Is this the world's finest car junkyard?

Slide of L&L Classic Auto of Wendell, Idaho, is surely one of the world’s greatest salvage yards, and definitely one of the US’s biggest vintage car specialists. The yard was founded in 1968, and has more than 8000 parts vehicles spread over its sprawling 120-acre site, ranging in age from the 1920s to the 1990s. Additionally there are more than 400 project cars for sale, and several warehouses packed full of spare parts. Slide of Aerial We spent several pleasurable hours exploring L&L Classic Auto, but as you can see from this aerial photograph, we would have needed several days to have done the place justice. There is very little order to the stock, and you never know what gems you’re going to uncover down the next dirt track, or lurking behind the numerous rocky outcrops and shrubs that litter this incredible yard. Slide of Cadillac hearse 1954 L&L Classic Auto is asking $5500 for this extremely solid 1954 S&S Cadillac hearse. Although it’s missing its driveline, that’s probably not a bad price, considering how rare it is. After all, just 1611 commercial chassis were sold to bodybuilders that year for conversion into ambulances, hearses and flower cars. This one was initially built for a San Francisco-based customer. Slide of Ford Anglia 100E 1953 It looks like someone has taken a can-opener to this British-built Ford Anglia 100E. Look at the shape of the door. It makes us think that whoever created this monstrosity was attempting to replicate a Nash Metropolitan’s styling.  More than 100,000 of these cars were built between 1953 and 1959. Slide of Cadillac Coupe de Ville 1977 Wendell, Idaho gets an average of just 10in of rain per year, compared with a national average of 38in, which is why the cars at L&L Classic Auto tend to be so solid. That said, judging by the position of its windshield wipers, it must have been raining on the day that this 1977 Cadillac Coupe de Ville took its final journey. Billed as “The next generation of the luxury car”, the 1977 Cadillacs were smaller and lighter than their predecessors. Slide of Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser 1981 Between 1978 and 1985 Oldsmobile offered diesel engines, as fitted to this 1981 Custom Cruiser. Although the V6 and V8 units were initially popular, peaking at 310,000 units in 1981, reliability issues ensured that their success was short-lived. In fact they arguably did enough damage to tarnish the fuel’s reputation in the US for car for the next three decades – at which point another scandal came along, this time courtesy of Volkswagen… Slide of AMC Pacer 1979 ‘Glass egg’, ‘pregnant guppy’, ‘glassmobile’, ‘pacemaker’ and ‘fishbowl on wheels’, were some of the more popular nicknames the AMC Pacer picked up over the years. But beauty is only skin deep, and between 1975 and 1980 a total of 280,000 people were prepared to overlook its aesthetically challenged exterior, and take ownership of a new one. According to the scribbling on the side of this car, it was built in 1979. Slide of Cadillac Catera Like us, you’d probably forgotten all about the Cadillac Catera, which isn’t surprising considering that less than 100,000 were sold between 1996 and 2001. Built by General Motors in Germany, and badged as an Opel or Vauxhall Omega in Europe, these cars featured a UK-sourced 3-litre V6 engine.  This is one of 25,411 that hit the road in 1997, its most successful year. Slide of AMC Eagle 1980 Who would have thought that cash-starved AMC would spawn an entirely new class of car? But that’s exactly what happened in 1979, when it launched the four-wheel-drive Eagle.  It’s just a pity that the world’s first crossover vehicle was about 30 years ahead of its time. This four-door sedan appears to be a 1980 car, one of nearly 10,000 built in its first year of production. Slide of Lincoln Continental MKIII 1971 The Lincoln Continental MkIII two-door hardtop coupe, Ford’s flagship vehicle at the time, apparently came about when Ford vice-president Lee Iacocca instructed the designers to put a Rolls-Royce grille on a Thunderbird. Unfortunately, the grille is missing from this 1971 example. Slide of DeSoto Fireflite Sportsman 1957 The Fireflite was introduced in 1955 as DeSoto’s top-trim car.  However, in 1957 when this Sportsman hardtop was built, the Adventurer had taken over the top spot. Of the 28,430 Fireflites to find buyers, less than 7217 were Sportsman hardtops, making this a genuine rarity. Slide of Jeep SJ 1974 Hidden behind one of numerous rocky outcrops, we discovered this reasonably tidy 1974 Jeep Cherokee SJ.  We wonder why it ended up here, and more puzzling still is why it hasn’t been rescued yet. Built between 1974 and 1983, the SJ was basically a two-door version of the Wagoneer. In 1974 Jeep used the term Sports Utility Vehicle for the very first time. Slide of Rambler Stati