Junkyard Jewels NI Easter Monday 2018

[Datsuncog]

And then down the bottom of Zone 3 is this little knot of wrecks, in kind of a cul-de-sac with limited access...

I think we're dealing with an Austin A40 Farina down the far end - it's hard to tell sometimes with no 'face' on a car...

then a pair of Minors, which are much more readily identifiable.

And then another ill-looking Spridget, next to another A40 Farina.

And next to the A40, another Ford 100E - a somewhat crispy-looking Prefect, this time. 

TZ7983, so a local-ish Belfast plate c.1956. Not showing on TotalCarCheck or Cazana either, so this one must have been off the radar for a right while.

Incongruously, there's also an MGF in with this little lot:

Finally, a marginally better pic of the greeny-grot vehicle to the right - any suggestions on this one?

(I'm a bit shamefaced as, since you can probably gather, my knowledge of '40s, '50s and '60s tin is a bit patchy - 1970s-onwards stuff I'm generally fine with, but I do struggle to recognise the older stuff sometimes. So I very much appreciate the pointers given so far! It's really useful to be able to tap into this sort of crowdsourced knowledge.)

My best guess is a Morris Oxford Series II (or possibly a Cowley, as I can't see any brightwork or fixings down the side), but I could be miles out here.

And then, it's time for us to follow the Riley's tantalising sign around the corner to Zone 4...

MOAR CARS!!

[lesapandre]

The only reason I know is because I am old - a lot of these were just second hand cars when I first started driving 41 years ago....I almost bought a Hereford and once test-drived a 90 but it was too rusty to own.

 

I think it is a Mk2 Oxford- the 3's had little fins on the rear wings. Our neighbour had one in the 1960's. It seemed very old hat in the sleek world of the Cortina even then. No one foresaw 'retro' styling in those days - it was just fusty and outdated.

[Datsuncog]

On 4/3/2019 at 5:07 PM, lesapandre said:

The only reason I know is because I am old - a lot of these were just second hand cars when I first started driving 41 years ago....I almost bought a Hereford and once test-drived a 90 but it was too rusty to own.

I think it is a Mk2 Oxford- the 3's had little fins on the rear wings. Our neighbour had one in the 1960's. It seemed very old hat in the sleek world of the Cortina even then. No one foresaw 'retro' styling in those days - it was just fusty and outdated.

Heh, I know the feeling... I was looking at 1970s cars around the time I was learning to drive, back in 1997, because there were still cheap heaps to be found for a couple of hundred quid - stands to reason that the same timeframe would apply to those who started their driving career in the late '70s, with 1950s motors.

I'm also finding that my experience of Victor FEs and Marinas fits into the category of 'arcane' to members on here born post-2000...

Still, that's what's so good about this place - the opportunity to share this kind of knowledge! I'm sketchy on most 1940s and '50s cars (except Fords, for some reason), as I suppose I didn't have the same opportunity to recognise them when I was growing up as a car-obsessed child. I really ought to get hold of a copy of Michael Sedgewick and Mark Gillies' excellent (and weighty) A-Z of British Cars 1945-1970, and do some serious study... as I do quite enjoy playing 'what's that car?' in old photographs.

As an aside, I find it fascinating how quickly car design moved in the 1950s and '60s. Take something like the Hillman Minx:

In 1957, the Minx looked like this...

(well, just about - as the 1940s design was in its last few months of production) 

Which was replaced in '56-'57 by the up-to-the-minute 'Baby Studebaker' styled Audax range, which looked more like this:

And went through annual facelifts, akin to US manufacturers' philosophies of keeping the same platform and basic structure while changing bumpers, grilles, unstressed panels and glass arrangements to keep it all looking (relatively) fresh:

Before the Arrow range Minx and Hunter arrived in 1967:

So in just ten years, that's gone from the post-war, upright style with vestigial wings, on through the finned era, the wraparound glass era, and on to what I would term a 'modern-ish' looking car with the clean, unfussy, three-box design of the Arrow range cars, and (crucially) the headlamps below the bonnet line, which would define car design for quite a long time (not now, though). I don't really find the earlier cars all that appealing, to be honest (and have terrible trouble telling my Series II from my Series III cars), but I do like the Arrows (and I'd definitely have one).

