Cosby,
The place you are thinking of in Garner/Raleigh is probably "Cheap John's U Pull It" which is (sadly) no longer in business- it was right next to Raleigh Auto Parts (now LKQ) on Hwy 70 between Garner + Clayton.
AFAIK, there are not any true "u-pull-it" yards in the RDU area- Nine's seems to be sort of an old time yard where you can roam around and pull your own parts, but I don't know what the prices are like there or at the other places that have been mentioned. In my experience, they have been a bit on the high side.
There is a brand-spankin' new yard in Charlotte called "Pull a Part" that is exactly what (I think) you're thinking of- see
www.pullapart.com - for price list and vehicle inventory. I was just down there yesterday- it's the typical U-pull-it yard where you pay $1 entry, sign a waiver and grab a wheelbarrow and head out into a yard full of cars propped up on stands. It's very well organized- in fact, you can check one of several computer terminals inside the building for specific cars + their specific location on the lot. Cars are organized into groups- FOMOCO, MOPAR, GM, Asian Imports, Euro Imports are all grouped in their own specific section, labelled by Row #.
There are also 2 great u-pull-it yards in the Richmond area- both operate on the same principle as Pull A Part, but they seem to turn over cars much more frequently- I think they usually keep a car on the yard for about 30 days before they pull + crush it and replace it with a new one. Email me if you want specifics....it's well worth the roadtrip up there- I've been trying to go every other month or so for the last year or more.
Another possibility is a place in Dudley- just south of Goldsboro, I think it's called Young's. They have 2 yards on the same property- one is your typical yard- with mostly late model stuff, and high prices + no roaming. The other one is a U-Pull-it place, they used to advertise Saturdays where it was $35 to enter the yard and you could take all the parts you could carry out, basically from one end of a large truck scale to the other. I went out there a couple of months ago to see what they had, they have thousands of cars, most sitting on the ground, most look like they've been there for a LONG time. Not sure if they're still doing the $35 deal, but I think they would probably give you a pretty good price anytime.
Anyone up for a roadtrip????!!!!! Anyone know any other good places with hidden treasures???
Bret
the Junkyard Junkie.........
