I was born in Norwich in 1967, lived there until January 1986 (now live in the USA) and remember Meddlers very well. Even in their heyday they had classic vehicles partly sucken into the grounds which always made a trip for parts highly interesting.
Being from Norfolk I was straight on the phone to my dad, he remembers a lot of what happened to Medlers, and had even been there often. My 12 year old is now on the phone getting all the old stories! Great stuff. This is a special one, thanks
The green car with red interior was a Standard Ten. The alloy-headed engine and twin rear window remains probably another Standard from the mid-1930s, and the pale-coloured remains at 19.00 is an early 1930s Austin Ten. The two-tone blue van at 24.30 is probably a 1940s Austin based on the Devon/Dorset.
Whilst I'm a big time classic car fan, it's poetic to see these cars returning to their origins... iron oxide. The E-Type was especially telling WOW, but that is life... at the end of the day we are children of the 'stars' and know matter what we do, we come full circle. Enjoy your classic.
I visited Medlers scrap yard in the mid 90's when he was still trading. We were trying to find Mk1 Fiesta parts but, most of his stock was either too old or stripped bare of useful parts. The driveway was lined with 20's 30's and 40's cars some of which have probably been removed or most likely just dissolved.
Good to finally put a face to Johnny's brother who gets mentioned so much on the podcast and his expansive knowledge. Also I love content like this, Field of Dreams, Carchaeology looking at rusty forgotten things
Great video Jonny. My dad used take me looking at decaying cars and machinery with him and I now take my young son to do the same thing. I think everyone would admit, that even though we know they’re beyond fixing, we all harbour a little “what if” Cheers and thanks again for all the fantastic content.
I also visited meddlers many times in the early 90’s & was a treat to walk round hundreds of old cars looking for bits & pieces! My boss had a P6 rover & mk1 celica so was always there hoping to find parts. As I recall was never very welcoming & they almost didn’t want to sell anything!!
Big G knows his onions, I had the pleasure of being the passenger in a 4.2L V12 E Type - in a deep red colour. A beautiful looking and sounding car. Carnage swallowed by nature - there's a poetry in that.
I used to visit Lenny Medlers in the eighties those cars had those trees growing through them then half the bodies where in the ground most of those where pre war looked like they'd been there for donkey's years then. When you asked for parts the hardest bit was trying to find what you wanted. It was never organised in any way there where allsorts of makes and years of cars all over the place lorries and vans also. It was a vast place very interesting to look round as you can imagine it must have taken ages to clear. What are now sort after classics where just piles of scrap. Sigh of the times I guess we will never see anywhere like that again.
Thank you so much - wonderfully surreal remains now. As for the water cooled flat twin - perhaps you happened upon a Jowett - Bradford post war van. Excellent plod around the wreckage. Thanks again.
I had a bradford van ,,,,, and 3 Javelins ,,, great cars the Bradford would chug along at 40 50 miles per hour for ever ,,,, it was our bread van,,,, for our village bread delivery,,,,,, dad would service "dolly" the bradford every month change the oil re shoe the brakes when needed etc great times ,, in fact near to us was Lovelocks scrap car and animal farm ,,,,dad use to fetch food for our dogs from Lovelocks managerey ok guys most interesting video ,, have subbed and clicked th bell button Ed
What is the human story behind this? How amazing .. I’ve always loved Jonnys knowledge of all things automotive but Greg brings in a whole new aspect and speciality . Good one mr smiths
That's what I'm fascinated by, how did that garage come to fall down with so many cars in it. Presumably they wouldn't be customer cars, or if they were then it must have been a very valid reason. Top episode though, loving the variety Jonny and team are putting out.
I've passed that first place regularly for the last 37 years! I don't remember it ever being intact in those years. There used to be a car in the first doorway you went through visible from the road, but it disappeared at least 10 years ago.
@@TheLateBrakeShow I used to pass there every weekend peering out the window of Mum's car. (Mk2 escort, 2x maestro onto mk3 astras) There was a car rotting in that front garage all that time. I'm reasonably sure it was a blue herald. It disappeared a few years ago. Fascinating to see what's found the back!
So sad, All of these cars would have been in show rooms at the beginning of their life and someone would have had to have saved up to go and buy one from there.
I always think that when I see an old car that's had it. That was someone's pride and joy when they drove it out of the showroom brand new, and now its nothing but spares and scrap.
@@samholdsworth420 indeed - and if they were used and loved and travelled near and far, well then, they served their purpose! While I get the nostalgia and love to see things preserved there’s a certain nobility in this sort of final resting place for well used machines!
