Nottingham and further. Scrapyards and sightings.

[FredTransit]

It really is different now though, see above. If you can't repair it yourself, and can't afford to get it repaired, it's going for scrap. Added to that it's getting harder and harder to get some cars through the MOT, I actually think it's easier to get a 20+ year old car through the test than a 10 year old one. Stuff like emissions and cats make it harder. Yes I know you don't need a cat to get through the test, but a lot of the general public don't, or they believe the hype about needing one....

[Milford Cubicle]

I don't know, surely you have a lot more problems on a 20 year old car, like rust, brake and suspension consumables.I like having a completely mechanically controlled engine though, it makes me feel confident I can fix it myself at the roadside.

[FredTransit]

Rust is a bit hit and miss. Some relatively new cars have loads, then older stuff doesn't. My mate's Mk5 luton had £500 of welding for last year's test, our 1975 transit horse box had nothing at all. Not even an advisory.

[Rusty Pelican]

I don't know, surely you have a lot more problems on a 20 year old car, like rust, brake and suspension consumables.I like having a completely mechanically controlled engine though, it makes me feel confident I can fix it myself at the roadside.

More problems yes , rust yes , some quirky reliability issues yes but at least its almost always fixable with a modicum of grey matter and common sence , weldings not that difficult once the basics are known , this computerised stuff is all well and good but to diagnose a fault you need a degree in electronics and diagnostic equipment usually specific to that car , all too much for me.Spanner, hammer , swear box and a bit of savvy and ive usually sorted it

[Milford Cubicle]

I've always found the multi-point injection systems of the '90s to be very reliable.

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

It's annoying when your car needs a long-unavailable (or very expensive) special took for a job. How easy will it be to get the necessary diagnostics software in 20, 30 years? Will you need to keep a twenty year old laptop in your garage to run it? I know someone with a 1995 5-Series which entered limp home mode and refused to come out. It cost a fortune to fix. In other hands, I'm sure that car would have gone to the scrapyard.

[Rusty Pelican]

I've always found the multi-point injection systems of the '90s to be very reliable.

See , youve lost me already , My old Audi had K jetronic injection , even I could adjust and fix that , not that it need it too often

[Rusty Pelican]

It's annoying when your car needs a long-unavailable (or very expensive) special took for a job. How easy will it be to get the necessary diagnostics software in 20, 30 years? Will you need to keep a twenty year old laptop in your garage to run it? I know someone with a 1995 5-Series which entered limp home mode and refused to come out. It cost a fortune to fix. In other hands, I'm sure that car would have gone to the scrapyard.

Spot on , Thats gonna kill most of them im sure , that and no spares backup and too technical to retro fit bits off other motors , every thing used to have common parts , Lucas prince of darkness electrics for example , now

[Station]

Surprised to see mk4 Astras and Focus' with proper MOT-failing corrosion now. They're less than a decade old, don't know why but the last 10 years have really shot by.

[binhoker668]

Coupla bits and bobs - of serious beauty in my eyes!!

 

This wee Merc was stalled at the roundabout. Love the shape o' these tho...

 

Lovely Beemer at the garage up the road from me.

 

And - top of the pops this week - Awesome Hillman Avenger in lovely nick inside and out...

 

My Dad had the estate version of this. Awesome memories of throwing drawing pins through the rust holes in the boot with my brother. Trying to effect some Dennis The Menace style mishaps to the cars behind...

 

Dunno if I put this up before or not, but it's just up the road from me - daily driver, and part of a motherlode of shite. Like a full fleet of EVERYTHING!

[myglaren]

most fairly new things which look and run nice are still worth more than scrap value. So I sit there wondering why, could be a weird immobilizer fault which has killed it dead, some strange emissions problem which no one could ever get to the bottom of, or just the expense of the cambelt/headgasket going on a fairly complex engine.

Personally I often find that mint cars in scrapyards are often victims of the 'throw-away society' something goes wrong, they get scared by garage quotes and often dont trust garages, hence they think, I'll just scrap it and buy a new one

Yup - what ^ he said...

Agreed with that to a point. I had an Alfa 145 2.0 Cloverleaf. The body was mint, it really did look good even though I say so myself. But, one day it just died, wouldn't run, wouldn't start just dead. Turned out the cambelt had jumped with obvious results, plus needed a new air flow meter and a whole host of other (expensive) bits. Now being an enthusiast I had everything fixed as I couldn't bear to see it scrapped. Bill came to somewhere around £2k but it was perfect again. Four months later I sold it for about £1800.

 

From a rational point of view it would have been cheaper for me to have scrapped it. I wouldn't because thats not my way but an awful lot of people would have done.

 

Bodily cars last a lot better these days but carry a lot of fairly complex and expensive bits which if they go wrong then the owners will give up and scrap them. It's not right but you can see why it happens.

My brother had a two year old MG ZR, bought it as an eight month old demonstrator. Began having bouts of limp home problems. Was theoretically still under warranty but Rover collapsed as the problems began.

He bought an after market warranty and the garage spent >£3,000 on it, trying to get it working. Failed miserably. He swapped it for a BMW and it went to the scrapper.

[retro80sboy]

So what about the classics of tomorrow? What's going to happen to the late 90s cars? Will they ever make it to 20?

personally I think the 90's was a pretty drab era for cars - an era where all cars started to look the same, dull and uninteresting.obviously there are execptions to the rule but they don't have the individuality of the cars of the 80's and before.

[Richard]

I thought that about cars from the 80s, and I've heard the same accusation levelled at cars from the 60s and 70s by people older than I am.

[retro80sboy]

I thought that about cars from the 80s, and I've heard the same accusation levelled at cars from the 60s and 70s by people older than I am.

we'll just have to see I suppose.cant see me ever getting exited about a Mk 3 Astra, Nissan Almera or Hyundai Accent personally though - and ill be glad when they are all gone from our roads for good.

