Discussion
ritmo said:
i loved going to the local scapyard. i relished the challenge of clambering over wet car bodywork in boots freshly covered in a mix of water,oil and sundry other liquids. I didn't realise that at the time of my later visits this was hidden away in a corner....
recognise it?
The remnants of the panam flight from lockerbie recognise it?
Kiltox said:
... hear of many places now that you need to just tell them what you want and pay them a load more for them to go take it out for you
Usually wrapped-up in Health and Safety nonsense 
Used to go with my dad to scrappies as far back as the early 70s (when kids weren't banned)... remember sitting in rusty old heaps that would now be rare classics - Sunbeam Alpine, Jowett Javelin, prewar MGs, Triumphs... even Austin 7s!
My dad had a '59 Merc that he could never find spares for in any scrappy... not surprising really as Mercedes only built 1200 of them and they mostly went to Ambassadors and heads of State
I used to spend many happy days at the scrappy at Pease Pottage on the A23 when I was in my teens.
They used to stack them four high IIRC.
Always used to come back with more replacement parts than I originally went for. There were usually parts that were in better condition
than those on my car.
Always enjoyed sitting in the big old MK10 Jags and Rovers at the bottom of the pile. They were usually complete because no one wanted them.
They used to stack them four high IIRC.
Always used to come back with more replacement parts than I originally went for. There were usually parts that were in better condition
than those on my car.
Always enjoyed sitting in the big old MK10 Jags and Rovers at the bottom of the pile. They were usually complete because no one wanted them.
ritmo said:
i loved going to the local scapyard. i relished the challenge of clambering over wet car bodywork in boots freshly covered in a mix of water,oil and sundry other liquids. I didn't realise that at the time of my later visits this was hidden away in a corner....
recognise it?
Hard to imagine it used to look like this.recognise it?
http://www.airliners.net/photo/Pan-American-World/...
I used to go the same scrapyard alot when I was 17 in 1996 and had my first car which was a real shed but all I could afford. I hadn't been to one since the late nineties but did so last year to get a couple of parts for the winter snotter I bought while my other car was laid up. It hadn't changed at all. It's quite a well known one in the area and is called Frank Beales in Desborough, Northamptonshire. It's a proper old school scrapyard with cars piled high and you can walk around and take the bits off that you want yourself. What took me by surprise was some of the cars in there. Plenty of T, V and W platers that didn't look accident damaged. I guess alot of them were from the scrappage scheme.
J4CKO said:
Nice to know they are out there, I remember many happy Saturday mornings in the seventies and early eighties rooting around at Race Brothers in Northenden (nr Manchester) as a kid, long gone now but I wonder how they clear a site like that as it must be fairly contaminated after years of that.
Wow, someone else who remember's Race's 
Many happy childhood memories from there, clambering around teetering piles of cars, usually after a Mini starter motor or brake slave cylinder. Can't believe that we were allowed to do it. Looking back it was damn dangerous, the pools of sludgy oil, water and anti-freeze. Oily shoes and car bonnets are very slippery, especially after some rain. Happy days!Anyone know of any similar remaining old school yards around the Stockport / Manchester area?
I wonder if it's health and safety that have killed them off, or the lack of people doing their own maintenance these days?
I remember needing a new central locking servo and window motor for my ZX years agoand being directed to a couple of ZX's at the back of the yard with other cars stacked on top. Some years later I went to the same scrappy for a part for my 306 and they had several covered bays and forklifted a car over to me to strip without wandering around the yard. When I needed a headlight unit for the wife's Fiesta a couple of years ago they had a stack of parts already stripped off cars, and when we scrapped the fiesta a couple of weeks back they had a sign up saying they no longer sell parts to private buyers
I remember needing a new central locking servo and window motor for my ZX years agoand being directed to a couple of ZX's at the back of the yard with other cars stacked on top. Some years later I went to the same scrappy for a part for my 306 and they had several covered bays and forklifted a car over to me to strip without wandering around the yard. When I needed a headlight unit for the wife's Fiesta a couple of years ago they had a stack of parts already stripped off cars, and when we scrapped the fiesta a couple of weeks back they had a sign up saying they no longer sell parts to private buyers
horizon said:
Looking back it was damn dangerous, the pools of sludgy oil, water and anti-freeze. Oily shoes and car bonnets are very slippery, especially after some rain. Happy days!
Enjoy all the fun of the scrapyard, without the oily shoes and scary underfed Alsatians, thanks to this series on a US car website.http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/category/editoria...
Obviously there are lots of US cars on there, but the series also features lots of Euro and Jap cars that will be familiar on this side of the Atlantic. Looser (or non-existent) MOT-equivalent standards and benign weather conditions mean that scrapyard cars are typically much older in the US than they are in the UK.
It's a shame there isn't a similar blog focusing on UK scrapyards. Maybe there's a future PH assignment for Keith Adams right there.
horizon said:
J4CKO said:
Nice to know they are out there, I remember many happy Saturday mornings in the seventies and early eighties rooting around at Race Brothers in Northenden (nr Manchester) as a kid, long gone now but I wonder how they clear a site like that as it must be fairly contaminated after years of that.
