Ever cut up a car? Step on in!

[Kern Dog]

I think that many FBBO members have.
It stands to reason....We need some stuff for a project and we buy a parts car that has what we need. It might be a 4 door that has an 8 3/4" axle and a good set of fenders or some car that has a good quarter panel on one side and is smashed on the other.
Long before AMD, many cars that could be restored today got parted out and cut up to build better cars.
I've cut up a few over the years. Most have been undesirable cars with good parts that fit other cars. Some were too wrecked or rusty to restore.
My latest is a 2004 Toyota Camry. A little background on THIS car.....
Originally it belonged to the man my Mother was married to up to her passing. He was an annoying, passive aggressive type that made my Mom's last years miserable with his bullshit. When he went into a group home, my Sister got the car. She lost the title and let the registration lapse. She asked me to take the car since she was moving. I obliged.
It had some body damage and since it would cost several hundreds of dollars in fines and DMV fees, I decided to whack it up and sell it for scrap.

Like most dancers at the strip club, it looks okay in low light at a distance. It had damage at every panel though. Cracked windshield. Torn bumper covers. Bad tires. Worn struts.
Many years ago, the old man ran a stop sign and got tagged at the right rear...

On July 3rd, a few relatives and I took a sledge hammer to the car. That is fun. For a couple of weeks, I had the car on Craigslist thinking that someone might want it for parts but nobody responded.
Then, it was chop chop time.
It is amazing how easy a car is to cut apart. I don't like fire so I use a Sawzall for most of it.

 

[Kern Dog]

What could be unbolted and taken apart was done, the rest was cut apart with Bi-Metal blades and the Sawzall. They get HOT while cutting so I'd often take breaks and put the Sawzall in the freezer and focus on other stuff.

This car is 17 years old but like newer cars, there is a LOT of wiring in them. I'm recycling every wire, the aluminum, the steel and even the catalytic converters.

 

[Kern Dog]

The engine now sits on a Harbor Freight furniture dolly. Everything else has been separated to recycle or throw away.
Lots of carpet, padding, seats, plastic, rubber and glass....enough to fill the back of the longbed in Old Shitty....

It took 9 blades to chop up the car. I used a grinder to cut parking brake cables. MY goal each time has been to cut the car into pieces light enough to load it all myself.

So far, I have cut up:
Wrecked 74 Dart Sport.
Wrecked 80 Z28.
Wrecked 75 Dart 4 door.
Wrecked 72 Valiant 4 door.
Stripped 70 Valiant 4 door.
Rusty 72 Duster.
Rusty 75 Duster.
1970 Chrysler 300.
Rusty and impossible to sell 68 Satellite Wagon.
1974 and 1976 Motorhomes.
Stripped 1978 Mercedes convertible.
Burned 1990 Dodge 3/4 ton truck.
1976 Dodge D 100.
1974 Dodge D 300.
Rusty 70 Polara.
Numerous cabs and beds.
1979 Dodge extended B200 van.
By far the toughest job was that 1978 Mercedes. THAT car was built like an armored tank. Triple thick steel everywhere! I had to use 2 Sawzalls in rotation since they would get too hot to hold.

 

[MoparMur]

Now that's what I call ambition. Good on you!

 

[Toxic Orange 493]

I have only had the opportunity to cut up one car so far. It was my first car ('89 Daytona ES) and after about 12 years of daily driving it, the floors and rockers got too rusty to continue driving. So it had to go. But, a lot of parts were used when I restored my '89 Daytona Shelby. I also used a sawzall to cut it apart.
Here is the last picture I have of the car before starting to tear it apart to cut up.

Here is when it was stripped of everything useful and starting to get cut up.

And here was the pile of sheetmetal after the cutting was complete. I still have the quarter panels as they were good except for the very bottom by the rocker. Everything else went to the scrap yard.

This was the ending and transmission with the k frame still attached to the front frame rails.

Here is the car a lot of parts went onto to help restore.

 

[eldubb440]

only if I have to

 

[Kern Dog]

THis car was rusty, undesirable and incomplete:

It had a good running 383 and an 8 3/4" axle though.

 

[1 Wild R/T]

I've cut up a few... Mostly B & E bodies... A few C bodies... Some died so others would live... Rarest? 71 Challenger A93 with a 198 CI slanty & a auto on the column.... One of 6 and it was FJ6..

 

[Bob Sawyer]

I cut up a '71 Chevy C-10 longed a few years back-frame and all. I got a lot of good parts from it before I scrapped it.

 

[dsd1967]

Kern....your version of rusty vs us guys in the rust belt are worlds apart. We would love to get our hands on some of your "rusty" stuff.

