Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Rootes75]

I had to take a trip to the local scrappie today as I wanted to replace the indicator relay on my wifes Meriva. Upon getting to the yard the chap asked what we were after and after some pondering sent us in the right direction.
I managed to get one off a Corsa (as its easier to get too) and then took it back to the site office. The chap asked to see it but when I asked how much he said 'hold on let me look', then he started looking at ebay!!
I made him an offer but he told me to hold on and wait for him to find one online!
Another thing Ebay is not helping with.
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Various Rootes Vehicles.

[Ellis]

The days of the old fashioned scrapyard are long gone I'm afraid. There's one big one locally where they charge you 75% of the new price for used parts.

Gone are the days when you could turn up with your own toolbox and were directed to the car the parts from which you needed. It's H&S of course. There was one local to me where the cars were stacked three high and you chose the ladder you needed.

The guy who owned it was a real eccentric, he spoke little English although he understood it well enough. If you turned up and he took a dislike to you all you would be rewarded with would be head shaking.

The protocol was to ask about the welfare of his elderly mother and he would warm to you almost immediately and his favourite subject was wild birds. I once took a photo of a Hawfinch which had appeared in our garden shortly after dawn one morning and gave it to him.

I left with a boot full of Ford Escort spares including four wheels with nearly new tyres for £30. Mind you that was in 1988. The 1964 Ford Anglia I owned came from the same place. Price? £30.
There was another price to pay though - I was told how to tell the difference between Willow and Marsh tits.
Oddly enough and off topic, a Willow tit looks tidy and groomed whereas a Marsh tit looks untidy and unkempt.

The things you remember...................
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Starting Handle Expert

1964 Jaguar Mark 2 3.4 litre
1962 Land Rover Series 2a 88"
2002 BMW M3 E46 Cabriolet

[mikeC]

That reminds me of the scrapyard I used to frequent in the 1960s; he would never give you a price for an item, you had to make an offer ... which was promptly refused. This would go on for a bit with the price slowly rising, and me wondering whether it was worth another five bob. After two or three offers he would eventually quote his price, which was usually half what had been offered in the first place!
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in the garage: 1938 Talbot Ten Airline
Recently departed: 1953 Lancia Appia, 1931 Austin Seven, 1967 Singer Chamois, 1914 Saxon, 1930 Morris Cowley, 1936 BSA Scout, 1958 Lancia Appia coupe, 1922 Star 11.9 ... the list goes on!

[Rootes75]

It is such a shame. We used to frequent this yard a lot when I first had cars as it was so much cheaper to buy second hand for quick fixes.
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Various Rootes Vehicles.

[Ray White]

Does anyone remember the yard at Adversane? Many veteran and vintage cars owe their survival to it.

Now just a scrap yard in West Sussex.

It was immortalised in a poem by W.H. Charnock in the 1950s.

[Keith D]

While visiting a friend in Melbourne Australia a few years ago, he took me to a local car wreckers in Kilsyth, an eastern suburb, to find bits of window motor mechanism for his Ford Fairlane.

I was stunned to learn we both had to pay a charge just to enter the dammed place. I can't recall with accuracy the exact cost but $10 sticks in my mind. If you bought anything, then the money was refunded. If the part you wanted was not available, then bad luck. When I questioned this, I was told that the charge was to make up for the theft that they experienced.

A far as I know, this practice has thankfully not reached Perth yet!

Keith
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1926 Chrysler 60 tourer
1932 Austin Seven RN long wheelbase box sedan
1950 Austin A40 tourer
1999 BMW Z3
Its weird being the same age as old people.
You are either part of the problem or part of the solution

[Ray White]

[MikeEdwards]

My local scrapyard always used to be a decent place to browse around on a Sunday afternoon, and I usually used to come away with something, even if I didn't plan on it when I went.

Since it doesn't allow public access any more, that's quite a bit of trade that they've lost (I don't mean just from me, obviously, it was always quite busy when I went), along with the many times I was looking for something specific, couldn't find it, but then spotted something that would do the job from a totally different make or model.

[Kleftiwallah]

I always made sure I left the scrappies with long socks under long trousers stuffed with lamps (bulbs).

Cheers, Tony
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It may work in practice, but not necessarily in theory!

[badhuis]

[Ray White]

[kenpix]

Wally Jones's scrapyard in Waltham Cross just north of London was a mecca for car parts; many hours were spent in the 60's and 70's scrabbling amongst old wrecks for bits and pieces - some of which always found their way into toolboxes for smuggling out (I got caught once and endured a few stern words). However another source of spares was free - dumped cars on council estates, from which wheels with decent tyres were swiftly removed (making F1 wheel changes look pedestrian) plus any other parts that could succumb to a spanner or screwdriver. Great fun of a sort!

[Rootes75]

My Grandparents had a small scrapyard but they retired in the early 1980's and everything was sold off. I recall as a youngster playing in all of the scrap cars, none were stacked but there were three fields full of them. There were all makes from the 1930's onwards.
I recall many people calling into the yard on a Saturday morning for a rummage round and often paying to take complete cars away!
Sadly, it all went up to a large yard in Bristol for the crusher. I remember a certain corner of one field that had many older Fords in, in particular a Mk2 Consul that was driven into place and still ran well.
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Various Rootes Vehicles.

[V8 Nutter]

We only have one local scrapyard now. A tail light bulb holder on the Cadillac failed. For a quick fix I thought that's similar to a Vauxhall Viva. When I asked for one at the scrapyard, I was told. "No we don't have old cars"

[victor 101]