I went, I saw, and I bought. Next year, I'll take a trailer.
This is just ONE of the yards full of airplane parts. The annual auction runs three days, often with more than one auctioneer going at the same time. With almost 600 auction lots (many thousands of items), it took about six hours to get through this stuff.
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Here's the lineup of some of the fuselages (Bonanza's were behind me). Poking out behind the yellow and green Luscombe is a 140 standing on its gear. The 140 went for $35.
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I came close to buying the 337 tail with booms seen in this picture. I don't need it, but it sure looks cool. Sale price was $65.
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Nice set of leather 172 seats. They were in fairly good shape, except for the cut seatbelts in the front and the headrest that was bent forward with a blood stain on its back.
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In case you have ever wondered what they look like: Kenny Faeth (straw hat), Steve Starman (cowboy hat), and Steve Wentworth (no hat, moustache). There were a handful of salvage buyers who took most of the stuff. If they knew you needed something for a project, they tended to be nice and back off. Once they figured out I needed parts for a straight tail 172, I didn't have to bid against them. If there was a lot of potential resale value in something, though, watch out!
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I got to gabbing with Steve Wentworth and missed out on the bidding for a 172 left elevator that I really need. It went to one of the big salvage yards, so I caught the elbow of the buyer a bit later and asked him to sell it to me. It took forty bucks, but I got it. The winning bidder had paid $25 each (the minimum bid) for a big pile of them. He was happy to get the instant $15 profit and I was happy to get it for cheaper than if I'd ended up bidding against him.
A couple of yokes I bought for ten bucks apiece. I don't need yokes, but I did need some universals in good shape. Each yoke yielded one good universal.
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My most costly purchase. This straight tail 172 rudder looks like all new parts currently held together with clecoes. I had someone try to buy the clecoes from me after the auction was over but, no sir, I need 'em! What ran this bid up to $110 was having to bid against someone I know from my home field. He had flown up with three of his buddies in a 185 and they were all having me haul their stuff back to Tucson for them since I'd driven up. If he'd bid against me and won, he would have then been asking me to haul it back for him. I tell ya, the nerve of some folks!
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