Some of the folks who own modified diesel trucks tune them in such a way that they just dump loads of unburned fuel and smoke into the atmosphere. Aside from more or less turning money into smoke, some of the people who do this then dump those smoke clouds on cyclists, pedestrians, and green cars.
We don’t like that kind of rolling coal around here. Today, Thomas wrote a Morning Dump talking about how car repairs can get more expensive because of tariffs. Readers expressed additional concerns about environmental policy rollbacks, but Der Foo got me with this:
Once coal comes back I hope we will see the return of the great steam locomotive engines. Nothing rolls coal like a Union Pacific 4-8-8-4. Suck on that Cummins Boys!
Oh yeah, that’s the kind of rolling coal I can get behind! Yes, I nominated that comment partly as an excuse to post train pictures.
Anyway, ADDvanced pointed out something interesting. Many junkyards have moved away from the “pick-n-pull” model, which is sad:
There’s another thing that really sucks about wrenching a being a gearhead today; almost ALL of the junkyards I grew up going to, no longer allow people to walk the yard and pull parts “FoR InSuRaNcE ReAsOnS”. This is a problem for a lot of reasons; first off, I loved walking the yard and learning about other vehicles that I didn’t own; did you know Merkur Scorpios have a turkey baster thing under the seat that INFLATES the bolsters?! Me neither. Til a junkyard.
But pulling parts yourself is AWESOME, because you can grab tiny little parts that yards simply won’t pull. I had a relay go out in my Astro van, located in the spare jack tool area, that lets the rear hatch function. Called all sorts of yards, nobody would even go out and look for the tiny little relay. Had to resort to a facebook group. Also, finding parts off OTHER cars is way harder; I wouldn’t know the lip spoiler on a Mk3 VR6 Golf would fit an EF Honda, or prelude seats would bolt into a civic, etc. This ruins creativity and hurts the builds of so many potential combinations.
The lack of real junkyards you can go exploring, find parts, and dream up cool mods is a HUGE loss, and most of the yards changed their tune during Covid, and never changed it back. It’s hugely shitty and nobody is talking about it.
Thankfully, not every junkyard is like this. I can still go to pick-n-pull yards where I live, but I have noticed that some yards don’t do it anymore.
This morning, Jason gave us a Cold Start showing some sort of creature called a nauga in ads. Apparently, that’s where Naugahyde comes from. Anyway, Drunken Master Paul says:
The reason it isn’t used today is that nobody knows where the naugahide.
*sips coffee.
Finally, Thomas wrote about a bizarre BMW emergency tire inflator that sticks to your car’s wheels as you drive. Some of you are still sore about BMW’s other bad ideas. I don’t hate manual transmissions:
Did they skip step one: paying for the tire inflator subscription? Or was that just assumed to have been done?
Tough crowd! Have a great evening, everyone!
FoR InSuRaNcE ReAsOnS = somebody sued. Thank a lawyer because its NEVER your fault
…Union Pacific X4014, the restored Big Boy, burns No. 5 fuel oil now, not coal.
So… oil burner, not coal roller.
Also… the shay-type in the head pic is originally from a lumber company, and those traditionally were *wood* burners… most of which have also been converted to oil, if they still run.
wow the COTD top comment was as a result of my rant about POTUS 47, so I’m COTD adjacent lol
As a guy who is a minimally competent backyard mechanic, I love pick-n-pull type junkyards. Pulling the part myself allows me to practice doing the repair on a scrap vehicle prior to working on my own car. It also gives me an opportunity to gauge whether I should even attempt a repair myself, which is nice.
These junkyards are great for cheap parts but are also great learning opportunities.
Exactly this! Early in my wrenching career, a mountainside junkyard was key to expanding my knowledge—and not borking my own rides. I practiced pulling a water pump the first time on a wrecked Subaru—and (mostly) learned how to not snap off those fragile skinny bolts.
I was hoping you’d have a little information about that locomotive in the top picture, but then I remembered you’re a journalist, so you prefer to Shay, not tell.
By necessity, Mercedes has a narrow gauge of focus as an auto journalist.
She certainly makes sure her content is geared towards the audience!
{lumber pun}
Glad to see you’re on board with this line of discussion.
I’m kind of surprised nobody commented on this quote:
“Immediately contact an authorized service center, or another qualified service center or repair shop, to have the tire repair set Plus removed and the defective tire replaced.”
To me it almost sounds like you can’t have it removed until you pay the one-time convenience fee which fortunately for once isn’t a subscription.
I’m happy I don’t have one of those in any of my cars. I’m bad at being told to pay someone to do something I think I can do myself, so that little tire inflator disc might get friendly with a crowbar. 🙂
I don’t even know where there are junk yards anywhere near me anymore. The little trim pieces and stuff were some of the best scores there and they’d usually practically give them to you compared to trying to find them online.
I also like going to pull your Parts places, because you get to practice disassembly on the junk car before you do it on your own car
So much this!
If you screw up on the junk car it’s no big deal and you can make a note to yourself to avoid the mistake when you do the job for real.
And now we know why the junkyards stopped letting everyone in to disassemble their cars…. to many good items get broken needlessly
This! 100 percent this!
I taught myself to wrench scavenging off the bones of junk yard corpses.
I had a decent pick and pull yard nearby growing up. Back when they didn’t have strict age restrictions, my dad sometimes dragged me along as a yoot. Now the nearest one is 45 minutes away. Still fun going.
Yeah, I used to enjoy it for all the reasons everyone else mentioned, even if it was sometimes a little bittersweet seeing cool cars in there, particularly if they didn’t look that bad and the kind of cars where drivetrain issues were NBD. Most of the yards I used to go to have become an uppity gym, condos, and some kind of construction company’s lot. Harbor Auto is still around, but I believe they’re no longer a P&P from a quick look at their website.
Oh, the choirs of winter birds are calling
To me and
All the leaves I came to love
are falling
Ribbons on evergreen
Owls that pull them apart
I can hear you singing ‘My funny valentine’
Oh you know that breaks my heart