Mopar Magic: Junkyard Discoveries of Wildcat Auto Wrecking, Sandy, Oregon

In this amazing place you’ll find close to 1000 classic Chrysler, DeSoto, Dodge, Imperial and Plymouth cars and trucks, a mix of projects and parts vehicles. We visited the yard in 2018, and the prices quoted for the restorable cars were correct at the time of our visit. Since then, figures may have changed, and cars could well have sold. 

Wildcat Auto Wrecking is run by extremely welcoming and knowledgeable staff. It is currently open from Wednesday to Sunday, and viewing is by appointment only.

In an attempt to offer car buyers maximum economy during recurrent gas crises, Chrysler introduced a lightweight, economical, performance car. Only sold in 1976, the Plymouth Feather Duster featured numerous aluminum components, and a manual gearbox, making it 5% lighter than a regular Duster. 

It was indeed the most fuel efficient car in its class, managing 36 MPG on the highway. Roughly 20% of all 1976 Duster owners paid for the Feather Duster package.

Wildcat Auto Wrecking has more than its fair share of Dodges, including this tidy 1961 Lancer 770. We were told that it was a runner when it arrived in the yard, so presumably it wouldn’t take too much to coax its six-cylinder engine back to life. The car was being offered for sale at $2000.

At $9500, this was one of the more expensive cars we spotted on our tour of the yard. It’s a 1962 Chrysler Imperial Crown convertible, and the bodywork is especially good. On the downside it’s a non-runner, and the interior has suffered due to the missing ragtop. 

Just 554 people handed over the $5770 needed to drive one of these beauties out of the showroom.

The Dodge Mirada wasn’t a common sight back in the day, and they’re incredibly rare now. Sharing the J-platform with its Cordoba and Imperial stablemates, this personal luxury car was only offered between 1980 and 1983, selling just 53,000 units. This 1981 example is one of 11,899 built, and Wildcat Auto Wrecking had put a $1200 price tag on it.

Incredibly, this 1960 Plymouth Fury station wagon hasn’t been on the road since the late 1970s. At a glance it appears to be rust-free, but it’s probably a different story underneath, which might explain why Wildcat Auto Wrecking have deemed it to be a parts car. 

It’s an extremely rare vehicle, with only 7586 being built. What didn’t help its poor sales figures were those whopping great tailfins. They were falling out of fashion fast at the time, and would disappear completely the following year.

The third generation Dodge Coronet was penned by designer extraordinaire Virgil Exner, who had joined Chrysler from Studebaker in 1949. By making the car lower, longer and wider than before, sales saw a significant uplift. This four-door sedan was built in 1955, which was the first of the two years the model was in production.

While we can’t vouch for the driveline, there’s very little wrong with this 1976 Dodge Dart’s bodywork. Just polishing away a decade or so of grime and dirt would completely transform its appearance. With its $1200 price tag, it seems like a cheap and not too challenging project. It’s one of 27,849 four-door sedans built that year.

1964 was a record year for Imperial, with 23,295 of them leaving the factory. That said, it still trailed behind rival Lincoln by 13,000 units. Second most popular of the five body styles offered that year was the Crown Coupe, with 5233 hitting the highway. 

Despite weighing-in at more than 5000 lb (2273kg), this car’s 6.8-litre V8 could still power it to 60mph in an impressive 8.4sec.

According to the note on the windshield, this 1975 Chrysler New Yorker Brougham could do with a tune-up. We’re not surprised, after all it hasn’t been on the road since 2003. The bodywork is in great shape, and impressively it still holds air in all four tires. 

The two-door hardtop was twice as popular as the four-door hardtop, with almost 13,000 of them leaving the factory that year.

The Plymouth Volare didn’t have a great survival rate, with the vast majority being scrapped in the 1980s. However, having defied the odds and survived for this long, it’s surprising that this one has finally ended up in a salvage yard. It’s in amazing condition, with straight bodywork, and virtually no corrosion.

Meet the Violator – a 1963 Dodge D Series gasser with a 6.3-litre 383 cu in big-block V8 under the hood, and some serious attitude. We’d love to know the story behind this truck, in particular how it ended up at Wildcat Auto Wrecking.

Lee Iacocca’s K-platform cars may have saved Chrysler, and sold 3.5 million units between 1981 and 1995, but they have little to no following today. Whether it’s the Dodge Aries, Chrysler LeBaron, Plymouth Reliant or any of the numerous other cars and minivans that used this platform over the years, none command serious money in the classic car world. 

This 1983 Chrysler LeBaron ragtop is a case in point, as despite less than 10,000 being built, it’s worth just $850.

Here’s one that really has captured the hearts of classic car enthusiasts the world over. It’s a 1970 Dodge Charger, and it’s not in too bad a shape either. But before you pick up the phone to Wildcat Auto Wrecking, we’re afraid you’re too late. This had actually sold a few days prior to our visit, and was about to be shipped to its new owner in South Africa.

