A 'period' classics pictures thread (Mk III)

[aeropilot]

P5BNij said:

George Best in his S2 Europa at the Man U ground in the early '70s, but what's the car on the left, a Lada or a Fiat 124...?

Almost certainly a Fiat 124, as the Lada version didn't go on sale in the UK until six months or so after Best played his last game for Man U.

[Mr Tidy]

P5BNij said:

Geek alert - the silver Mini is a '79 20th anniversary Special, IIRC it was the first Mini variant to have the 1098 engine, it also came with alloy wheels (not Minilites), a vinyl roof, velour interior, centre console and was also available in metallic rose....

Love those photos (not Minis though).

I spent many happy hours in scrap yards like that in the 70s and 80s climbing to the top of the 3 car pile to get the bits I wanted while the stack was rocking in the wind!

[DickyC]

Towards the back of the breakers on the Bagshot Road south of Bracknell (just north of the Nile Mile Ride, where Coral Reef Water World is now) there were prewar cars. It was as if nothing had ever been cleared and stuff had just been added, piled up new in front of old, filling up towards the road.

"Health and Safety? What you on about? Clear off fore I set the dog on yer."*

*an imaginary conversation between the scrap yard owner and a do-gooder.

[keeef]

P5BNij said:

[Venisonpie]

swisstoni said:

P5BNij said:

Those were the days - somewhere in Cardiff in the '80s...

Ah yes. Nothing like seeing the model you want in a pile.
Not so great when the bit of trim you needed was in the 3rd car up.

One of my favourite pastimes as a newly qualified driver was Saturday mornings roaming scrapyards to keep whatever jalopy was current on the road. The 3rd car in the pile didn't rock much!

[Escort3500]

Venisonpie said:

swisstoni said:

P5BNij said:

Those were the days - somewhere in Cardiff in the '80s...

Ah yes. Nothing like seeing the model you want in a pile.
Not so great when the bit of trim you needed was in the 3rd car up.

One of my favourite pastimes as a newly qualified driver was Saturday mornings roaming scrapyards to keep whatever jalopy was current on the road. The 3rd car in the pile didn't rock much!

Me too! I frequented many proper scrapyards as a student in Gloucestershire in the seventies. Oily muddy ground peppered with glass fragments, three high stacks of cars, curmudgeonly owners and mean-looking dogs, and to prevent theft you weren’t allowed to take a toolbox in with you

Edited by Escort3500 on Monday 20th June 17:54

[bristolracer]

Telling the scrapman that you had taken the part off a Cortina, because if you told him it came from a European or Japanese car the price would double.

[Turbobanana]

Only ever went the scrappies a few times, but I always made sure to wear baggy overalls that could conceal whatever you'd managed to remove.

"Any luck mate?"
"Nah, couldn't find what I was looking for".

[RichB]

bristolracer said:

Telling the scrapman that you had taken the part off a Cortina, because if you told him it came from a European or Japanese car the price would double.

Yep! My first car was an MG ZA Magnette. I used to visit a scrapyard in West Drayton and always tell the bloke I was looking for bit off an Austin Cambridge. As soon as you said MG the price went up! Actually I did the same in the BMC dealers, cylinder head gasket for a Cambridge/Oxford was somehow cheaper and easier to find in the stores than one for a ZA/ZB

[Yertis]

Looking to re-engine my brother’s 2CV, I found my own former 2CV that I’d sold a few years previously atop a pile in my local scrappy. I knew the chap who operated the grab-crane thingy there from school (he was the son of the village goat-herder) so getting the engine out was no problem at all. My brother’s 2CV is still on the road, hopefully with the same engine.

[P5BNij]

aeropilot said:

P5BNij said:

George Best in his S2 Europa at the Man U ground in the early '70s, but what's the car on the left, a Lada or a Fiat 124...?

Almost certainly a Fiat 124, as the Lada version didn't go on sale in the UK until six months or so after Best played his last game for Man U.

Thanks

I forget where I found these - this is typical of so many Mk1 Minis once they were near enough old bangers, as it's had the Mk2 rear light bodge / upgrade...

[Dan Singh]

Venisonpie said:

swisstoni said:

P5BNij said:

Those were the days - somewhere in Cardiff in the '80s...

