Scrapyard reminiscing

[VYO 372M]

What can you remember about the various scrapyards you've visited over the years?

I'm referring to the old style scrapyards when cars were allowed to be piled four or five high and you could spend an entire day just wandering around aimlessly searching for that elusive part.

I visited a number of local (ish) scrapyards during the 1990s when I was driving mainly Triumph Heralds and Dolomites. In those days the scrapyards were pretty full of them. Medlers near Beccles always had a steady flow of Dolomites and Toledo's for that matter. It wasn't a massive scrapyard by any stretch of the imagination and most of the cars were at ground level which was a bonus for removing parts.

Jackson’s was bigger and at the grounds boundaries saw cars piled up two or three high. Triumph saloons were aplenty here. I remember one time going with a friend of mine who was looking for a starter motor for his 1500 HL. Whilst searching around we came across a Dolomite SE, the cars body was shot, but most of the interior was still intact. Anyway a local chap owned an SE which had an ordinary wood capping fitted which he had often voiced his displeasure about. We decided to buy the door capping for him from the SE that was breaking. He was tickled pick when we presented him with the correct replacement.

Hales operated slightly different to the above scrapyards. Most major components were already removed from the vehicle and marked up. I recall seeing a number of gearboxes, axles etc lying around.

By far the largest and best scrapyard I ever visited was Medlers situated on the outskirts of Norwich. The hedgerows featured the dilapidated remains of 1930 cars accompanying the long lane which led down to the scrapyard. The yard itself was enormous and featured a wide range of vehicles, many of which must have been there for years. The first time I visited Medlers was in 1990 when I needed a Herald replacement gearbox that was shockingly noisy. Speaking to the chap at the entrance I was told he had 4 Herald’s scattered around the yard and pointed to where he believed they were, but after wandering around the yard we discovered a few more he had probably forgot he even had. Cars were piled up four or five high with trees directly behind them; it really was a sight to behold. Walking deeper into the yard I remember being curious as to what lay behind some of the bigger machinery that was huddled in one spot. I climbed up to take a look and tucked away out of sight was literally the collapsed remains of a Herald estate. That was the thing about Medlers, you could just spend hours walking around, and even if you didn’t find the part you wanted you would still come away happy.

Steve

[Martin Evans]

I've never really used them much, though I have bought wheels from them, that I intended to blast clean and stove enamel. Sometimes my father or I would want some metal. I remember going to one yard, in the Summer of 1977 and there were two new Rolls Royce Silver Shadows parked there, with their numbers ending something like 50S and 51S. Either they were in a lot of debt or they were making a lot of money. There was once a breaker, called "Jock Scrap", who used to do MG stuff (I know I needed an engine mount once, that was NLA at the time).

One of the most memorable trips, to a Scrapyard, was the now famous Woodhams of Barry (http://www.penmorfa.com/Barry/). That was in the hot Summer of 1976 and there were still a lot of engines there. Most of the locos were steam but I remember going inside a Type 37 (Or similar) diesel and the cylinder heads had been removed. The bores were over 6 inches in diameter (May have been 8 or 9) . Little did I realise then, that I would one day drive an engine, that had left the yard the previous October (It was sold for roughly the price of a new Volvo 245)



See also the first image of http://www.penmorfa.com/Barry/three.html.

[m.thaddeus]

Hello

I have very fond memories of visiting the breakers as a teenager. My local yard was and still is Bridges in Pease Pottage. Its a big yard and like you say, the cars were piled into teetering stacks. I loved this, there was drama in every tiny job. Clambering up, hopping from one car to the next. That uncertain wobble if you pulled something...Ah. Ah, oh.

I started going there with my future brother in law Timm, I used to do odd jobs on his mk1 cortina -Brush painted JPS. with gold pinstriping. And as the years have gone on I have kept many of my own cars on the road using bits and bobs from the place. And of course I have purchased a string of light damaged vehicles from them along with most of the stuff needed to put them right.

I do miss visiting some of the big salvage yards though, back in the 80's you could spend hours wandering around somewhere like Norman Marshalls, stuffed cars vans and bikes of all types and degrees of wreckedness. Some would have you salivating with the desire to straighten them, some would have you wretching from the putrid mouldy puddles on the drivers carpet. Bodyshells twisted so bad that no person could have gotten out in one piece. Police tape on some.
And bargains like you would not believe. When you are on the inside of this market, you know that the salvage boys got some cars for peanuts. Its all online these days, its not the same.

[MidgetSaab]

I used to visit the one in Dunstable (still there) to get bits for my 2nd car (M1 Cavalier) and would visit my first car (FIAT 127), 2nd up in a pile halfway along the main aisle. It wasn't there long.

