The Junkyard Gems of All American Classics, Vancouver, Washington

We were told that this was a necessary move in order to cope with ever-increasing property taxes. It made the tough decision to sell off half its land, crushing 1200 classic cars in the process.

However, the yard owner put a huge amount of thought into what to lose, and what it’s left with is more than 1000 extremely desirable vehicles from the 1930s to the 2000s. We hope you enjoy looking at this collection of classics as much as we did taking the pictures:

Despite downsizing, the yard was still purchasing vehicles at a rate of two per day. While some get quickly sold on as projects, the majority get bought as parts vehicles, meaning they may sit in the yard for decades to come. Seeing as space was at a premium, when new residents enter, older ones have to leave. And that’s exactly what was happening to this 1960 Oldsmobile Cutlass, which was about to be fed to Bertha the crusher.

The guy behind the wheel of the forklift explained that it was badly corroded, and had few salvageable parts left. “We can’t keep it here as a prop for the next photographer who turns up I’m afraid,” he said.

The yard had more than 120 Chevrolet Camaro parts cars in stock, ranging in age from 1967 to 2017. Amongst them was this 1982 example, which had been a resident for six years.

The yard allows customers to pull their own parts, but during our visit, staff told us that they catch plenty of people stealing from them, attempting to smuggle parts out under coats.

This 1959 Fairlane 500 Skyliner, complete with Hide-Away Hardtop retractable roof, had been a resident of All American Classics since 2010. The Skyliner was only the second mass-produced car with a retractable hardtop, the first being the 1938 Peugeot 402 Eclipse Decapotable. Incredibly, the yard has two of the 13,000 Skyliners that were built that year.

All American Classics always has a wonderful selection of project cars on offer, which during our visit included this beautiful 1939 Buick. We were told that it was offered to the yard by the grandson of the original owner, who had dry stored it since 1962.

The original plan was for the grandson to restore it, but after fitting a new set of whitewall tyres, decided he’d bitten off more than he could chew. The yard was called, a deal done, and presumably a new owner has since been found.

This definitely wasn’t the best example of a 1954 Oldsmobile Super 88 we’ve seen, but it did still have plenty of useable parts, which is why it had been able to avoid Bertha the Crusher.

Bertha, which has a face (compete with teeth) painted on it, apparently likes lots of iron in its diet...

Check out the field full of cars in the background. This was once part of the All American Classics yard, but is now used by a car leasing company.

This was one of a pair of 1953 Chevrolet four-door wagons we found in the yard. Both had been residents for close to a quarter of a century.

There are several photographs of this car on the All American Classics website, which must have been taken shortly after its arrival at the yard in 2016. It looked quite respectable back then, and a restoration certainly wouldn’t have been beyond the realms of possibility.

However the decision was made to part it out, and instead help to keep other 1967 Pontiac Bonnevilles on the road. Fewer than 9000 of these convertibles were built, making this a bit of a rarity.

If you’re looking for parts for a Trans Am or Firebird, then this is the yard for you. During our visit there were close to 100 examples in stock, including this 1979 example. It appears to be a limited edition 10th anniversary car, one of just 7500 built. These cars were fully loaded, and had $10,000 price tags. They’re desirable vehicles, although possibly not in this condition.

In addition to Camaros, Firebirds and Trans Ams, All American Classics also specializes in Corvettes. During our visit there were more than 75 of them in stock, ranging in age from the mid-1970s to 2009. This collision-damaged 1984 car had been in the yard since 2015.

Here’s another Corvette – a 1990 ZR-1. During our visit the yard owner told us that buying unloved and collision-damaged Corvettes had been a shrewd business move. 

“Corvette owners can’t just pop down to their local salvage yard,” he said. Consequently, All American Classics found itself shipping parts all over the US.

There were several project vehicles parked at the yard’s entrance, including this 1973 Dodge Dart. The V8-powered car, which apparently still ran, had a $1700 price tag. The 1972 Dart next to it had a six-cylinder engine, and was $600 cheaper.

We were shocked to see that this 1979 Oldsmobile Cutlass two-door fastback was being parted-out, as it was in absolutely stunning condition. Not only was it totally rust-free, but there was barely a blemish on the shiny maroon paintwork. In fact, even the vinyl roof was in great shape.