Ah yes. Nothing like seeing the model you want in a pile.
Not so great when the bit of trim you needed was in the 3rd car up.

One of my favourite pastimes as a newly qualified driver was Saturday mornings roaming scrapyards to keep whatever jalopy was current on the road. The 3rd car in the pile didn't rock much!

Great places scrap yards, especially the ones with really old cars in them.
I had the half shafts off a 2.5 PI Triumph for my 3000M that needed a wheel bearing in the early 80s. It was teetering on top of two other cars which made access easy but worrying when applying leverage. It didn’t fall off, and each visit meant pockets full of small items like auto bulbs, switches etc. There was the obligatory greasy Alsatian that everyone wiped their hands on as they left.

[A Winner Is You]

Dan Singh said:

Venisonpie said:

swisstoni said:

P5BNij said:

Those were the days - somewhere in Cardiff in the '80s...

Ah yes. Nothing like seeing the model you want in a pile.
Not so great when the bit of trim you needed was in the 3rd car up.

One of my favourite pastimes as a newly qualified driver was Saturday mornings roaming scrapyards to keep whatever jalopy was current on the road. The 3rd car in the pile didn't rock much!

Great places scrap yards, especially the ones with really old cars in them.
I had the half shafts off a 2.5 PI Triumph for my 3000M that needed a wheel bearing in the early 80s. It was teetering on top of two other cars which made access easy but worrying when applying leverage. It didn’t fall off, and each visit meant pockets full of small items like auto bulbs, switches etc. There was the obligatory greasy Alsatian that everyone wiped their hands on as they left.

I know that it makes zero logical sense, since they were worthless at the time and in there for a reason, but looking at old scrapyard photos I can't help but wish someone had made the effort to save those cars so they could still be around today.

[P5BNij]

Apologies for the blatant 'celeb' content but but the cars themselves are worth a look :

Italian crooner Little Toni with his Bizzarrini 5300GT Strada....



French rock 'n' roller Johnny Haliday with his Bizza....

[Turbobanana]

P5BNij said:

Apologies for the blatant 'celeb' content but but the cars themselves are worth a look :

I think we can let you off Nij, as it allows us to view a pair of Bizzarrinis (and a Renault 8 )

[P5BNij]

Can you imagine buying an A3C / Bizzarrini brand new in 1965...?

[bigothunter]

P5BNij said:

Can you imagine buying an A3C / Bizzarrini brand new in 1965...?

No but I can imagine buying a gallon of Duckham's Q20-50 motor oil

On a more sombre note, just 15 weeks later that Iso Grifo would have been 100mph too fast for our newly speed restricted roads

[Spottedlaurel]

I see one of my scans has made an appearance on a previous page.

Mention of scrapyards and what they were like reminds me of one of my favourite photos:


Mills Scrapyard 1994 by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

This was near the old USAF bases of Bentwaters and Woodbridge, so they had a fair few interesting USDM cars in the yard as well as the usual 1970s/80s bilge.

Houses now built there - I imagine the site clean-up must have been a bit of a challenge (or the residents find anything they grow has a funny colour/taste and they occasionally dig up the odd car part).

[Dapster]

Spottedlaurel said:

I see one of my scans has made an appearance on a previous page.

Mention of scrapyards and what they were like reminds me of one of my favourite photos:


Mills Scrapyard 1994 by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

This was near the old USAF bases of Bentwaters and Woodbridge, so they had a fair few interesting USDM cars in the yard as well as the usual 1970s/80s bilge.

Houses now built there - I imagine the site clean-up must have been a bit of a challenge (or the residents find anything they grow has a funny colour/taste and they occasionally dig up the odd car part).

Silver 'Sud Sprint and a Renault 18 on the front row of the grid would have both been quite exotic at the time, and is that a gold Fuego nosediving in the middle distance?

[Spottedlaurel]

Dapster said:

Silver 'Sud Sprint and a Renault 18 on the front row of the grid would have both been quite exotic at the time, and is that a gold Fuego nosediving in the middle distance?

It was, yes.

Another 18 here,along with a US-spec 280Z (not ZX).....


1977-ish Datsun 280Z 2+2 (S30) at Mills scrapyard c.1994 by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

Also a Rover P6 in the background. Even in the early '00s they seemed to be a common sight in local yards, there always seemed to be one of them or a Dolomite.