Most surprising car seen on a scrapman's wagon...

[chaseracer]

Not so long ago, I saw a very straight-looking P38A Range Rover on its final journey; today, one of these, squashed onto a wedgie Rover 200:

 

[dollywobbler]

Are either of those surprising? C-class Mercs rot horribly and have lots of stupidity built in to them, and P38s can be a pain in the arse too.

 

I did find the shot of two Alfa 156s in a scrappy surprising, but I think that's just because I class them as modern cars.

[Cavcraft]

I think the best one I saw was a Mk1 Transit camper with a tree growing through it and out of the roof being towed by a spec lift recovery truck a couple of years back. I wished I'd had my camera with me.

[Pillock]

I saw a "Fat Arse" Megane, but the oldest of those are 9 years old now so I guess a missed cambelt change could finish one off. A Scenic was in my local garage a few weeks back with a snapped belt, they were stood sucking through their teeth at it and quoting daft "I really don't want this hassle" prices.

 

Also a mk4 Astra which I consider to be a new car still but they're, what, 1999? 12 years old.

[chaseracer]

...a mk4 Astra which I consider to be a new car still but they're, what, 1999? 12 years old.

This is the thing, isn't it?

 

Ian's right too, with his comment above about the C-class; they're basically a bit shit, and the one I saw today was probably 12/13 years old anyway!

[Barry Cade]

The scrappys up here is full of C Classes,as well as 190's E-classes, even SL's and SEC's. My mates C200 ate its own ECU, and had the daft immobiliser thingy so needed to be coded after a new ECU, so he drove it down (on 2 cyls) and walked away with £450. He paid £400 for it. Result!

[flat4alfa]

last month

 

52-plate 25, no panel damage, HGF not obvious

 

2000/X Lincoln LS in RHD

[wuvvum]

I did find the shot of two Alfa 156s in a scrappy surprising, but I think that's just because I class them as modern cars.

Probably broken cambelts. Have you seen the price of recon Twin Spark engines?

[r.welfare]

Lincoln LS in RHD? Bloody hell, must have been a Japanese market re-import? Ideal for putting S-Type badges on and upsetting the Jag purists...

[Pillock]

K-plate 320i in the yard today. OK so it's pretty ancient, BUT it was mint. Absolutely tidy as you like - it appeared to have come straight from the valeters with a plastic cover on the seat, and hoover marks on the upholstery and carpet. The dashboard had that silicone spray all over it, the whole thing was highly polished. Seriously, it made me ashamed of the state of my car. Local dealer plates too, and a national trust handbook in the glovebox.

 

Sadly it seems it got rear-ended just after leaving the valeters, and a seemingly minor rear quarter dink put it on the top of the pile leaving people like me to raid bits off it.

 

Not really surprising, but sad - looks like it had been cared for by very few owners each day of it's life.

[Akron]

I saw an X-reg Mondeo mark 3 and a big arsed Megane on a scrappers wagon yesterday all smashed up no wheels and windows put in, they both seem like new cars to me.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

K-plate 320i in the yard today. OK so it's pretty ancient, BUT it was mint. Absolutely tidy as you like - it appeared to have come straight from the valeters with a plastic cover on the seat, and hoover marks on the upholstery and carpet. The dashboard had that silicone spray all over it, the whole thing was highly polished. Seriously, it made me ashamed of the state of my car. Local dealer plates too, and a national trust handbook in the glovebox.

 

Sadly it seems it got rear-ended just after leaving the valeters, and a seemingly minor rear quarter dink put it on the top of the pile leaving people like me to raid bits off it.

 

Not really surprising, but sad - looks like it had been cared for by very few owners each day of it's life.

 

I know that car well. A red one, right? It was basically a one owner car that was bought at 3 months old from Bridgegate (or was it Sytner - I forget) after BMW GB had their stint with it. A mate bought it last year, had a new wing and some paint done and it was pretty much concours. We even took the seats out to scrub the carpets. An oldish geezer bought it for £1800, insured it with normal comp and it got rear ended quite hard - the boot floor is creased and the damage is much worse than it appears.

I think the insurance company gave him a grand. The assessor was almost in tears as he wrote it off. I could have bought it for £450 but it wasn't worth it. There's not that much on it worth having really - I think he had the wheels off and put some shit ones on. Which yard did it go to - not Deatons, but probably Charles Trent?

 

 

 

Most unusual car on a scrap lorry? A tidy 1977 Mercedes 450SEL 6.9 which went to A breakers in Iver. They crushed it as well.

[Pillock]

Rev - it's at the yard in Mansfield Woodhouse, up the back as you go towards Pleasley Vale next to the train line.

I didn't get chance to look in the boot so yeah the damage didn't seem that bad but it had distorted the wheelarch so there must have been a loss of length somewhere.

It'd be ideal for anyone with that trim as the seats are in great shape, and the car still has the windows so it's all dry. The OBC is now sat on my coffee table though. Wheels had been removed, the drivers door panel was off but that was pretty much the extent of it - it also gave up the door lock solenoid whilst I was there.

 

Oh, and the mats.... gonna see if I can dye them red to go with my garish interior.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

I stopped going to that yard a while ago. They started getting pricey and all that lark with some oik from the yard going up with you in case you nicked something.

