What Happened To Car Breakers Yards? - The Rise and Decline
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 23 ม.ค. 2024
- In this video we explore the mystery of the scrap yard extinction the nostalgia of scrapyards from the 90s and 80s .Once a common site these sites are now few and far between. Sadly it appears the junkyard as we know it is coming to an end. I show you some incredible scrap yards some abandoned cars and go over the history of the scrapyard documenting its creation, decline and subsequent rise in the 21st century.
I have credited where possible these works are transformative.
Scrapyard photos (various sources); autoshite.com/topic/7661-some...
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The smell of gear oil, the floor made of gravel, mud and oil, the owner with a hat that appeared to be made of leather and oil. The way he lit the tiny bit of roll up cigarette in his mouth with a huge cutting torch. The crumbling buildings, the old blue crane, and the fascinating range of vehicles. Such nostalgia. If you needed a major part of any value the guy would fire up the crane to get the car down from the stack. Health and safety was known as common sense or simply being careful. No hi-viz or hard hats, I climbed around these cars as a kid. Grippy shoes were a must especially in the wet.
You’ve summed it up brilliantly! I can smell the gear oil right now! Weird smell, almost nasty! I recall, with the same wet muddy boots on, clambering over Morris Oxfords, threading chains around the engine mounts, etc, whilst the man on the crane or just the two of us coerced the lump out and free of the engine bay to be manhandled on Dollie’s to the boot of our vehicle and coerced in, adding even more sump oil/ watery odours and grease,…all to be reworked and put into some other unsuspecting vehicle! Cuts and bruises galore were par for the course and my repayment for said hard, often dangerous labours, was free driving lessons! Well, it was worth it as I passed first time back in 1964! We used Silverlake and Harris’s almost exclusively! Great times really, you felt part of something you didn’t even know the name of!? Recycling!!
@@nigelparker5886oily dogs that loomed like they had been fed on whoever tried breaking in too...
And he used to run around in one of the cars that had come in to be scrapped, our local scrappy, complete with the leather hat and smelly cigar, had a very rusty series 2 XJ6 3.4 which always looked terrible as it was never washed, in fact, he was very much the same.
I spent many hours at weekends climbing the stacked cars at breakers yards. Crawling through a car creaking on the ones below it, as you unbolt the parts needed. Probably was one of the best forms of recycling that has now been stopped, due to health and safety concerns. It was also fun seeing how many older models of vehicles you could find.
Captured it exactly Chris! Had me very nostalgic, I used to always wonder if the top car would fall off but thankfully we had some professional stackers.
Ain’t this the truth! Climbing 3 or 4 cars up to get some seats,carpet,fuses, internal parts ,starter motor etc etc! Whilst wobbling ! Happy days!
When I was six I got caught in the scrap yard in Northampton smashing car Windscreens
😂
We're living in the last generation of mechanics, the people that can diagnose a noise and actually use tools to sort it out without a scanner. The yards here in the North West have declined now and there's hardly any old style ones left.
I'm known for being able to lift out engines bare handed and I remember back in the 80's I went for one, it was in a Cortina mk4 on top of another car. I unbolted it and stood between the inner wings, I lifted it up and clonked it down on the slam panel, as I did that the car slid off the top of the one under it with me going with it. The car hit the ground and I was thrown forwards into the mud and, the engine I wanted just plopped down beside me. I had many happy times in the yards and I never thought I'd be missing that feeling.
Sounds like you almost got killed pulling that motor.
@bobbyrayofthefamilysmith24 😂😂😂 he's no the only one....
There's still loads of breaker yards local to me, they are very useful when you need something because they still charge a reasonable amount of items. I got a parcel shelf for my car recently for £15 that plebs on eBay expect £100 for + postage!
This is recycling at its finest . My whole career in the motor trade was based on the importance of these yards .
Here in Southampton we still have one proper, decent scrapyard, silverlake, it’s been dramatically improved since the eighties and still good service
@@garylecarpentier9640 👍 Let’s hope it continues because we still need them for the future economy.
@Indigenous51 I disagree. We also have had scrapyard here in Portugal since I can remember. And with modern rules, cars in those breaker yeards have their batteries removed, and all the fluids drained for proper disposal.
But here is the issue - no matter how good you drain an engine from its oil, a little residual will remain attached to the internal parts, which will end up going on the ground.
No matter what people say about keeping an old car on the road, lots of recent studies show that it has no benefit for the environment whatsoever, because a 7 year old car polutes far more than a 1 year old car.
Then there is another issue, current activists are pushing government officials to reduce the number of cars on the road, and promote the use of public transportation and/or bicycles instead. Even EVs polute, even if indirectly though the manufacturing stages and, as we all know, more than 99% of electricity comes from oil! Electrical cars aren't sustainable either. Walking, cycling and public transportation are the rhetorical being pushed by governments in a few couple of years.
We need these scrap yards
Bloody Hell!!scrapyards...now you're talking lol, number of times I used to go to finish off a project because couldn't afford main dealer prices and the adventure in actually looking for what you wanted and spotting other things was amazing....wow I'd forgotten the fun had in scrapyards ..
🌟🎊🥳🤩
Governments don't want you keeping old cars going!
