LOS ANGELES—For a few devoted fans of Steven Spielberg’s “Jaws,” the lasting horror isn’t the movie’s ominous theme music or its gory shipwreck finale.  It is the fate of “Junkyard Bruce,” the only surviving prop shark left after the release of the 1975 classic film.  For years, the 25-foot movie relic has been suspended over the entrance of Aadlen Brothers Auto Wrecking, a sprawling junkyard in the San Fernando Valley, dilapidated and weatherworn.  A die-hard “Jaws” fan, West Maätita, tracked Bruce to the junkyard in 2002, and has been trying to get the shark out of the 26-acre scrap heap ever since, saying it belongs in a museum.  “It is the Holy Grail for ‘Jaws’ fans,” says Mr. Maätita, 50 years old, who works in advertising production for a local community newspaper. “I’d place this shark prop up there with Dorothy’s ruby red slippers in ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ and the 18-inch King Kong puppet from ‘King Kong.’”  Nathan Adlen, 60, the owner of Aadlen Brothers—spelled with two A’s, so it would appear higher in phone books—considers the shark his piece de resistance, and says his family has provided it with a fitting home.  “The shark is kind of like a metaphor for the wrecking yard,” Mr. Adlen explains. “It is the junkyard of the sea. All it comes in contact with, it is the end of their life.”  Mr. Maätita’s campaign picked up urgency recently after Mr. Adlen announced he was closing the junkyard—which shut down Jan. 1—and selling off some of his more peculiar artifacts. Improbably, Bruce may now be headed for a happy Hollywood ending, a fate both men are celebrating.  “Jaws” was a monster hit for Universal Pictures when it opened in theaters four decades ago. It established Mr. Spielberg’s reputation as an elite director and was the highest-grossing movie in North American history until “Star Wars” surpassed it.  “Obviously, it was this great blockbuster that really put Steven on the map as a filmmaker,” says Mr. Spielberg’s spokesman, Marvin Levy, noting the director supports efforts to preserve Bruce for posterity. “We are never far away from ‘Jaws,’ and it is part of all our lives,” he adds.  Collectibles from the movie, however, aren’t as abundant as Star Wars memorabilia. Copies of storyboards by art director Joe Alves have made the rounds. Some fans borrowed a mold from special-effects man Roy Arbogast and made replica “Jaws” teeth.  Some of the most prized collector’s pieces are candid photos of the three animatronic sharks created for the film. Humorously named Bruce after Mr. Spielberg’s lawyer, Bruce Ramer, the ambitious mechanical props were intended to simulate a realistic swimming and chomping great white shark during live ocean shots.  The sharks were famous for malfunctioning during production, though, helping put “Jaws” behind schedule and over budget. After filming, the sharks were left forgotten.  “The originals they just put out in the back lot, and they got sort of destroyed,” Mr. Alves says.  When the film became a hit, the studio cast a new Bruce out of fiberglass from the original mold for fans to take photos of during studio tours.  It was that fourth shark—which never appeared in the actual movie—that Mr. Adlen’s late father, Sam Adlen, bought after spotting it in a North Hollywood parking lot used by Universal to store cars that appeared in chase scenes and other film segments, his son says.  It is far from the only odd Hollywood scrap and Los Angeles kitsch the family picked up running a junkyard in the periphery of the city over the past 53 years.  Before the yard’s closure, a trailer used as an office in the film “The Hangover” resided in one corner. Elsewhere sat the semi-tractor trucks used in the movie “Universal Soldier” and the huge prop boombox that R&B singer Usher danced in front of in his “My Way” video.  Massive arches from a once well-known carwash in Studio City sat in the middle of the yard. Mechanics foraged through a vast sea of defunct cars in search of spare auto parts. The contents of some of those cars and other items were also on display or for sale.  For years, the star of the show was Bruce.  Mr. Adlen acknowledges criticism for the film artifact’s condition, but says it is in nearly the same shape as the day it was when his father acquired it.  It even benefited from some improvements, he says, including replacement teeth made from a white-picket fence.  Suspended alongside some palm trees, it has been safe from scavengers who might otherwise have peeled off some of its parts, he adds. For a time, it even had company in the form of a live bull, which he says his father kept in a nearby pen. All in all, the junkyard has been a fitting home, he says.  That attitude gnawed at Mr. Maätita, who runs a “Save Junkyard Bruce” Facebook FB -4.58 % page. He says he called Mr. Adlen to discuss the shark once he heard about the junkyard closing.  “I couldn’t get a word in edgewise,” Mr. Maätita says.  Mr. Adlen won’t comment on Mr. Maätita’s overtures, but did say he recently had the shark appraised at six-figures, though he declines to give an exact number.  He considered auctioning off the shark to the highest bidder. But now he plans on taking a course that Mr. Maätita and some of the film’s creators are applauding.  He will donate Bruce to a new Los Angeles museum, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. Run by the group that puts on the Oscars, it is slated to open in 2018.  There, Bruce will resurface once again for what is planned as a lasting and final close-up with movie lovers, after museum officials consult with some of the people who made “Jaws” on how to restore it. On the prospects of Bruce finally making its way into a museum, Mr. Ramer, the shark’s namesake, said “Better it than me.”  This week, the palm trees surrounding the shark are being cut down. And Bruce’s new owners will take him away after a final going-away party.  “Sushi will definitely be on the menu,” Mr. Adlen says.
For years, a prop ‘Jaws’ shark has hung out at an auto wrecking yard in Southern California. Now, it’s moving on.