I know I just used the Minx as a random example, but it's funny how the vocabulary of car design changed so much from pretty frumpy and old-fashioned to what I'd see as 'modern' in such a short time - just as only a few short years separated the fusty Oxford II from the fresh-looking Mk1 Cortina.

Yet these days if an actually modern car was put in front of me with the number plates concealed, I'd be hard pushed to tell you if it was two years old or twelve years old. Only a fortnight ago, this gave me the fears:

To my mind, that is a current Mondeo. Only it's not - it's bloody twelve years old. Shock and, indeed, horror.

Whereas in 1958, this was what Ford's cheapest new motor looked like...

But by 1968, the cheapest new car in a Ford showroom looked like this:

True, everyone knew the Pop was horribly dated by the late 50s (kind of like the Lada Riva was in the '90s, I suppose), and the Escort was very much the 'new wave' of fashionable design, but I find looking round scrapyards like this fascinating just to see how quickly automotive styling evolved and moved on within such a short timeframe.

Anyway, enough of my blather... did somebody say MOAR CARS???

[Datsuncog]

Rounding the corner, this was the first thing I saw, slap-bang in the middle of the path:

Whoah!

Hold the boat!

A Datsun 260Z 2+2, I do believe - or possibly a 280Z? No registration visible, and no trim or bumpers to assist identification. But very much a Z-car, and looking surprisingly uncorroded - possibly a converted left-hooker, an Australian or South African import, or else an extremely rare UK survivor. It was attracting strong interest, as might be expected, and a figure of £3500 was floating about...

Mmm. There was surprisingly little tat from the Land of the Rising Sun in the yard, so this was all the nicer for it.

[lesapandre]

One of the biggest diffences was performance. A lot of the immediate post-war cars retained their side-valve engines. It wasn't until the middle of the 50's that these mostly had gone. Up to then cars were out of puff at about 65, and 0-60  was 30sec and much more. 

[Datsuncog]

Moving anticlockwise around this particular clump of old sheds, then, we first off have this late ADO16, in Austin 1300GT flavour - KAH199L.

Originally from Norfolk and registered in February 1973 (just before the Allegro's launch), all this Irish rain was plainly doing it no favours - especially with a lamentable paucity of windows.

Interestingly, DVLA shows this one as last taxed in October 1992, while Cazana and Total Car Check show the car as being first registered in November 1992 - which is presumably the date at which it was moved OFF the original DVLA database in Swansea (generating the export marker), and then ON to the DVLNI database in Coleraine.

It appears that DVLA don't provide public access to information on vehicles registered in NI which were not currently taxed or SORN'd in 2014, when DVLNI was absorbed into DVLA and Swansea became the only database - but Cazana and Total Car Check seem to somehow be able to access that, although don't recognise that there are also earlier records available (or maybe they do - Cazana flags up a 'Be Aware!' notice, stating "Additional events may have occurred on this timeline. We recommend you get a full check to reveal these before you purchase this vehicle".)

Bureaucratic fiddling aside, I'd really like to think this one was snapped up for saving.

[lesapandre]

The 2+2 was seen as a less pure Z, but personally I'd find having a bit more space good. The looks are not particularly compromised to me.

[lesapandre]

The 1300GT really rejuvenated the ADO16 for the 70's and was considered quite cool at the time. Again British Leyland in their wisdom didn't carry the idea to the Maxi or repeat the formula on the All-agro which seems daft to me looking back.

 

They rusted like hell from new - particularly subframes. Over a million sold I think. Few survive

[Datsuncog]

Behind the 1300, lurked this rather crusty oddity - which I'm going to guess is merely a Herald estate wearing a Vitesse bonnet rather than a super-rare factory prototype. Whether it has a four or a six-pot lurking under there is anyone's guess.

No plate for reference, and not much hope of rescue I'd have thought - although, with a separate chassis, maybe its chances are better than others?

[Datsuncog]

Onwards to the left, another pair of MGB GTs - one a later placcy-faced version, although maybe the other is of a similar vintage as they both appear to be wearing Rostyles…

...the one on the right jauntily wearing the bonnet of the VDP Allegro from round the corner.

No plates, and no front wings either.