Goverment dont want you keeping any car, hence battery cars
True. Less money for them, despite less carbon emissions compared to making a whole new one
@jamessparkes5516 it's ridiculous, most old cars are over 90% recyclable. New cars maybe less than 50%. There is a massive market for classic car parts and is a billion pound industry
I live in Tyne and Wear England.. Car breakers up here were dirty, oily muddy places with every make jumbled together. You needed a boiler suit and wellys just to go in them.
In the late 80's I was in Suffolk and needed an old Leyland mini engine.
I was directed to a yard in Dedham, Essex.
What a revelation, the alleyways were mown grass. the cars stacked neatly and in rows of all the same model, no oil.mud, junk or trash anywhere.
I have often tried to find it again but I expect it's a housing estate now.
If you're talking about Gun Hill in Dedham, that's still there... but it's now run by Copart and looks a lot different!
We should all pull together and start our own yard. We considered these as recycling yards during the 70’s 80’s 90’s and so on . Talking about it will hopefully pull some of us together 👌
Luckily I still can walk around my local yard and it is so good for my mental health. I can escape for an hour or two and not worry about anything in the world.
That’s what I miss….
Do it until you can't - those days are numbered. I had an extremely rude awakening last March when my local 35 acre yard closed down suddenly after me going there for a quarter century.
@@the_kombinator. i,d guess it will be yet another new housing estate
@@Slaphead1960 In the middle of nowhere? Look up Cookstown Auto recyclers on google maps
I worked in a scrap yard 3 times. I wasnt paid, but was there from opening til closing every day. I loved being there but there is not a lotto do except see to customers and direct them to where the models of cars are. There is the chains to put on the cars to lift them and to strip parts off, like wheels, batteries, starters and alternators. The "office" was a caravan or a campervan when one came in. The law changed so cars could no longer be stacked more than two high. We used to stack them 3 or 4 high. If customers wanted a large item, like an engine, gearbox, exhaust etc thay was too heavy or a car on top of another, the crane was started up and lifted the car out so it could be worked on. We stripped cars that were gong to be crushed. Some cars I never wanted crushed but never had the money to buy them from the scrapyard at the tme. They were great days for me and happy memories. Unfortunately, the scrapyards where I live were all told to shut down as hte land was needed for building on. The council forced all scrapyards to close. A couple went on to stripping cars in a workshop and selling parts off the shelf. But after time, ebay was hte way to go for buying used car parts asd people were stripping hteir own cars as they would end up morethan just selling it. A lot of rear wheel drive cars and vans etc were sold to overseas buyers (mainly Africa) as they had reps coming over and buying trucks full of scrap cars, as long as there was an engine, gearbox and running gear on them still. They would also buy hundreds of engines too. Sometimes as many as would fit in to and artic tipper trailer or a shipping container. I last worked in a scrapyard back in 1997, First time I helped out at a scrap yard was in 1976. Wr as kids used to "play" in the scrapyard when we were young teens. We would jump over the fence on Sunday afternoons. Spent all afternoon in there, just craeling through the cars and see what was in there.
back in the 90s I used to go looking around scrapyards for a suitable car to restore, when I came across one there were many times I had to leave it because it had been lifted by chains and the roof was ruined = foolish yard workers didn't care.
I remember my local yard going from stacking cars 3 high to 2, and then eventually 1. Do you know which law specified this?
I remember them stacking the cars four and five high before the health and safety went crazy and getting bits from the inside of an old herald at the top and being careful as the car was rocking. It wasn't uncommon to see a car that had fallen off the top and down the gap.
I only ever saw 4 high maximum
Many a happy Saturday afternoon digging around the scrap yards!
Two self service scrapyards of my past are Silverlake Autos near Southampton and the UK famous Charles Trent in Poole.
During my college years as an apprentice engineer, we used to visit one of the two breakers yeards at least once a week.
Ripping cars to pieces to not only service our own needs, but also just for the experience of removing certain parts from the same model. - givig a great working knowledge of the cars we drove.
Lunchtime on day release usually invovled a quick trip there to buy nuts, bolts and trim pieces. Leading to an ample supply to keep our old, abused cars looking younger and tidier.
Also very handy when you sheared a bolt or found one not fitted in the first place.
Eventually I used to fund the purchase of my professional work tools through the repair of other peoples cars or the sale of parts, which had come from these breakers.
Some awesome memories that are a huge part of me being the multi skilled aircraft engineer I am today.
Also some amazing memories of laughs with friends and teamwork.
I miss the ability to walk around a scrapyard looking for bits for cars I owned and things I didn't. I remember taking all the walnut veneer trims from every Rover I came across, I had tons of it, probably worth a few quid now.
I built my Hyundai Pony's entire bodykit using sport or GT parts from other cars - Ford Escort GT front bumper, Z24 side skirts, Peugeot 405 tail lights, Dodge Shadow mirror, FSO Polonez headlamps, Rabbit GTi fender flares, etc. I moulded it all together 5-6 years ago and had it painted. Came out pretty good :D
@@the_kombinator
Excellent love it
I relate to you saying working at a scrapyard is a fantasy job. My first full time job out of university was as a purchaser for a large chain of self-service scrapyards in Canada. The job itself was quite a dream! Lots of interesting cars, I once purchased eight 80s and 90s BMWs. One of them did get saved thankfully, the rest lived on as parts. Eventually though I realized the upper management was too corporate and I couldn't stand working for them anymore, so I left. Starting a used car dealership now and am hoping to eventually own a scrapyard in the future though!