From the rear this 1988 Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z convertible appeared to be in great shape, but it was a very different story at the front. It suffered from an engine fire, which was why it ended up at the yard. The IROC-Z became the top performance Camaro in 1988, after the Z28 was dropped.

Whoever owned this 1979 Mitsubishi Jeep must have been incredibly grateful for the rollover bar, because it looks like it was involved in a serious accident.

Between 1953 and 1998 the Japanese car manufacturer built 200,000 of them under licence, but only a small percentage were exported to the US.

In 1958, its first year of production, there were a staggering 18 different models of Edsel to choose from. This vast choice, which confused buyers greatly, would be seriously slimmed down in the two following years. Of the 68,000 Edsels sold in 1958, some 5588 were Citation four-door hardtops like this.

This 1973 Jeep Gladiator J4000 pickup truck would have made a fantastic alternative to the far more common Fords, Chevrolets and Dodges from the same era. This example was fitted with AMC’s 5.9-litre V8, which produced 175hp. It also features the Borg-Warner Quadra-Trac four-wheel-drive system.

This 1985 T-Top Trans Am had been a resident of All American Classics for two decades, which explains why it had been so extensively picked over. That said, there were still enough bits and pieces on it to keep it away from Bertha.

“We can’t afford to be sentimental,” the yard owner told us, when we expressed our shock to learn how many of the old cars get crushed. But he explained that those that get fed to Bertha rarely have any parts left, and have often sat around in the yard for a couple of decades, earning little to no money and taking up valuable space. It’s safe to assume that this 1946 Buick no longer exists.

The 1966 Oldsmobile was revolutionary, in that it was the first front-wheel-drive US-built car since the demise of Cord in the 1930s. It initially sold well too, with 41,000 of them rolling off the line in the first year of production. However sales halved the following year, and didn’t fully recover until the launch of the second generation cars in 1971.  

Look at the state of this car’s interior, which had almost completely rotted away. It’s a 1964 Pontiac Catalina 2+2 421 convertible, and it had sat in the yard for almost 30 years, with no ragtop to protect it from the elements.

Out of 257,768 Catalinas produced that year, fewer than 8000 of them had the 2+2 package, making this one ultra-rare. Unfortunately it was also riddled with rust.

In 1966 the average annual household income in the US was $6900, yet more than 50,000 car buyers found the $5339 needed to drive a De Ville hardtop out of a Cadillac showroom.

The yard had six 1966 De Villes in stock, four of which were two-door hardtops.

At first glance it looks as though this 1948 Ford Super Deluxe was carrying a canoe on its roof, but it was of course the bonnet, which had been removed when the car lost its engine. Note the German model in this picture, one of several Mercedes that we were surprised to find at All American Classics.

There is increasing environmental pressure on traditional salvage yards to shut up shop, but as you can see here, Mother Nature seems to have been thriving around this 1973 Chevrolet Nova Custom. Fauna also likes to call junk cars home.

Although we didn’t spot any animals at All American Classics, over the years we’ve encountered everything from rabbits and rattlers to scorpions and skunks on our tin-hunting travels. 

If we ignore the driver’s door, which appears to have been borrowed from a Bel Air, then this is clearly a 1956 Chevrolet 210 Townsman station wagon. The mid-range car, which was positioned between the entry-level 150 and the top-trim Bel Air, proved to be the best-seller, and found 84,239 buyers.

Considering that it had been in the yard for close to 20 years, we were surprised it hadn’t been picked over more extensively.

The Eldorado name survived for 50 years (1952 to 2002), and spanned 12 generations. They were consistently the second most expensive car in Cadillac’s range, beaten only by the Series 75 limousine. However, high prices didn’t put people off, and in 1972 sales exceeded 40,000 units. Of those, fewer than 8000 were convertibles, making this an unusual sight.

Here’s another luxury car that’s fallen from grace. It’s one of 19,200 Cadillac DeVille convertibles built in 1965. Judging by the state of those seats, it must have been missing its top for a number of years. On our visit this was parked outside the front of the yard, and was being offered as a project car.

In 1965 Cadillac exceeded 180,000 sales for the first time. It was doing well, and by the end of the decade was producing well in excess of 200,000 cars per annum.

