Post by Mike B on Dec 12, 2008 12:14:49 GMT -4
Auto graveyard final resting place for some true gems
by Laura Lane Herald Times columnist | lane@heraldt.com
May 17, 2008
I pretty much ruined a snazzy pair of black leather shoes Wednesday afternoon traipsing through mud and flowing streams of rainwater.
I was surveying a few hundred old cars rusting away at a hidden-in-the woods auto graveyard west of Bloomington.
The rusted out shell of a white wagon rests between trees at an auto graveyard west of Bloomington. Laura Lane | Herald-Times
Had great fun.
Lamented leaving my black rubber boots at home.
Slid down a muddy hill.
Discovered a once-grand 1946 V-12 Lincoln, windows shattered, mired in mud. Forest green, my favorite color.
Took 47 pictures. Stayed too long.
Brad Swain told me about this place. I called the owner, Rick Trobaugh of Columbus, and got permission to trespass on his eight acres to check out the cars.
I’ll just say it’s west of town; Trobaugh said the classic cars on the property already have been stripped of valuable metal by thieves who trade it for cash.
A 1946 Lincoln — once forest green — is among the 250 cars hidden away. Laura Lane | Herald-Times
“Right now, metal’s the highest it’s ever been, and these cars have a lot of stainless steel,” said 43-year-old Trobaugh, who claims to “eat, sleep and bleed cars.”
The collection of cars has rare parts — grilles, door panels, bumpers, headlight casings — that he has sold to automobile restorers around the country.
“Some of these parts are very valuable to collectors,” he said. “These cars are like diamonds now.”
They are worth a lot, either recycled for metal or for re-use of parts.
Trobaugh estimates he has owned more than 1,000 cars. He got this old junk yard a year ago after finally convincing the property owner to sell.
He said two brothers had intended to open a junk yard on the site, but one died and the other became ill. The business never happened.
“I tried and tried, for three years, to convince him to sell,” Trobaugh said. “Then one day I just showed up with cash and we made a deal.”
The newest of the 250 cars is a 1965 Chevrolet truck; the oldest is a Ford Model A. I found a Plymouth DeLuxe under a fallen tree and a white Ford Customline with overdrive purchased from the Elson-Sims dealership in Vincennes.
A lone door still bears a service sticker from a Texaco station dated Aug. 2, 1959. Laura Lane | Herald-Times
There was a black 1957 Buick Special down the hill with a dozen or so other Buicks, and a 1941 Studebaker Business Champ Coupe with a lovely sloping, but rusted, rear end.
Trobaugh said a 1949 Mercury Woody Wagon is there somewhere, but I didn’t see it.
After he bought his eight acres of classic heaps, he catalogued the cars. “It took me five hours. Two hundred and fifty cars, one at a time. I can tell you every car that’s out there.”
Got a story to tell about a car or truck? Call 812-331-4362, send an e-mail to lane@heraldt.com or a letter to My Favorite Ride, P.O. Box 909, Bloomington, IN 47402.
by Laura Lane Herald Times columnist | lane@heraldt.com
May 17, 2008
I pretty much ruined a snazzy pair of black leather shoes Wednesday afternoon traipsing through mud and flowing streams of rainwater.
I was surveying a few hundred old cars rusting away at a hidden-in-the woods auto graveyard west of Bloomington.
The rusted out shell of a white wagon rests between trees at an auto graveyard west of Bloomington. Laura Lane | Herald-Times
Had great fun.
Lamented leaving my black rubber boots at home.
Slid down a muddy hill.
Discovered a once-grand 1946 V-12 Lincoln, windows shattered, mired in mud. Forest green, my favorite color.
Took 47 pictures. Stayed too long.
Brad Swain told me about this place. I called the owner, Rick Trobaugh of Columbus, and got permission to trespass on his eight acres to check out the cars.
I’ll just say it’s west of town; Trobaugh said the classic cars on the property already have been stripped of valuable metal by thieves who trade it for cash.
A 1946 Lincoln — once forest green — is among the 250 cars hidden away. Laura Lane | Herald-Times
“Right now, metal’s the highest it’s ever been, and these cars have a lot of stainless steel,” said 43-year-old Trobaugh, who claims to “eat, sleep and bleed cars.”
The collection of cars has rare parts — grilles, door panels, bumpers, headlight casings — that he has sold to automobile restorers around the country.
“Some of these parts are very valuable to collectors,” he said. “These cars are like diamonds now.”
They are worth a lot, either recycled for metal or for re-use of parts.
Trobaugh estimates he has owned more than 1,000 cars. He got this old junk yard a year ago after finally convincing the property owner to sell.
He said two brothers had intended to open a junk yard on the site, but one died and the other became ill. The business never happened.
“I tried and tried, for three years, to convince him to sell,” Trobaugh said. “Then one day I just showed up with cash and we made a deal.”
The newest of the 250 cars is a 1965 Chevrolet truck; the oldest is a Ford Model A. I found a Plymouth DeLuxe under a fallen tree and a white Ford Customline with overdrive purchased from the Elson-Sims dealership in Vincennes.
A lone door still bears a service sticker from a Texaco station dated Aug. 2, 1959. Laura Lane | Herald-Times
There was a black 1957 Buick Special down the hill with a dozen or so other Buicks, and a 1941 Studebaker Business Champ Coupe with a lovely sloping, but rusted, rear end.
Trobaugh said a 1949 Mercury Woody Wagon is there somewhere, but I didn’t see it.
After he bought his eight acres of classic heaps, he catalogued the cars. “It took me five hours. Two hundred and fifty cars, one at a time. I can tell you every car that’s out there.”
Got a story to tell about a car or truck? Call 812-331-4362, send an e-mail to lane@heraldt.com or a letter to My Favorite Ride, P.O. Box 909, Bloomington, IN 47402.