The vert boot is one of those items that I must have. I’ve been passive on getting one because I didn’t know when a vert would come to be in possession had someone that was going to give me his 2 boots.. but when time came, he disappeared (asking me to send money). I don’t think he was a scammer as we talked on the phone. Two other people on the FB page said they would sell it their boots to me (they both don’t own an M30 anymore) and they became ghosts. There are a couple for sale out there and I would be willing to pay the high price eventually. I still have much to do on both M30s. Even now that I have a convertible, there is a bit of a “I should get one”. Again, I am passive as I have some other priorities to do first.
Mark and I have talked about it recently and he would have offered me one of his boots. He mentioned Jim had 3 as well, maybe I should ask him. The truth is, I know to Mark and Jim, these parts are valuable and I don’t want to ask them for parts. I even told Mark that I’m hoping to just get one in the junkyard. That was a half meant joke/wishful thinking. But I felt I would get one in a unconventional way.
I had a family outing and visited a relative. We spent most of the time/day in Fairfield.
Out of the blue and unprepared, I decided to check out a vert that was really far away (1.5hrs), but that day, I was a bit closer because of the family outing. Took some convincing since I had family with me. I only had some basic tools (screw driver and socket wrench).
Anyways, I was really wanting to check the hood and it was 4:30pm, almost closing time. I was disappointed to see the hood was bad. The damage was in the right side. Plus the handles were broken and interior was ripped apart. Looking on row52, the car has been here almost 30 days, which means they are gonna crush it soon. I wouldn’t be able to come back next week (if its gone).
Regardless, i did a quick scan of the car, looked in the trunk… nothing, but other car parts people have dumped in there.
I left the M30 go to check out to see if they have a Previa (I need the corner lamps). They did (not mentioned on the website). I go to pay for those and I ask how much the hood was damaged and if they would give a discount. I’ve had people give a discount on ripped seats and other items. Staff said no discount.
So I thought about it. I go back to my Sienna and think about getting the hood. I realize that I left my mechanic gloves at the M30. So I head back in to the junkyard.
They do the overhead call for closing in 10 minutes. I start walking around (contemplating if I should buy the hood).
As I was walking in between a couple cars near the M30, I step over some stuff on the ground. Usually people grab carpet or other interior pieces to lay on while they work on the cars. I turned around because something caught the very corner of my eye. Seriously I asked myself “what was that?” and turned around, looked down and see the boot folded and with foot prints all over it. If this boot was here the whole time, it has been in the weather for at least a month.
I couldn’t believe it!!!
I grabbed it and checked to see if there was any major damage.. NONE!!! I go to the cashier part and tell the guy that I’ll get the hood but can I get some carpet to lay it on. He said “yeah, use that one in your hand”. I was like okay!
Well, let’s just say it is a diamond in the rough!!!
One of the reasons why I am such a junkyard rat was that a few years ago, I was just looking for parts for my Previa, but then I would come up on JDM items and rare stuff off obscure cars. Since then, I’ve kind of made it a mission to go to junkyards and scavenge many cars.
For the Previa, I was able to find a few unicorn/holy grail items:
These parts are getting harder to find. The fact that I felt I would find one in the junkyard was just wishful thinking but granted by the F31 gods. What is mind boggling and a realization is that how many convertibles since 1991 were junked with these boots or how many were discarded as I mentioned above?
Here is a video of the boot after a decent cleaning up. I am amazed at its condition!
#Yearofthevert