@@micksroversmg558 Same age as my "New Car", a Toyota Celica. My "Old Car" is a 1972 Hillman Avenger. Would love to get some spares from this scrap yard.
Those were the days when you were allowed by the scrapyard owners to rummage around with a screwdriver in your back pocket, climbing into cars stacked 3 high standing on slippery wings and door frames whilst the cars creaked with movement. You would find the elusive piece of trim but end up secretely pocketing all amounts of badges, lighters and loose change. I had an atttaction to taking the old tax discs! No health and safety, but great fun. How I miss those days!
I also remember spending several hours is A&E when a cut my arm open on a shard of metal that I wasn't expecting. I've still got the scar. But I did get that Hillman Avenger heater unit that I needed.
@@video99couk I must admit I had a few close calls myself but it was always worth the risk. Sitting in damp, mouldy car seats covered in broken glass trying to prize out switches with the wrong screwdriver it's amazing we didn't all succumb to infections. Today's breakers are all too clinical and expensive. People have commented about these amazing classic cars but then they were just pretty ordinary common rust boxes. How times change!
Yeah I used to love going to JR Car Spares in Paddock Wood in Kent qnd looking at all the cars, but in October 2021 they disallowed people looking around in there. I must admit it can be scary dangerous though if you're not careful. I would NEVER climb on cars and would always avoid glass, sharp metal and oil. That other comment on here about A&E sounds extremely frightening!! It's weird how these cars were seen as worthless junk back in the 90s, but now people want them as classics! Well, maybe not ALL of them.
The scrapyard owner locked up and released his oily long haired alsation not knowing me and my mate were tucked 3 cars up at the back of the yard removing bits from a Morris Marina. It was like a cross between a Super Mario game and Jurassic Park getting across the piles of cars to escape over the barbed wire fence whilst the hound from hell was leaping up at us. On the plus side we didn't have to pay for the bits.😂
I loved these days. You could go down the scrappy and turn your car into the sports version lookalike for £150.... As long as you didnt mind climbing into a car through the boot.😂
Those were the times when I regularly looked for spare parts in scrapyards here in Germany. Almost the same picture, except there were more Mercedes, VWs and Mitsubishis. Of the British cars you mostly only saw Minis and the occasional Jaguar. You were allowed to unscrew everything and get the things for little money. This was much more sustainable than the used parts rip-off we see today. Greetings from Germany!🇩🇪🤝
For all of you.... Out there... These photos were taken in Leicester scrapyards which were on golf course lane by the foxes sweet factory and the former British shoe factory.... These scrapyards are long gone from there... Just like the cars! And even though I was in my early twenties then I would agree that a fair few of these cars only had minor issues and would be worth serious money today. Most cars all look the same now and back then this is what you did on a Saturday and Sunday.... To the scrappy.
@@juanpabloarena2724 hi there, when you ask how do I know that I'm taking it you are asking how do I know the scrapyards are gone, I know they are gone because a couple of years ago I went back round there, just to see with my partner and it was all different, I remember going to them scrapyards when I was in my twenties nearly every weekend, because I had a 1979 chrysler alpine in wardance orange which was my 1st car... Which I bought from a lovely guy who I once worked with his name was mick who died far too young at only 54 back in 1996. I was just 21 in 1990 just passed my driving test, I passed it in a 1990 G reg Nissan micra and had this chrysler alpine LS. Which had just over 66 thousand miles on the clock, I had this car from 1990 to 2001 and kept it going by living at them yards, I remember nearly everything was a "tenner" back then and I was just fasniated by all the cars piled three high, I have these photos and many more in albums from that time.
@@jasonsibson9288 Yep me and my brothers used too go too scrap yards every weekend see what new stock was in to raid for our upgrades too our scrapers! We called Gosforth Autos Church we was there every Sunday ha ha
Love this and I can fully relate. Every weekend at Albert Looms in Derbyshire! Keeping my mk3 Escort running and upgrading from poverty spec. A pocket full of injectors every trip meant you mostly broke even 😅 Good times hey
At 1:53, the Jaguar XJ-C 2 door Coupe. I had one in 1986, drove like a dream, very poorly built. Mine was Red with black roof too. As said elsewhere, oh to have had a crystal ball - and a large cheap airfield.
Someone was ahead of you with the crystal ball. Search for "scrappage scheme airfield" on RU-vid. I may be cynical but it looks like whoever was running the scheme cherry picked the cars they expected to become valuable in the future and kept them instead of crushing them.
Engines / gearboxes were only really good for 100k miles or less back then (exceptions obviously) and bodies just rotted away. You could fix them but in most cases it was just cheaper to buy something newer, hence they got scrapped.
@@mypronouniswtf5559 I disagree, people held onto things longer then - it's just the cars had a habit of falling apart before ten years old. It's nowadays where everyone has to have the latest thing on credit, regardless of whether they need it or whether the car is knackered or not - a wasteful, disposable consumerist society. Also labour rates for fixing cars are astronomical nowadays too.
@@johannes3174 back in the day, everything that was produced was meant to last. In the early days people did not make as much money as we do today. It is today that we live in a consumer society were all good produced break down fast, so factory's can make more money. If the cars build in the early days were rust treated, many of them would still be driving.
