Some Interesting Junkyard Finds at Collins Auto Salvage in Auburn, Georgia

FORD FAIRLANE - 1959

This 1959 Ford Fairlane two-door hardtop was one of a handful of 1950s cars we found in the yard.  Note all the empty space in the background, which would once have contained a lot more similarly aged classics, now long since crushed. Presumably the straight body panels saved this one from a similar fate.

PLYMOUTH VALIANT - 1965

Unfortunately 1965 Plymouth Valiants aren’t particularly valuable or desirable when they’re in good condition, and the situation is even worse when they’re as badly abused as this one. However, acting in this example’s favour was its scarcity. It’s a high-spec V200 two-door sedan, one of just 8919 built. But we doubt if that was enough for someone to save it.

CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - 1977

In 1977 the American automobile industry was downsizing. But while General Motors had already put the Caprice on a diet, the Monte Carlo had another 12 months without having to worry about its weight. A year later it would lose 364 kg and 38 cm in length.

But despite its size, there was no shortage of buyers for Chevrolet’s luxury personal car, which sold 411,038 units. The S coupes, like this one, were slightly more popular than the Landau coupes. The Monte Carlo was built over seven generations, between 1970 and 2007.

PLYMOUTH FURY - 1972

And here’s another bloated two-door car from the 1970s - a 1972 Plymouth Fury III. However, despite weighing in at 1723 kg, with a V8 under the hood it could still shift. Though the standard 5.2-litre engine would power the car to 60mph in 13.1 seconds, the Sport Fury GT, with its 7.2-litre V8, did it in a blisteringly quick 7 seconds.

PLYMOUTH - 1949

In 1949, when this rolled off the line, Plymouth was America’s third best-selling automobile marque, behind Ford and Chevrolet. In fact it held this number three spot from 1932 to 1954, before dropping a place to Buick.

This example, which had miraculously retained its original wheel trims, was the oldest car we found at Collins Auto Salvage. But that’s not to say there weren’t a few older ones we missed, lurking in the undergrowth.

MERKUR SCORPIO

Think automotive flops, and Edsel springs to mind. But let’s not forget that the Merkur marque sold half as many cars, finding just 64,474 buyers in the five years - 1985 to 1989 - it was active in the USA.

The worst seller of its two models was the Scorpio, a rebadged German-built Ford Granada. Despite being a decent car, only 22,010 people were prepared to hand over the required $26,000 to drive one of them out of a Lincoln-Mercury showroom.

CAPRI

In contrast to the Scorpio, here’s a captive import that sold well. Designed in the UK and built in Germany, the Capri and Capri II were marketed by Lincoln-Mercury dealerships between 1970 and 1978. When this early 1970s example was sold, the Capri was the second most popular imported car after the Volkswagen Bug, and in total 513,500 were sold.

PONTIAC LE MANS - 1979

Ignoring the rotten interior, this 1979 Pontiac Le Mans coupe still had plenty of great parts to offer. Then again, we can’t imagine too many people would have been interested in restoring one, so we suspect it will have probably ended up in the crusher. Of the 68,670 Le Mans built that year, less than a quarter were coupes.

FORD MAVERICK

Here’s an equally undesirable car from the same era, a Ford Maverick four-door sedan.  As well as battling it out with the Chevrolet Nova and Dodge Dart, the Maverick was designed to tackle the growing threat from small Japanese cars.

While it didn’t set the world alight, it did sell well, with Ford producing 2.1 million units between 1969 and 1977. The nameplate has proved useful too, which is now used on a popular compact pickup truck.

FORD FAIRLANE - 1958

It’s hard to imagine that this 1958 Ford Fairlane was new once. For the first few years of its life, its proud owner would have washed and polished it every weekend.

They’d have checked out their reflection in its gleaming chrome and shiny paintwork, and likely gone into a month-long depression at discovering the first scratch. Those days had long since passed by the time we photographed it…  

FORD ECONOLINE

Nothing screams the early 1980s like a brown and gold Ford Econoline day van. Unfortunately it was in a bad way, which is a shame, as it might have made a great restoration project for somebody. The E-Series has been in production for more than 60 years, making it one of Ford’s longest running models. Although sales have fallen sharply since the launch of the Transit, it still sells in excess of 30,000 units per year. More than 3 million have been produced so far.

TOYOTA CELICA GT

Just like the Ford Mustang, the Toyota Celica was a sportscar based on a boring sedan – in this instance a Carina. This GT is a first generation car, and was probably built in 1975. If so, it would have been fitted with 5mph safety bumpers.

BUICK ELECTRA PARK AVENUE - 1982

We know this isn’t the most exciting car in the world, but Buick Electra Park Avenues of this era are disappearing fast, so we reckon it deserves a place in this collection. It’s a 1982 coupe, and although a bit battered and bruised, it appeared to be mainly rust-free. Of the 76,232 built that year, just 8182 had two doors.

CHEVROLET BELAIR - 1962

This 1962 Chevrolet Bel Air had done well to survive for this long. However, seeing as most of its body panels were riddled with rust, we reckon its days may have been numbered. The famous Bel Air name was used on American Chevrolets from 1950 through to 1975, and continued for a further six years in Canada.