Great video! Like many here in Norwich I had many trips to Medlars legendary yard, massive in its day & yes it’s 100% true that one of Lenny medlars sons sadly died in an accident there, after he died the field it happened in had the gate closed & literally NOBODY was ever allowed to enter that field again, the yard still operated for around 20 years or so afterwards. Legendary place & thanks for bringing back the memories!
I remember going to a scrap yard which I think was Hainford Hall - a stones throw from Meddlers. Hall rooms were full of parts eg one room for starters, one for instruments etc. I took out a couple of diffs from Rover 90's to put into a Series 1 Land Rover (86 inch). Used these as they were a higher gear ratio which suited the Rover V8 we had put in it.
Went to Medlers yard in the late 80, s it was jam packed with 1930s car but they didn't want to sell anything and not too keen on people looking around
Got loads of my early cars from medler motors in the late 80,s they had a separate sales yard remember buying a mk1 capri with a couple of dodgy tyres was told to go to scrap yard and grab a couple of wheels with better tyres grabbed myself a full set of rostyles 😃👍and remember the driveway being littered with old cars
There is no better walk than a walk where you can find some automotive dereliction. I know of a walk near me where there is a 4 cylinder block randomly sitting in a wood. no roads anywhere nearby, no houses right in the middle on nowhere. the rest of the car has clearly been consumed by the ground but the block and bottom end is still there. To me it looks like a spitfire (triumph) block but not sure, to be fair it could easily have been there longer than that.
If you image search the business name, you get some pics from a photo stream of the site from 2013! Even just 8 years ago, the cars are in much better condition.. You can see the Herald (mostly complete), a Sunbeam Talbot 80/90 saloon and the trafficator car is an Austin Atlantic.. I posted a link but it was removed.. Good luck.
My father owned a garage at Smallburgh so I visited Medlers as a boy in the 60s. I was into hot rods in the 70s and the whole road leading up to the yard was lined either side with Austin A7s ,Ruby’s ect. When ever you asked the old man Medler if he would sell any the answer would always be the same “No they’re fine where they are” 😊 my dad was friends with the owners of Hainford Hall along the road where I would search as a boy for accident damaged cars such as Alfa Romeo, Lancia fulvias for the garage to fix up and sell.
Great video Jonny, really enjoyed walking down memory lane with you and your brother. Remember a lot of these vehicles still being around in my childhood, all issuing a pall of blue smoke! (Tolerances weren’t too great in them days !) real nostalgia 👍😎🇬🇧
Those cars from the 30’s 40’s completely sunk into the ground/rotted is crazy to see. And it becomes even weirder to think that they were all once brand new and shining in a showroom somewhere, and all of the memories/experiences that people have had in those cars.
I've been to Meddlers in the 70s and 80s, and even then it was a massive graveyard of cars from the beginning of automotive time. My dad had a couple of Riley RMB 1.5L. One was on the road, the other was parts to keep the 1st on the road. My childhood was full of cars he'd pulled from Thompsons scrap yard in Costessey and got running again. Bedford doormobiles, Mercedes 190, Morris 1000s... ex GPO yellow 🙃 Fiat 500s (again 2 cars, one for spares and the one on the road was hand painted... a great childhood now memories.
That was excellent Jonny, just how I remember scrap yards as they used to be, zero health and safety concerns. You need to encourage your brother a bit more, there is a lot of knowledge there that needs to be tapped, you could have another string to your already impressive TLBS bow.
Great vid,more of Greg in the future please. Didn’t see much of the bus but if it was a twin steer, it might have been a Bedford. VAL.The Italian job bus was a VAL but with a different body. This one looks Plaxton bodied.If the E-type was an early 3.8 then maybe it was a flat floor.
Great vid chaps it’s funny how I’m watching and listening but also looking past what your talking about to see what else is lurking in the undergrowth, it makes glad that these places still exist.
Used to go to Medlers a lot when I first started working on my first car in the late eighties / early nineties. Some rarities there included a Renault Caravelle with a hardtop, a Triumph TR2, several Nash Metropolitans, a Volkswagen K70, a fintail Merc, NSU Prinz, Sunbeam Imp Sport and an ex Police Imp, a Ford Galaxie (two USAF airbases not too far away at Mildenhall), a complete Falcon Carribean, VW Campervans, Sunbeam Rapiers etc. It looks like the part of the site you went to was not the main part - which was off to the right when you reach the end of the driveway, and the woods that surrounded that part were filled with cars going back to at least the 1930's for about 50 metres from the start of the trees. There were no sheds in that part either. There was a rumour of a Luton bodied van somewhere in there full of pre war motorcycles too. Great memories. It was a real shame it was forced to close due to the introduction of stricter regulations for disposing of end of life vehicles.
