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I was going through some old photos and found these that were taken in the 1990's at the former Leo Winakor and Sons wrecking yard in Salem, Connecticut. This yard opened shortly after World War II and at one time had over 4,000 vehicles, with the majority from the late 1930's through the 1950's. Virtually every make and model was represented, including Studebakers, Hudsons, Nashes, Kaisers (there was even a Frazer), Willys and, of course, Packards. Once a car entered the yard, it usually never left. Old man Winakor was very difficult to deal with. He hated selling small parts off cars and usually would not talk to you unless you wanted something major, like an engine or a transmission, or you were willing to take the whole car. His prices tended not to be very reasonable, so the cars just sat, often for decades and slowly rusted into the earth. But he would let you roam the yard unsupervised, though you would be watched from a distance by either him or his large yard dogs. At least they appeared to be well trained. But after years of harassment from the neighbors and from the town, Winakor's closed for good in 2000. Everything was crushed and the site of the old yard is now a suburban subdivision. Here are pictures of some of the Packards that were in the yard. Hope you enjoy.

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Mal (Ozstatman), your turn.

Quote:
Gerd,

Don't know what I can add? Unless it's please put them in the Packard Vehicle Registry. Which I very much doubt can be done, unless packardsix1939 carefully and durifully recorded TPN's, Engine #'s and Vehicle Plate details in his wanderings of the premises many years ago.

Unfortunately, I didn't record any specific info on the cars in the photos. It didn't occur to me that anyone would be interested. Everything is now lost to history as all of these cars were crushed over 20 years ago when the yard closed.

No photos, but in high school days, 60 some years ago it was interesting to wander such junkyards, good as a museum.

Dad had a 23rd series that I drove, I can remember purchasing radio, heater, and the electric clutch option and adding to his car that I drove. At that time there were 2 different yards in Savannah that had Packards and some other interesting older cars.

Here are a couple of Duesenbergs

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The 1938 Henney-Packard photo was taken in the '60s at Vintage Auto Parts in Woodenville Washington with a teenage me standing next to it and note the rare roof rack. The 1940, 1941 Landaulet and 1953 Junior (mistitled as 1952) were taken in the early '80s at Lewis Lazurus' acreage in Illinois where there were Henneys all over the place just about everywhere one looked. The 1941 Landaulet was a very nice original getting its rear fenders repainted and I came very close to buying it as I already owned the 1941 shown next to my 1940 110. The last photo is of some of my own cars in my storage yard which was close to being a junkyard with all the cars I had there.

Sorry for the poor quality but I've not yet located the originals so these are from my site.

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Some of those old school junkyard proprietors were real characters, and I suspect they got into the auto salvage business because they didn't have to deal with many people, and the ones they did deal with were on their own terms.


In 1968, Dad bought a '41 60 Special and ran outta gas on it near the end of disassembly. There were a lot of reasons for that, but that's another story. Anyway, he was working at the Army base 25 miles from the house and he'd pass a couple of good old salvage yards. One had a couple of Cads in it, but the guy was unwilling to part with much of it. We went down there one Saturday when I was about 11 or 12, and I remember seeing a pile of model A differentials just sitting there. Literally, a pile of them. Dad always said that the old guy was "in love with his junk."


Hard to find a good salvage yard any more.