Wow, someone else who remember's Race's Many happy childhood memories from there, clambering around teetering piles of cars, usually after a Mini starter motor or brake slave cylinder. Can't believe that we were allowed to do it. Looking back it was damn dangerous, the pools of sludgy oil, water and anti-freeze. Oily shoes and car bonnets are very slippery, especially after some rain. Happy days!Anyone know of any similar remaining old school yards around the Stockport / Manchester area?
Dont think what we remember still exists, the cars have to be drained and I think stripped, then the shells crushed so no more piles and oily mud. We remember it fondly but remember that Saturday afternoon, its pissing down, the light fading, the yard closing in fifteen minutes and you still haven't managed to remove that leaf string, both the Greasy Wolf/Alsation and the cycloptic, 18 stone, 6 foot 5, 12 year old in Rigger boots are circling wanting to get you out.
I was getting bits myself from unstable stacks of cars as recently as 2007 from a place in Hemel Hempstead called 'Browns' iirc. I haven't been there since that time so I've no idea if it's still there or in what format. Googlemaps suggests it is. Called 'Hunts' now
I remember down the bottom of the yard the ground was a sort of soggy marsh made of oil/coolant/ATF and muck. You had to watch where you stepped or you could lose your boot. Many happy hours getting bits from that yard. Top stuff.
I think they must have been very aware of the environmental regs and trying to clean up their act to avoid being shut down, as last time I was there the guy that ran it was having a proper go at a customer who'd pulled the N/S driveshaft out of a Renault and dumped all the box oil out all over the floor.
Was also a group of similar scrapyards arranged around a central parking yard that I used to go in the Watford/Bushey area but I can't remember exactly where it was or find it on Google Maps. edit: Found it - Absolute Breakers Watford, right next to the M1.
I now live in Southampton and the 'local' breaker is Silverlake. All very much more professional. you can still go and remove your own bits but there are no stacks for you to get at, all the cars are stood off the ground with working space around them, wheel-less and it's all on hardstanding. Much more convenient tbh and clearly much safer, if much less fun.
I remember down the bottom of the yard the ground was a sort of soggy marsh made of oil/coolant/ATF and muck. You had to watch where you stepped or you could lose your boot. Many happy hours getting bits from that yard. Top stuff.
I think they must have been very aware of the environmental regs and trying to clean up their act to avoid being shut down, as last time I was there the guy that ran it was having a proper go at a customer who'd pulled the N/S driveshaft out of a Renault and dumped all the box oil out all over the floor.
Was also a group of similar scrapyards arranged around a central parking yard that I used to go in the Watford/Bushey area but I can't remember exactly where it was or find it on Google Maps. edit: Found it - Absolute Breakers Watford, right next to the M1.
I now live in Southampton and the 'local' breaker is Silverlake. All very much more professional. you can still go and remove your own bits but there are no stacks for you to get at, all the cars are stood off the ground with working space around them, wheel-less and it's all on hardstanding. Much more convenient tbh and clearly much safer, if much less fun.
Edited by Nealio on Wednesday 26th March 12:28
Edited by Nealio on Wednesday 26th March 12:28
Edited by Nealio on Wednesday 26th March 12:28
Edited by Nealio on Wednesday 26th March 12:34
There's an old fashioned one where I live - they let you climb all over the cars and everything. I managed to break the wheel studs on my XJ and it saved me a fortune as we managed to get some studs out of an X Type that was about 3 cars up in the air. Couldn't get the studs seperately and jaguar wanted £400 for a new hub. Here's a picture of my mechanic friend removing the studs for me.
Might be useful for those into getting their hands dirty to start a list of all those old skool scrappers that still do things the old way where you can climb up on cars stacked 3 high and avoid the big dog etc.....usually dirt cheap parts too. great places.
I'll start with my local yard - Hoppers Salvage, Electric Avenue, Witton, Bham. Always a good range of about 50-60 cars - mk4 astras, jags, MR2s, foci, mondeos, vectras, puntos, vans, audis (80/A3/A4 stuff), VWs (passats/golfs),ford KA's, fiestas, saxo, corsas, fiat coupes, bravos/bravas, volvos (S40/V40, 1.8, 2.0, T4s etc), alfas, escort, allsorts stock changes every day.
Used to a good one in Coventry right next to the Ricoh Arena - cant recall the name but again you used to be able to walk round at leisure.
I'll start with my local yard - Hoppers Salvage, Electric Avenue, Witton, Bham. Always a good range of about 50-60 cars - mk4 astras, jags, MR2s, foci, mondeos, vectras, puntos, vans, audis (80/A3/A4 stuff), VWs (passats/golfs),ford KA's, fiestas, saxo, corsas, fiat coupes, bravos/bravas, volvos (S40/V40, 1.8, 2.0, T4s etc), alfas, escort, allsorts stock changes every day.
Used to a good one in Coventry right next to the Ricoh Arena - cant recall the name but again you used to be able to walk round at leisure.
I was in one a couple of weeks ago. No toolboxes allowed, sign in and go look for what you want. 3 car stacks, mostly run of the mill fodder. Found an ST200 mid stack. If the windows hadn't been open to the elements, I would have had the interior for my ST24. Got the OBC for a tenner though.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff