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When we visited All American Classics of Vancouver, Washington, a few years ago, the yard had just downsized.
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.
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.
