Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Old-Nail]

Just like it was in the 'old days!'

http://www.reallyloud.co.uk/scrapyard/scrapyard.htm

[buzzy bee]

looks good!

[alfanut]

Is there a psychiatrist around here who can explain this obsession with dead cars in scrapyards? I'm sure I'm as bad as anyone else here, but I haven't a clue why
Great site old-nail, thanks for finding it. It's amazing some of the cars that have ended up there though. A Jensen Interceptor TWO Panhards That Lancia Y10 on about the third page looks too nice to be there, I hope it was saved.

[Old-Nail]

Good evening... Dr. Nail here, are you sitting comfortably? Good!

When one enters a scrapyard it can mean many things, it may simply mean that you want a spare part for your car in which case you are probably not afflicted with the mental disorder of the dreaded 'Tin hunters!'

For me it started in childhood, (as no doubt Freud would confirm) I would happily play in a scrapyard for hours on end, the vehicles in the yards at that time seemed to my young eye much too good for the scrap heap, and many a time they were!

So many 50's cars were thrown away to scrap when all that was needed was a re-bore or other easily remedied malady, the bodies were still solid, the chassis was as strong as that of a lorry, and the only reason for their demise was fashion in the form of the seductive new 'swinging sixties' car designs.

If you happen to be a sufferer of the Tin disease you no longer see spare parts when you enter a scrapyard - you see potential!

If you are left alone long enough to discover a quiet corner where a sad looking vehicle sits forlornly, the sentimental mind of the Tin-man harks back in time and suddenly the rusty old bucket before him appears as new again!
As his eye follows the curve of the roof line or bonnet the faded paint becomes gleaming again, he begins to imagine that 'new car smell' the car once had... and oh! how it's chrome used to glitter at dusk on those warm August nights!

Those curves that your eye now caresses were once caressed by the proud new owner with his polish and cloth, those dim, tarnished headlights once led the way into the 60's future with optimism and hope.

This car could tell stories, it has known several families and shared in their joy and grief in equal measures while loyally serving and transporting them.
They are like ghosts, or echo's of a time we can no longer share, still willing to serve and yet cast away by a fickle and uncaring society.
Tell me that you can look at this row of old cars without imagining them in their prime, imagine that you look inside them and see the dashboard so reminiscent of a Wurlitzer jukebox... look at the radio with it's broken dial and hear the strains of the 'new fangled Rock n roll'!



Then take a closer look at the shapes and colours, look what time and nature have conspired to do to the old metal. See how mother nature has exposed the glitz and glamour that was as folly - merely an indication of mans vanity, for she has made them more beautiful in decay... beautiful decay!



Look again... is it a painting on the wall of a New York apartment?



So you see there is another world of beauty and fascination to be had, and there are vehicles to be rescued from the abyss, all that it takes it that one first bit of insight and suddenly your Mondeo/Vectra/Shogun becomes little more than a soul-less shell, as infinitely disposable as a washing machine.

See this last image...look closely at it and imagine your eye running along it's form... decipher the strange monogram that stands boldly proud of the surface....



admire the beauty, and in doing so then perhaps you too have become infected with the tin disease... when I snap my fingers you will awake and remember nothing... you will not understand the strange yearning that you have developed to hunt out and find old vehicles - even when on holiday!

"SNAP"

[buzzy bee]

What was that??????

[admin]

hehe think that sums it up just fine Old Nail, all this time I was wondering what was 'wrong' with me

R

[Brian M]

Dr Nail

Your pictures of the rust on the decaying bodies should be sold in a gallery. Or is that where you found them?

I find them absolutely brilliant.

I am going to visit a Volvo Amazon breakers soon and see if I can get any similar pictures for my office wall.

[admin]

I'm preparing a 2nd set of scrap/unloved/derelict/project car photos for the main site, so if you (or anyone else) have some nice pics, I'd be interested in a copy if poss?!?!??!?!?!??

the first set is already on the site:
http://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk/scrap.htm

this set from Oz also contains quite a number of junkyard gems:
http://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk/australia.htm

Rick

[alfanut]

Dr Nail, many thanks for your diagnosis, I think it's spot-on, and the fact that there appears to be no known cure makes it only better My own favourites are the cars and other vehicles abandoned in woodlands and hedgerows, gently decaying and covered in undergrowth; I must get out with my camera while the winter light and the remains of last year's foliage still give a very atmospheric effect.

[Old-Nail]

Gentlemen I thank you for your comments.

Regarding the pictures I'll answer Brian first, I take pictures of any old car then use cropping and different angles to produce something similar to those posted.
Some I get 'ready made' from photo sites, the examples shown were plucked from the internet. It may interest you to know that later this year I will be doing a series of large Oil paintings based on these type of photographs for an exhibition that I intend to call 'Beautiful decay'.

Mr. Admin', I am the self confessed 'king' of scrapyard pic's I have at a rough estimate over 30,000 -40,000 (how sad is that) from all over the world which I gather together as reference material for my paintings.

I can furnish you with just about anything that you might need, however as the majority were taken from scouring the net over several years I have no way of crediting the original photographer for his pic.

Old-Nail

[Job-Rated]