Between 1978 and 1979 a total of 72,000 Dodge Magnums were produced, but few are left today. You’ll likely go for years before seeing another one in a salvage yard, let alone two together.

The (slightly) more desirable of this pair is the upmarket XE variant on the left, which boasts such luxuries as a factory sunroof and bucket seats. They’re both runners, and during our visit were on sale for $1,900 and $1,500 respectively.

The blue parts car on the top is a 1973 Plymouth Duster, one of 248,243 that rolled off the line that year. It’s badly battle-scarred, but still has numerous good parts worth saving. 

It’s not so easy to identify the year of the Valiant beneath it, as its body panels are clearly from different aged cars. Its reminds us of Johnny Cash’s song One Piece at a Time.

This 1972 Chrysler New Yorker two-door hardtop coupe had a $1000 price tag, which seems incredibly good value for such a rare car. Only 5567 of them were sold, but then rarity and value don’t always go hand-in-hand. 

Like the other west coast states, Oregon isn’t in the Salt Belt, which explains why this, and so many of the other vehicles at Wildcat Auto Wrecking are rust-free.

When did you last see a Dodge Rampage on the road? These El Camino/Subaru BRAT rivals were only available between 1982 and 1984, and weren’t particularly common at the time. This example, which is fitted with a period Glasstite camper shell, is one of just 8033 built in 1983. The yard reckoned it was worth $1500 to somebody, which seems like a bargain.

The parts cars are crammed in pretty tightly, and most are double-stacked, which makes it difficult to photograph them. It’s one of 121,000 DeSotos that were built in 1951, but a breakdown of different body types wasn’t available, so we don’t know quite how rare this station wagon is. 

The car’s 4.1-litre six-cylinder engine, which once propelled it to a top speed of 84mph, has long gone.

Here’s a great example of rarity and desirability being poles apart. It’s a 1977 Plymouth Volare Premier ‘woody’ station wagon. Although 1977 was the Volare’s best year, with 217,795 being built, just a tiny fraction wore faux wood panelling on their sides. This one would have set you back $1000.

You’ll pay big bucks for a concourse 1970 Plymouth Sport Satellite two-door hardtop, but this example is quite far from the concourse. That badly disfigured rear fender is as rotten as a pear, and who knows what horrors lurk beneath?

There’s some fantastic drone footage of the yard on Wildcat Auto Wrecking’s website, but we failed to spot this car in it, indicating that it has probably since found a new home.

When you walk around certain areas of this salvage yard, it’s like stepping back in time by 50 years. in the 1970s scenes like this would have been common place in junkyards, but definitely not anymore. That’s a 1957 DeSoto Fireflite perched on the roof of a 1957 Chrysler Windsor.

The Barracuda, Plymouth’s two-door fastback, debuted in 1964, just two weeks ahead of the Mustang. But it would be completely overshadowed by its Ford rival, and seriously outsold by it too. The Barracuda managed 23,443 units in its first year, compared with 126,538 in the same period for the Mustang. What didn’t help was that the Plymouth didn’t have the same youthful image as the Ford.

We don’t know how much this project car was being offered for, but others in the yard in a similar condition were around the $3000 mark.

The Dodge Polara was named after the Polaris star, and like the Ford Galaxie, was a blatant attempt to cash in on the public’s enthusiasm for space exploration. Although initially it was Dodge’s top-of-the-range car, it was soon downgraded slightly.

This distinctive rear end belongs to a 1968 model, one of 70,100 built that year.

This 1948 Desoto four-door sedan has a massive crater on its roof, from years of supporting the weight of another one. That’s not surprising, considering that they weighed close to 4000 lb (1818kg). 

The car was offered in 16 different colors, including four shades of green - Windward, Orinoco, Forest and Gypsy. Judging by the traces of paint left on the rear fender, this one was the latter color. Close to 100,000 of these were built, and Wildcat Auto Wrecking has several in stock.

The paint has long since faded from this 1950 Plymouth, but the chrome bumper is still gleaming in the Oregon sunshine. That said, it’s curious that one of the overriders hasn’t fared too well. 

From 1932 to 1954 Plymouth was the third best-selling car marque in the US, with Chevrolet and Ford jostling for first place. By the mid-1970s it had fallen to the middle of the table, and two decades later only Chrysler was preventing it from being in last place. However, as the new millennium rolled in, Plymouth was officially the worst-selling domestic brand, achieving just 54,543 sales. The plug was pulled the following year, ending 73 years of car building history.

Plymouth started to sprout tailfins in the mid-1950s, growing in size and extravagance throughout the decade, and culminating in what you see here on the back of this 1960 Fury. The following year Virgil Exner totally redesigned the car, confining tailfins to the history books in the process. This example is in great condition for a parts car.