Hainford Hall at Hainford just outside Norwich was a legendary site!
Not only was there a huge selection outside to pour over, the semi derelict hall itself was filled with already removed parts in rooms that you could wander round and search for particular parts, already for specific vehicles and rooms with stocked in order of components, such as starter motors alternators etc!
Brilliant place, I miss such site!
There were several around Norwich and surrounding areas, sadly all gone now!
Yes, that was an excellent site, although I used to worry about pulling parts from a car that had two other stacked up on top of them.
@@dryadmusic That was had the fun! Haha! 👍✌️🖖
Albert Looms in Derby is the best scrapyard near me. They let you walk round and pick off parts yourself, you just pay at the end. I'm sure they'd let you film, they even have an online inventory page, so you can see whats in.
Thanks Adam, will have a look.
@@tomdrives mate try K and R in Sheffield
Fortunately, scrap yards are booming in the U.S. The cost of repairing cars involved in minor crashes where air bags deployed has created a huge demand for parts from these cars as people find they can rebuild their car for a lot less than buying another car. And the internet makes is soo easy to find parts now. I needed a seat belt for my 30 year old Suburban, and not only could I find one, I could find it in the color I wanted.
No , they aren’t. LKQ is buying everything out and jacking prices sky high
really enjoyed this, loved seeing all those Rovers, they are very rare where I live and usually in a yard since spares are relatively dear and have to be shipped in
I have noticed this decline in the last few decades. Back in the 90's I had a mk1 Popular plus fiesta and I needed a gear knob. My brother took me to a breakers near Liskeard in Cornwall in around 1995 and I remember climbing through piles of cars all stacked. I found a Gear knob from an xr2i and it had red details and stitching. I think I was charged a fiver.
That yard was gone by the millennium.
It’s sad isn’t it… I think also partially it’s to do with a lot of the do-it-yourself culture dying off in the mainstream as well.
@@tomdrives true i mean whens the last time you've seen someone washing there own car?
Congrats on a super upload, really enjoy your vids, I loved going to scrapyards in the early 80s, back then you'd often see the Rover P6 bonnets and boots neatly stacked as ally scrap. Best wishes to yourself,family,friends and fellow viewers.
Thank you! I’ve never seen a P6 in a scrap yard before, oldest rover I’ve seen is an SD1 in a yard
@@tomdrives My pleasure, yes things have changed a fair bit, I havent been to a scrap yard for years, one of my favourites was near Finchley road in London and Willesden was great too, looking back some of the car's in the yards were restorable, I admire folk that restore and keep the older car's going, yes I guess a P6 in a scrappy now would be rare and id often go to Staples Corner scrappy for my P5B parts. My last Rover was a V8 VDP wish I had it now, over the years folk oiled the undersides of cars but dont get any on the bushes and high pressured wax injection it kept a lot of cars on the road longer also cleaning the salt off. Best wishes and looking out for your vids.
Just recently there was a 3500 v8 in my local scrap yard.
I work for a well known northwest scrapyard as a hook loader driver , we won't have customers wandering around any more , i used to go to our yard in the 90s and spend hours wandering around and getting bits i needed ,now it's mainly Internet sales , however we do get the odd old interesting cars in from time to time , which makes me smile 😊
I live in Alicante in Spain. There are dozens of breakers yards here, some of which allow you to walk around and take parts off yourself.
Very few of the cars have any rust at all. Mostly scrapped for engine, transmission or electrical issues. Or because of scrappage schemes which are well loved over here
I worked in a breakers yard from early 70s to the mid eighties,this video was good to watch for me,they were the best years of my working life,I was 26,when I started,,I am now 70,and still have friends that I made thou working there,I don’t know if you know it ,but it is still going today,J C Autobreakers Dartford,and runs alongside the M25.They worked with a lot of insurance company’s as well,so I had a different car to drive every month 😁,I must of drove almost every car of the day I would think,it was like our own little world up there,and not like a job,thanks for the memories.
I know JC's. It's one of the ones I used to frequent fairly regularly. The others were Abbey Breakers and Emmins (before and after they moved to Maypole Road).
I remember the JC lot being quite a friendly bunch, but everyone at Abbey were quite surly. Happy memories.
@@davidhunt6463 Hi David,thanks for your reply,yes they were a friendly bunch,most of the time 😄,unfortunatly,the two partners Merv and Jack have passed as has the yard manager Frank.really good days I will always remember,after about 10 years I left and went to Abbey breakers,totally different vibe,so went back to J Cs.
Loved this Tom, great video. I didn't get to go to any of the scunny yards, but we had plenty around Grimsby, Caistor salvage was one of the best if a little rural, I'd spend hours there with my dad when I was a youngster.
Thank you! Grimsby had a few I remember.