I guess another trip up wouldn't hurt - it's been 2 or more years now.

[Pillock]

I go there as a last resort, they are expensive and the owner even tried to charge me more than one of the other fellas had agreed for the bits I had. Sometimes they let me up the yard unaccompanied, but other times they send someone up with me.

There's a good one in Rainworth, you can drive right in if needed up the car you're picking dry. He's only small though so it's pot luck whether they've got anything like what you need.

Charles Trent used to be Mark Hill, and was at the end of my street before they moved. GR8 for just mooching around, got my Audi 90 from there as fully working salvage. Again it's got a bit more businesslike now, but they'll still let you in for a browse if you ask. Officially there's a £1 entry charge - it's their "pick a part" scheme - which makes it seem like some kind of amusement park but they've never charged me. Prices are very fair too, I got stacks of Golf trim, switches, sensors and stuff including a headlamp, a lambda sensor and a steering wheel for £15. Most of the smaller bits they just let you have if you're buying big things too, they have a published price list for major items.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

To trents have plenty of cars in then?

 

Charles Trent's brother (Terrence) had a place in Derby as well.

[Barry Cade]

To trents have plenty of cars in then?

 

Charles Trent's brother (Terrence) had a place in Derby as well.

 

No charge to get in, but you have to sign your name.

[Pillock]

Boom-tish!

 

Trents is oddly split into two - the DIY "pick a part" area which has maybe 30-40 cars in, and then the rest which is loaded onto racking two high stretching down the yard. Must be 250+ vehicles there, but the public is not allowed in so you have to wait for a disinterested spanner monkey to go and get it for you, probably breaking it in the process.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

 

Charles Trent's brother (Terrence) had a place in Derby as well.

 

I'm amazed nobody bit on this.

 

Terrence Trent (Derby)

 

Oh FFS!

[brammy777]

There is a hell of a lot of car recovery 'specialists' around here, all driving dubious looking Transits. I saw a french registered BX estate on one the other week, although that could have been going to an enthusiast, and a prefacelift MKII Granada last year. That one had clearly been sitting for a decade or so though, and it was rotten.

[M'coli]

 

Charles Trent's brother (Terrence) had a place in Derby as well.

 

I'm amazed nobody bit on this.

 

Terrence Trent (Derby)

 

Oh FFS!

It was just sooo lame!!!

[mattblack]

 

'V' plate XJ8, I would imagine that it suffered some hugely expensive engine malady that was beyond even the king of the council estate's budget....

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

To trents have plenty of cars in then?

 

Charles Trent's brother (Terrence) had a place in Derby as well.

 

No charge to get in, but you have to "sign your name".

 

 

OMG, I just twigged. What a 'tard I am...................

 

 

That V plate XJ8 sums up what's wrong with this bloody country. Nothing is worth fixing apparently.

 

Someone I sort of vaguely know(ish) just sold a clean '98 740i with a fucked autobox for £250. the car was 60 grand new. Would you throw away a Rolex watch if it stopped working?

[pogweasel]

Rolex don't do 15mpg though! They're either broken or not broken.

 

Joe Public motorist is getting ultra-bummed by the oil-companies and Twat Cameron's regressive tax hikes.

Like the 70's fuel crises where E-Types and Mk2's were valueless, when it's costing you £20 a day just to drive to work and back it's no wonder.

 

Yes, big Jags are marvellous, wonderful, sumptuous things, but much as it pains me to say, they are dinosaurs headed for extinction... more so once the £435-a-year road tax variants hit the shite end of the spectrum.

[RoadworkUK]

Towards the end of last year I was stationary on the North Circular (yes, really!) beside a flatbed lorry with 3 cars stacked, I forget what the bottom two were but the top, sans wheels was a 2000ish Accord Type-R.

[CreepingJesus]

Charles Trent's brother (Terrence) had a place in Derby as well.

 

Did you have to 'sign your name' to get in? 'Sprobly too late anyway...

 

There was a guy down the street, until recently, who ran a HIAB flatbed. Some of the stuff on his motor made me wince. Lots of predictable fodder, for sure; but there was a Nissan QX, a Saab 9-5 and a late Scorpio among other things. Strangely, many Hondas around the 10/12 yr old mark.

[Guest Leonard Hatred]

Hondas might be for export.

[Richard]

I knew somebody who scrapped a Civic Type R before its third birthday. It wasn't crashed or anything, just buggered. Somebody else I worked beside managed the same feat even faster with a Punto.

[Negative Creep]

How in the name of Greek buggery can you destroy a car before it's 3 years old? Especially as it would be in warranty

[Guest]

The V-plate Jag doesn't sound too daft to be in there, no doubt it has some kind of complicated autobox and/or engine problem. Probably got it priced up and came to the conclusion that it'd cost same/less to just get another one seeing as they're still pretty readily available. Bet most of the parts can only be had from Jaguar and they're daft money, probably 20 hours labour quoted, all that business. It's always a shame, but there's some logic behind it.

 

What puzzles me is when it's something basic like a mint one-owner MK1 Punto - even if you look under the bonnet and the engine is completely blown-up, you could get a replacement one fitted for buttons. I can understand the big barges being in there, or tatty high-mileage stuff, but never the simple ex-pensioner runarounds.