Nostalgic photos. I imagine there’s plenty of classic car owners who would love a rummage in there for bits that are now unobtainium. Plenty of happy memories being at dads side as a kid wandering around these places.
Some of my best days were spent climbing around the scrappy. Me and my mate would get bits and throw them over the grass bank for retrieval later. Great days indeed!
Its wierd seeing these as some of those 1960's and 1970's cars in the scrap yard were starting to become classic cars in the 1990's. The 1980's and 1990's vehicles however were in the disposable sector and their boom in collector status really has only started.
Great historical video of cars from my childhood! renault 18 Fiat Argenta vauxhall cavalier opel ascona Vauxhall Astra Opel Kadett ford fiesta Ford Sierra Ford Capri Ford cortina Escort talbolt Horizon Talbot solara Talbot Samba Volkswagen Golf mk1 They were the real cars, they had personality, the cars of now are all complicated with electronics, EGR valve, Fap filter and without personality, they were all the same before, they were better and easy to repair.
Spotted a Manta Gte in there,I miss mine😩 Spent my Saturdays collecting badges off dozens of cars in our local yard,stopped when they went plastic as they never was as good as the chrome scripts
i have a mk1 cavalier today with a blown engine and am finding it impossible to find another engine, wish there were still mantas in scrapyards for me to get an engine and a 5 speed box, a manta 5 speed and propshaft is pure unobtanium now
I have to confess to being a car badge "collector" (blame the Beastie Boys for that) during a misspent youth, while at school. Still have the prized Rolls Royce badge as a key ring some 35 years later. Though I did treat myself to a 1600E badge recently to add to my keys.
I haven‘t been alive yet back then and I have never seen a lot of these car models in my entire life. But it still feels weird seeing these photos… Also I recognised some awesome cars on these photos and it feels heart-breaking to know that they‘ve been scrapped. :(
I remember the days when it was considered normal to be removing a light switch from a car stacked 3 high in a pile Shame this type of breakers yard is now long gone
The junk yard here I will never forget. You took your tool box and asked some of the staff if it's ok to get parts and they said yes and after 30 minutes I was asked what am I doing there. Every single time.
Brilliant video! The memories of proper scrap yards, when you could just go and help yourself. Remember going to one as need a front spring for my SD1, my Dad jacked up a stack of 6 cars to get one out😳 Took the whole strut but the scrappy wanted more so my Dad just undone the top mount and let it fly!! Just paid a tenner for the spring.
leaving the scrap yard as a kid with a half shaft off a Kadett, a pocket full of fuses, 3 tapes out of a crashed car and a fear of the owners Rottweiler.
@@Theorangeman. Come to think of it, my best scrap yard find was off one of my own cars. Sold my first car, this was in 1993, a Mk3 Escort in fetching Sunburst Rust and 3 weeks later I saw it in the local scrap yard. Went in for something, can't remember what, but came out with the rear number plate from the Escort under my coat. Still have it now on the garage wall. BWM264X.
Yep i scrapped hundreds of these vehicles, mk2 escorts 15 quid scrap value!.. poor old Vauxhalls i wanted to save the viva, love the distinctive body lines.
Who else used to go there and help other unknown people get bits off that they were having trouble getting alone. Great fun and comradery at the same time. Loved the scrap yard.
This is literally like stepping back in time. The hours I spent climbing over breakers stacks of cars like these, looking for parts to fit the various bangers I owned during the late eighties and early nineties. A lot of those examples would be sought after now.
My dad had a 100a back in the 80s, back then they littered every scrappy, his first engine had bad bottom ends so he pulled swapped it out for a scrapped engine which worked a treat till it too was sadly scrapped due to the rust and suspension (Also the 100a in the video is at 3:10, I could never miss that side view)
I had a 79 Cherry, bought it in 1982 for £140, that’s how rotten it was, welded it all up, maybe it passed its second MoT, but I doubt it’ll have made it to a third
0:37 That blue MK1 SEAT Ibiza in the top right is such a shame. Rare as hens teeth now. Some of these came with Porsche system engines which is quite novel to think now. I have an 1989 903cc version and it’s a cracking little thing. Shame it’s so rare these days 😔
I didn't k in circles of stolen ..car gangs ..but I recall ...an 85 ..Ibiza being stolen ..to break ..but don't think ..those who stole it ...didn't have the house to advertise used seat Ibiza parts ..in exchange mart etc ...( Didn't have the house / brains that shoujd have read ...😂😂😂😂
If you've got something old and interesting that isn't knackered, look after it! I'm sure loads of us fondly remember lots of these motors. My family ran MOT and breakdown garages in Shropshire and bits of Wales. I was driven to school in lots of interesting cars. Dad liked Jags and Daimlers, but used to supply Mum with ratty Peugeots. We had a Renault 5 that he bought for a fiver. I got a lot of bits for my Westfield from Furbers at Wixhall. I now ponce about in a 1990 Merc 190, no cat, which I got from a pal who kept it at his villa on Mallorca. Her name is Brenda. Sorry to bang on, but treasure these old things. As I have been told, they don't make em like that anymore!
hey mate I'm in US but have something old, British 🇬🇧, interesting, and still perfect .. 22 yrs ago I inherited a 73 Aston Martin DBS, still ❤❤❤ it to bits, keeping it forever!