First location was a garage that closed down in the 70s. Apparently owners never came back for their cars and they were just left. The building gradually fell into decay. There was a big fire in the building behind about 2001. Though the old Garage at the front was not affected. Everything just fell down on it's own. There was a Triumph Herald in the front area to the left of the entrance. Which had a tree growing out of the engine bay, which grew bigger and bigger by year.
What a great video guys! Its really great to see your genuine enthusiasm as you identify those various parts on the E type remains. Exploring places like that and finding pieces of motoring heritage with your excellent levels of knowledge would make a great guided tour. As a small motoring youtube channel creator myself, I found it really inspiring. Great job Jonny!
As much as I hate good cars going to waste, I still love how nature embraces them back into itself... it's quite beautiful and poetic, shows that everything we create is just temporary, and nature is still the boss on this planet. Interesting to think that in the end, even the most expensive and fanciest of new cars will suffer the same fate, they'll be reduced to a pile of almost unrecognizable pieces of scrap metal...
Always facinating to try imagine the peoples happy memories of buying all those cars the day they were brand new and then all the tales happy, boring or sad inbetween before ending up in their resting place. Awesome
Also went to kingsmead but a good few years before you. We kept our old cars on the road by visiting scrap yards. You should know of Duke Smith and Tony Towers and the Edmonds at Blackborough . We used to climb the piles of cars and remove the parts ourselves , can you imagine that today with all the health and safety nonsense.
Great video guys . Scrap yards are not what they used to be. And yes the cars that were in the yards in the 70s would now be worth a small fortune. Keep smiling everyone
Reminds me of my grandfather's barn find. Bought the British Consuls Standard Vanguard in Cyprus. Was left to surface rust behind his factory after the 70's after one of his sons put diesel in it. I saved the hub caps with plan to restore as interior was mint. By the time I returned builders who were expanding the factory had rammed it out the way and bent the chassis. Even a few American 60's Chevys in a field opposite my aunt's house had disappeared by the late 90's
Brother Greg in the intro looks like he was released from the T.A, for commandeering a Chieftain tank without the permission of his immediate superiors and then attempted to invade Paris.
Van with steering column and gear shift (at 24 minutes in) is a Austin A40 van, I learned to drive my dads at 15, passed my test at 17 had me first car accident in it as I was turning right, semaphore alight pointing right, flash guy in a new MK1 tina GT drove in the side of me turning right/ got done by virtue of overtaking at a road junction/ the MK1 tina went along 3 houses fronts ending up on some front door steps a steaming mess - lol/ LOL.. As a 22 years old I began racing the ovals for 14 years in 4 separate formulas. minirods, Angliarods BANGERS and Super Stox/ Loved crashing weekends - lol..Thanks for the video -- Ian. B.
All once brand new then, finally, with possibly millions of miles and countless stories between them, their paths converged upon this befitting and final resting-place, slowly settling back into the earth from whence they came. Captivating.
Your mate knows his Jags. I'd search hard for some numbers there, grab that engine, gearbox, diff plus anything else salvageable and then place a call to M. Robey for a shell. At the price of E-Types these days it might just be worth it! Cheers.
About 35 years ago I visited Norfolk to meet up with a friend who was a student at Norwich Uni at the time. She and her housemates lived in a cottage in the countryside. One day we went off rambling through the woods and found an eerie and damp wood full of ghost cars like these. It made quite an impression. This is probably not the same place, but the second part of the video is strikingly similar.
I was always on the look out for this kind of find as a kid. Brilliant walks and explores! great history and fascinating to see machines and nature woven into each other.
I was thinking the same thing. There was a Jowett Bradley for sale on Gumtree here in Cairns Qld the other month that just needed a coat of paint. It seemed like a strange part of the world to find one, as I had never seen one before.
This is so interesting. All these cars had a story and had People own and possibly love them. That interior in the "dry" those seats would have been sat on. It's awesome.
The Great old days of motoring, my parents would put us all in the rear of the Morris traveller in our pajamas all FOUR layed down asleep, while my dad and mum cruised to Cornwall at 55 with a box trailer, usually in a convoy of four family 👪 and friends 😊🙏🇬🇧
Impressive I far away where you people are I am from an island in the Caribbean. But non the less it's interesting to learn and known about other places. ✋🖐😄👌👌👍👍👍
The video has a spooky 'Blair Witch Project' feel to it. At the beginning I was expecting to see someone standing in the corner and (2:00) there Greg was! Additionally we're seeing 'car'cases scattered all over. Really cool though, when I was much, much younger , I used to walk through junkyards like that looking for bits n bobs for my (old) cars.
