Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Rick]

What horror stories have you heard, of desirable (to us) things being chucked in a skip, bin etc? Pauln's post about having a stained glass window from a caravan, being thrown away by a friend's wife, got me thinking.

RJ
_________________
Rick - Admin
Home:https://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk
Videos:https://www.youtube.com/user/oldclassiccarRJ/videos
OCC & classic car merchandise (Austin, Ford ++):
https://www.redbubble.com/people/OldClassicCar/shop

[traction39]

Recently diverted two Lucas SFT576 fog lights before they got chucked in the local dump. The guy chucking them away said he had had them for years and his son no longer had an old car....I asked if he had anything else...sadly no.
They are in excellent condition and yet to be fixed to my car.
_________________
Alistair

Citroen Light 15 1953, "12" 1939,
Riley 9 Special 1932

[MikeEdwards]

There was a photo recently of a sheet metal folder in a skip - might have been on here.

[D4B]

[Ellis]

One of my cousin's sons works for the Environmental Resources and Disposal department of the local county council and he visits the various recycling centres as a supervisor.

Earlier this year he witnessed an extraordinary scene. A car drove into one of the centres at some speed and my nephew cautioned the driver about the risks he was exposing his staff to.
I'll not quote verbatim what happened for decency's sake but the driver was irate and had been cuckolded by his (male) partner. He was about to throw a black bin bag into one the skips and it contained several expensive high powered optical and astronomical telescopes.
Apparently what had happened was that the partner had gone to view some astronomical event one evening, met someone else and "ran off" with him!

The items were kept at the centre for some weeks but nobody claimed them so my nephew and his two sons have acquired new hobbies - star gazing and birdwatching
_________________
Starting Handle Expert

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

[peter scott]

[baconsdozen]

As some might know I sell imperial sized tools for a living. A few years ago I had a shop on the east coast and I heard of a shipping firm nearby which had stopped trading. I was told that they had filled a skip with tools,some new all old whitworth,BSF and AF. I phoned them and they confirmed there was a skip full of sockets and spanners up to 3" BSW,vices,hammers and shifters etc. I told them I'd be round and left straight away. When I got there the skip had gone,some smug little clerk told me that he'd got a hundred pounds cash for the contents and wouldn't say where they'd gone (I wonder why) ..Later I was able to tell one of the directors I'd have paid that for a couple of the large sockets,the last I saw of him he was looking for the clerk and I don't think it was to give him a raise.
_________________
Thirty years selling imperial hand tools for old machinery(Now happily retired).

[roverdriver]

When the Ford company stopped building the Model T in 1927, there were a few months before the first Model A's rolled off the line. In that intervening time, the factories kept making T parts. These parts were shipped to their dealer network all over the world so that T owners would be able to keep their cars going for as long as they wanted.

I lived, for a time, in the small city of Wanganui in New Zealand. In early 1972, excavations were underway to extend the runway at the airport, the extension being through land that had been reclaimed in the 1950's. I can't remember who was involved in the halt that was called, but work stopped for one full day to allow enthusiasts to dig through the mine of discarded brand new T parts that had been uncovered there.

Some of the fill used back in the '50's were loads of unwanted parts that Wanganui Motors had had stored since 1927.

Unfortunately 20 years underground had not helped many of the parts. A stack of brand new mudguards, for example, still in original oiled wrapping would have the outer ones corroded almost to non-existence, the inner ones had their original paint but the outer edges were rusted right away for at least two inches.

I do know that some very usable mechanical parts were collected from the site.
_________________
Dane- roverdriver but not a Viking.

[Rusty]

I once bought a 1927 model F Fordson tractor that was actually in a skip, the owner went and got his crane and lifted it back out and loaded it on my truck for me.

I also know of a deceased estate where the hubby had sold off all his motorbikes while he was ill and then after his death his widow just chucked out all the other "junk" ! All the rubbishy old BSA, Triumph, Matchless and AJS engines gearboxs frames ect into a council truck and buried.

[Peter_L]

[andycars]

[lowdrag]

In the 60s Scalextric used to throw all the seconds away at the tip in Havant. We ended up with literally hundreds of yards of track, motors, bodies, you name it, we had it, and all for free. Until that was someone told Scalextric and then they invested in a machine to cut it all in half.

And similar to the above, at Jaguar in the 90s they discovered a hoard of V12 engines and parts buried under concrete.

[Peter_L]

Stories abound about things that have been buried. None of which can be disproved as there is always the chance that negative searches are due to looking in the wrong location.

Castle Bromwich was a "Shadow factory", created to build Spitfires. There is only anecdotal evidence that surplus spares from the factory were buried.
The factory and site were acquired by Jaguar and the airfield was turned over for housing.

There were rich pickings to be made by the Recycling Engineers (Scrap Men) in post war Britain and despite the best attempts of Government Officials, record keeping was not always up to the mark. (Source: Family)

[Ashley]

I remember reading somewhere a few years ago that a human leg had been found in a dustbin outside A Macdonalds in Manilla.

At the same time there was an idiot outside the local one with a cow costume on and a label saying that he was an unhappy meal. I told him what had happened in Manilla, but he wasn't cowed

I know where the door is.

[Peter_L]

I have had a boomerang for years.

Somethings you just can't throw away.