Motor factors hated them because people would use good used parts instead of putting a brand new part on their 15 year old car. I used to trawl them for tuning parts, many a weber carb has been sourced from a scrappy to improve an Escort or Cortina and make it breathe better. The environment agency - or gestapo as I like to call them - have made recycling virtually impossible across the board. Electronics recycling used to be common place, now everything gets shipped to Africa. I used to live near Aldershot, Hants, we had Bayliss in Normandy, Blackbushe motors, and several others that I don't recall the names of but there was one on the Odiham bypass, one in North Camp and one in Aldershot itself. Every year there were parts recovered from those sites that kept tens of thousands of other vehicles on the road.
Albert Looms' in Derby was a fave hangout of mine for parts for my early cars. Maestro parts were easy to come by.
Looms is still there and still going strong. Usually has a few classics in as well.
Spent many an hour or two there in the mid/late 80s.
Mine too, small world.
I feel bad for you guys in the UK. In the US, junkyards are booming, as the average age of a car on the road is in the teens, and new cars are too expensive, unreliable, and difficult to work on. I'm currently driving a truck that'll be 25 years old in April. We also don't have crazy laws when it comes to junkyards, and some of them even sell whole cars to the general public
Back in the late 80's I was getting various parts for my vehicles at the time, but as far as I remember the insurance and the liability for scrap yards became an issue, so no longer could we rummage around stacked cars and vans for parts due to many accidents on the sites. It was fun at the time before H&S got involved. The risk of life and limb was all part of the fun.
I used to tour the yards as a youth looking for Mk2 Escort bits and later on in my motoring career, Triumph 2000 bits as I developed a liking for the big Triumph saloons.
I used to visit Bridges in South of England , back then we could climb on the top car & take off the parts we required whilst all three cars was rocking about . I once scrapped a Renault 12 back in 1988 , this was a scrapyard in Newhaven , after the car was weighed on the scales I drove it to the grabber area , the grabber picked up the car with the engine still running , I took photographs of this , but sadly I no linger have the photos as they have been lost over time .
I take it that was Billy bridges in three bridges near Crawley Sussex ….was my local Breakers
Great little documentary. So much better than how this would have been done on TV. Well done and thank you.
Car transplants outside Nantwich in Cheshire was a great place to visit in the 1980/90's, i spent many hours there for Fiesta parts. Great video Tom.
As a Frenchman working in England, I went to car Transplants as well, looking for parts for my peugeot 205. I remember Ferber's, as well.. Good old times... Congrats for your upload !
Thanks Paul, sounds a good one.
Furbers was just up the road from where I live, had great times there with my dad in the 1970s. It seemed a huge place when I was a kid
Furbers was a great place, I miss those types of scrapyards. The only problem with Furbers was finding it , Whixal is like the Bermuda triangle lol
Spent hours there in 70s, sneaking the odd bulb or small part in my toolbox,
There is an old school scrapyard still in operation near me, turn up with your own tools and unbolt the bits you want. Long may it continue.
A.A.looms (uncle Alberts) in Derby was my favorite, got a complete front suspension for my HB viva there in 1979.
A few comments about that one, is it still in operation?
I don’t know I moved to the USA 25 years ago, we still have tons of scrap yards here in Texas though
@@tomdrives i just checked google and google earth , and yes its still operating and well worth a visit
There used to be a a car scrap yard in East Lothian. As the years went by. It changed from a scrap yard to a household clearance yard.
Edinburgh Newbridge has one called S-C-B last time went around it had some nice Fords, Rovers, Vauxhall at the time
In the 70s I used to go to a scrapyard in Wimbledon that had a coved area with 3 or 4 Ford Zodiacs which had been hot rodded with V8 engines out the yard. The cars were famous about London being in magazines and seen at the Chelsea Cruise.
Atkinsons?
My good friend of 55 years and former boss is in his 70th year in the wrecking yard business. He started in 1953 at 11 years old scraping cars and at 81 years old still runs his business 5 days a week. He has two 1940 Dodge trucks he bought in the late 1950's for his business and still uses them daily. A 1940 Dodge one ton flatbed for hauling scrap and a 1940 Dodge 3/4 ton converted into a tow truck that has hauled thousands of cars and trucks. Both still have flathead 6 cylinder engines and 6 volt systems. He has a 1947 Dodge 5 ton he bought in 1969 that he hauls car bodies on to a bigger scrapyard weekly. It also has a large flathead 6 cylinder engine. His crane truck is a 1937 Chevrolet 1-1/2 ton he bought in 1964 and still uses daily. His large crane he just bought about 10 years ago is powered by a Chrysler flathead straight 8 cylinder engine and is used daily. No modern machines at this yard. He has a large Ross forklift year unknown and a Cletrac bulldozer from the 1930's that he has had for appox 50 years. He has had a few people work for him over the years, but most of the time he has done it himself. He does mostly antique cars and trucks and a few modern vehicles. This yard is located in American Canyon California and is called Brian's Salvage and Junk.
This is the stuff of legend, applause to your friend. I love hearing old stuff being used as intended. Sitting here with a valve radio playing Radio Caroline (MW) from 1962.
The main scrapyards near me that I used to go to with my dad in the 80s were Ogleys, near cudworth, Barnsley and Broomhill near wombwell, Barnsley. He used to spend longer looking for me than actually getting the parts off the cars as I was just wandering around looking at the cars - mainly the escorts - Xr3’s etc
I grew up in an out of scrap yards, by the mid 90s fewer people were repairing their own cars and second hand cars were cheap and abundant. Sometime in the 00s UK legislation cleaned up a lot of scrap yards (no longer allowed to be in muddy fields -concrete based obligatory, oil decommissioning areas etc) I increasingly think that we are now in an era not of designed obsolescence but legislated obsolescence - scrappage scheme for old cars, now diesels.