[Milford Cubicle]

It's a unfair to mark the '90s as a decade of Accents, Almeras and Astras. What about all the interesting stuff that was sold in the '90s?Even the Almera had an interesting variant in the GTi, which was one of the best handling hot hatches of the day.As mk3 Astras are getting rarer, I'm growing to like them too. They are good looking in a decent colour and spec.

[Pillock]

Agreed. An Astra GSi is already quite the rarity, especially in unmodified, unfaded guise. And I quite like the CD models with the snowflake alloys.... I had one as a 'courtesy car' once, a 2.0 saloon. I had to ring the garage and ask why the engine management light came on over 5500rpm, they told me not to worry, and not to destroy it. Went like absolute stink.The 90s were fine for cars, it depends when you were growing up I guess. In 1990 I was 10/11 so was really getting into cars, piles of mags everywhere so I could tell you which engine your Sierra had in by the type of plastic the door handles were made of, or equally inane stuff. As such I remember a lot of those cars fondly, both my mum and uncle were driving company cars so every 18 months or so I'd task myself with getting as many brochures as possible and choosing their new cars for them.There was some dross, but it could be interesting dross. Even the Kia Pride, nothing more than a rebadged Mazda, inexplicably had whitewall tyres. They used to sell those next door to my school, I say 'sell' but they had the same one in the showroom for well over a year.

[retro80sboy]

As mk3 Astras are getting rarer, I'm growing to like them too. They are good looking in a decent colour and spec.

I think we will have to agree to disagree here.I think they are pig ugly things, the mk 2 was a good looking car and the mk 4 wasnt that bad but the mk 3 is a horrid blob.I had a K reg 1.6 CD saloon model years ago and it was terrible, as are the other mk 3s ive driven.What I hated most about mine was it was soooo sloooow building up to about 60mph.as I said in my previous post, there are execptions to the rule and some nineties cars were ok - but to me the majority - every day runners were just mundane.

[Pillock]

Whilst I agree they're not an icon of, well, anything really - they're a million times more desirable than a Mk4, which is where Vauxhall decided to go down the 'cheap plastics, bland looks, 80s engines, rust as standard' route. It's almost like they're trying to look German with the hard seats, flat plain dashboards etc, but are stuck with the build quality of a Viva.And it may be frowned upon around here, but I'd probably take a nice Mk3 over a Mk2.... better put together, cheaper to buy, just as easy to maintain, and a nicer ride. I think the Mk2 looks nicer, but the Mk3 isn't ugly. The Mk4 is hideous though.

[155V6]

There was some dross, but it could be interesting dross. Even the Kia Pride, nothing more than a rebadged Mazda, inexplicably had whitewall tyres. They used to sell those next door to my school, I say 'sell' but they had the same one in the showroom for well over a year.

I saw a Kia Pride on the road in the week,it still had the white walls on the rear

[Owain-328i]

80's and 90's BMW's were a classy affair, i remember being rather fond of the then 'new shape' e36, and the old man had a few e34 company cars which in the early 90's were something quite special as they werent all that commonGood looking cars.I liked Sierras in the 80's, always like the MK1 Sierra 2.3 Ghia, and also the Scorpio 2.9 was another favourite

[binhoker668]

I want to drive this sooo fucking badly!

How much fun?

[VWPowered]

wow that avengers well tidy

[binhoker668]

Only 2 photies - not much of an update - but HAD to stick this up!

Daily Driver too!

 

Loads of cool kit round Notts really - Do i ever have batteries in my camera?

[trigger]

That's well nice, I love those, What is it?... What's the car in the driveway?, Looks like a Horizon?

[binhoker668]

Toyota, but don't know the model! Car in drive is a well tidy G reg 205.Must be the missus's!

[retrogeezer]

I think it's called a Toyota 1000??Nice AA badge there Chris..

[binhoker668]

I think it's called a Toyota 1000??Nice AA badge there Chris..

Awesome innit! Wrong era I'm sure - but was a pressie from a mate who knows about my 'condition', and it matches the tartan rug on the parcel shelf perfectly...Was just chattin' to Volksy there - defo gonna be new springs next - whenever money rears it's head again - bottoms out on speed bumps with even 1 adult in the back - And I'm not talkin bout the mudflaps either! Won't be fer a while tho...

[Hudsonpie]

That Toyota is lovely.... Like the 323 as well

[retrogeezer]

bottoms out on speed bumps with even 1 adult in the back - And I'm not talkin bout the mudflaps either!

You need to slow down then!! I'd be amazed if it was hitting the bump stops over a speed bump with one person in the back, I really would. if you are going over a speed hump at the right speed the suspension shouldn't even move.Why don't you try taking off the mudflaps as that is defo the noise you hear over bumps, I heard it all the time coming onto my drive coz of the steep angle of the path.And I regularly had 1 adult and one child in the back and it never bottomed out.But springs are cheap and it's your money...

[binhoker668]

Couple of motors from my cycle-about today - not tremendously exciting, but I'd have 'em all!!

Elderly Space Cruiser

WOB ALERT!!

Sad wee Micra - been here fer a while. Does seem tidy tho.

Enthusiast-owned Hunter - the guys were just stopped to check out the adjacent Avenger (see previous pages - the minty orange one!).

Had no cards left to give them, but passed on the URL...

My mate's 'scene' veedub. Is good. Me likes.

Awesome Aston! Never seen one of these on the road before...

Another friend's much loved and much-spent-on Merc. A beast!

Sierra 4x4 coupe - very minty!!

Mazda 323 camper.

 

Have to get out more - Nottingham's full of wee finds!!