Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Rick]

Hi all,

Following on from the roadside finds thread, what have you found in a scrapyard or at the local tip that you just had to take home?

RJ
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[JC T ONE]

OK here goes

give up - have tried to post the link 6 times now dont work .

neither HTML or the BBcode
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http://www.eurods.eu/wp/index.html

[badhuis]

In the mid eighties, during my UK holiday, I always took the chance to visit any scrapyards that were in he neighborhood. Took home many Imp parts, a bonnet even, plus bumpers. We did one holiday in my girlfriends 1979 Mini 1100 Special, just enough room for the tent holiday luggage. Taking home two bumpers and lots of new parts from Speedy Spares and RJ Grimes was not easy!
During another holiday I was able to buy a left hand side from a dashboard off a Mk3 Chamois (1969-70). The Mk3 Chamois had a fake wood dash with a locker on the LH side. Rootes never did bother to make a RH locker for the LHD cars, so at home I made one for my own LHD Mk3 Chamois.
Years later I could not stand the plastic dash anymore so moved up to a Mk2 Chamois, with the much nicer "binnacle" dash and real wood

In my garage now I have a wall full of badges off 60s scrapped cars. I have to confess these were almost all taken hidden in my tool roll when exiting the scrapyards back then...
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a car stops being fun when it becomes an investment

[DM]

Found at the local tip -
Berini cyclemotor
NSU quickly
Cyclemasters
Senspray carb
AJS speedo gearbox and some tinware.
Set of 2CV wheels with brand new tyre on them.
Magneto's.
Several rod brake push bikes.
Over the years too much to list.

The Berini and NSU are still on the road and used often.

[baconsdozen]

My Mk7 jag came from a scrapyard (in the days when even a good one didn't fetch much). I'd gone looking for hub caps for the old boys Mk1 and found the jag poking out from a pile of corrugated iron sheets.
It took ages to dig it out,I found out it had been scrapped because it was stuck in 1st gear. It took a lot of fiddling to get it out,it ended up with an old penny cut out and fitted over the selector shaft to prevent the gear going too far forward and the sync balls trying to pop out behind it and jamming it in gear.
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Thirty years selling imperial hand tools for old machinery(Now happily retired).

[Ronniej]

These posts reminded me of many happy Saturday mornings clambering over cars stacked several high and some not particularly stable.
Health and safety was not an issue back then.
I regard myself as basically honest but it was considered fair game to smuggle small odds and ends out in the toolbox provided you pay for the main component.
I do recall one yard had a sign:

"God helps those that help themselves but God help anyone found helping themselves!"

Glasgow was a happy hunting ground of scrap yards until the late 70s.
Do any Scottish members remember Danny's yard (near the Barras )or the magnificent one at Linwood near the railway bridge?

Happy days!!!

Ronnie Johnston

[kevin2306]

My local waste recycling centre (skip yard) will not let you remove anything from the various skips or surrounding storage containers.
Ive seen loads of early collecta le electrical goods that would be of use to some1, but no, jobsworths are watching.

[Rick]

Once I took several cans of oil to the local tip, a previous visitor had left a very smart 2-gallon Redline tin from the 1930s on top of the main tank. Needless to say it didn't stay there

More recently on a tip visit, I found a large enamelled flour container perched on the top of the scrap metal, within easy reach ...

RJ
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[Rusty]

Picked up quite few things at the "warehouse" over the years, as well as I don't know how many starter motors, generators, alternators and several engines including a Rambler 327 V8 out of a 63 ambassador, several Holden 6 cyls, a couple of Morris major engine gearbox assemblys, a mazda 12A RX2 rotary, a whole VC Valiant station wagon (estate) and the last was a whole 1969 mini van. The van was about 5 years ago and just after that they stopped anyone taking anything (blast them). One of the more interesting pickups was a diff, suspension and instruments out of an Alfa Romeo Super Guilia.

On a lighter note, during one of the visits the states veteran car club had to my little country town one of the visitors who had to go home 100 miles to Perth, at night for a previous engagement the next day and couldn't stay overnight like the rest of his club, had an alternator fail on his mark one Triumph 2000, and everyone was quite amused when I took him out to the local council tip and got an operational alternator off a dumped mini that bolted straight on and worked like a charm.

[baconsdozen]

One scrap yard I used to visit in Norwich had a large alsatian on a chain that was near the gate. After you'd explained what you wanted and obtained permission to enter the owner would throw it a hub cap and you then had a few seconds to scuttle past tool box in hand as the dog tried to chew the hub cap.
The performance had to be repeated on the way out,although that could be delayed for sometime if the owner suspected you of helping yourself to other than what you'd gone in for. I took an old consul into the yard once and was told although they wouldn't pay for it they would,should I need anything else "look after me". I went back the following day for a carburettor for my rover. They reckoned they'd never set eyes on me before.
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Thirty years selling imperial hand tools for old machinery(Now happily retired).

[Rick]

A mate and I visited a small yard in Staffordshire. The usual Alsation was chained to a caravan, so we felt quite safe, even when it bounded towards us, all snarls and saliva. Our confidence dissipated quickly when the corner of the caravan gave way and the dog proceeded in our direction at pace, the chain attached to splinters of wood and aluminium trailing in its wake.

Eventually the owner came over and retrieved the hound, enabling us to climb down from the roof of some old car or other, and resume our search for gems.

This MG was amongst them:



RJ
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Rick - Admin
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[baconsdozen]

Great picture of the MG,I wonder what happened to it.
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Thirty years selling imperial hand tools for old machinery(Now happily retired).

[Rick]

[baconsdozen]

Thats good.
When the big scrapyards in and around Norwich (Medlers and Dawsons) were sold for housing all the cars,even complete ones were simply crushed. I suppose in some way the vanishing of these helped ensure the scarcity and hence value of the survivors but hundreds of tons of usable parts were destroyed and I guess this has been repeated over and over again. Certainly I know of a number of 'classic' cars that were destroyed under the EUs ludicrous scrappage scheme that out weak goverment encouraged under pseudo enviromental grounds.
So good to here of these survivors.
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Thirty years selling imperial hand tools for old machinery(Now happily retired).

[Rootes75]

My Grandparents ran a small country car breakers from the 50's till bout 1985. I recall many happy summers playing in and around the old cars. The cars left round when it was cleared were quite numerous, Hillmans / Singers / Fords / Vauxhalls /Austin mainly from the 50's/60's. But lurking in some corners there were some rarities. 40's and 50's panel vans etc and in some of the sheds the good ones were kept. These were from the 30's mainly but my Grandparents sold them all thinking that us children wouldn't be interested!!!