MTFCA Forum

Was this a scrap drive or just a wrecking yard over run with T’s getting ready for the scrapper. I think I’ve seen this before but can’t remember where. I’m thinking it’s in the early 40’s or before. Looks like it was few other makes too but not many.

The pile looks crazy huge, until you consider that pile represents maybe half an hour of peak production....even crazier!!

I think it’s a real photo and not A I. It’s hard to believe that in the mid 30s thru the early 50’s the majority of cars in wrecking yards were probably T’s. I’m guessing but I think they were.

John kuehn wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 13, 2026 8:37 pm

I think it’s a real photo and not A I. It’s hard to believe that in the mid 30s thru the early 50’s the majority of cars in wrecking yards were probably T’s. I’m guessing but I think they were.

Considering there were over 15 million Model T's produced, more than any other single make of vehicle at that time, its very likely wrecking yards were full of them. At some time during 1927 and 1941, my Grandfather had a catastrophic engine failure in his 27 coupe. He went to a wrecking yard and bought a used 1922 bare block, because they didn't happen to have a 26-27 block in stock. He took all the internal and external needed parts off the original motor and assembled a usable motor with the 22 block. As late as the 1950's and early 60's , there was still a wrecking yard in Houston and one in Schulenburg, Texas, who both had plenty of T parts for sale. Other places in Texas probably had similar wrecking yards.

There was a pile that big of early v8s down near the Dalton GA, TN border in the mid 60s. Would be worth a fortune today.

Description: Crane lifts car onto enormous pile of wrecked cars, mostly Model T vintage. Tires and parts missing from some cars, but most look whole and intact. Crane is run by Smith Brothers Truck Company of Los Angeles.

Date ca. 1920

I was picking up a Torbin Arp TA14 in Clarksville Tn a few years ago. The guys ask what I was going to use it for. After I told them they told me about a junkyard that was being crushed that had a T in it. Came me directions, so I went to look. Sure enough, 26 Touring that was fairly complete, but in real bad rusted out. Nothing worth saving. Rear end was even rusted out holes in it. So I left it. This was about 2010. I may have seen the last one in a junkyard.

Suppose that's were Howard got the wheels for old # 7 from?
Craig.

I did some quick math out of curiosity, thinking about WWII scrap metal drives....
So as example, 175 Fletcher Class Destroyers were built in WWII, using about 4.6 million pounds of steel each, 805,000,000lbs total, which ends up being equivalent to about 3 months of late T production, each vessel equivalent to about 3300 T's, a little over half a days production, in generic numbers...
Puts things in perspective a bit... Just think how many Model T's were lost simply due to WWII alone. That pic was just a drop in the bucket of scrap heaps.

Think how many brass Ts went to the Great War.
Any still around now survived 2 scrap drives!

When I think about the remains of T’s from 09-13 that were scrapped during that period of time it makes me cringe. But that’s what happened to early V8’s too.