Yep! All part of the Dictators' & FCCCs plans for The New World Order for the future of total control of the working poor,only the FILTHY rich will be able to afford a life & have control of their life! 😡😡🙄🙄😫😫
Very interesting video!! In my younger years I've seen lots of scrapyards in Holland. Later I've visited scrapyards in the UK to chase MG spares. I remember I found Richardsons at Staines. It was hard to find so I made lots of-analogue-photos so I could find my way the next time but all photos were black. Never found that scrapyard again.
I like the coverage of UK car culture history, car reviews are everywhere but this is gold
There was nothing finer that casting my eye around the scrappie and suddenly spotting the marque, getting closer then finally a row of what you wanted, it was like a huge box of chocolates, which one will I pick.
I like the Pye P33TQ behind you 🙂 and yes, 42 years into my motoring life I visited a yard just before Christmas and was allowed to take bits off myself: but the yard I used to visit is now fenced off and even the reception is behind a fence... when I passed my test it was hunting for bits for my first car as well.
Thank you, she’s a good little unit. I’ve got a few PYE sets in my house the P33TQ is the first one I bought that set it all off, since then I’ve bought a PYE G61 Piper Stereogram and a PYE 1101/A.
All in regular use, in fact the 1101 is playing BBC Scotland as I type this comment.
Charles Trent in Poole (back in the Nineties) was my go to place for parts for my old Volvo 240 estate and later, my 740. Those were the days!
I went there when I lived in Swanage, looking for volvo 343 parts in 1991. Can you remember any others in the area? I found 3 or 4 other smaller ones at the time but can't find them on Google maps, probably long gone now.
@@andrewhill7613 Can't say I do. I remember cars being piled up near the Branksome Sainsburys, but I never tried there. It's a metal recycling place now, though it may never have been any different!
Looking at scrapyard photos brings tears to the eyes.
Remember going mid sixties with dad for spare bits for mk 1 Cortinas.
Insurers scrap cars with little or no damage these days.
More elf N safety regs today.
You are not kidding, we have had some fabulous cars over the years we got cheap because they had previously been written off, we are talking slightly cracked bumpers and scraped doors!
For old skool self serve yard tours ideas may I recommend Albert Looms near Derby, Hall Green Car Spares in Birmingham and Harry Bucklands near Cheltenham......all great yards. Huge choice and youre free to poke around.....
Hi brother, I used to travel from Portsmouth on the train with my dad (who no longer had a licence and prior to passing my own test) in overalls and with cantilever tool box in hand to Harris’s in Nutbourne, Chichester in the late 1970’s, what a great day climbing five cars high for that mk1 Escort part - fond memories (I’m 60 now and still as keen on cars and have a few projects on the go still. 👍
I used to visit Medler's scrapyard in Norfolk in the 1990s with my dad to get parts for his 1986 Vauxhall Carlton. It was fascinating looking at all the old cars, especially the big Ford Zephyr and Zodiac mark 4s . I can't recall if I ever got anything there for my first two cars (passed driving test in 1995). However a couple of miles away from Medlers was the very organised Hainford Hall scrapyard.
Spent alot of time in scrap yards over the years Saturday's with me Dad were wonderful.found an old school yard in Cheltenham last year by GCHQ walking round with a tool box was heaven
Sat half watching this untill you said local scrap yards around scunthorpe I had to rewind and listen again thas my home town been watching this channel a long while and never knew you was from my way on lol
Small world! Yeah lived there 18 years.
@@tomdrives take it you ain't round this area now and i remember all the scrap yards round here cars stacked 5 high and my dad boosting a 7 year old me up several cars to grab a part great days
Good old Sunny Scunny - I’m a Scunny dweller too 😂
Strangely NZ still has breakers yards in most major cities, and there's no sign of them going out of business any time soon. The main one is Pick A Part, similar to U Pull It where the cars are parked normally as opposed to stacked on top of each other (makes it easier to get parts off them that way). There's also a collosal classic/vintage car scrapyard in the North Island called Horopito Motors - there are some videos about it here on TH-cam.
Until cars become so complicated that common folk are unable or banned from doing their own repair/maintenance, there will always be a place for at least a few scrap/breakers yards to service any given population.
Seeing all those mg's breaks my heart at the breakers. Although scunny was my birthplace. I've lived on the south coast for the last 35 years but as my memory serves me, me and my dad used to go to Eva bros though George was getting old johno his son kept the site going. I also remember Pitt bottom off Winterton Rd also edleys on Scotter Rd. but where we live there are no more scrappies around here and they blammed insurance and a tin foiled hat theory the government just want ice vehicles gone. Another great video Tom.
My mum used to work at Eva’s. Bet. I also used to spend my school holidays there. Big John is sadly no longer with us. George is now 93. My mum is 79. They were good days. The yard is now closed. Young John sold up and it didn’t last long after that sadly.