I'm surprised to see so many of these in the yard, since I really thought that these things would be readily snapped up for restoration since everything's available for them (at a price), even Heritage shells. Guess there's still so many reasonable survivors that it's still not worth the time or coin repairing seriously tatty stuff, so prices stay low-ish (unlike Ford Escorts).

Same goes for Minors - another 2dr visible there beside the Bs, which I don't think I photographed seperately - loads of them in being broken, despite what I would have thought as Definite Classic Status. But if supply outstrips demand, what else is to be done with borderline and neglected old nails?

I think this colour was known as 'Rose Taupe', which is still quite distinctive even all these years later.

[Datsuncog]

Moving on down the line, next to the Minor we have this...

Mk1 Humber Sceptre, although rather more resembling a Slumber Septic (© Jalopy Magazine 1992)…

And, beside that, another A35 that may or may not be saveable.

[Datsuncog]

Then, and squelching over the waterlogged grass (it was absolutely tipping it down), we can see here...

A late Rover P6 potentially sold originally with 3500 V8 power, going by the bonnet bulges - but with that high stance at the front in mind, I'd imagine that the Buick-sourced lump is now doing its duty elsewhere.

Cracking alloys, though - I really like those. 

[lesapandre]

It's fashion too and repair costs.

 

Heralds were very cool for a time and seemed on the up. Minors have a solid reputation of course...but..when the bills start to get really big...corrosion...new engine etc. a lot of folks drop out as house, family or work take precedence I think.

 

Cars get moved on and no one can be bothered. Some of these 'starter classics' get this treatment.

 

I once went to see a P4 Rover...been to lots of rallies with a bootful of trophies, regalia and owners clubs magazines. So must have been really loved - owner must have given up driving - car was stored round the back of a big warehouse in a damp and shaded spot. Was rusted to a wreck. Once loved cars fall on these hard time and spiral down to the scrappy.

[Datsuncog]

And, blocking in the P6, another piece of 50s glitz - a Vauxhall Victor F-series, wearing a local Derry plate: YZ4706.

Given these cars' well-publicised propensity to rot from new, I'm amazed there are any left at all from these parts, especially neglected ones. 

No sign of this one on any of the plate-checking sites, official or otherwise.

[lesapandre]

The other possibility is that it is a film extra car with a made-up plate. It looks surprisingly new.

[Datsuncog]

Keeping Uncle Victor company was this somewhat overripe Austin Maxi 1750, missing its windscreen, its numberplates and a fair bit of metal in some key places...

Mmm, Sandglow Beige. One of my favourite BL shades.

'Suburbanite' tyres. Sounds like a good make, sure... the ultimate driving tyre, provided you stick to 30mph around a series of flat cul-de-sacs.

And then lastly, we move on to the last car in this block... or indeed Bloc?

[Datsuncog]

Well, bless my soul - it's a locally plated Zastava Yugo 311. I really haven't seen one of these for about twenty years, mebbe more, though they were pretty popular at one time amongst the budget-conscious giffer population - a bit like the Hyundai i10 is now.

HXI9100 is a Belfast registration from May 1986, and while there's no DVLA record on public display, Total Car Check has the details: 

Although it looks unutterably foul, there doesn't seem to be much serious corrosion on it beyond the o/s rear arch:

At a guess, it appears that there's been a huge amount of bubbling paint with surface corrosion beneath (not rare in Eastern-Bloc cars of the era) which has been rubbed back and treated with Kurust or similar, hence the multiple black patches. Leaving it out in the rain probably isn't a good idea, though...

As you might expect, the interior is functional rather than luxurious.

41,868 miles showing. Probably correct; I doubt anyone bought these new as motorway mile-munchers.

ZASTAVA

For sheer Autoshite value, I reckon this one really deserves to be saved.

[Datsuncog]

On 4/4/2019 at 12:17 PM, lesapandre said:

The 1300GT really rejuvenated the ADO16 for the 70's and was considered quite cool at the time. Again British Leyland in their wisdom didn't carry the idea to the Maxi or repeat the formula on the All-agro which seems daft to me looking back.