Great stuff. Imagine one of the detectorists walking here in a couple of hound red years. Not a single beep on the metal detector, it will all have rotted away and gone back into the ecosystem.
Bet you use to go to Blackborough scrappy... used to love going there when i was a kid... Never let you buy anything old. They just wanted it to rot in to the ground... same as the house really
Flat twin is probably a Bradford Jowett van. Can remember them in our local scap yard in my teens and twenties I'm now a few months off 70! So that has "survived" quite well.
I've seen the Meddlers place previously on a different urban crusade, but the first one West Norfolk Engineering which had obviously been a business, it's just a shame we won't find out what happened to these places and why anyone would just leave a Series 1 E-type to die in the filth like that, it's just heart breaking for a true petrol head to see that.
Somebody must have pointed out this already, but the Riley's body plate says it's an RME, not RMB. The dry-stored car isn't a Ford. All that maker's three-box shape models of the '50s had styled one-piece vertical tail-lights, but the car in the shed has two circular lamps each side. I think it's a Standard 10. The alloy-headed side valve four is interesting: Ford E93A or 100E with an Aquaplane head, perhaps? But that water-cooled flat twin? No idea.
Seeing the Husky reminded me of a place I was given a tour of, somewhere over Norfolk way iirc, loads of '50s Rootes in the trees and some real gems in various tired old corrugated tin sheds, inc pre-war s/c MG, Railton etc, gradually being sorted through I think but had been left for decades. Interesting vid!
There's an E type rotting in Conwy. If you walk the walls down to the harbour you can see it wasting away. In fact, I've just checked if you type Conwy into Google maps, it's the closest off road car to the pin.
"This is not Greta Thunbergs idea of a nature walk" 😄😄 brilliant video. Fascinating to see mother nature take all these cars back into the ground!
I was born in Norwich in 1967, lived there until January 1986 (now live in the USA) and remember Meddlers very well. Even in their heyday they had classic vehicles partly sucken into the grounds which always made a trip for parts highly interesting.
Being from Norfolk I was straight on the phone to my dad, he remembers a lot of what happened to Medlers, and had even been there often.
My 12 year old is now on the phone getting all the old stories! Great stuff. This is a special one, thanks
You and your Dad need to take a walk there. Be great for you to film a chat with him.
yep leney medler all the cars down the main drive were new and he couldent get the money he wanted for them so he left them to rot ??
Your brother is really knowledgeable! Very enjoyable to watch you pair.
The green car with red interior was a Standard Ten. The alloy-headed engine and twin rear window remains probably another Standard from the mid-1930s, and the pale-coloured remains at 19.00 is an early 1930s Austin Ten. The two-tone blue van at 24.30 is probably a 1940s Austin based on the Devon/Dorset.
Agree re the blue van, probably 1953-on A40 10cwt as it has the Somerset-era column shift rather than the floor change of the earlier A40 vans
Whilst I'm a big time classic car fan, it's poetic to see these cars returning to their origins... iron oxide. The E-Type was especially telling WOW, but that is life... at the end of the day we are children of the 'stars' and know matter what we do, we come full circle. Enjoy your classic.
All we are is rust in the wind rust in the wind
Well said - 'To into the earth you descend' - Titanic survivor.
Lets see how we get on with lithium and plastic.
I visited Medlers scrap yard in the mid 90's when he was still trading. We were trying to find Mk1 Fiesta parts but, most of his stock was either too old or stripped bare of useful parts. The driveway was lined with 20's 30's and 40's cars some of which have probably been removed or most likely just dissolved.
Been cleared away from from what im told, gutted i never went, local to me that is
Good to finally put a face to Johnny's brother who gets mentioned so much on the podcast and his expansive knowledge. Also I love content like this, Field of Dreams, Carchaeology looking at rusty forgotten things
Great video Jonny. My dad used take me looking at decaying cars and machinery with him and I now take my young son to do the same thing.
I think everyone would admit, that even though we know they’re beyond fixing, we all harbour a little “what if”
Cheers and thanks again for all the fantastic content.
Just superb commentary and watching two brothers get along so well. Keep ‘em coming please.
I also visited meddlers many times in the early 90’s & was a treat to walk round hundreds of old cars looking for bits & pieces! My boss had a P6 rover & mk1 celica so was always there hoping to find parts. As I recall was never very welcoming & they almost didn’t want to sell anything!!
