Amazing how fast the bumpsides are dissapearing from pick-n-pull type yards

[Maximus]

I hope its a sign that more of these trucks are now being saved instead of parted out, but when I bought my '72 swb styleside, there were DOZENS of dentside and bumpside trucks in the local parts yard. Right now there are TWO. It was great, I was able to do a TON of upgrades on the cheap... (power steering, power brakes, newer twin beams, even smaller dash pieces like a cig lighter knob. If I bought the SAME truck today I would be STRUGGLING to get all the power steering brackets, power brake brackets and such. Making it hard on new bump owners to keep things stock....

I guess that might be another reason why so many people are going Crown Vic on these trucks... I dont care for the offset rims nor do I care for the "slammed" look, so I am glad I was able to make upgrades to my truck on the cheap... I hope parts continue to be available for new enthusiasts...

[70shortbox]

Very true. You and I are probably looking in the same yards. I kick myself for not getting parts when I had the chance. I find some stuff at swap meets but its usually over priced.

[Ranchero50]

It's the nature of the beast. The 5.0 Mustangs are pretty much all gone and the market for parts is too. I should have sold mine years ago. Now it needs a full resto. Back in the early '90's I parted a bunch of '68-69 Fairlane's and they were all gone from the yard ten years ago. Or at least any usable part.

Locally high boys are gone as well as anything short bed. Dents are even pretty scarce. '87-93's are next on the list. Still a couple nice examples for sale at decent prices but most are junk.

[jzjames]

there were DOZENS of dentside and bumpside trucks in the local parts yard.

Same up here in Bremerton, WA.
They crushed em.

[hot-rod]

I have been in houston for a week and here are NO used parts to find. NO yard here in this area has a bump Now i have to go back to germany wihtout ANY part for ma bump

[tsherry]

A few years ago, there were on any given weekend, a dozen bumps in the yard about a mile from me. Now, there is one.

The processing of a row of vehicles takes place relatively quickly. Don't expect anything to be in the yard for more than a month after the forklift puts it in place. The business for these yards is for pounds of crushed and compacted scrap metal, which has a side business of auto parts salvage.

[Ohiotinkerer]

I have been in houston for a week and here are NO used parts to find. NO yard here in this area has a bump Now i have to go back to germany wihtout ANY part for ma bump

Try L and L Classic Auto in Wendell Idaho........they always seem to have what I need and stuff from up there is is really good shape due to the climate......

http://www.llclassicauto.com

As a side note - where are you in Germany? I spent 2 years in Mainz and 3 years in Aschaffenburg when I was in the Army and really enjoyed it there........

[XABN82]

I've owned my 1971 F100 for 22 years, these things are going up in value. Mine is a SWB custom cab. Love that truck

[markguiver]

Part of the problem with not finding as many bumps or dents is a lot of them were scrapped 5 or 6 years ago. When the price of scrap iron was over $200.00 a ton I was taking a load from a job I was on almost every weekend as well as during the week. Almost every time I was at the yard someone would bring a bump or a dent to sell for scrap. The $600.00 +/- for scrap was more than the junk yards were paying at the time. Some of the trucks I saw in the scrap pile made me want to scream. Keep in mind this was only at the yard I use. I'm sure it was happening the same at the other yards as well. All I could think about was the good parts that were being shredded and being shipped to China to make some poor quality junk for WalMart to sell. Another part of the decline was Odumbo's cash for clunkers thing where you could get more than a vehicle was worth as a trade in on a new, more fuel efficient one. A lot of people were getting rid of perfectly good vehicles just because they could get something new. At that time the junkyards had more than normal numbers of old trucks with the glass bead epoxy in the engine so it could not be used. That just flat pissed me off.
Just a couple of reasons that come to mind as to the slim pickins in the yards these days.
Mark.

[Manny]

Amazing to me how fast they are disappearing all together. Use to see a bunch driving around a the time. Then it moved to the dentsides. Now they are into the 80's bullnoses. Sad but it is the nature. So many people just use them as trucks and when they are used up they are crushed not restored. We are all doing our part just saving one or two at least.

[HIO Silver]

Concur.

Two to three years ago the pickings were decent... Dents and Bumps were relatively plentiful in the yards with more than five. Nowadays may one or two... I picked up parts I didn't need so the hard to find stuff is already stored... grill shells, grill inserts, Western mirrors, NP435 to a married NP205, booster brackets, bumpers, tailgate decor panels.

I do need a decent FE core to build but could use the one in the truck but I'd rather keep it mobile.

[59yblockf100]

Part of the problem with not finding as many bumps or dents is a lot of them were scrapped 5 or 6 years ago. When the price of scrap iron was over $200.00 a ton I was taking a load from a job I was on almost every weekend as well as during the week. Almost every time I was at the yard someone would bring a bump or a dent to sell for scrap. The $600.00 +/- for scrap was more than the junk yards were paying at the time. Some of the trucks I saw in the scrap pile made me want to scream. Keep in mind this was only at the yard I use. I'm sure it was happening the same at the other yards as well. All I could think about was the good parts that were being shredded and being shipped to China to make some poor quality junk for WalMart to sell. Another part of the decline was Odumbo's cash for clunkers thing where you could get more than a vehicle was worth as a trade in on a new, more fuel efficient one. A lot of people were getting rid of perfectly good vehicles just because they could get something new. At that time the junkyards had more than normal numbers of old trucks with the glass bead epoxy in the engine so it could not be used. That just flat pissed me off.
Just a couple of reasons that come to mind as to the slim pickins in the yards these days.
Mark.

you are correct on most were scraped,the price of scrap 5-6 years ago was very high and alot of guys just scrap them instead of selling parts,yard were i lived wasgetting 100-150 cars/trucks a day,they had to crush them daily,on average 10-15 ford trucks from 50s-70s daily,very sad,

[Ohiotinkerer]

Same here - its a rarity to see anything around here anymore under 1990 models. Either rusted away or scrapped when prices went up....used to be a yard in the next county that had about anything you could need but when the scrap prices went up he started hauling semi loads out as fast as he could.....was sad to watch.....

[hdman90]

I don't know about you all, but this region has been scarce of bumps for a long time. In the late 90's as a boy, I remember riding in my dad's truck and thinking it was so cool because it was one of the only ones in town. Flash forward to today and there's still only a hand full in the county. Most have been shipped in from other states, but a few are rough local survivors, and some here and there sitting in farmer's fields or long forgotten. And scrap yards? No bumps here. There is one yard that has 7-8 bumps, but they've been sitting on the ground, outside for over 20 years and are all rotted, hardly any usable parts. So for me, to drive a bump daily, is insane to most people here, I literally get stared at everywhere I go.
Parts. Parts are really hard to come by locally. If I do come across parts, its either a guy who knows knows what he has and won't sell, a guy who knows what he has and will sell cheap because he's happy to find a much younger person that's actually interested in the hobby, or a guy who has no idea what he has because he found it in his grandma's garage and wants to make $20. But 90% of the time, it's the guy who knows what he has and won't sell or wants too much. So between that and there being hardly any trucks here, the market for these trucks is next to nonexistent. I have 3-4 friends in the area that are as into the ford truck hobby as I am, and between us, we exchange fairly and scoop everything up. Other than that, it comes from out of state.
Sad.

[Jacksdad]

We still see them here in San Diego, but nowhere near as many as we used to. And we're not immune to the occasional bump drought - usually when I really need a part.