True pick your part junkyards are something that seems to be slowly going away as time progresses. I decided to document my experience and give a Southern California Pick your Part Junkyard Tour. Parts here tend to be much cheaper than a regular junkyard as you are doing the work to retrieve the parts. Typically you pay a small entrance fee and bring your own tools to get the work done. This is especially nice because you can get OEM parts for a really affordable price. In the past I have needed specific bolts for brake calipers or alternators and just decided to go here for the sake of getting OEM direct fitment and not needing to match sizes or anything. You could definitely get this stuff elsewhere but here you get OEM direct fitment parts and I honestly have fun checking out all of the cars. You never know what you will find, sometimes you can find aftermarket or even rare OEM parts for a steal. The one discussed here is located in San Diego, California and the entrance fee was $3.
I have been to a few of these pick a part style junkyards throughout Southern California and the main thing I have noticed is that there is plenty of rice. For some reason a large amount of riced out cars from the fast and furious era end up here. Some of them surprisingly must have a decent amount of money put into them. For sure that money was put in many many years ago but still someone cared enough about these cars to do it.
For example: This Honda Civic EF Sedan with a completely custom interior. From the side pillars all the way down to the shift boot and steering wheel it’s all this crazy textured pattern. Once upon a time someone put some serious time into this car.
Also on the topic of rice, there is plenty of fart cannons available typically in the Honda section. No need for ordering eBay exhausts anymore, come grab a used one. Pictured: Demonstrating the width.
Along with rice, you find some pretty destroyed cars and parts. Obviously, it is a junkyard so you expect this but still some of this is just shocking and leaves you wondering how it happened.
First up: this wheel which I believe to be an Avid. How… I guess this is what people are warning about when they say don’t buy replica wheels.
An entire engine through the windshield of car. Not much to say but just look… This clearly must have happened in the yard and I really wish I could have been there to see it haha.
Some cars are just completely destroyed. Here is this Nissan 300zx that barely resembles a car now. I always hope that the people involved in getting these cars here are okay.
Finally, lets get to some interesting cars that I have seen. I typically only enter the import junkyard, the domestic junkyard is located across the street and requires a separate entrance fee. For the most part I browse the Mazda section for my own car and the Honda section because my ricer friends need parts also (And I used to own a Civic so I still think that section is fun).
The junkyard typically stocks cars up to the year 2000 but more recently I have seen some newer generation cars come through. A cool car to see is this Mazda RX8, I feel that the value of these cars and there many problems leave them prone to ending up here because I have seen a number of these.
Someone actually took apart a 13b from one of these RX8’s and left the housings behind (They must have wanted the doritos). This is one of my favorite finds from the junkyard as when I went to purchase it the worker rang it up as an engine mount costing me only $13. Now, I don’t own a rotary but I thought it was a cool item to have, I ended up cleaning it up and setting it on a shelf for display.
240sx’s get harder and harder to come by every day but a few do end up here. This 240sx convertible was in decent condition but pretty stripped already, I imagine as soon as one ends up here it gets picked apart rather quickly.
Another car getting more difficult to find is the Honda Civic EG Hatchback. Clearly this one has already been stripped of many parts. Sad to see cars like this end up here but at least the parts are going into other builds instead of straight to the crusher.
This place always seems to have the Miata parts I need when I come. Typically I see around 3-4 NA Miata’s and maybe one early NB Miata. The typical parts Miata people need disappear pretty quickly like the center console tombstone and plastic gauge cover. The yellow pole here with warning tape is attached to a sign just out of the picture that says “Beware of Bees.” Pick at your own risk.
Here is an example of an NB Miata in the junkyard. It is picked to the bone, both the front and rear sub-frame are gone and the thing is slammed now. #stancenation Also it had a 949 Racing sticker so that’s cool.
Honda Insight ended up in here, not the coolest car but odd and that makes it interesting. Someone got those wheel covers for serious MPG’s.
Random shot of another cool interior, fresh white.
That is all I have now from my junkyard archives, I do think I can find some more from my previous trips somewhere if you all really enjoy this article. If you ever get the chance to go to a pick your part junkyard I would recommend taking it as soon as possible. I always have a good time and enjoy checkout out the cars even if I do not really need anything. One more small thing I forgot to mention is that you can learn a lot going here, you see certain options and features on different models you may have never seen before. Also since a good amount of things are taken apart you can easily see the inner workings of certain parts especially engines.
Thank you all for reading this article I hope you enjoyed it. If you enjoy the content here please check out other articles on the site and feel free to ask anything in the comments!