I've cut up several including:

- 69 road runner 383 4 speed - complete car and drove home. It was rotted out and not a straight body panel on it except for the hood (the hood was the intent of buying it). Bought it for $100 back in 1981
- 69 road runner 383 4 N96 - no engine or trans but still had the AG air cleaner assy in the trunk. Lein title. Bought it for $75 in 1981
- 69 belvedere 4 door - rust free Arkansas car that was used as a donor for a restoration project
- three 69 darts to make one good one
- two 70 dusters
- two 70 chargers
- 1967 W100
- 1968 satellite convertible
- 1978 C class motor home for the 440 and trans
- most recent was a 97 Jeep Grand Cherokee that we bought for the 4.0L six for my sons wrangler

Most of the classics were bought for between $50 and $100 and they were plentiful back then. The N96 runner would probably be a $8000-$10,000 roller in todays world....if I only knew then what I know now. It was actually in decent condition and complete...I just didn't want to deal with the lien issue back then.

I made my money back on every one of them by selling parts or the scrap.

 

[747mopar]

I've cut up my share but anymore I hate dealing with the non recyclable parts like all of the upholstery. For all the more that I make on a car it just isn't worth it anymore, I remove what I know I want or that will sell and trailer the rest to the yard.. done.

Last one was an 01 Dakota RT I kept the limited slip rear, the 360, transmission, harness, rims, the Alpine stereo and a few do dads.. the rest was junk. Hoping to drop the drivetrain in the daughter Satty.

Before that is was a Winnebago, I took one look at it and said he'll no, snake and rodent infested.... way to much wood, carpet, etc. I sawed the front open enough to pull the 440 drivetrain out the front then called my friend that has a wrecker service and had him haul it off. With the drivetrain missing the scrap yard wouldn't even buy it but took it for free.

 

[Aarons Air]

I was going to post pics of a truck i replaced the entire body on, and of the quarter replacement of my net, but after 3 tries to upload one pic, i give up - again. Posting pics here is always a pita, for some reason.

 

[cosgig]

This is going in the chopper next….

 

[#41]

Lot's of them.

It's a lot more fun taking a car apart when you don't have to worry about putting it back together.

 

[dartforforty]

I worked in an automotive dismantling and recycling center AKA Junkyard for two years
So yeah I have cut up a few cars, mostly mid 70's cars
Recently parted out a rusted out 65 Belvedere and cut it into pieces to bring to the scrap yard

 

[moparmarks]

I prefer drill out instead of cut up. I've done this to around 20 old Mopars.

 

[Polara426]

Cut up a 70 Hemi Challenger (just kidding). I have found Diablo blades cut better and last longer then most.

 

[cosgig]

Halifaxhops turned me onto those diamond blades for my die grinder. I must say, they go through steel like a hot knife through warm butter.

 

[ACME A12]

I've done a few just to get rid of them. I cut up a '71 Duster about 25 years ago that I really regret now. It had a damaged quarter panel and I took all of the usable stuff off of it. Just didn't need the carcass lying around anymore. Rust-free Kansas car that really deserved better.

 

[Cranky]

I was going to post pics of a truck i replaced the entire body on, and of the quarter replacement of my net, but after 3 tries to upload one pic, i give up - again. Posting pics here is always a pita, for some reason.

Are you trying to download from a lap top or a desk top? All the pics that are on my phone that I want to upload to any site goes to my email first then are downloaded to my lap top or desk top. From there it's easy. Don't even like using my phone to do anything on the net....

@Kern Dog You might have me beat by one lol. I used to part cars in the mid 70's and have done a few more in the past several years with a 91 Dakota being my last part out because I couldn't get the title to it. It was a 4 banger 5 speed truck but that was already missing. I kinda knew the guy and his plan was to install a V8 but he died and his widow wasn't interested in finding the title for me so....cut time. Sold some stuff from it and kept some for me but the main thing was that I got to see how a 1st gen Dakota was assembled and well, it came apart fairly easily and it impressed me with the way it was built.

In the 70's I didn't have a sawzall so everything was done with a gas axe but should have bought me one. Once I did get one I saw (no pun intended) what I was missing. Most of the cars I parted out were E bodies and again, kept some stuff for me and sold the rest and yeah, most of the cars that got parted would be considered choice cars for restoration. Most were Challengers with one being an A66 but I kept that car for myself. The plan was to drag race it so the 340 and auto was sold. The car was rust free but had 'whiskey dents' all over it which were all fixed. Kept it into the mid 80's and about had it ready for an engine when a guy showed up and offered me really stoopid money for it. His son had just totaled out his pristine original 70 440 RT Challenger and wanted a body to rebuild with. Not many people including me knew what the A66's would become but I knew they weren't common.....and never did see the rebuilt RT Challenger and don't even know if it was completed.