Big G knows his onions, I had the pleasure of being the passenger in a 4.2L V12 E Type - in a deep red colour. A beautiful looking and sounding car. Carnage swallowed by nature - there's a poetry in that.
I used to visit Lenny Medlers in the eighties those cars had those trees growing through them then half the bodies where in the ground most of those where pre war looked like they'd been there for donkey's years then. When you asked for parts the hardest bit was trying to find what you wanted. It was never organised in any way there where allsorts of makes and years of cars all over the place lorries and vans also. It was a vast place very interesting to look round as you can imagine it must have taken ages to clear. What are now sort after classics where just piles of scrap. Sigh of the times I guess we will never see anywhere like that again.
Thank you so much - wonderfully surreal remains now. As for the water cooled flat twin - perhaps you happened upon a Jowett - Bradford post war van. Excellent plod around the wreckage. Thanks again.
As soon as he said flat twin I thought Jowett.
Yep looks like the jowett engine!
I had a bradford van ,,,,, and 3 Javelins ,,, great cars
the Bradford would chug along at 40 50 miles per hour for ever ,,,, it was our bread van,,,, for our village bread delivery,,,,,, dad would service "dolly" the bradford every month change the oil re shoe the brakes when needed etc great times ,, in fact near to us was Lovelocks scrap car and animal farm ,,,,dad use to fetch food for our dogs from Lovelocks managerey
ok guys most interesting video ,, have subbed and clicked th bell button
Ed
What is the human story behind this? How amazing ..
I’ve always loved Jonnys knowledge of all things automotive but Greg brings in a whole new aspect and speciality . Good one mr smiths
That's what I'm fascinated by, how did that garage come to fall down with so many cars in it. Presumably they wouldn't be customer cars, or if they were then it must have been a very valid reason.
Top episode though, loving the variety Jonny and team are putting out.
Mr Medlers son had a pet monkey. They buried it next to a stash of cash apparently. Mrs Medlers died and they sold the land in 2017
Never knew your brother was so knowledgable into cars as well, wonderful chap
I've passed that first place regularly for the last 37 years! I don't remember it ever being intact in those years. There used to be a car in the first doorway you went through visible from the road, but it disappeared at least 10 years ago.
Wow, all that time? What car was visible do you think?
@@TheLateBrakeShow I always thought it was an anglia or something, but it was always covered in ivy and looked pretty rotten.
@@TheLateBrakeShow I used to pass there every weekend peering out the window of Mum's car. (Mk2 escort, 2x maestro onto mk3 astras) There was a car rotting in that front garage all that time. I'm reasonably sure it was a blue herald. It disappeared a few years ago. Fascinating to see what's found the back!
A phone Gimbal would do wonders here. Very interesting little exploration.
The first car with the twin SU's and "bullet" air intake is an Audition A90 Atlantic. The car that made the Austin Healey possible.
So sad, All of these cars would have been in show rooms at the beginning of their life and someone would have had to have saved up to go and buy one from there.
I always think that when I see an old car that's had it. That was someone's pride and joy when they drove it out of the showroom brand new, and now its nothing but spares and scrap.
Hey at least it's just a car not a human right
@@samholdsworth420 indeed - and if they were used and loved and travelled near and far, well then, they served their purpose! While I get the nostalgia and love to see things preserved there’s a certain nobility in this sort of final resting place for well used machines!
Great video! Like many here in Norwich I had many trips to Medlars legendary yard, massive in its day & yes it’s 100% true that one of Lenny medlars sons sadly died in an accident there, after he died the field it happened in had the gate closed & literally NOBODY was ever allowed to enter that field again, the yard still operated for around 20 years or so afterwards. Legendary place & thanks for bringing back the memories!
Nice to see Mike from Spaced is still doing okay there! PS Flat twin looks like the Jowett.
yes it was jowett bradford cc twin
Thank you!
I remember going to a scrap yard which I think was Hainford Hall - a stones throw from Meddlers. Hall rooms were full of parts eg one room for starters, one for instruments etc. I took out a couple of diffs from Rover 90's to put into a Series 1 Land Rover (86 inch). Used these as they were a higher gear ratio which suited the Rover V8 we had put in it.
Yes it was Hainford Hall.It was cleared and the main building was auctioned off a few years ago.
The car in the pig pen is a Standard 8, my cousin had one in 1970, it was about 15 years old then. You are right about the Husky, my uncle had one.
Dissolved cars and barn finds are the best Late Brake Show content, keep them coming!
