Junkyards: The Resting Place of Failed Invention

Junkyards are the final resting place of failed invention.  For those of you that frequent junkyards, I certainly do not need to tell you about the types of brilliance that can be found behind their prison-like chain link fences.  See, junkyards aren’t just about crashed cars; their awesomeness is far deeper than that.  Obviously there are a plethora of cars that are so horrifically crashed that they instill the fear of driving into you that you will never forget.  Then you see rows of burned-out motorhomes.  In tough economic times, as if by magic, those rows seem to grow.  Coincidence?  Hmmmm.  Around the outskirts of most junkyards is where you typically find the really old stuff.  Everything from old cars and trucks to farm equipment and machinery.  But we aren’t talking about any of that today.  We are talking about inventions.

These inspirational inventions in junkyards are almost always unfinished projects that were likely fueled by acetylene, oxygen, a bit of argon, and most of all, alcohol.  We all know that if you take two great things, and put them together, you obviously multiple the greatness and get something twice as nice.  Right?  Well, junkyards prove this because the merging of great things just so happens to be the most common invention found. Take this “Willy’s-Jeep-Nissan-Plow-Tow-Offroad-Truck” from the 80’s for example.  It features an 86 Nissan D720 up top, and what I believe is a vastly shorter Willy’s Jeep chassis and suspension below.  It’s a win from every angle.

Now, you are probably asking: What about the projects with less than 4 wheels though?  Do those end up here too? Ofcourse they do!  The junkyards don’t discriminate when it comes to great inventions.  Here we have this “Lawnmower-Scooter-Moped-Trike” for a 3 wheeled example.  I have always thought that my lawnmower had too many wheels.  Sadly, the previous owner of this super mower trike didn’t put it into production so that we all could reap the huge benefits of the rotational weight savings.

Oddly enough while at a swap meet over the weekend I spotted an invention that is strangely similar, yet equally genius.  Naturally there were a lot of comments like “Geeze, my (husband, wife, mother, son, grandmother, etc) could really use this thing!”  So was it purchased?   You’re darn right it was!  Sadly, I don’t know the purchase price.  We can only imagine that an invention of that caliber must go for top dollar.  Will it be a failed invention found in the junkyard someday? Who knows.

For those of you that don’t find yourselves loafing through the ever glistening, questionably non-freezing mud of your local salvage yards, I would like recommend letting down your hair and taking a stroll through.  It is a bizarre world out there, and the salvage yards are hiding the physical proof of it.  After all, it is the resting place of failed invention.

Jeremy Nutt

Hi, I'm Jeremy.

3 thoughts to “Junkyards: The Resting Place of Failed Invention”

  1. Im my neck of the woods capitalized on the draw that a junk yard has on the common man by inventing the “you pull and pay” yard. All of the cars are placed in rows on blocks and sorted by type. You pay $2 to get in, use your own tools and line up to pay at the exit for what you found. Based on the number of people that are there everytime I go, he probably makes his money on the admission charge alone.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *