Massive collections of parts and disused vehicles can be a vital resource for anybody restoring a car, searching for odds and ends, or just looking for a fresh project. These caches of automotive history are gradually dwindling, though. What’s one enthusiast’s treasure is a casual observer’s trash, and without an owner to constantly steer the wheel and keep these businesses running, things can turn derelict in a hurry. That’s what’s at risk with Mo-Par City, in Oregon, Illinois.
Larry Pontnack is the owner and operator of this huge collection of vintage Chrysler cars and parts outside Chicago. And as he tells Dodge Garage, he’s retiring. Everything must go, or the business has to find a new owner. If neither of these happens, it’s bad news for the yard of Mopars Pontnack has collected over five decades. The crusher might be their final destination.
There’s a good reason to save it beyond the fact that automotive history will be lost if it isn’t. Pontnack tells Dodge Garage that the operation has been profitable for a long time, and he scoffs at anybody who calls his pride and joy a junkyard. Indeed, a look at his plot from above on Google shows the yard of his facility to be neatly organized—perfect rows of vintage Mopars ripe for the picking.
This place, in short, has everything—engines, transmissions, steering wheels, shifters, exterior trim, and even whole cars. If you own a vintage Chrysler product, it’s likely that there’s a part here for you. Most of the old-school Mopar body styles are represented, from the A-body to the E-body.
If you’re feeling more ambitious, forget buying just one part, buy all of it! Speaking to Dodge Garage, Pontnack indicates he wants to find the right buyer. Above all, he wants his life’s work to live on and continue to assist the community.
With spots like this seeming to disappear by the day, hopefully someone will step up to take the reins.
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