They rusted like hell from new - particularly subframes. Over a million sold I think. Few survive

Yeah, the freshness of Issigonis' design was surprisingly enhanced rather than ruined by the Mk3 facelifts; paired with some fab colours and offering decent performance at a low price, I guess they were the MG ZRs of their day. But yes, rust... so much rust. My grandfather owned a few and (other than the one flattened by an army Saracen APC in West Belfast) they seemed to just dissolve. He was a dab hand with the red lead paint and Isopon, but the scrappie got them all in the end.

I think Austin-Rover did make a half-arsed stab at something similar when they facelifted the Maxi in 1979 and introduced the Allegro 3 the next year, but by that stage the cars must have just seemed irredeemably naff - at least the 1100/1300 was considered quite fun to drive. Nearly all the end-run Maxis I've ever seen are either brown, beige or dark red, and they just look drab.

But I wouldn't say no to an Allegro Equipe all the same...

On 4/4/2019 at 1:07 PM, lesapandre said:

It's fashion too and repair costs.

Heralds were very cool for a time and seemed on the up. Minors have a solid reputation of course...but..when the bills start to get really big...corrosion...new engine etc. a lot of folks drop out as house, family or work take precedence I think.

Cars get moved on and no one can be bothered. Some of these 'starter classics' get this treatment.

I once went to see a P4 Rover...been to lots of rallies with a bootful of trophies, regalia and owners clubs magazines. So must have been really loved - owner must have given up driving - car was stored round the back of a big warehouse in a damp and shaded spot. Was rusted to a wreck. Once loved cars fall on these hard time and spiral down to the scrappy.

Yeah, this is what I find a bit sad about yards like these - whilst yer average scrapyard just contains assorted end-of-life cars ready for recycling, many of those in here had managed to survive into cherished status, but neglect, personal tragedy or over-optimism has now put them beyond that fine line between saveable and doomed...

On 4/4/2019 at 1:24 PM, lesapandre said:

The other possibility is that it is a film extra car with a made-up plate. It looks surprisingly new.

The plate itself does look recent, though the registration number is probably original as it was issued by the Londonderry Vehicle Licencing Office in early 1960, which is bang-on for a facelifted F-series with the simpler bonnet and rear bumper arrangement.

From what I can gather, DVLNI records were computerised in October 1986, and cars which didn't possess a current VED for use on the road were not transferred over onto the new data storage system. It was assumed that they were already scrapped/left to moulder in a field somewhere (and, in fairness, the vast majority probably were) - and so it wasn't worthwhile putting in significant additional work for non-existent cars. Instead, computer records would be created as the small number of existing cars not on the new system were transferred to new owners, or were re-taxed after a period off the road, whenever the appropriate forms were received into the office.

It's possible, therefore, that registration details for these cars which show nothing on internet searches only exist on written records (similar to those which Egg was recently trawling through for his Invacar Mk12) because they were off the road prior to 1986 and had not officially changed owners before arriving in the yard. It also appears that historic information on NI registered cars prior to 2014 does not appear on the DVLA website either, although cars taxed in NI between 1986 and 2014 may appear on third-party sites like Cazana.

It's bloody annoying.

[Datsuncog]

So, continuing our perambulations then, into ZONE 5,

...here's a vista that may be a familiar fantasy to any self-respecting Shiter with dreams of big lottery wins...

Who here wouldn't want to be Lord Chod of Shite Manor?

"Jeeves, prepare the Allegro - I shall be attending the sailing regatta today at 2pm sharp. And give the Cavalier another coat of Turtle Wax while I'm out, in preparation for the Lord Mayor's Ball tomorrow evening. Actually, throw some more Waxoyl on the underside too, there's a good chap."

"Very good, sir. And shall I knock the blebs off the sills and weld up the boot floor of the Orion, too?"

"Yes, yes - take care of all the trifling little details."

 

Front and centre is this Sunbeam Rapier MkIII, 1096DZ (Antrim registered, September 1960) - looked pretty clean.

[Datsuncog]

A Hillman Hunter - WHH845K, Carlisle registered in September 1971.

This one also looked pretty decent, and falls under the definite heading of WOULD (though, perversely, I kinda prefer the goggle-eyed Minx to the square-eyed Hunter for these Arrow range cars).