Went to Medlers yard in the late 80, s it was jam packed with 1930s car but they didn't want to sell anything and not too keen on people looking around
Got loads of my early cars from medler motors in the late 80,s they had a separate sales yard remember buying a mk1 capri with a couple of dodgy tyres was told to go to scrap yard and grab a couple of wheels with better tyres grabbed myself a full set of rostyles 😃👍and remember the driveway being littered with old cars
Greg was an extremely useful chap to have on a carchaeology adventure! Great video Jonny, thank you both.
There is no better walk than a walk where you can find some automotive dereliction.
I know of a walk near me where there is a 4 cylinder block randomly sitting in a wood. no roads anywhere nearby, no houses right in the middle on nowhere. the rest of the car has clearly been consumed by the ground but the block and bottom end is still there. To me it looks like a spitfire (triumph) block but not sure, to be fair it could easily have been there longer than that.
That Etype almost made me cry. Worked and restored so many to see this one is a sad day.
If you image search the business name, you get some pics from a photo stream of the site from 2013! Even just 8 years ago, the cars are in much better condition..
You can see the Herald (mostly complete), a Sunbeam Talbot 80/90 saloon and the trafficator car is an Austin Atlantic.. I posted a link but it was removed.. Good luck.
Really enjoyed the Smiths double act - great car knowledge, well done Jonny! Greg had a ball, he was even smiling at the end. 👍
My father owned a garage at Smallburgh so I visited Medlers as a boy in the 60s. I was into hot rods in the 70s and the whole road leading up to the yard was lined either side with Austin A7s ,Ruby’s ect. When ever you asked the old man Medler if he would sell any the answer would always be the same “No they’re fine where they are” 😊 my dad was friends with the owners of Hainford Hall along the road where I would search as a boy for accident damaged cars such as Alfa Romeo, Lancia fulvias for the garage to fix up and sell.
Great video Jonny, really enjoyed walking down memory lane with you and your brother. Remember a lot of these vehicles still being around in my childhood, all issuing a pall of blue smoke! (Tolerances weren’t too great in them days !) real nostalgia 👍😎🇬🇧
Those cars from the 30’s 40’s completely sunk into the ground/rotted is crazy to see. And it becomes even weirder to think that they were all once brand new and shining in a showroom somewhere, and all of the memories/experiences that people have had in those cars.
Fascinating Jonny. You two make a great double act! 😅
This reminds me of the several mudlark channels. Love playing the "Can you guess the item before they do" game.
I've been to Meddlers in the 70s and 80s, and even then it was a massive graveyard of cars from the beginning of automotive time.
My dad had a couple of Riley RMB 1.5L. One was on the road, the other was parts to keep the 1st on the road. My childhood was full of cars he'd pulled from Thompsons scrap yard in Costessey and got running again. Bedford doormobiles, Mercedes 190, Morris 1000s... ex GPO yellow 🙃 Fiat 500s (again 2 cars, one for spares and the one on the road was hand painted... a great childhood now memories.
That was excellent Jonny, just how I remember scrap yards as they used to be, zero health and safety concerns. You need to encourage your brother a bit more, there is a lot of knowledge there that needs to be tapped, you could have another string to your already impressive TLBS bow.
Fantastic video as always. Yours & your brother’s enthusiasm for these cars is a joy to watch. Keep up the great work mate
Great vid,more of Greg in the future please. Didn’t see much of the bus but if it was a twin steer, it might have been a Bedford. VAL.The Italian job bus was a VAL but with a different body. This one looks Plaxton bodied.If the E-type was an early 3.8 then maybe it was a flat floor.
Great vid chaps it’s funny how I’m watching and listening but also looking past what your talking about to see what else is lurking in the undergrowth, it makes glad that these places still exist.
Used to go to Medlers a lot when I first started working on my first car in the late eighties / early nineties. Some rarities there included a Renault Caravelle with a hardtop, a Triumph TR2, several Nash Metropolitans, a Volkswagen K70, a fintail Merc, NSU Prinz, Sunbeam Imp Sport and an ex Police Imp, a Ford Galaxie (two USAF airbases not too far away at Mildenhall), a complete Falcon Carribean, VW Campervans, Sunbeam Rapiers etc. It looks like the part of the site you went to was not the main part - which was off to the right when you reach the end of the driveway, and the woods that surrounded that part were filled with cars going back to at least the 1930's for about 50 metres from the start of the trees. There were no sheds in that part either. There was a rumour of a Luton bodied van somewhere in there full of pre war motorcycles too. Great memories. It was a real shame it was forced to close due to the introduction of stricter regulations for disposing of end of life vehicles.
