Rocking Horse Shit Rare things that have been scrapped

[sierraman]

I’m not talking about a 20 year old Fiesta that was thrown away when the clutch went when there were only 800 of them left, I’m talking really rare cars that ended up getting junked or written off. I’m prompted off the back of reading about in 2013 the Lamborghini Miura that caught fire in central London, I’m fairly sure that would have been restored but I’m betting some did get binned due to accidents/neglect etc 

[horriblemercedes]

I'd imagine that plenty of cars like that will have been scrapped after fire or serious accident or flood when they were still in production as it was probably cheaper at the time to buy a new one than to repair. I'd be interested to hear of good examples too

[DodgeRover]

The Velar we cut up for spares...

[83C]

1 minute ago, DodgeRover said:

The Velar we cut up for spares...

Of course at the time it would have just been another crusty old 3dr Range Rover. 

I reckon most 'rare' cars being chopped up are probably as a result of the factory taking them back because they were prototypes or not particularly successful. None of the original Rolls-Royce V-8s survive, I'm fairly sure the three built were dismantled at the factory. Same with the original Land Rover 'Centre Steer' prototype. 

The other category of course is historic racers, certainly the 250GTOs and Cobras both have examples of whole cars being binned off and in many cases somehow resurrected in rather dubious circumstances. 

[sierraman]

I think as well a fair few ended up destroyed from the result of a coup following some dictatorship being overthrown. In Iraq most of Saddams Lamborghinis and Ferrari’s were destroyed by the US forces. Not sure why, think I’d have been looking for the munitions dumps but hey ho.

[junkyarddog]

Mk9 Jaguar estate,one of two apparently. 

 

[EyesWeldedShut]

17 minutes ago, sierraman said:

I think as well a fair few ended up destroyed from the result of a coup following some dictatorship being overthrown. In Iraq most of Saddams Lamborghinis and Ferrari’s were destroyed by the US forces. Not sure why, think I’d have been looking for the munitions dumps but hey ho.

No reversing sensors and stick shift = bad day for the US Army maybe?

[barrett]

27 minutes ago, junkyarddog said:

Mk9 Jaguar estate,one of two apparently. 

 

That's pretty criminal, and I really no longer give a shit about banger racing generally. Destroying a unique car does seem likea pretty poor show - looks like another racer also has (or had) something similar to send round the track.

 

AAAANYWAY because everyone's a cunt, not just banger racers, I thought it was a pretty poor show for Gaydon or whoever it was to scrap the surviving Rover P8 prototype a couple of years ago

[HMC]

Certainly Ferrari used to use a steam roller to flatten obsolete racing machinery in the 50s - usually by their nature unique vehicles. 

[Dick Longbridge]

14 minutes ago, barrett said:

AAAANYWAY because everyone's a cunt, not just banger racers, I thought it was a pretty poor show for Gaydon or whoever it was to scrap the surviving Rover P8 prototype a couple of years ago

Any links to confirmation it was scrapped? It was on the 'we're very much going to restore it despite the trailer incident fuckup' list a decade ago, when the photo was taken. 

https://www.aronline.co.uk/concepts/rover-concepts/p8p9/news-rover-p8-breaks-cover-at-hmc/

This was from September 2022:

[Muniphobia]

The Rover P8 Mantelay is still listed as being in their collection on the website with image coming soon

 

The Rover P8 was intended to replace P5 and P6, and become the flagship model using the then new all-alloy V8. Approval was given for production in late 1967.

Following the formation of BLMC in 1968, internal struggles led to a delay in the programme and several significant figures within the company did not support the project.

Various prototypes were tested at Motor Industry Research Association (MIRA) test facility. It is said that the car's safety issues following the failure of the 30 mph front impact test and the need for extensive and expensive redesign meant the project was unaffordable. The P8 project was cancelled in 1971.

This vehicle is one of those running prototypes and badged as "Mantelay" to fool onlookers.

[Shite Ron]

56 minutes ago, junkyarddog said:

Mk9 Jaguar estate,one of two apparently. 

 

I just found that when looking for this rather sickening thread, possibly one for the cars you didn’t know existed thread.

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=23&t=1022622

[DodgeRover]

There's an Austin ambulance up for sale at the moment - the one from the restoration show, the owner is giving people genuinely interested in restoring it a chance to buy it before it gets raced. It's up for the same price as a racer would pay for a shitty Cortina or Granada and far less than a Granada coupe yet all people can do is bitch and moan that it's shouldn't be raced - not a single one of these people has even made an offer on it.

[bunglebus]

I considered starting a thread like this years back about rare cars getting bangered - but it just boils my piss too much and I gave up on the idea

[bunglebus]

12 minutes ago, DodgeRover said:

There's an Austin ambulance up for sale at the moment - the one from the restoration show, the owner is giving people genuinely interested in restoring it a chance to buy it before it gets raced. It's up for the same price as a racer would pay for a shitty Cortina or Granada and far less than a Granada coupe yet all people can do is bitch and moan that it's shouldn't be raced - not a single one of these people has even made an offer on it.

