Scenes from a long-gone salvage yard

While house cleaning during the Christmas break, we found a packet of photographs from 2008 showing a salvage yard located in Arkdale, Wisconsin. The limited information with the photos led us to believe the salvage yard was probably Roller's Auto Salvage, and a cursory internet search gave us a phone number and address for this business. Alas, the number was no longer in service. A satellite image from Google maps of Roller's address shows a field with just a few pieces of debris strewn about, a few of which appear to be late-model cars. However, the satellite image doesn't show anywhere near the concentration of iron depicted in these photos. From that, we've surmised that the salvage yard is closed and these cars are long gone (if we're wrong, please let us know!).

Although the iron is very likely long gone, these photos are just too great to throw away before sharing. We just hope the cars weren't likewise thrown away before giving up every part they could, if not a second chance on the road.

Remember, we believe these cars are long gone so we can't provide any additional information. If you have more information, please email us at oldcars@krause.com.

AGAIN, WE BELIEVE THIS YARD IS CLOSED AND THE CARS LONG GONE, THUS THESE CARS ARE NOT AVAILABLE. IF YOU HAVE INFORMATION TO THE CONTRARY, PLEASE CONTACT US AT oldcars@krause.com.

For our money, this rose-and-white 1956 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight Starfire convert is the most interesting in the bunch. It looks like it was probably a decent car when it was parked in the yard, but then the top disintegrated, quickly followed by the floors, and then the moisture from the earth started to eat it from the bottom up. Let's hope this nearly complete car was saved, at least for parts.

Like many of the cars in the photographs, this 1960 Pontiac coupe looks pretty complete.

It would be a shame if this complete 1957 Pontiac two-door hardtop had been crushed. Alas, that is what we suspect happened to it and the others.

Someone loved this 1954 Mercury Monterey two-door hardtop enough to add a 1960 Ford "Sunliner" script to its rear panel.

Here's another one that would have been worth parting out, if not saving: a 1958 Pontiac Bonneville two-door hardtop.

Reader Rick Antin provided these photos and noted that many of the cars in the yard were hardtops. Most of them appeared to be General Motors products, but this 1955 Ford Victoria proves that other sport coupes were well-represented.

Another pretty complete-looking car in the stash was this 1953 Chevy Bel Air.

Considering it was in Wisconsin, we would have expected this 1955 Studebaker two-door hardtop to be rustier. It's probably a steel girder now.

Most of the images show cars from the 1950s, but Antin submitted a few photos of earlier and later cars. This Nash coupe is from the immediate postwar era (1946-1948).

This 1964 Imperial convertible is a rare bird.

salvage yard

Angelo Van BogartAuthor

Angelo Van Bogart is the editor of Old Cars magazine and wrote the column "Hot Wheels Hunting" for Toy Cars & Models magazine for several years. He has authored several books including "Hot Wheels 40 Years," "Hot Wheels Classics: The Redline Era" and "Cadillac: 100 Years of Innovation." His 2023 book "Inside the Duesenberg SSJ" is his latest. He can be reached at avanbogart@aimmedia.com

Scenes from a long-gone salvage yard

While house cleaning during the Christmas break, we found a packet of photographs from 2008 showing a salvage yard located in Arkdale, Wisconsin. The limited information with the photos led…

Angelo Van Bogart