'm STILL looking for a 75
Olds dash pad, hint, hint) are either badly cracked, or
sometimes, still OK. I saw a decent pad for a 73 Olds. Mr. Roblin
showed me, in his garage, a dash pad removed the day before by a
customer, from a 60s car. It appeared to be vinyl over steel,
rather than heavily padded, but still decent.
I spotted a 1965 Chrysler 300 and went up close. I need the
stainless trim on the front of the hood for my 65 Newport. The
300 had no drive train, nor anything ahead of the rad support,
which was bent badly enough to tell me why that car was here.
There were plenty of non-Forward Look cars, and a leisurely walk
up and down the rows would have been quite interesting. But I
kept wondering how all of these cars could produce an
economically viable business. Most of the bodies are rusty enough
to be restoration candidates only if there are no clean
"southern" cars available. Most of the interiors would yield only
a few good items. Most of the chrome trim would be usable only by
someone who had absolutely no other part, on the theory that
something is better than nothing, and that, as a last resort, a
badly pitted piece, along with a heap of cash, can produce a nice
result. Mechanical pieces are the most likely bet, although the
75 Olds that donated its head rests to me, was resting on a brake
drum that appeared to have rusted off at right angles to its hub.
Mr. Roblin told me that he had removed quite a few torsion bars,
for safer storage, but his attempt to get a rusty GM axle out had
convinced him to forget about GM axles, because it proved to be
too rust to be usable.
If you're into a major project on a rare car, though, while
driving away, I spotted a 1958 Buick ambulance or hearse. It had
a blue body and white roof. Didn't notice any lights or sirens,
so I wondered if it had been a hearse, or possibly a combination
hearse and ambulance. But it was nothing like the 1959 Plymouth
Suburban Fire Chief's Car, recently purchased by Russell Housen.
Russell, you're the envy of us all!
Thus endeth the sermon for today. If you want to know anything
else, I'm happy to respond. There are pretty good pictures
available on Roblin's site or on some other virtual junk yard
tours (here's one link:
http://www.execpc.com/~vidsal/vidsalinks.htm), so I don't know
what other info I could provide.
Happy hunting.
Dick Woodside
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