@@stevejenkin5840 that's really sad to hear shame young John didn't carry on but spent many a weekend there I remember helping a friend gut a XR2 of everything so he could pimp up his fiesta pop plus fun times. Remember capri's cortinas all the old stuff all stacked in individual manufacturers.
The old school scrap yards are mostly still intact in South Wales (with some decline) I bought an 86 XR2 out of one in 2001 for £80 and ran it for a few years after! Try doing that now
I had several old xr2s I used to sell the pepper pots and body kits and buy another 2.i think the lowest price I paid was 50 quid for a red d reg. Those old fiestas were good. Im in devon
That’s because South Wales is the best
@@tomdrives not sure about that!
Hours of climbing round scrap cars, I recently found Evas in Scunny seems to have closed... only Edleys left now!!
I used to go to Medlars in Norfolk when I got my first car (a Hillman Imp) back in 1985, and kept using it until it closed down. A sad loss. I used to love exploring all the old cars.
Absolutely brilliant video thanks, here in Warrington we had JT Wade over on winwick quay canal in Cheshire. He's still going, and Hickman's in the same town, both were shady 😂but I love taking the dog past every day the oldest car i can see is a vauxhall VX 490 . Like I said excellent video 🚐😁💯🙏✌️🤟📽️
Beechwood Road in Dalston, Last visit to a yard was in 2018 for Yaris bits...3 weeks later I went back, it was "Sale of complete scrap cars only"...
omg one of my earliest memories is getting trapped in a car in the scrap yard opposite my house in salisbury decades ago. drivers door didn't open from inside, could of used one of three others doors , but sat and carried on driving away merrily until found. was about 5 lol
I used to enjoy going to scrap yards with my dad as a child. I used to climb up and sit in the old cars and I can still remember the smell of them to this day. The ones closest to me in Oxfordshire were Haynes at Challow (Near Wantage) and Smiths of Bloxham near Banbury. I think they might still be operating?
Remember going round scrapyards in Somerset searching for a replacement steering wheel and interior panels for my newly acquired Renault 5 Campus (which a previous owner had tried to "pimp").
Also some brake calipers for the same from Cooper Bridge Spares near the M62.
Interior panels were always a good find, especially the smaller bits nobody at the time knew how rare they’d become
I had a blast in scrap car yards. From Louisville, even better yards were out in the country. Acres of cars going back to the 1940s! I loved fixing up my old cars & trucks cheap! And the office always had rarities, radios, etc!
J.Jones in Devizes are top notch old skool breakers. Got a new window motor for my freelander last year for £15, great staff that always help you too, which is great 👍🏻
Sounds like a good yard, thanks.
Here in Mid America we have yards getting smaller in number to let you pull the part. Now yards want $$ and than want to bring you the part un seen / tested. Wrench on, Spanner on!
It looks like Windley's Salvage in Tattershall, Lincs is still going. MJ Furber were a big yard - they had an Autobianchi A112 which was so rare it sat for years with no takers - they had a second big yard inexplicably miles away in Shropshire which is also now closed and turned back into a nature reserve. Looking at most of the other yards I frequented they have been flattened and business parks built on them.
I remember going to Furbers at Whixall. It had a hot dog stand.
Miss those days. Huey stuarts in glasgow is still an old school kind. U can walk about having a nosey in everything ,even the crushed stuff. Great scrapyard with friendly staff.
Most of the yards in my area are now housing estates, including the largest Adversane where hundreds of houses now live. The next one is about to go as mentioned in your video. I know the owners really well, back only a few years back there was over 20 with in an hours drive of me now theres 3.
My best find, was at Kingsley Williams's HK Motors Minera in about 1980. I went with my 850 mini and got some bits, but before I left I turned and had a good look. There was an Almond Green mini with a white roof. Worth a look, I went back, twin SU's under the bonnet. I asked how much the engine and box was, £50 cut out ready. Well, it was a 998 Cooper and not only that, when the engine got stripped down may years later, the camshaft had 3 rings on it. Which was a C AEG 731 cam - an XR3 eater! Marvellous times - miss them like hell.
I live in Holland and over the here they cleared most 'traditional' scrapyards in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The few left were surrounded by walls and fences. As a kid I dreamed as well of having a scrapyard but I thought that they were just crushing cars all day and that's the bit I liked the most. The most iconic (local) scrapyard over here (for me) was sadly cleared in 1991. It was along the motorway between Heerenveen and Groningen near a village called Drachtstercompagnie (one for scrabble!) The cars were on both sides of an overpass and sadly there was no way to stop on the motorway and have a closer look at the cars. I remember lots of British Leyland though as well as some exotic coaches and trucks. I have been looking for pictures of that yard over the years without success.
I used to love going down GW.Bridges, pease pottage at the weekends was a great day out scrapyard hunting. Used to get some really good stuff but now its all but closed really can't even go in there now as its just a counter service so completely pointless.
God there were some early photos there.I spotted mk1 escorts, the obvious minis and an SD1.Oh " The Jungle Scrapyard" was my goto near Wolverhampton even for a good camshaft on one occasion for a vauxhall.
I researched The Jungle early and wow! What a place
@@tomdrives It got very busy on a sunday morning.At times it was like a small football crowd and as I commented to you earlier had a bloody good burger/ bacon sarnie van .You paid for what you stripped yourself on the way out but god help you if you tried to nick a part.Those men that owned the yards would bury you no questions asked.
