The Banger Boys (1976) Oxbridges, Ford Coarsehairs, Zeffers etc

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Enjoy!

 

 

[junkyarddog]

Anyone else think that there must be a secret factory somewhere still churning out Farinas!!!!

 

The amount of those things that have been raced is astronomical,but still there are plenty about.

[mercrocker]

Phenomenal length of time really when you think about it.    That little kid risking his neck on the pile in the film would be in his late 40s now!     Yet there are still Farinas being raced

today!    Also, how old must those cars have been in that scrappy?   Less than ten, some of them (Audi 100!)  and that black Minx looks to have had a tidy sill repair, to no avail..... 

 

This brings back great memories to me of scrapyard-larking when I was still at school.   Brilliant....

[Junkman]

Is it only me who constantly saw that anklebiter die a horrible death next?

And that bird must be in her Sixties now.

[hennabm]

The scenes at the start around the scrapyard showed a number of interesting motors. There was a glimpse of what looked like a fairly new Escrote van with front end damage.

 

Thank you.

[davocano]

I drove my rotten beyond economical repair '71 Avenger over to Blackbushe Metals in 1987; a banger boy standing near the entrance gave me £10 for it. I like to think that it was as valiant on the oval as it was on the road.

[59Impala]

 Great bit of nostalgia for me as I was a banger mechanic in 1976. If you watch carefully there is a 1959 Cadillac in that yard and I think a Studebaker Lark. We raced all sorts of stuff, Farinas, Westminsters, Rover P5, Minx, Victor FB, Mk3 Zephyr 4, Riley 1.5 and even a Fiat 1500 which went like the clappers but used to use up all its oil before the end of every race which was a shame as it was in the lead. Somewhere I have three photos of me racing the FB Victor which I should scan and post.

[UltraWomble]

Am I imagining things or did this used to be on World of Sport every so often?

Bangers I mean

[artdjones]

Isn't there a Capri at the front at the start of one race.Only 8 years old at most.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Am I imagining things or did this used to be on World of Sport every so often?

Bangers I mean

Yes it did , the only thing I ever watched on W.O.S and Grandstand when I was a kid. Well that and Rallycross.

I remember it was all Palmer style 14/40s and Magnettes in the early 70's and gradually changed to Farinas then Cortinas/ Granadas.

[mercrocker]

The yank at 0400 and again at about 30 seconds later is a '63 Valiant....Closer inspection of my Audi "100" leaves me to believe it is actually an earlier 80 or 60 which fits better being scrapped by 1976.    And I have just spotted that the black Minx is really a Gazelle!    Be handing in my I spy badge at this rate....  

 

What I would give for a couple of hours prodding about in there!

[Richard]

.

[Simon M]

The mechanic in this, Gerry Collard, used to fix my dad's cars about 10-15 years ago - he's still around.

[PiperCub]

Brilliant - takes me back looking at that scrapyard, the same as the ones I used to go to with my dad & I recall the fashions too! Thanks for posting this.

 

I'm sure a few A55 owners will be crying watching this!!! When I used to go back in the late 70's & 80's, there used to be lots more in the way of big old stuff like Humbers, X & S-type Jags and one of the banger boys faves - the Rover P4's knocking about the oval as they were heavier, better built and cheap (you could hardly give them away esp in the 70's).

 

Wonder what Barry is doing now? Must be in his early 60's. Glad he was safe and wearing his FIA-Approved fireproof denims and plimsolls.. 

 

Weirdly, the girl looks alot like my sister looked back in 1976!

[doobietoo]

Those Daimlers always looked huge compared to everything else and were generally slow and cumbersome but pretty much unstoppable I would guess they are probably the size of a modern mundano...

[artdjones]

Sorry for terrible quality of these.(Slide scans) This is Llandow in South Wales c.1980.

Can't see any Farinas.

 

 

All I know is that I wouldn't like to be t-boned by the P4 Rover travelling at that speed.

 

Especially if I was driving the Simca 1100 van.

[PiperCub]

^^ Saw a A60 (or variant of) Farina get virtually cut in half by a P4 at Swale (N.Kent) in the late 70's, must have been like being hit by a Sherman tank! Big old limos and old hearses were popular too, again 'cos they had little resale value as there was a lot less money about in the 70's & early 80's so you could buy but not run them hence the oval beckoned.