Some of the newer cars might have been insurance write offs. All of the cars we had from the 70s and early 80s were either clapped out at 80000 miles or failed the MOT on rust at around ten years old. This was the era of getting a recon engine or major spanner work on your driveway with a wobbly jack. Cars from the late 80s onwards started to lead longer lives. Also in the 70s, 80s and 90s, cars from the previous decade looked very dated.
I remember climbing up those cart stacks to get to the car I wanted and the stack sometimes rocking a bit as I climbed up. On one occasion I had a painful back but , by the time I had struggled up and back down whatever was wrong with my back all the stretching had popped it back into place . It seemed that there were whole families having a trip out at the scrapyard sometimes
I used to spend most weekends down the scrappy with my grandad and dad finding parts for there latest auction buy I miss those days climbing on dodgy cars stacked three high and pocketing all the fuses badges
I still enjoy a scrap yard rummage. I had to pick up some bits from the scrap yard when my oldest boy crashed his van. I had so much fun I didn't realise how much I'd missed it.
...I read last week ..that in 70s ..alfasuds...were being rewelded inner front wings..even before being registered ...and sold on new ..from showroom Alfa's...where the female reception...was walking around glamming up...new Alfa sales ..showroom ..
i worked in a few on and off 90s the different types of cars come in was ace. i could work a day or 3 for a xr3 or fiesta i even lived in my fiesta 1.3s for a few weeks in bingo carpark i won a house now but i was happier then
This is nostalgia for me. I used to trespass on scrapyards as a kid & it was always an adventure for me back in the early 90's. What I've always wanted to do, now you cannot do it anymore, is to buy a scrap car & restore it. If only you could of bought the entire lots with the contents & stored them away from the elements, then spend the next few years doing restoration projects, I'm sure you would be considered pretty wealthy when selling them off to specialists & enthusiasts. Some classic car lovers will be having nightmares after watching this!😅
Seeing so much still fairly good condition sheet metal on cars that are now really desirable, and knowing that they're now dishwashers or refrigerators hurts my soul. As an American who's recently been getting into Euro-spec vehicles I would have happily taken a handful of those Capris.
@@video99coukYeah. There's still only 1 left on the road. For a while, that one was SORN and was put back on the road in 2022. There are about 8 SORN Tagoras rotting away in a field somewhere
There was a tune ..lots of 70 s jags ...were crushed ..and even so called specialist Jag breakers never advertised in spares section ..ifvexhachange and mart ...like ..one near ..Stansted airport ..who called his yard ..the jaguars...!!!so lots of useful parts ..remained on cars ..seixi g up / rusting up ..etc ..car breaking now in modern area ...
A lot of Austins, Talbots and Fords 😂. Those were the days when you get a new rear light cluster for your Escort or Metro for almost nothing. Proper scrapyard before they all went online and started charging silly prices!
As a child I loved the scrapyards. I loved to imagine that I can fix the car I like and drive it since it has been thrown away. Now it's kinda sad since I know that none of the cars is gonna make it and will be scrapped eventually...
My life in 3 mins! Used to love going round scrappers i can still smell the stale oil in the air! Loads of recognisable motors shame about the jag capri and vx though. My uncle's yard had a custom boss mustang in it which me and my brother would sit in and pretend to be driving . Oh for a time machine
After seeing this, questions arise such as: Who were its owners; How many trips and beautiful moments lived on board?? How many places traveled? Etc... Most of them were still operable.
My ultimate prize was to find a red Ford badge that I'd spotted on the racier versions as a kid - I never did find one in all my years of scrap yarding from around 1987-2007 - that was my last visit to find 2 rear calipers for a £100 Vauxhall Omega that some mates and I then drove to Krakow in Poland and back to the UK having turned it into Lightning McQueen for a charity banger rally😆
Pretty sure these cars had severe rust issues hence why they were junked when they weren’t all that old. On the eastern and north eastern (as well as midwestern US), cars were usually junked not because of mechanical issues, but because of rust problems once the frame or subframe for compromised. Since I live in the dry and arid southwestern US, cars will last a long, long time and the only rust they get out here so to speak is surface rust and that’s about it. Only time cars get junked out here is when they are just plain worn out or until the wheels fall off.
I am native of Belgrade, Serbia where cars like these were considered salvageable under the sanctions when anything and everything was kept running by any means possible. Sort of like in Cuba, just with more recent cars. Being a trans woman who was raised as a boy, with father who loves cars, I was shoved into boyish things like it or not and these are the kind of cars that were a good part of my childhood. What you call Vauxhall Carlton there is Opel Omega here, we had it as a family car. God bless Grunding for making it's stereo system, I learned to love Santana, Baez, Dylan, Dire Straits, Los Lobos, Allman Brothers and Bon Jovi in that car while riding with my father. I saw a few Carltons in this video, warm fuzzy memories...