Hunters alperton nw London was my Saturday haunt back in the 80's looking for bits for my mk4 cortina
Loved it
Miss it
Visited and spent alot of time in Eva's since it was George W Eva's. Lovely owners who were always so helpful everytime. Miss going around there getting dirty and finding treasured parts for my own car taken from mates cars that ended up there 😆
My mum used to work in the office there. Her name is Bet.George is still with us too although he’s 93 now. They were good days. I spent all of my school holidays there and got the car bug from going there.
saved tonnes of money with scrapyards :D & they really helped with modding my BMW's and my legendary calibra xD
Scrapyards had to invest in covering their muddy oil-laden land with expensive concrete hardstanding to prevent any further soil contamination.
The environmental compliance costs led to the scrapyards having to push their costs up so high that your average weekend mechanic gave up using them.
Instead the online parts listings took over with all the convenience of not having to deal with the dodgy characters who used to operate them.
I had one scrapyard pikie at West Drayton threaten to shoot me with his shotgun because he thought I was nicking parts out of his yard - I had just gone into the office to ask whether they had a certain car before I went clambering over the his yard looking for it. Needless to say I didn't bother going back there ... and he went out of business.
There used to be a several scrapyards around Colnbrook, near Heathrow airport. These had sprung up after WWII in what used to be market gardens for growing vegetables to be sold by their small-holders. The local council eventually closed these down before the UK Olympics in 2012, so that visitors flying into Heathrow Airport didn't have to see the vast expanse of scrapyards covering the land below the flight-path.
Nowadays, it's easier to find parts online rather than dealing with dodgy characters - that's assuming that your modern car is even reparable, which is proving less so with their ever increasing complexity.
Gillards Scrap Yard in Neath, South Wales. Old Mike looked exactly like the BFG and towered over average height folk. Deeply religious, He would often quote verses when all you wanted to do was strip a drivers side door off a mini. Mike had a heart of gold and i recall in the later days a good handful of young lads from the wrong end of town who had nowhere else to go and were allowed to help out some days. Eventually this gem of a place was shut down and is now a big recycling plant. Super happy memories of clambering through and over all sorts of ages of car. Mike always kept mini bits for me in the back to feed my then mini obsession. If only I had had the fore sight to rescue some of those motors which are probably worth a fortune today.
Albert Looms Derby, was great in the 80s and 90s.
Just had a look, they’ve got a stocklist as well
@tomdrives
It's was brilliant back in the 80s and 90s, the amount of stuff in there, all the old Rovers, Jaguars, and BL cars you could think of.
Going to a scrap yard in the summer to walk around and find what you were looking for with your family or friends are in my best memories, so many stopped the right to walk around them now 😢
Some of my best memories as well, a mate of mine and me went on a tour of them in our local area years back, they were thin on the ground even back then
hit and miss here in Australia nowadays. Back when i got my license in the 1990s if your car broke you packed up a bag of tools, went to the wreckers with some friends, got the bits you need, fix it and for about 40 bucks including the cost of the beer for you and your mates and your car is all fixed up after a fun day hanging out. There was a real genuine sense of accomplishment with that as you could fix the car yourself with some trial and error and having good time with your mates working together and helping out to fix each others cars. I guess we were kind of lucky back then as there were not that many different brands of cars for sale and you could always find what you're after. I still drive a 25 year old Aussie car and for the most part can track down the bits that i need which is a win. I guess the perception of owning a car now has changed as well too as the attitude seems to be 'oh no the fan belt broke.... time to get a new car' and the pride of ownership and DIY is becoming lost. it is kind of like the mobile phone culture of 'oh no i only have 64 GB of storage on my phone for selfies, that is not going to cut it, time to get a 256 GB phone'.
'The joy of motoring' is a phrase you don't hear anymore. The ability to get, cheaply, whatever you needed from the humble scrap yard was, I believe, a part of that. Owning a car nowadays is very different
I so love scrap yards. I started driving in the late 70`s and was down the scrap yard scrambling over a stack of cars keeping my cheap old cars on the road. As you say now everyone wants to lease hire, contract or buy new on finance, what a waste. People now consider themselves green, but they are anything but!
Went to my local scrapyard last week to get some bits (only to see better cars than the one I was fixing) and the owner moaning about how he cannot make a living anymore as "no one fixes cars anymore". How sad.
I grew up next to one. Well, 4 min walk away. I used to grab a battery, a half a water bottle of fuel, and go to the junkyard to see if any would crank over.
It was 2002. I discovered this Trabant 500 that collapsed in on itself from all the rot. It was deep in the dirt that 3/4th of the front tires were underground. Pretty sure its been sitting there since the 60s. Anyway - popped the battery in - splash in the tank, and it started 1st crank. That moment turned me into a car guy.
Harris's near Chichester was our go to scrappy, back in the 1980s, went there a few times with my dad, to gets parts to keep his ageing Austin Cambridge going a bit longer & then parts for an old Austin Maxi he bought to replace it.
This yard back then, was the traditional pull it yourself place, with the cars stacked 4 or 5 high, I remember coming back with pockets full of bulbs, fuses, badges etc!
This yard is due to be closed soon, the Bearded Explorer done a video there a few months ago.
