Experience Classic Car Nirvana at Desert Valley Auto Parts

When it comes to car parts, it's no secret that the junkyards of Phoenix are among the best in the country. Cars do not get rusty and corroded here, thanks to the dry air and mild winters. This is the perfect climate for a place like Desert Valley Auto Parts.

Desert Valley is very different from your typical junkyard. It is a place that classic car enthusiasts might describe as the "mother lode." It's been featured in Car Craft, Mopar Muscle, and dozens of other magazines. It is a place of legendary status, like the Fountain of Youth or the Seven Cities of Gold.

Let's start with the basics. Desert Valley Auto Parts is located in North Phoenix, Arizona, just south of Happy Valley Road along 7th Avenue. An unassuming entrance gate leads visitors into the 40-acre yard. Yes, you read that right! Desert Valley is known for both its enormous size and its incredible variety of vehicles, with over 5,000 cars and trucks on 40 acres of land.

Whether you need a quarter panel for a Cadillac or a fender for a Ford, you'll find it at Desert Valley. Their selection includes vehicles from the 1940s to the 1980s, including all of the top American brands such as Ford, General Motors, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick, Chrysler, Plymouth, and others. They've got everything from muscle cars to luxury cars to trucks and vans, and it's all for sale.

Another thing that sets Desert Valley apart from the crowd is its buying procedure. This is not a traditional U-pull-it yard where you spend the afternoon lugging your toolbox from one row of cars to the next. Instead, you choose the parts you want and the staff comes by to pull it for you! This is convenient because some of the cars are stacked two high, and can be hard to reach.

Fortunately, there's no charge to walk around the yard. Every so often I will head over there with a jug of water and check it out to see what's new. Their website even recommends packing a lunch if you plan to stay a while, which people often do.

Some might see it as a graveyard of broken machines, but I see it as a kind of living museum, a tribute to the classics of yesterday. It's one thing to read about old cars, but it's quite another to see the swooping taillights of a Biscayne or the enormous hood of a 1970s Lincoln for yourself.

My favorite section is the "Cadillac Row," where the finest cars of the 1950s and 1960s have come to rest. Yes, they really were dripping with chrome and nearly 20 feet in length. What I wouldn't do to have a Sixty Special or El Dorado of my own one day!

Whether you need hard-to-find parts or you just love all things with wheels, I would highly encourage you to visit Desert Valley Auto Parts for yourself!