Greg seems like a real gentleman!!! (as does Jonny) Love videos like this and seeing people interested about something beyond a £300,000 ferrari
First location was a garage that closed down in the 70s. Apparently owners never came back for their cars and they were just left. The building gradually fell into decay. There was a big fire in the building behind about 2001. Though the old Garage at the front was not affected. Everything just fell down on it's own. There was a Triumph Herald in the front area to the left of the entrance. Which had a tree growing out of the engine bay, which grew bigger and bigger by year.
What a great video guys! Its really great to see your genuine enthusiasm as you identify those various parts on the E type remains. Exploring places like that and finding pieces of motoring heritage with your excellent levels of knowledge would make a great guided tour. As a small motoring youtube channel creator myself, I found it really inspiring. Great job Jonny!
My partner went to school in Kingsmead in Wivvy! And we currently live up the road in Milverton. How small the world is.
As much as I hate good cars going to waste, I still love how nature embraces them back into itself... it's quite beautiful and poetic, shows that everything we create is just temporary, and nature is still the boss on this planet.
Interesting to think that in the end, even the most expensive and fanciest of new cars will suffer the same fate, they'll be reduced to a pile of almost unrecognizable pieces of scrap metal...
Always facinating to try imagine the peoples happy memories of buying all those cars the day they were brand new and then all the tales happy, boring or sad inbetween before ending up in their resting place. Awesome
Also went to kingsmead but a good few years before you. We kept our old cars on the road by visiting scrap yards. You should know of Duke Smith and Tony Towers and the Edmonds at Blackborough . We used to climb the piles of cars and remove the parts ourselves , can you imagine that today with all the health and safety nonsense.
Great video guys . Scrap yards are not what they used to be. And yes the cars that were in the yards in the 70s would now be worth a small fortune. Keep smiling everyone
Reminds me of my grandfather's barn find. Bought the British Consuls Standard Vanguard in Cyprus. Was left to surface rust behind his factory after the 70's after one of his sons put diesel in it. I saved the hub caps with plan to restore as interior was mint. By the time I returned builders who were expanding the factory had rammed it out the way and bent the chassis. Even a few American 60's Chevys in a field opposite my aunt's house had disappeared by the late 90's
It’s amazing how the wooden boats have not rotted as much as the metal cars !!
Brother Greg in the intro looks like he was released from the T.A, for commandeering a Chieftain tank without the permission of his immediate superiors and then attempted to invade Paris.
Great finds, impressed with Greg’s knowledge, proper pair of petrolheads,, keep up the great work
Van with steering column and gear shift (at 24 minutes in) is a Austin A40 van, I learned to drive my dads at 15, passed my test at 17 had me first car accident in it as I was turning right, semaphore alight pointing right, flash guy in a new MK1 tina GT drove in the side of me turning right/ got done by virtue of overtaking at a road junction/ the MK1 tina went along 3 houses fronts ending up on some front door steps a steaming mess - lol/ LOL.. As a 22 years old I began racing the ovals for 14 years in 4 separate formulas. minirods, Angliarods BANGERS and Super Stox/ Loved crashing weekends - lol..Thanks for the video -- Ian. B.
All once brand new then, finally, with possibly millions of miles and countless stories between them, their paths converged upon this befitting and final resting-place, slowly settling back into the earth from whence they came. Captivating.
this was a good episode, really enjoyed seeing how nature was taking the cars back.
I have the same Swedish military feild coat. Perfect attire for hunting derelict motors👍
25:25 it’s an Alpha from 2019, the old rust problem!
Your mate knows his Jags. I'd search hard for some numbers there, grab that engine, gearbox, diff plus anything else salvageable and then place a call to M. Robey for a shell. At the price of E-Types these days it might just be worth it! Cheers.
About 35 years ago I visited Norfolk to meet up with a friend who was a student at Norwich Uni at the time. She and her housemates lived in a cottage in the countryside. One day we went off rambling through the woods and found an eerie and damp wood full of ghost cars like these. It made quite an impression. This is probably not the same place, but the second part of the video is strikingly similar.
Greg seems very knowledgeable for all these derelicts. Great video!
What lovely ivy interspersed with some rotten bits of old cars. They should turn it into an adventure park for all the family.
Great video as always Jonny, but watching you two handling all that rusty jagged metal without gloves on gave me unreal levels of anxiety!
I was always on the look out for this kind of find as a kid. Brilliant walks and explores! great history and fascinating to see machines and nature woven into each other.
That flat twin-engine with the funny intake could be a DAF 750
Gregg at the beginning reminded me of Nick Frosts character in Spaced many years ago haha
I visited that scrap yard a few times in the 80s for some Aflasud parts. Used to be a fantastic location
The immortal words of the wonderful Ian Dury come to mind... what a waste!