 

 

At about 25 mins in:

 

Red Austin Gypsy - looking very smart.

 

A couple of Series 2 Landies with a Harvey Frost crane - almost literally every small garage seemed to run one of these as a recovery vehicle at the time (I think they outlawed them in the end - weight issues??)

 

Fantastic film, very nostalgic for me (51y/old), in fact I've just googled banger racing local to me and will hopefully be going at the end of this month (if I'm not away) for the first time in about 30 years. 

[plasticvandan]

Got a mate of mine who used to sausage race 10-15 years ago,used to purposely seek the least suitable/weirdest car he could.After having to be cut out of a Fiat 126,he quit the "sport"!

[Bren]

I thought the commentator was Harry Enfield's tory boy.

 

Was the electric drill not invented in 1976?

 

The best part was the burning car - fire being put out with a garden hose.A young child in a scrappy? Should be at home eatibg a jubbly and watching space 1999.

 

It shows how much cars have regressed - some of those cars were late 1950's - compare that with modern stuff being weighed in at 8 years old because they are too pricey to repair.

[bunglebus]

Poor late Super Minx on the pile in the second shot, very similar to my mum's '66. It isn't though as she sold it in 1985 and it ended up light blue.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

I thought the commentator was Harry Enfield's tory boy.

 

Was the electric drill not invented in 1976?

 

The best part was the burning car - fire being put out with a garden hose.A young child in a scrappy? Should be at home eatibg a jubbly and watching space 1999.

 

It shows how much cars have regressed - some of those cars were late 1950's - compare that with modern stuff being weighed in at 8 years old because they are too pricey to repair.

 

 

 

Interesting point. I recall the cars in our local scrapyard (Roly Smiths in Somerton) around 1980/81 Oxbridges, Wolseley 1500, Mark II Jags, Minis, 1100's and Minors. In 1980 they were about 1957-1967 so yes, they were old, old cars. The other thing was, when they were driven or pushed in, they were all completely fucked with rust, shagged trim and just utterly worn out. The cars in there were really at the end of their useful life. The thought of anything from the early to mid seventies being in there was absurd.

 

Mind you, these days there are still loads of 15 year old (2002/3) cars on the road and the ones that get weighed aren't as bolloxed as these were.

[mercrocker]

Also, in 1980 a Farina could have been anything from 20 years old down to ten, much longer with Minors.  Even Mk2 Jags lasted 10 years in production.   Wolseley 1500s were short lived but they did rot bloody fast anyway and were never particularly sought after so became economic write-offs fairly easily.    My scrapyard memories of slightly earlier in the late 1970s echo those of the Reverend.   Although, I have to say Minors seemed fairly scarce in our local one - unless they had been T-boned by a P4.  

 

One of the things that destroyed a myth for me was the longevity of a 1950s/60s Mercedes - the number of floor-less, structurally floppy Pontons and Fintails disintegrating into the ground in the "German" car row was something I never forget - and these were still not commonly seen on the roads back then.     

 

I can remember old giffers actually driving their Mk2 Zephyr or Westminster into the yard and handing over logbook and keys for about half as many notes as the geezer in the film was 'oldin 'is 'and aht for.....They would shuffle back off on foot down the narrow lane back to the bus stop.   One poor bloke's Conway Yellow convertible actually got swung unceremoniously on to the stack by the old Ruston Bucyrus before he had even made it out of the yard.   

[Richard]

.

[timolloyd]

Does anyone know where the race was filmed? Watched this on mobile so no Youtube caption. I spotted a few cars advertising businesses in Surrey and Kent, and the control car had a Surrey registration

[simmo]

Looks like Ipswich (Foxhall stadium) to me

[Richard]

.

[Essex V6]

Enjoy!

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spIjeuoL8rY

Superb - thanks for posting up! Brings back many happy memories of being taken to Crimond Raceway by my grandparents in either a Mk1 Fester or a Cherry!

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

It was nice to see the wee boy, who posted the video on Youtube, and the driver turning up in the comments.

 

 

 

Amazing isn't it?!

[flat4alfa]

In 1989 I found a 1984/B Lancia Gamma saloon on the pile at the yard in west Watford.  It was complete and looked as good as new.  Probably running on two though.