Helping my MIL with tons of scrap

My FIL passed away last June. For years he had been buying up cars and tools with the intent of fixing them up and reselling them, but then he got colon cancer and it all went south. So now she's sitting on 10 vehicles that are late 90s / early 2000s models, and 3 that are late 50s / early 60s models (mainly just bodies and frames).

She also has a 5000 sq.ft building FULL of old hosiery machinery (mostly cast iron) and tools. We've had an ongoing joke for 20 years whenever someone needs a special tool... go look, Bill has it! LOL

The question for now, though, is about the vehicles.

What's the best way to get the most money out of these vehicles, without investing TOO much time? I have my own business to run, and I'm just helping to be helping. I can remove wheels and strip the body, but I really don't want to start cutting out things with a torch or breaking down the engine.

We have one local scrap yard, but I know the owner in passing and have very little faith that they won't try to take advantage of her. So I'm going to have to be involved in the process, no matter what.

TIA!

Welcome to the forum and I'm sorry for your loss. May Bill's memory be a blessing. All I do with cars is cut off the converter and take out the battery. Rarely have time for more and surely don't have the space. The rest goes as scrap. There is a local yard that buys aluminum rims with the tire on I'll sometimes grab those too. You'll make vastly more parting them out or even selling as parts vehicles as is. Depends how much time you wanna spend.

Have you tried to sell them as it to auction? The projects may interest some DIYers or weekend mechanics, especially the 50's/60's cars. Otherwise, you can also call some auto yards around you (the ones that sell parts, not the ones that press/shred the whole cars) and ask two or three of them for a price for the lot or for each.

Not a live auction, but we've posted them on the GoNC classifieds... there've been a LOT of looky-loos, but only sold one vehicle :-( Since it's up to me to meet the potential buyers at her house and do all of the leg work, I've been encouraging her to scrap them and get them all gone at once! LOL

I take it that I would do better to cut off the catalytic converter and sell them separately? Like, the rest of the car to an auto junkyard and the converter to the metal scrapyard?

I feel like the 50s/60s cars would be pretty valuable to a collector, but I'm not sure how to find such a collector! I've posted them on a few auction sites with no bids, but I worry that the distance and expense of hauling them out is a pretty big deterrent. I WISH that I had the time to rebuild one of them myself, that would be a fun project :-)

Do not sell the catalytic converters to any junk, metal, salvage yard until you have do more reading here on the forum. We have a buyers section, look at the top of each page and find the "scrap buyers & sellers". Many members do sell catalytic converters and will likely chime in.

There is at least one members who is listed in the scrap buyers & sellers section. I only recommend dealing with buyers on the forum that have recent feed back. When you look at their buyers page most list a preferred method of contacting them. Use their preferred method and you will get quicker responds. 73, Mike

I dont know how it is in everyone else's neck of the woods.... but here no scrap yards buy Cats. Got to find a core buyer.

878-207-6242 text me with any questions about catalytic converters. You can check my ad on the forum and my feedback. Thank you.

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Originally Posted by csdude55

Not a live auction, but we've posted them on the GoNC classifieds... there've been a LOT of looky-loos, but only sold one vehicle :-( Since it's up to me to meet the potential buyers at her house and do all of the leg work, I've been encouraging her to scrap them and get them all gone at once! LOL

I take it that I would do better to cut off the catalytic converter and sell them separately? Like, the rest of the car to an auto junkyard and the converter to the metal scrapyard?

I feel like the 50s/60s cars would be pretty valuable to a collector, but I'm not sure how to find such a collector! I've posted them on a few auction sites with no bids, but I worry that the distance and expense of hauling them out is a pretty big deterrent. I WISH that I had the time to rebuild one of them myself, that would be a fun project :-)

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