crazy isn't it...
I have frequented a salvage yard in northern colorado since i was 16, I am now 61. The owner is probably +75 now and it has been in the family a long time. He and his brother ask insane prices, or the stuff will sit and rot. It's the only place around here I can find stuff for mid to late 60's Ford's. So I often pay the price.
There is allot of early stuff there too.
http://www.martinsupplyautoparts.com
But I have witnessed the same thing that was posted, stuff sitting in folks yards around the county here for 40 years, lol. It has since rusted in the ground...