Yesterday was Harvest Days at the local self-serve parts yard known as Nordstrom’s Ewe-Pullet (yeah, I know, corny), and it was downright crazy.
I had heard about their Harvest Days deal a while back, and had held off going there because of the deal… Fill a wheelbarrow with as much as you like/need, and it’s yours for $40, provided you can push said wheelbarrow for 40 feet in 40 seconds without losing anything from your load. I planned to get out there early to grab a bunch of miscellaneous stuff from the 735iL and the 525i they have on the lot. I got there at 10 am (they opened at 9) and ended up parking about as far away from the gate as possible. The place was packed.
I chatted with one of the guys directing traffic who said they had people show up at 4 am & wait for the gate to open. The gal signing people in said she had seen more than 500 people go through the gate already. When I got inside, it was pretty clear that most of them were still there; people everywhere! And a line of guys waiting for wheelbarrows. The times I’ve been there before, there might be a dozen or so people there at one time, but it’s a big enough place that it’s possible to get in & out without seeing another customer; not yesterday though. Everybody I talked with who worked there was shocked at the turnout.
It took me a couple hours to pull the parts I was after; some of the larger parts I would like to have grabbed — front suspension bits, brakes, rear axle halfshafts — were either too far gone or too difficult to pull, so I left them and got the low hanging fruit instead. Both the cars were already pretty well picked over, and for most of the time I was the only one grabbing stuff off them, but I still got some good stuff. While I was there a couple of groups of guys came by trolling for turbochargers; they had several stacked up in their wheelbarrow, and seemed to be grabbing them and other high-dollar items from random cars. Pretty sure they’d turn around and eBay those parts & turn a few bucks off their wheelbarrow load!
After stacking the stuff I wanted near the cars, I went to find a wheelbarrow, hoping nobody would want what I wanted. After standing in line for a half-hour or so, I finally got loaded up, then went & got in line to check out. Decided to grab a couple of the free hotdogs they were handing out & watch some of the action; it was pretty entertaining! Some of the guys that were there had their wheelbarrows really loaded down; some with entire engines, others with transmissions, many with wheels & tires, and a lot with various body parts, stacked ridiculously high. One bunch of guys had four or five bumper skins, a couple of doors, and a bunch of other stuff I couldn’t see, all piled on; something in the load shifted as they were approaching the start line and it all came tumbling down. I sure wish I had taken a camera along… I’m sure there will be some photos up on the Nordstrom’s site at some point.
It started raining a little while I was waiting (the forecast was for a sunny Saturday!) so I bugged out before it got too miserable. All in all, it was a decent deal. I grabbed several items that can be used on my 528 and 735, and several other things that can maybe be sold to offset some of my expense (and time!) But was interesting to see was how people were out to get the most for their $40, and all they were willing to do for it.
Tags: ewe-pullet, junkyard, nordstrom's