I happened to stumble upon this jewel of a auto/truck parts salvage yard last week while taking the "scenic route" (Highway 18) from Deerfield to Brookfield and my visit brought back fond memories of days gone by.
"Old-school" aptly describes the environment, atmosphere and crew that work there, as in "typical of an earlier style or form: based on a way of doing things that was common in the past".
And if that were a badge or patch they would wear it with pride, as they should, because it is a rare distinction and means something special to those who are not inseparably tethered to their "smart" phones and/or ruled by their social media addition and need for immediate gratification that comes in the form of sending or receiving superficial text messages, tweets or the oh-so-narcissistic "look at me" pics.
That being said, the place has embraced the 21st century with computerized inventory and a nationwide parts locating system so if you need any type of auto or truck part big or small they will either have it or be able to get it in a reasonable amount of time.
If you are going to start your parts inquiry by stopping by, perhaps the place is not for everyone. But for those who prefer to take the road less traveled and step away for a moment from the largely indistinguishable mass of contemporary franchise-like, internet-driven, high-volume auto salvage supermarkets, there is much value to be found here with a little luck and a little patience.
I was thrilled when I was allowed do a casual walk-about the property in an unhurried search of the multiple items on my dump-trailer-build-project want-list, as well as any things I might find that I wouldn't know I wanted until I saw them--and there was plenty of that.
Not too far into my walkabout it dawned on me that I would have been happy to pay a sawbuck or two just for that experience in that I felt privileged to have that opportunity to explore--kinda-like those fellas on that "American Picker" show on cable TV. If I had to choose between a day at Disneyland and this place, Disneyland would lose but that's just me.
I ended up finding what I hoped for and more and will soon be making the 2-hour round-trip to pick it up (since I didn't have my trailer with me) and am looking forward spending some time discovering even more.
Mark and Jason were friendly and accommodating and made me feel comfortable throughout the entire process. You can tell they love what they do and they were as unhurried as I was on that day, which might work for you or might not.
I came to this place unexpectedly and with low expectations and walked away with an experience that greatly exceeded those expectations yet I can imagine if someone came with high expectations they might walk away disappointed. Hopefully this helps those of you on both ends of that spectrum.
If you know what you want, I suggest you call them up and talk to someone there before you make a trip and then decide.
Another interesting aspect is that their their business model includes "Buying, Selling & Trading Anything and Everything" and their 15+ acre yard is a testament to that.
For the lady complaining about not getting $$ for her totaled vehicle that you were in a hurry to have towed away and disposed of--that sounds like a failure on your part, not theirs. Why did you sign it over to them and then give them a bad review? Come-on--take some responsibility for your own actions.