Junkyard Near Me

If you’re a car enthusiast or picker, you know the appeal of junkyards. With acres of gleaming metal, affordable car parts, and amazing antique finds; visiting a junk or salvage yard can mean finding that hard to get item in a cost effective way.

Are you interested in finding a junkyard in your area? Simply browse junkyard near me on the map below and find a list of junkyards in a close proximity to your current location. Need a bit more information on junk yards? Read on for facts, trivia, and a bit of history on this very American part of culture.

Junkyard Near Me – Find it on the Map

Junkyard Near Me – Junkyard Trivia

What surprising item might you find in a junkyard?

There are two distinct items that many junkyard pickers hope to find when visiting a nearby junkyard: old trolleys and subway cars. For decades, many have been visiting junkyards to salvage parts from subway and trolley cars in order to make diners and bars more authentic. These public transit vehicles may spend their final days in junkyards, only to undergo creative reuse at the hands of creative junkyard enthusiasts. Public transit items often find permanent homes in scrap yards because at about 18 tons each, they require a great deal of effort to scrap. They need to be crushed, cut down, and stripped before being formally scrapped. Many sit in scrap yards for a long time, though early on many were dumped off of the New Jersey coast into the Atlantic rather than finding homes in scrap yards. They were approved for dumping because many believed that the cars would prove an artificial reef for marine life in coastal waters. Thought the project was initially kind of successful, they began to fall apart. This lead subway cars to being predominantly retires salvage and scrap yards. Consider these facts while searching junkyard near me!

A large junkyard in Nashville, Tennessee.

Where is the world’s largest junk yard located?

If you’re searching junkyard near me, you may be interested in discovering just where the world’s largest junk yard is located. According to statistics, the world’s largest junkyard is located just 50 miles north of Atlanta. The yard is a 34 acre compound that houses one of the largest car collections in the world. For more than 80 years, Car City USA has been collecting unsalvageable mid century American cars. The property now boasts more than 4,500 vehicles, most of which are model year 1972 or older. The owner of this junkyard has dedicated his life to saving some of America’s most beloved classic cars from a fate in the crusher. Car City USA began in 1931 as a general store that was operated by Dean Lewis. When the US entered World War II, resources such as steel and tires became scarce as they were needed to aid in the war effort. This is when the family shifted their focus from selling goods found on an average general store into the business of scrapping cars. By the late 1940s, the general store became a full time auto salvage yard.

Junkyard Near Me – Junkyard Facts

Stolen Cars

Unfortunately with junk yards comes the reality of stolen cars. Any internet search performed on junk yards or junkyards near me, may produce dozens of articles detailing busted theft rings and stolen vehicles found in the confines of a junkyard. Notable junkyard finds include many perfectly new automobiles that were hooked up to tow trucks, moved from their parking spots, and towed by thieves to make fast cash at scrap and junk yards. In many major urban areas, crooks look to “shop” for cars, tow them away, and sell them at junk yards for a profit on parts. Many of these cars end up getting scrapped versus being resold depending on just how “up and up” the salvage yard buyer truly is. Many reputable junk yards will require anyone bringing a card for salvage to provide proof of ownership. This can keep thieves from profiting off of the misery of innocent car owners. A reputable junk yard will also search the vehicles VIN Number prior to handing out cash.

The Purple Car Gang

Junkyards have always had a history with American crime. Though you may innocently be searching junkyard near me for simple parts or to scrap an old car, some have used junk yards as their personal playground. Enter the Purple Gang. This Detroit area gang was known for robbing, shooting, and boozing. They even attempted to murder a US senator. In 1936, police raided a junk yard in Albion Michigan, a midway stop for gangs and thieves that sat between the cities of Chicago and Michigan. While on the raid, police captured more than a half dozen purple gang affiliates. They also confiscated the “gangster” car that was used in many of their crimes. The car was riddled with bullet holes from many previous chases and attempted police seizures. According to those involved the raid, this junkyard find included a very tricked out car, that included three quarter inch bulletproof glass, two sided license plates for changing the car’s identity on a dime, metal armor flaps for deflecting any bullets, eight guns (including revolvers, sawed off shotguns, and pistols), sledgehammers, claw tools, flashlights, wrenches, and even explosives such as dynamite. Odds are, you won’t find many mob vehicles on your junkyard visit nowadays!