Just to add to the general confusion, DVLA gives the registration date as September 1971, while Total Car Check and Cazana both reckon it was first registered on 1 January 2009 (probably the date it was brought over to NI). They all agree it hasn't been taxed since 2011, though - assume it's sitting on a trader ticket for now, as there's no SORN either.

[LightBulbFun]

been enjoying your write up of this lot

 

even if its sad as you see to see these cars rotting away

 

I agree that Yugo needs saving

 

(I too agree with you on the 1950s-1960s thing on car design, these days things have slowed down a lot more)

 

I wonder how the DVLA/DVLNI stuff was computerised back in the day

 

was it literally a team of people just manually reading off a shit load of V5s and typing it all up into a computer?...

 

interesting that cars moved to NI get slapped with an export marker, how does it work if you want to bring back to the UK?

[Datsuncog]

Next door, a most lickable Vauxhall Cavalier 1600 Mk1.

YEG31T (March 1979, Peterborough).

Very red interior shot, sadly spoiled a bit by the rain making the glass all blobby.

I'll get in trouble from some quarters for this, but MGs bore the pants off me a little so I'll have to quickly gloss over the triple pack next to the Cav:

MIJ4764 is a late, local car (Co Down, January 1980) and currently shown as SORN.

p

RGR255J was registered in April 1971 in Sunderland and also shows as SORN (although I'd say a lack of windscreen is a more pressing problem here).

I dunno what the plate is on the orange chrome-bumper one next to the Cavalier, sorry!

Seems to be a chrome-bumper model in decent fettle, anyway.

[Datsuncog]

And working our way round the side, we have these...

[Cavcraft]

Some class stuff in there, alright. Sadly, if that 1300GT is complete, it'll probably end up being bummed for the engine by one of the Mini brigade.

[Datsuncog]

Vauxhall Victor F-Series facelift - XKP592A.

The A-suffix plate doesn't look right on this one for a July '61 car (one of the last before the FB series arrived), so at a guess it's lost its original plate somewhere along the line.

This is not a car I would consider buying in the rain, I have to say.

[The_Equalizer]

The A-suffix plate doesn't look right on this one for a July '61 car (one of the last before the FB series arrived), so at a guess it's lost its original plate somewhere along the line.

 

 

You might well know, but before the DVLA issued age related non-transferable plates they issued 1963 A registrations instead. So there was quite a number of pre-1963 cars running round on 1963 A registrations after they had been asset stripped of their original dateless registrations.

[Datsuncog]

Austin Allegro 2, EJI3317.

A very local (Tyrone registered) car from March 1979; DVLA holds nothing but Total Car Check does.

This one seems to be a bit of a fixture here - photos taken by other Shiters in previous years also show it for sale (while looking rather better), so I'm again a little worried that this seems to be a recurring theme - even the decent cars just sit and sit, not moving, for year after year outdoors until they deteriorate from smart little classics to totally rotten breakers.

There were quite a few people about despite the terrible weather - and this is most definitely not a place you'd just happen to be passing - so I'd say that if these motors were reasonably priced, then they'd be selling.

They're not, so they probably aren't.

[lesapandre]

I have an NI number on my Citroen XM which came over recently to the mainland. Its on a normal V5 but with a 3digit 4number plate. Looks very cool.

[Datsuncog]

Next along, one of the newest cars here - a 1985 Ford Orion 1600 Ghia, OHZ4876.

Another local car, this would have been quite the weapon when it was new (same drivetrain and performance as the XR3i, I'm told, but without the hot hatch insurance premium) - and desirable even now, although it does look a bit scabby up top... and having owned a few Fords of this era, I'm well aware that scabby up top can soon equal utterly catastrophic down below...

Again, if this had been sensibly priced then I'd have expected it to be snapped up in a heartbeat by a posse of eager Ford-lovin' cuchies, of which there were plenty milling around.

But it wasn't.

[danthecapriman]

Brilliant updates. I love those Vauxhall F types, they’re rare as fuck but such awesome looking cars. Like miniature yanks!

 

I always think it’s such a shame for cars of this age and type to end up in a scrap yard though, they’ve survived so long against the odds and yet they wind up in a right state and sitting in yards like this or going round the oval instead. It’s not like some 90’s or 00’s heap that’s just reached the end of its life.

Still, you can’t save them all and it does provide spares for others.