Photo: Rusting into the ground outside Cooter’s Auto Repair in Tofte, Minn., are hundreds of American vehicles from every decade going back to the 1940s.
If you’ve ever traveled Lake Superior’s North Shore to Bluefin Bay resort in Tofte, Minn., you’ve stayed across the street from arguably one of the best junkyards in the state for classic American iron.
Most people who visit the area are too busy soaking in the scenic lakeside to notice the vast collection of rusting relics stacked and scattered outside Cooter’s Auto Repair just on the other side of Highway 61. Some are from the past couple decades, but most are from the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s and some date back to the ’40s.
I first spotted Cooter’s a couple of years ago during a Valentine’s weekend excursion with my wife. Needless to say, exploring a frozen junkyard was not on the itinerary, so we made a quick pass through the place. I spoke briefly with owner Randy Nelson, he told his four-legged friend, Throttle, we were cool (the dog followed us everywhere, anyway) and we were off.
It’s hard to describe what a time warp this place is. Many of the cars still contained remnants of their last owners, such as decades-old maps and old soda cans faded as badly as the upholstery. Parts were everywhere – a pile of transmissions here, a shed full of engines there. It was beautiful chaos.
In this state, where salt sends many cars to premature deaths, places that boast as many intact classic vehicles as Cooter’s are a rarity. I stopped by the yard again in September of 2009 to get a few more photos. Nelson said then that his father, who started the business, had been thinking of clearing the place out a bit. There is a crusher on site, but Nelson, who had several show-car nice muscle cars parked outside his shop, said they don’t wreck the good stuff.
I’m hoping to eventually get back to Cooter’s for a longer conversation with Nelson about how the North Shore’s hidden auto graveyard came to be and what the future holds for the place. There are plenty of cars worth saving in there.
Included here are photos from both my visits to the yard.
October 5th, 2010 | Articles, Car Features
