Has anyone ever been here in person? Turner Auto wrecking

[68cobra427]

Watched a internet video on this place. Wow 75 acres. Opened in 1960 still open. Wonder if anyone ever asked if they happen to have VRD 389 black license plates hanging around. Or walked around and looks at the mustangs there. 

[FL SAAC]

Neva Eva Neva

but having said that it peaked our interest

pretty kool place

A Visit To Legendary Turner Auto Wreckers - The 100 Acres Of Cars And Parts Are Amazing, But Jerry Turner, Age 93, Is Even More So - Curbside Classic
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/auto-biography/a-visit-to-legendary-turner-auto-wreckers-the-75-acres-of-cars-are-amazing-but-jerry-turner-age-93-overshadows-them-all/

[68cobra427]

Blows my mind to see a place like this. Our wrecking yards are small and all picked over. Mostly crushed them.

[FL SAAC]

Blows my mind to see a place like this. Our wrecking yards are small and all picked over. Mostly crushed them.

Most of our wrecking yards have been converted to "clean commercial buildings"

Look at the accumulation of parts differentials,  trannys, rears, drums, disc etc.

You name it WE got it

[FL SAAC]

Bike parts not a problema

Got those too

Ride on !

[68cobra427]

Called and talked with Mr Turner, Asked if he ever had a 1967 Shelby GT500 come in wrecked he said no never. Also he said California is real strict on selling black license plates from the yard. So Jim Morrisons of the doors car never made it to this place.

[FL SAAC]

Called and talked with Mr Turner, Asked if he ever had a 1967 Shelby GT500 come in wrecked he said no never. Also he said California is real strict on selling black license plates from the yard. So Jim Morrisons of the doors car never made it to this place.

You dealt with an honest man and ofcourse it did not show up there.

It was recycled into many things after it was crushed. Possibly many TUNA cans.


 But will take the liberty to say the following about Jimmies car;

The lack of items from this car showing up for sale suggests that it is gone from the face of the earth .

But that does not rule out the creativity and large CASH INFUSIONS of some to reconstruct and resurrect...if and when it comes back to life, not even the most astute people / judges will be able to distinguish that it's not the real one...

rise lazarus, rise...

More from jimmies car at

https://www.saac.com/forum/index.php?topic=4791.msg41316#msg41316

[J_Speegle]

Watched a internet video on this place. Wow 75 acres. Opened in 1960 still open. Wonder if anyone ever asked if they happen to have VRD 389 black license plates hanging around. Or walked around and looks at the mustangs there. 

Yes been there a number of times over the decades. Walked the place each time just have to do the regular song and dance to get to the back and allowed to walk it by yourself. Some places its tough and can take a few visits and making the right choices to be allowed free roam.  Then there can be (never happened here) the whole camera and picture issue.

At one point I was able to spend two days a week at least roaming yards around Calif and on trips around the country.  Nasty, dirty, often very hot but fun

[68cobra427]

Never know, in the 80's I went to a friends family gathering in Washington state. Come to find out his uncle was a pot grower and in the barn was 2 (68 Shelby's) One was a convertible GT500 and the other was a gold GT350 fastback. He stole them both. I know the convert was stripped and long gone but the fastback was taken out of LA area and driven to Washington. I think it is still there in the barn. I remember a story of someone that use to own a gold one and how it was taken. I did reach out with info to them regarding the info I had at the time. Never  received a reply. Told him what town it was in and the persons name.

There is still cars hidden. I know of these not for sale.
68 GT350 convertible
68 GT500 fastback black
68 GT500 fastback hiland green
67 GT500
70 B9
70 GT500 fastback

[98SVT - was 06GT]

Also he said California is real strict on selling black license plates from the yard.

They are supposed to destroy them. That rarely happens most of the cars in yards still had their plates on them. Some plates have a good resale value. I suspect those get checked off as "no plate" cars and sold to the YOM sellers.
BTW: Turners is 200+ miles away from where the Blue Lady would have ended up.
I'm in the school that it is sitting in some guys garage and after he's dead the kids will reveal it and clean up at the auction. It was advertised at Ray's Performance Center in 1971. That was Ray Wolf's place. He opened it after HiPerf Motors, where he was sales mgr, was closed.
Ray's today isn't in the best of neighborhoods. It was a typical small used car dealer with a lot and small office building.

[Krelboyne]

I have roamed that yard also, 20-25 years ago. Old man Turner let me roam after I asked if I could look for Cougar (and other) parts. I was even allowed to go into the tow storage yards directly across from the wrecking yard.
Neat old guy, he said it was probably time to cull out a bunch of worthless junk. He showed me his airplane, said that he wanted to fly it one more time before he died. He said there was an air strip on the property that got covered in junk cars. Reminded me of the Second Hand Lions movie.

The largest wrecking yard I was ever in was Pearson's, in Pearsonville. All crushed out now, they had couple of hundred acres in the desert. Cars dating back to the 1940's.

[RacerX]

Me and my crew were talking about checking that place out, but we haven't gotten any further that that! 

I used to hit up the Ecology yard in Santa Fe Springs. Back then I had a '67 Fairlane and a 72 VW Bus.
I used to spend all kinds of time just looking around... envisioning engine swaps...
I think I got some 289 heads for my Fairlane from there (someone had swapped in a 302)
I took the heads over to Fullerton College and gave them a valve job and then swapped them at my Dad's place

Good Times! 

[98SVT - was 06GT]

I used to hit up the Ecology yard in Santa Fe Springs.

That guy revolutionized the junkyard biz - (Pick Your Part today https://locations.lkqpickyourpart.com/en-us/ca/santa-fe-springs/13780-imperial-highway/ ). Cars on jack stands in neat rows. Available for a short period of time then squashed flat and taken to the LA Harbor where they were fed into giant shredders that dumped directly into cargo ships destined for Japan.

A friend had his boat near the shredder. They sent people around twice a year to clean and polish all the rust spots off the boats in the marina.
The main metal shredder facility in the LA Harbor area is operated by SA Recycling on Terminal Island. This site features a large, 9,000 horsepower "mega shredder" capable of shredding high volumes of metal like cars and appliances.

[Special Ed]

Yep been to turners back years ago up and down the west coast when me and sizemore traveled in the good ole days but we didnt buy much at turners as thats why he got alot of parts left great place to visit and look around thou.

[Scode67FB]

I would love to take a walk through a place like Turner's. I first heard of them on an episode of "Roadkill" some years ago.
I used to love going through the various "Ecology Auto Wrecking" and "Pick Your Part" yards all over the SoCal area. I've bought, sold and kept lots of treasures picked from those places. They're all pretty much useless these days, though, since the LKQ takeover. Many of the yards have closed and all the prices have gone through the roof.