To be fair, it is in a very bad way - it either needs putting in a museum as-it or a better one needs to be cut up and converted using it as a donor

[sierraman]

Scrapping the P8 would be crazy, it’s hardly like it’s in a bad way to start with. I thought the Rapport in the picture was an engineless basket case not the one photographed below it. 

[sierraman]

13 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

To be fair, it is in a very bad way - it either needs putting in a museum as-it or a better one needs to be cut up and converted using it as a donor

I think you could restore that one but it’d need to be someone very committed because even when done it’ll not be worth a great deal. Which is sad because there’s fewer and fewer of the select band of people who can tackle a vehicle like that in a shed, increasingly especially with old cars it’s becoming a chequebook job. 

[D.E]

 

[HillmanImp]

Think this was the last UK registered Malaga that was in Copart about 10yrs ago. 

We think the story is that it was stolen from wherever it was in Leeds, hence the door (used to be seen around Kirkstall) and had a small engine fire which wasn't a huge repair but was obviously a bit much for the owner considering the value of the car at the time. 

Sadly I only found out about it after it had vanished. 

[Noel Tidybeard]

3 hours ago, bunglebus said:

To be fair, it is in a very bad way - it either needs putting in a museum as-it or a better one needs to be cut up and converted using it as a donor

i'll wager the doors for that would be hard to find! 🤣

[Dick Longbridge]

1 hour ago, HillmanImp said:

Think this was the last UK registered Malaga that was in Copart about 10yrs ago. 

We think the story is that it was stolen from wherever it was in Leeds, hence the door (used to be seen around Kirkstall) and had a small engine fire which wasn't a huge repair but was obviously a bit much for the owner considering the value of the car at the time. 

Sadly I only found out about it after it had vanished. 

Hang on, there are no Malagas left on these shores? I guess numbers sold must have been fairly low in the first place. 

[sierraman]

4 minutes ago, Dick Longbridge said:

Hang on, there are no Malagas left on these shores? I guess numbers sold must have been fairly low in the first place. 

I don’t think they were overwhelmingly good quality or popular plus they lost money like a night storage heater falling down a back staircase. Combine the three and I’d wage most didn’t see six years out. I don’t believe any Rondas survive either despite AFAIK being marketed here very briefly in 85-86?

[Dick Longbridge]

31 minutes ago, sierraman said:

I don’t think they were overwhelmingly good quality or popular plus they lost money like a night storage heater falling down a back staircase. Combine the three and I’d wage most didn’t see six years out. I don’t believe any Rondas survive either despite AFAIK being marketed here very briefly in 85-86?

Were the mechanicals Fiat based? Obviously Volksfarken hadn't swallowed them up at that point. The mk1 Ibiza was a decent looker in contrast although I assume numbers are very low. 

[camryv6]

58 minutes ago, Noel Tidybeard said:

i'll wager the doors for that would be hard to find! 🤣

No face slap icon ?

[greengartside]

I still feel upset about the prototypes that were at MG Rover when they folded in 2005. A few of them could have been saved and made road legal for not a lot of dosh.

Obviously the success story of it all was the pre-production 75 that is well-documented about, that managed to escape the crusher.

If I had a choice then I would have saved the 75 Tourer that had the Land Rover Freelander 4x4 drivetrain attached to it (I think). That would have been a lot of fun!

 

[vulgalour]

5 hours ago, bunglebus said:

To be fair, it is in a very bad way - it either needs putting in a museum as-it or a better one needs to be cut up and converted using it as a donor

I'd love to have a crack at this, genuinely, but I already have far too much on and zero space.  I'm actually surprised it's hung around for as long as it has without getting scrapped so fair play to the owner for trying their best and even hauling it to the NEC, you can't say they didn't try.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

5 hours ago, bunglebus said:

To be fair, it is in a very bad way - it either needs putting in a museum as-it or a better one needs to be cut up and converted using it as a donor

That has no appeal as a restored car to anyone, it’s an uglier version of a car that’s not that desirable to most people anyway. I like 3-Litres but I wouldn’t want to spend more than a couple of grand on one, an up and running nice one. Going out in a blaze of glory on the oval has got to be better than festering in a yard somewhere.

The same with all the old hearses and stretch limo funeral cars, the few people that actually like them have got one, unless something is rare enough to cut up and make back into a normal car, race em all.

[Noel Tidybeard]

1 minute ago, vulgalour said:

I'd love to have a crack at this, genuinely, but I already have far too much on and zero space.  I'm actually surprised it's hung around for as long as it has without getting scrapped so fair play to the owner for trying their best and even hauling it to the NEC, you can't say they didn't try.

yes but look at the doors- where on earth would you get some of those?😆

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Just now, Noel Tidybeard said:

yes but look at the doors- where on earth would you get some of those?😆

They’re the same as Marina and Reliant Scimitars, I think.

[vulgalour]

I bet I could find a Panther DeVille with a set going spare.