Autocar started building cars in 1897 and trucks in 1899, and is the oldest surviving motor vehicle brand in the western hemisphere; interestingly its namesake Autocar is the oldest surviving car magazine in the world today.

Today it specializes in heavy-duty trucks for the refuse, mining and construction sectors. This 1952 U-series has since found a new home, having been purchased by a collector in California.

The fact that this 1946 Buick Super Sedanette two-door fastback had been loaded with scrap metal was a good indication that it was about to be fed to Bertha. Hopefully we’re wrong though, as it was a rare car, and even if the roof was totally rotted out, it still had some great spare parts left on it.

Back in the day this car took 20 seconds to reach 60mph, continuing on to a top speed of 74mph.

This 1954 Pontiac Star Chief four-door sedan appeared to have had a long retirement, and probably hadn’t turned a wheel since the 1970s. But back in the day, with the 4.4-litre, eight-cylinder engine working hard, it would have managed 60mph in just over 17 seconds, continuing to a top speed of 88mph.

Despite the Star Chief name only surviving for 13 years (1954-1966), it spanned six generations.

It would appear that someone opened this 1953 Chevrolet Bel Air’s rear door into the path of a passing car. Either that, or All American Classics’ forklift truck drivers need some more practice…

The yard had in excess of 50 1950s Chevrolets in stock, including seven from 1953.

Surely there was nothing salvageable on this late 1970s Corvette? Or was it simply the case that Bertha the crusher doesn’t have an appetite for fiberglass?

This 1957 Cadillac Series 62 four-door hardtop was certainly earning its keep, having been stripped of almost all of its parts. When it arrived in the yard in 2015 it looked pretty good, and appeared to be undergoing a restoration. Perhaps its owner realised that it was fast turning into a money pit, and simply decided to cut their losses.

This 1965 Plymouth Belvedere four-door sedan looked remarkably good from this angle. However, this was definitely it’s good side. What you can’t see in this picture is the serious collision damage to the driver’s side.

The central pillar was seriously distorted, and an economical repair was out of the question. So instead, there were some fabulous rust-free spare parts up for grabs.

This 1972 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme two-door hardtop was another classic that might have been taken off the road prematurely following a fender bender. Looking at pictures of it when it first entered the yard, the bodywork was in pretty good shape, albeit with some damage to the front end.

The Cutlass was part of Oldsmobile’s line-up from 1961 to 1999, spanning numerous generations.

When you design a school bus, ideally you want to give it a friendly appearance. However, this 1956 GMC Series 450 did not follow that rule. That fierce face must have been enough to scare even the most studious of kids into truancy…

When the yard took delivery of this fabulous 1950 White 3000 COE truck in 2019, it was priced at $2195, which seems like a bargain to us.

The White Motor Company was founded in 1900, and survived as an independent company for 80 years. A year after filing for bankruptcy, its assets were acquired by Volvo.

What’s left of this 1966 Oldsmobile F85 station wagon was rust-free and solid. However that doesn’t count for much, as there was nothing left beyond the front pillar.

Of the 246,198 F85s built that year, less than 10% were station wagons, with production split evenly between six cylinders and V8s.

This 1959 Pontiac Catalina station wagon arrived at All American Classics in 1994, just five years after the Vancouver, Washington-based yard first opened its doors for business. With this in mind, we’re surprised that it hadn’t yielded a few more parts.

1959 was a good year for Pontiac, which became the US’s fourth best-selling marque (behind Chevrolet, Ford and Plymouth) for the first time in its history. Three years later it had climbed to number three, which is a position it held onto until the end of the 1960s.

It’s quite staggering that so many 1940s vehicles still reside in salvage yards. All American Classics had roughly 35 of them, 10 of which were Chevrolets. This one, which was beginning to resemble a garden ornament, is a 1947 Fleetmaster.

Between 1971 and 1989 a total of 300,175 Mercedes-Benz R107 (roadster) and C107 (coupe) SLs were built. Of these, more than two-thirds were exported to the US. Due to their desirability, they have had a high survival rate, and it’s rare to find one in a salvage yard. It’s even more unusual when the yard is called All American Classics…

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