There is a street in Bury, Greater Manchester called Pimhole Fold which had about 10 breakers yards on it, it was fantastic going there to get parts. I needed door handles with locks for my Audi 80, the guy at the desk actually had a full lockset in a bag under the counter for £20, I asked him if the car was still here, and managed to to get the petrol cap too. All the locks on one key for £20,
No bargains like this anymore.
Shame some people missed the golden age of it all.
Hi , scrap yard I remember most was in Wimbledon London ,called Atkinsons ,also one near Guildford Surrey ,one in front of epsom down station Surrey,and LJC Dorking and w bridges pease pottage ,also my fave one is rushgreen motors ( hgv scrapyard)
Worked in one in Enniskillen hassards on the hill many a day lost tools in the snow and mud happy days
Me and my pal, would spend hours down our local, we got to know the lads who did car breaking side well. So it was like buying a round a drinks, every time we bought parts. Our local sunderland metals, Used to have the early 90s backwards up the top of the hill. We would go up there and we would be amazed to see the gems up there that had been just brought in. Laugh was none were accident damaged either, but may have been sitting on a driveway or in a garage. We did see a mint Triumph Acclaim, and a mk2 astra cabby too. We were deeply saddened when the owner decided to sell up to EMR metals, which put an end to a good run in picking parts for our cars at the time. Another local one has just closed down about 2 years ago there, that one was old school too, where they would stack them 3 tier high. But from what i was told recently, there was a death in the family who owned it. So that one ended up going into the history books also. Speaking of the saxo, i remember taking one of the lads to a local salvage yard, he was needing a few bits for the front end of the 106 GTi he had. We saw a row of saxos in, and not one had the standard rear lights in! This was back in 2011 /2012, how times did change in that 10 years! Saxo was car to have in the late 90s and 00s, Some of the lads i went to school with had them as 1st cars. Now its stated that those could be in the brink of been extinct on the roads so i have read. I still rock a 306 too, but again finding yards with cars of that era now, with one in, will be very hard to come by, most of those again like the saxo, were binned off back in the mid 00s and early 2010s. Metros again i remember 20 years ago having my pick of those! but in 2008 when i decided to build a fast one, what a fuck on, trying to get parts. As most had been bailed through years prior. No way would i be able to build another one again, parts are just not there anymore or the yards. It would mean buying a donor metro, again a shed goes for 2k from what i have seen, a massive jump from £180!
North East lad here too! Sunderland metals was real shame!
I heard you mention a Cavalier , I have a 1990 4 door VL ( value leader). Unfounded it's parked outdoors, and the elements have taken their toll. But it only has 101,000 miles and is quite dependable, if unexciting. Engine is an OHV 2.2 , mated to a THM125.
Old scrapyards were a hot rodders goldmine.
I built a 54 Ford Pop in the 90's and many parts came from scrapped cars, such as Smith's gauges from a Dolomite Sprint.
Never paid for most of the parts as I'd throw the bits i wanted over the wall but pay for something like a mk4 Cortina light lens just to maintain the facade, I'd pop back after dark and bag my loot. 😎
Bushey Breakers in Hertfordshire used to love hunting for spare parts for my Cortina,ahh the smell of rain water,oil, and wet carpet😂
😂 I used to play guess the driver with the random bits left in the cars
I remember going round them in the 80's - the worst yards always had that black, muddy ground from years of oil etc dripping. I also remember frequently seeing cars that were in better shape than the ones I was repairing 😄 But I miss them.
Happy memories!
My Uncle owned a breakers yard, and I ended up doing Saturday Job at school age in the yard, one of the highlights was driving the yard cr around with the tools and hot axe or getting the heavier parts back to the customer cars
Pease pottage just off the M 23 Crawley( believe Briggs) Spent many weekends with friends climbing up 3 car high. Taking my tool box to get that cheap part that I needed. The site was great one section had right offs that we’re waiting for insurance, another gear boxes and engines that had been removed, tyres in another section, panels in another area. Then you had the 3 high cars for the bits you were after. The owners son used to race at Smallfields race track . Now with health and safety and eBay etc these days have gone. Great just looking around the classic and vintage cars. Spoke to a scrap dealer who said cars cost him to much as you can’t just crush, every car has to be stripped down ( windows, oils, plastic, etc). Still have a 1968 Austin van ( like Morris van) and a Rover P5. Scrap yards and banger racing is what keeps the spares coming.
Wicked story, I believe bill bridges has closed now so I heard , last time I went was about five years ago
Roger Windleys scrap yard at Tattershall, Lincolnshire was the place for me and my Dad in the 70s and 80s.
Loved a sat morning in a local yard growing up! One of the best yards espailly for classics was Balby motor spares in Doncaster run buy a lovley fella
I use to enjoy a Sunday rummage around the good old scrap yards seeling what was there what had just come in , such a shame many are long gone
Same here
Even here in Africa,what a hot documentary,and if this is super great topic you have to do both the Rover 75 and 400 documentary I am just dying to see it,make it worth the wait just like Grand theft Auto 5,take care now
I really miss the days of fun we had pulling parts for our Rovers and Triumphs, amazing fun, usually fair prices and useful/rare parts. Great Times
Used to love going to the scrap yard on a weekend looking for parts for my mark 2 vw golf