Jonny that horizontal four side valve might just be a Jowett..
Well spotted! Looks just like a Jowett, possibly a Bradford van or lorry.
I was thinking the same thing. There was a Jowett Bradley for sale on Gumtree here in Cairns Qld the other month that just needed a coat of paint. It seemed like a strange part of the world to find one, as I had never seen one before.
Fantastic video Jonny, thank you for sharing your car perving
Jonny, fairly sure that’s a Jowett Bradford engine.
Those red seats would make au some man cave seats and a memory of that place they need saving .
“Barn-find Fleece” needs to go into the merch’ shop!
You aren't the first to mention this. Maybe I will get some BFF designs drawn up.
Great upload Jonny. Love these discoveries, and what a family double act! Keep them coming!
I could have watched that all night! Great episode 👏
This is so interesting. All these cars had a story and had People own and possibly love them. That interior in the "dry" those seats would have been sat on. It's awesome.
Red E-Type looks amazing. Have seen a Coupe version a few years ago. Stunning
Hi Jonny, @14.26, yes it looks like a 6 cylinder (Westminster)
The Great old days of motoring, my parents would put us all in the rear of the Morris traveller in our pajamas all FOUR layed down asleep, while my dad and mum cruised to Cornwall at 55 with a box trailer, usually in a convoy of four family 👪 and friends 😊🙏🇬🇧
Lovely Jubbly video, nothing more needs saying.
I will never forget this hidden warehouse down a lane in the centre of Nottingham. It was full of stacked old Morris Cars.
Impressive I far away where you people are I am from an island in the Caribbean. But non the less it's interesting to learn and known about other places. ✋🖐😄👌👌👍👍👍
It makes you want to cry.
Do more of these. Very interesting and enjoyable.
The video has a spooky 'Blair Witch Project' feel to it. At the beginning I was expecting to see someone standing in the corner and (2:00) there Greg was! Additionally we're seeing 'car'cases scattered all over. Really cool though, when I was much, much younger , I used to walk through junkyards like that looking for bits n bobs for my (old) cars.
Great stuff. Imagine one of the detectorists walking here in a couple of hound red years. Not a single beep on the metal detector, it will all have rotted away and gone back into the ecosystem.
Bet you use to go to Blackborough scrappy... used to love going there when i was a kid... Never let you buy anything old. They just wanted it to rot in to the ground... same as the house really
Flat twin is probably a Bradford Jowett van. Can remember them in our local scap yard in my teens and twenties I'm now a few months off 70! So that has "survived" quite well.
Used to go to Medlers as a kid with my dad to keep his old cars on the road, pockets stuffed with nicked bits, great memories and great video 👍👍
This is why this channel is awesome…..just a fantastic mixture of motoring content!
I've seen the Meddlers place previously on a different urban crusade, but the first one West Norfolk Engineering which had obviously been a business, it's just a shame we won't find out what happened to these places and why anyone would just leave a Series 1 E-type to die in the filth like that, it's just heart breaking for a true petrol head to see that.
I read on an urbex forum that there was a fire at West Norfolk Engineering, so that could be why the roof fell in and the place was abandoned.
@@downwarddonk they are still trading our their name is
Sad to see cars that were once loved. Remember also going to scrap yards in the 80s when my Dad was fixing his Avenger.
We had an Avenger when I was a kid. If It hadn’t suffered terminal rust I swear my dad would still be driving it now.
ScAvenger
The twin cylinder water cooled engine looked like a Bradford.
Somebody must have pointed out this already, but the Riley's body plate says it's an RME, not RMB. The dry-stored car isn't a Ford. All that maker's three-box shape models of the '50s had styled one-piece vertical tail-lights, but the car in the shed has two circular lamps each side. I think it's a Standard 10. The alloy-headed side valve four is interesting: Ford E93A or 100E with an Aquaplane head, perhaps? But that water-cooled flat twin? No idea.
Truely, a proper dig.
Seeing the Husky reminded me of a place I was given a tour of, somewhere over Norfolk way iirc, loads of '50s Rootes in the trees and some real gems in various tired old corrugated tin sheds, inc pre-war s/c MG, Railton etc, gradually being sorted through I think but had been left for decades. Interesting vid!
There's an E type rotting in Conwy. If you walk the walls down to the harbour you can see it wasting away. In fact, I've just checked if you type Conwy into Google maps, it's the closest off road car to the pin.
We've known about it for a long time and have been trying to contact the owner. Thanks for letting us know though.
Love stuff like this. Good work Mr Smiths! :)