Scrapyard-where have the good ones gone?

[bobski1]

Looking for a handful of parts, rooting through eBay listings comes up with plenty of breaking cars but all as ask for specific parts and price. Can't always tell the condition and some of the smaller parts you would be able to get yourself now are not available

I really miss those days when you could go and collect a handful of parts yourself and then haggle the price

[carl_w]

I think most of the breakers yards have gone down the eBay route.

Searching by the part number of what you require has been reasonably successful for me (assuming you have the old part to hand).

[Bobton125]

I agree, I miss the days of playing hide & seek but for a particular model car/part..

And then dangerously climbing up to the 2nd car on the stack.. ahh those were the days.

All the local ones to me have gone too, not been in about 10 years

[Richard-D]

I'm amazed they are still viable as they're now catering to the 3 people who still work on their own cars. I also tend to order 2nd hand parts from ebay as it's just so much easier. As you say though, small parts that aren't worth somebody's time listing are now unobtainable.

[Mr Tidy]

Bobton125 said:

I agree, I miss the days of playing hide & seek but for a particular model car/part..

And then dangerously climbing up to the 2nd car on the stack.. ahh those were the days.

All the local ones to me have gone too, not been in about 10 years

I still miss those carefree days too.

I don't think there have been any near me since the last century though.

[anonymous-user]

Used to go to a large scrap yard in West Wales. Always found what I needed

[Carlososos]

Used to go to trainers in Grantham to scour the yard. Haven’t been in a very very long time it’s just easier and cheaper to either shop new or search on eBay. That may change though if the economy goes further south and everything gets crackers expensive.

[Resolutionary]

In the 2000's, me and some car mates used to make a day of going to Pease Pottage! Loved the pretty much non-existent H&S (high-vis rather optional), and the fact you could sort a set of useable alloys for £40. I admit I used to pocket the odd switch or badge

[Cold]

I went to Harris at Nutbourne near Chichester the other week to grab a few roof switches for my daughter's Peugeot.

It's not as densely packed as it used to be (maybe a "lack of incoming inventory due to covid" thing?) but there is still a good selection of cars to rummage through - but sadly no longer triple stacked.

[carinaman]

Cold said:

I went to Harris at Nutbourne near Chichester the other week to grab a few roof switches for my daughter's Peugeot.

It's not as densely packed as it used to be (maybe a "lack of incoming inventory due to covid" thing?) but there is still a good selection of cars to rummage through - but sadly no longer triple stacked.

Scrap metal prices meant many cars have been cubed. I've been to a breakers in the last month and they said the few cars around the back of their premises they were storing for others.

[Krikkit]

Bobton125 said:

I agree, I miss the days of playing hide & seek but for a particular model car/part..

And then dangerously climbing up to the 2nd car on the stack.. ahh those were the days.

All the local ones to me have gone too, not been in about 10 years

2nd? My Dad used to send me up to the 3rd and occasionally 4th in the stack (when it was an original Mini)! I must admit he used to give it a right good wobble first mind

I miss those days, might see if that scrappy is still there (Altham Recyclers at Clayton-Le-Moors just off the M65)

Edited by Krikkit on Friday 19th August 08:07

[Spoke]

Cold said:

I went to Harris at Nutbourne near Chichester the other week to grab a few roof switches for my daughter's Peugeot.

It's not as densely packed as it used to be (maybe a "lack of incoming inventory due to covid" thing?) but there is still a good selection of cars to rummage through - but sadly no longer triple stacked.

I used to be a regular there in the late seventies along with some like-minded friends. It was always good to see what new(!) cars had been added, I usually had more luck with Spitfire parts as it had a lot in common with Heralds but TR4 & Alpine were more challenging.

[Hol]

Some of ours are still around and the guys running them, are the same peeps from 25 years ago, but they remove the parts for you whilst you wait now.

Which was a shame, as I enjoyed accompanying my mates on their tripes, just so I have a nose around different cars. There was always some hidden gem, that you found. Often where someone else had deliberately hidden it in an adjacent car, with the intention of coming back later.

[Old Merc]

I started in the motor trade in 1963, I can think of at least four huge scrap yards around us in Reading.
You know the sort, piles of cars, puddles of oil, Alsatian’s running around with crankshafts in their mouth, big blokes running the place from an old caravan. Most of the local stock car boys were there too.

They are all long gone, the land was far more valuable, now a housing or business estate. They were also victims of health and safety, environment issues, hazardous waste, and all the other laws.
The ones that are left are doing it properly. Fully computerised, online ordering, smart office, parts delivered anywhere.

[Richard-390a0]

Silverlake between Soton & Pompey still have a thriving 'you pick it' yard with possibly 400 cars within it. Although the clambering up racking & oily puddles are long gone as it's all on concrete & single stacks now.

[ZedLeg]

Aye, there's no money in it anymore and the land is more valuable to a developer. Most of the folk who sell parts online work from industrial units, they strip everything useful out and send the shell onto a recycler.

It's a shame as I've many a happy childhood memory of dangerously clambering over wrecked cars while my dad was looking for parts for whatever banger he was running at the time

[snotrag]

Theres still a few about, I needed a door for a recent Mazda3 and used one of the online search portals, drove over and was pleased to find a proper old fashioned scrapyard - 6 inches of mud with an oil emulsion over the top, cars triple stacked etc.

They did take the door of themselves as it was two cars high (stood one leg each on the legs of a forklist, safety first guys...) but did let me have a root around and take off a few other bits of trim.

We also have one of the two u-pull-it sites nearby and they still let you on as long as you have boots and a vest on.



I have distinct memories of getting chased off a yard after cutting through a (valuable at the time!) Sierra steering race with a hacksaw to pilfer the rubber boot off the end

[mholt1995]

Carlososos said:

Used to go to trainers in Grantham to scour the yard. Haven’t been in a very very long time it’s just easier and cheaper to either shop new or search on eBay. That may change though if the economy goes further south and everything gets crackers expensive.

Traynor's has closed down sadly, used them myself a bit over the years!

[Captain Answer]

Looms in Derby is still a good one to go to, other than that I don't know of any near me where you can walk in and take off what you need anymore sadly

[harrycovert]

I think that`s were my passion for cars started. My dad used to take me back in the 60s on a Saturday morning to get parts to keep his 1958 Hillman Minx running . I remember discovering the tool tray under the dash in a P4 with some tools still in it .

When a got a TR2 in the early 70s There was a great scrapyard in Marsh Ln Lymington [ Dooey? ] that helped to keep it on the road.

Albert Looms in Derby in the 80s kept my wife`s Viva supplied with parts

Happy day`s