[Maaarrghk]

I could go on and on......

Fortunately there are still a couple of old style scrappers in Halifax. One of them is less than half a mile from me and there are one or two classics in there surprisingly.

I remember getting spares for my Zodiac from one that was slap bang in the middle of Castlford, just behind a row of shops back in 1988.

But my favorite of all was Smiths of Bloxham, half way between Oxford and Banbury, where my friend and I (a pair of impoverished students) spent many a Sunday morning back in '82 to '84. It was a full 12 acres at least and had everything with 4 wheels that you could possibly imagine, including many yank stuff due to all the US airbases around there - I got a set of high back bucket seats from a Pinto to go in my Escort for £15. In fact I got them for half that as my mate got a pair out of a Rapier for his Hunter and we just got charged for one set as the guy was so busy!

We would then spend the afternoon (in all weathers) bolting on our goodies. I still have slightly dodgy knees from all that time spent kneeling on frozen pavements in torn jeans and trainers that were dropping to bits. We would literally hobble back into the house at tea time.

Sat here having just turned 49, I truly miss all of that. Carefree happy days!

[rich.]

i loved harry bucklands near cheltenham glos a proper scrappy. is it still running?

[Paul240480]

Albert Looms in Derby, searching for bits for my older bro's HB Viva in about 76-77. Says a lot when the car was a 71 model!

Silverlakes in Botley near Southampton, got a few bits there, including leather seat for a Volvo 240

There is one I used near Chichester, the name escapes me, next to Chichester Caravans. Got some goodies for my daughter first car, a VW Polo.

Hayling island - Howard's Scrap Yard. More Volvo bits had from here

Now use Eric Coquen Nr St Nazaire in France, moving further south all the time lol good stock of Volvo 2, 3, 4, 7, 8 & 9 oh and of course anything French (nearly) you could wish for. Staff though, sadly are the most obnoxious bunch of gits you'd ever want to meet

[Minxy]

My one memorable visit to a scrap yard was some thirty years ago when, as you say, the cars were often piled four or five high. Long story short I had to strip the interior out of an Austin 1300 to put into a car that had interior fire damage. When I got to the scrappy the guy pointed to a car that was atop three others. So I spent all day up and down removing the interior from this car that was rocking about like a demisted yacht in a storm.

Oh and why was there always a dog loose that looked like it would tear you apart at any moment

[Maaarrghk]

Ah yes. Them dogs. Usually big shaggy Alsations the size of donkeys. Henry at Ogden had one that played with steel hubcaps and chewed its way through one every fortnight.

Me and my mate Honda used to play in one such yard on Sunday afternoons when we were kids. Luckily the dog was on a chain and we kept well away from it. Had it got loose we would both have been dead in seconds, but the lure of all those P4's and the Bedford QL ex-army 4WD was just too much.

My mate had one such dog in his yard. It looked to be on a short chain, pegged just outside his kennel in one corner and giving him a 15 foot radius. What strangers did not know was that the ring on the end of the chain was passed over a length of wire rope that was stretched out diagonally across the floor of the whole yard. So Bison had a great long sausage shape of killing zone instead of a little arc. The looks on folks faces when they thought he had broken loose

[bnicho]

My local scrappy is operated by an old middle-eastern bloke. It's real old-school, cars stacked two or three high and some of them have been there many years. In the main building there is miscellaneous unlabelled car junk everywhere but if you ask for a certain part, he usually knows where it is.

They use an old forklift to stack the cars out the back and I've often seen them drop one. There is broken glass and bits of jagged metal everywhere. It's a health and safety nightmare but I love it.

Anything he considers too good to wreck gets put aside in the front yard or in a long line down the middle row of the yard. I've often shed a tear when I've seen interesting cars make the transition from the "good car" line to the wrecking section.

We also have a few self-service yards around where they bring in the cars (damaged or not) that didn't sell at the used car auctions. Unfortunately it's mostly 90's stuff these days, but the occasional older car makes it into the yard. I've even seen a Skoda 1000MB in there once.

http://www.pick-a-part.com.au/index.html

The way it works is, each car goes in the yard for about six or eight weeks before it is crushed. You pay $1 to get in and the parts prices are all on a board on the wall. Prices are fixed and quite cheap. For example a drivers seat costs the same whether it came from a Cortina or a Jaguar. I've often gone in there just to wander around. For $1 it's cheap entertainment.

But my favourite scrappy of all time is Flynn's Wreckers in Cooma NSW. They have stuff that went into the yard in the fifties that has lain there ever since. I found a Jowett Jupiter in the undergrowth last time I was there, about six years ago.

http://www.coomaexpress.com.au/news/loc ... 92177.aspx

Cheers,