One of the biggest automotive question marks of all time undoubtedly surrounds the identity of Scooby-Doo’s Mystery Machine. Despite the 2002 movie using a 1972 Bedford CF, general consensus is that the original cartoon van was either a mid-1960s Chevrolet G-series or one of these Dodge A100s. 

Wildcat Auto Wrecking has an impressive collection of these, which during our visit, were realistically priced from $1000 upwards.

During its seven-year production run (1964 to 1970), the Dodge A100 van was offered in a number of different guises, including as a pickup truck. These forward-control vans battled it out with domestic load-luggers like the Ford Econoline and Chevrolet G-series, but also the hugely popular imported Volkswagen Type 2. Unfortunately this one has some serious corrosion issues.

This 1963 Plymouth Valiant convertible hasn’t been on the road since 2009, and since then its ragtop has seriously deteriorated. Consequently, whoever’s brave enough to buy it as a project, will definitely be forking-out for a new interior.

Due to their desirability, convertibles tend to have a higher survival rate than their tin-top siblings, and we saw at least a couple of dozen of them in the yard.

While it could probably do with a new set of dentures, fundamentally this Dodge is in pretty good shape. We’re going to guess that it’s a 1946 model, although that grille would remain unchanged for the following two years. 

Like the 1950 Plymouth Deluxe next to it, the car was up for grabs as a potential restoration project. 

Thanks to the Wildcat Auto Wrecking employee who scribbled ’74 Scamp’ on this car’s fender, saving us from having to guess the model year. 

Launched in 1971, the Plymouth Valiant Scamp was basically a badge-engineered Dodge Dart Swinger two-door hardtop. This was the best-selling year for the car, with 156,303 examples finding buyers.

It’s incredibly unusual to find a convertible in a salvage yard that still has its ragtop. That said, you wouldn’t want to be sitting in this example’s passenger seat during a downpour. 

According to its license plate, the car was last on the road in 2017, a year before our visit to Wildcat Auto Wrecking.

Here’s a monstrous Plymouth Fury station wagon – a 1970 Custom Suburban. 

With a standard 318cui V8 under the hood, the automatic Fury wagon would struggle to get to 60mph in under 12sec. However, if you wanted acceleration to match its furious name, then the 440cui V8 was available. This would shave 4sec off the 0-60mph time, and continue to a theoretical top speed of 123mph. Of course they’re a bit slower if they’re balancing 1972 Plymouth Fury Gran Coupes on their roofs…

How do you fancy cruising down the highway, soaking up the rays, in a 1970 Plymouth Fury convertible? It’s got the 383cui Super Commando V8 under the hood, which will need coaxing back to life. Back in the day, this 290hp car could do the quarter mile in under 17sec. 

The yard was asking $2,995 for this, which seemed really reasonable to us.

Although it appears to be 90% complete, this 1961 Dodge Lancer station wagon is going to need a lot of money spending on it to bring it back to its former glory. Judging by the way it has sunk into the earth, it’s been looking for a new owner for a number of years. 

The Lancer was Dodge’s version of the Chrysler Valiant, and less than 10,000 of these station wagons were built.

The Beatles debut album Please Please Me was in the charts when this 1963 Plymouth Belvedere four-door sedan rolled off the line. The Belvedere, which was replaced by the Satellite in 1970 (which coincidentally is the year that the Beatles disbanded) was named after the Italian word for ‘beautiful sight’. However, this parts car doesn’t really live up to its name.

How’s this for an unusual pair? At the bottom we have a 1955 Chrysler New Yorker Deluxe four-door sedan, while that appears to be a 1955 DeSoto Powerflite above it. 

The top car is the rarer of the two. These V8-powered, 200hp, top-of-the-range, hardtop coupes only found 10,313 buyers. Meanwhile the Chrysler was more than three times as popular.

The 1960 Dodge Matador (bottom), which was one step down from the top-of-the-range Polara, was only produced in 1960. Like the Polara they featured distinctive shortened tailfins. Four-door sedans like this cost $2950, and attracted 27,908 buyers.

On the top is a 1960 DeSoto – well three-quarters of one anyway…

The third generation of Dodge Coronet was only built in 1955 and 1956, this four-door sedan being one of the latter cars. Despite its regal name, it was at the bottom end of the Dodge line-up by the mid-1950s. 

The 1956 cars were visually similar to the previous year’s design, with only trim changes setting them apart.

This 1939 Dodge Club Coupe is one of the few pre-War cars we spotted in the yard. Although missing its driveline, the body seems to be solid, and could make a fantastic project for someone. Please bear in mind that this, and the other cars featured, were all photographed in 2018, so may no longer be available. 

If you’re interested in anything you see here, pick up the phone and call Wildcat Auto Wrecking on (001) 503 668 7786.