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CTC Auto Ranch Is Closing Its Massive Salvage Yard
Just having an address on “Memory Lane” carries a certain weight. For CTC Auto Ranch, it is a weight that is now in the process of being lifted. The long-running salvage yard has decided to close its doors, and that means the fields and fields of vintage cars and trucks are being crushed and sold for scrap. Is this the horror story that it feels like at first glance? I’m not so sure.
Whether you call it a junk, salvage, or scrap yard, the concept is the same: No-longer serviceable vehicles arrive and are sent out to pasture where enterprising enthusiasts are able to forage for the parts and pieces needed to keep other cars outside the gates and on the road. It’s a strange place. Car after car now sitting neglected, inanimately communicating that it was once someone’s pride and joy.
I heard that CTC was closing from a video posted to YouTube by one of my favorite car scavengers, Mr. Goodpliers. Having only heard about the epically sized salvage yard from its appearance in various media in the last decade or so—like the Roadkill episode where David Freiburger and Mike Finnegan resurrected a Plymouth Barracuda—it was surprising to me to hear about the place starting to wind down. When a guy like Finnegan says it’s the most cars he has ever seen in one place, that means something. Then I dove into the story of CTC, and it all started to make more sense.
According to its website, CTC has been open for 35 years and is run by a pair of brothers who are now looking forward to retiring. The last day for the legendary pick-n-pull will be April 30th, so there is still a chance to visit if you’ve been waiting for some reason. Just know they have shortened hours to only open Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday during the week. For a number of years, the operation had over 3,000 cars on property, and prided itself on having one of just about any brand or model a person could think of in stock. Many a car entered the gates of CTC and never left, instead living out an existence where strangers with tools would appear and slowly dismantle them piece by piece. CTC also sold complete project cars in addition to running the you-pull-it business model.
With all that in mind, suddenly the stacks of crushed cars are a good deal less depressing. These are cars that have been picked over for years, not to mention the fact that they were likely not in the best shape upon arrival. CTC also noted in a reply to a comment on Facebook that the only cars being crushed and scrapped are the parts cars that are unable to be sold as complete projects. An auction is being set up for June 7th that will sell the remaining project cars. Details haven’t yet been finalized for this sale, so interested parties are wise to keep an eye on CTC’s website for more details as they come out.
These cars were never going to sit in the sun forever. While the crusher is the end of the line for these donor vehicles, the fact that CTC kept these thousands of cars available for any amount of time past when their owners called it quits is to be commended. Countless cars stayed on the road that much longer.
This is still depressing as we are losing many of these yards due to many reasons and government regulation.
We are left with mostly salvagers that only take recent cars and strip them and put the major parts in a building while scrapping the small bits many of us need to restore a car correctly.
It is really getting difficult to find parts for the 70’s-80’s cars in many areas as so many of them are gone and nothing is left. So many never had after market and restoration market support so used parts were our only resources.
Agreed. This is the biggest problem, where to go for the oddball part no one has.
From the article, it sounds like this reason is “retirement.” My guess is the land is supplying the retirement funds and the land is worth far more if a buyer doesn’t need to get rid of 3,000 vehicles on it. Otherwise, the business could have been sold. But the (probably) meager income from part sales doesn’t justify the current market value of the land, so it is getting sold. This is my conjecture, not necessarily from any specific information I have. But it follows for the same reaon that drive-in movies disappeared.
That’s just depressing… 🙁
The nostalgia of an old junkyard is undeniable. However these glimpses of the past become rusting unusable parts that will never see the light of day again. There is a time to just let things go. The ( Ranchero GT? shown) is an example of this. Well beyond usable. A friend of mine bought 23+ acres in Pennsy for a song. The property tax is next to nothing with their ” Keep it clean, Keep it green” policy. A great camping spot. The farmer in the adjacent lot wanted to turn it into a junkyard. Better he didn’t. Let nature do the restoration work.
Sad I love old cars
Sad I love old cars hate to see it go
I too, learned of CTC’s demise via Mr. Goodpliers channel. A very impressive operation that hosted collectors and browsers over a 35 year run.
As seen elsewhere, yards of this scale functioned given the relatively low cost and availability of acreage which has commanded higher market values as urban growth corridors have expanded making such land uses no longer viable.
Most people did not have a good impression of these guys. I went there once. These guys were not friendly and very unaccommodating. Their prices were crazy high.
Was there a few years back to pick AC parts to install factory air in my Buick Centurion. Before I set out for the pick I was told to watch out for rattlers! You guys will be missed!
We are losing another great yard. What other yard could you see a model T and a Rolls Royce together?
I do not enjoy watching old cars being crushed but I did enjoy watching cars being crushed by a Southern California city when they impounded children’s souped up 4 and 6 cylinder foreign cars with obnoxious sounding exhaust after the child was caught street racing and then the car was sent to the crusher and the crushing was filmed. THAT was justice served and pure entertainment.
If you like watching cars go to their final resting place, search Death row crushers on YouTube. He has several videos posted of him crushing majority of the inventory at CTC. Some are sad to watch because being a bodyman I could have fixed that. Watched him crush some Z cars and a couple of Chevetts which I have been searching for for quite some time. It’s a shame but all good things eventually come to an end:(
How much do they want for the regal body
They still selling
A family friend had a junk yard and you had to walk through it to get to his house to visit. Just loved going there
and walking around and looking at everything. I was in my 20’s then and that was a long time ago. Hate to see
them go, so much of our history is disappearing
I bought 2 1956 F-100’s from them about 30 years ago. Still have them, one pretty well restored. They were real nice to me and let me walk through the yard on a couple of occasions. I thought their price on the 2 trucks was fair, $4,000 for both, one complete, one with no drivetrain. Sorry to see so many possible projects get crushed, but everything has been for sale all these years and if no one bought them, then not really their fault they are getting crushed. Supposed to be an auction on what’s left in June, so go get yourself something.