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A Space Junkyard

Posted by kdawson on from the one-giant-heap-for-mankind dept.

Today's Los Angeles Times has an article about a North Hollywood junkyard that stocks a huge quantity of used aerospace parts, from valves to rocket engines. Norton Sales Inc. got started in the early 1960s. The junkyard had fallen on hard times, with the collapse of the Los Angeles-area aerospace economy in the 1980s, but it's making something of a comeback now with NASA's new plans for moon and Mars missions. The customers used to be rich Hollywood types; nowadays they are as likely to be private space entrepreneurs. "It's dangerous coming to a place like this," said Dave Masten of Masten Space. "It's like shopping on an empty stomach."

7 of 94 comments (clear)

  1. Space junkyard, eh? by cy_a253 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Watto: How are you going to pay for all this?
    Qui-Gon Jinn: I have twenty thousand Republic dataries.
    Watto: Republic credits? Republic credits are no good out here. I need something more real.
    Qui-Gon Jinn: I don't have anything else
    [waves hand]
    Qui-Gon Jinn: but credits will do fine.
    Watto: No, they won't-a.
    [Qui-Gon waves his hand more firmly]
    Qui-Gon Jinn: Credits will do fine.
    Watto: No, they won't-a. What? You think you're some kind of Jedi, waving your hand around like that? I'm a Toydarian, mind tricks don't work on me. Only money. No money, no parts, no deal!

    1. Re:Space junkyard, eh? by LarsG · · Score: 5, Interesting

      That is also such a marvelous example of the high moral standard of the Jedi.

      --
      If J.K.R wrote Windows: Puteulanus fenestra mortalis!
  2. LA has amazing surplus by NixieBunny · · Score: 4, Informative
    My current favorite surplus place in LA is Apex Electronics, which is the electronics version of Norton's. Same idea - so much stuff you can't wrap your head around it, and aisles that collapsed in the '94 earthquake and haven't yet been restored to a vertical condition.

    This place looks quite fun to visit. I'll have to check it out the next time I'm in the area.

    --
    The determined Real Programmer can write Fortran programs in any language.
  3. Yeah right. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The guy buys the crap for a penny on the dollar and then asks for insane prices. The rocket engines are only worth scrap or as a museum piece as they have not been stored correctly to ensure they have not deteriorated or corroded.

    fallen on hard times means he has to start charging sane prices instead of his government prices.

    The apollo 1 command module engine he is trying to scam $1.5 mill out of is only worth 15 grand in scrap metal and is actually only worth that as it is not safe to use in it's current condition let alone relied upon for the safety of a crew or 22 million dollar sattelite.

    Junkyard owners always think their turds are gold plated rare. in fact there is a good reason why he was able to buy that crap for the few dollars here and there. It's not worth anything.

    1. Re:Yeah right. by Mercedes308 · · Score: 4, Funny

      I go to junkyards a fair bit to get bits and pieces and what you said is so bloody true. No matter how much they gloss that turd it is, at the end of the day, just a shiny piece of shit. Also when talking down a part I often say "It's not a bloody space shuttle part, it's just a [insert name here]" That could actually catch me out at Norton Sales and end up looking the complete Muppet.

      --
      And no, I couldn't give a shit what my karma is.
    2. Re:Yeah right. by The+Breeze · · Score: 4, Insightful

      All junkyards are like this. They charge prices higher than what they buy it for because it costs money to store that stuff, costs money to dismantle it, costs money to keep the lights on, costs money to insure it. They have a facility where stuff is stored for years gathering dust, bringing in no revenue. They most likely sell 1% of what they have. That 1% has to cover the cost of staying in business and putting food on the table.

      And, an Apollo engine is not worth $15 grand in scrap metal. It is worth whatever you would save on R & D if you were working on a similar project and needed to reverse engineer the thing. Even on a smaller scale, if you have an old rocket engine, and you're building another one, and spending $10000 on an old piece of junk to study leads you to ask, "hey, why is that like that, I should research it some more" and you discover something that prevents your shiny new engine from blowing itself up you're ahead of the game.

      Without junkyards and their "outrageous" markups, new parts would be much, much more.

  4. film industry by edwardpickman · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Norton has always been popular with the film industry. I think back in it's heyday a good share of the profits came from selling to film companies. Unfortunately they got a double hit because as the Aerospace industry cranked down the film industry got nailed with runaway production so most of that went out of country. C&H was another good surplus company. There used to be half a dozen good ones in the LA area but I know several have gone under. I haven't lived in LA for five years so I don't know who is still in business. People underestimate the film industry. I know of several dental houses and medical supply places that sold more product to the film industry than their regular doctors and dentists. I remember one company stopped selling to us becuase we were cleaning them out all the time and they weren't able to supply the hospitals.