I have discovered the most wonderful place on God's good green earth. It's called "Crazy Ray's," and it's a "u-pick-it, you-pull-it" parts garden (read: junkyard) in Jessup. There are locations in south Baltimore and Mount Airy, but I've fallen in love with this location.
I found out about it on a tip from a fellow Toyota Supra owner, who said he had seen an old Supra just sitting at the end of a row of dead cars there. I found the Web site, which has the address and the phone number.
"It's not for the timid or those uncomfortable with grease, mud, and weeds, but Crazy Ray's is a godsend for folks who don't mind getting a little dirty to save some money," the Web site states. I went up there with a buddy of mine on one clear, cold Wednesday morning, and we paid our dollar each to get into the yard-not many junkyards will let you wander around anymore, let alone for a buck-and signed away our lives on a clipboard on the desk.
There are no junkyard dogs at Crazy Ray's, but there are two 27-ton front-end loaders with six-foot metal tusks that could kill you. The yard is huge, and reasonably well categorized by domestic and import, car and truck, and then within each of those categories, by era. There is no record of what is in the yard, so don't ask. My buddy and I found a Garrett turbocharger in an old Saab 900, an old delivery truck just begging to be converted into the Party Bus and the Supra I had heard about.
I pulled various parts off the Supra and paid for them at the front desk. I saved an immense amount of money by pulling my own parts at Crazy Ray's. For example - I paid $10 for the timing gear cover from the junked Supra. Had I ordered a replacement part from Toyota, it would have run me close to $190.
The straight six in the Supra, a 23-year-old engine, can get up near $1,000 on eBay and elsewhere. Complete engines (minus alternator and A/C compressor) will run you $200 at Crazy Ray's, no matter what make or model. Good deal, assuming you have a half-ton pickup, three beefy friends and an engine hoist on hand.
If you know what you're looking for, and you don't mind picking it, pulling it and bolting it to your car yourself, then Crazy Ray's is your kind of place. If you do find something of interest out in the yard, make sure to get everything you need from it the first time, because junked cars come and go pretty quickly. As the site states: "For the rest, the dealership parts counter will be glad to take your money."
RSS Feeds
