Old Tales of parts chasing??

[Mercdan68]

just thought I'd share a conversation I had with my eleven year old son about getting parts for my mk1 escort back in the 1984 , I was 15 at the time and me and two old pals used to get on a bus to a town about five miles away,then walk a further two miles to a breakers yard in an old industrial area where the cars were stacked three high and we could clamber over them to our hearts content...how I miss those days, such an exciting day out and I can still remember the excitement of buying my first set of sporty wheels, rostyles which I painted white and black!, no I didn't bring them back on the bus! My dad picked them up...then said they looked awful!......my lad is into cars in a big way but I think times have moved on so much the fun maybe has gone for young people from say 10 years old upwards due to stringent health and safety issues, my boy cannot enter a salvage yard with me now, which I find disappointing me and my dad regularly did this together back in the day....perhaps I'm getting to old just hope the future car enthusiasts have the memories I have, even if it's a bit diluted....anyone else share any breakers yard/ parts chasing tales?? Big Alsatians in those yards back in the day weren't they!!

[fordperv]

It is a sad thing that the h&s brigade has stepped in, i learnt a lot growing up going to scrap yards with my dad, searching for parts, climbing up cars to remove parts, a lot of happy memories. like many others who did the same thing as a child, I never got hurt and am here to tell the tale

I always loved seeing the scrap yard dogs as well, German shepherds have been a favourite dog of mine from when I was a child, had my first one as a pet at 5, I'm 30 now and still only have sheps

[brc76]

It's happening over here too. I wanted to take my daughter in with me to a scrappy and was told no, that she was too young, They only allowed over 16's in.

[taurus]

Funnily enough I just drove past the scrappy where I used to keep my old Triumph 1500 & Mk1 Escort on the road. Not only was it good for parts, I could take them off the car myself so learned a lot how the car was put together.

The really sad bit is that when I talk to younger guys today the most they are interested in doing is a search on ebay. The idea of going out and spending a day looking for a part just doesn't do anything for them.

And they are missing that moment of triumph when you find that elusive part that's been stripped off every other car in the yard.

[sweetmk1dub]

Tried taking my 6 year old lad to the local scrappy for a nosey and they wouldn't let him in either.

less than 20 years back there must have been around 15 scrap yards here,most within walking distance (I remember walking home with a complete front panel from a mk1 golf complete with grille and lights etc to hang on my bedroom wall and my dad hit the roof)
now we're down to just 2 scrap yards

I used to subscribe to various vw magazines as they would land on the doorstep a couple of days before they hit the shops purely so I would have a head start on the classifieds.

When my lads are old enough to drive I think scrap yards will be extinct

[marinanut]

I spent one of my birthday afternoons stripping a late Ital van for the telescopic front damper set-up.... suffice to say, parents, wife and kids weren't too impressed at the state of me when I got home late!

[Mercdan68]

Oh yes remember the excitement of finding a six dial dash for my mk1 escort just had to have those back in the day!!

[polojoe]

Been visiting all the local yards recently (bought a mk4 golf, yards are FULL of them) and been enjoying clambering about 3 cars high.

But there is absolutely nothing of any age or interest in these yards. Back when we were into VW Polo's in a big way, I was in the yards weekly scoping out rare mk2 & mk3 bits. I can't remember the last time I saw one in a yard nowadays.

My brother once walked into a yard, and there was a crushed polo G40 sat under a pile imminently destined for the tin-can machine! A couple of hours later and we had the full running gear - he still runs it daily to this day!

I walked into the same yard around the same time to find a mk3 golf Gti (nothing special there) but with a full set of 300mm AP calipers and disks, scored for £75.

Rare to find a bargain or anything interesting these days.

[SmokeEm]

I remember climbing 4 high at Chobham scrap yard to remove the front door window frames from a Morris Minor to aid the roof chop I was carrying out.

[baggabones]

Saturday morning scappy runs were part and parcel of my late teens and early 20s whether we were after a specific part or not. It was just a ritual that we did....I miss those days, now it's just a case of if I need a part I'll go the old 'bay and get it sent sad I know

[slomoshun]

Have a sticker on my Scooby < Meaner than a junk yard dog > which sums up the era i used to go to breakers with my late brother as a youngster.
Climbing over cars paying for a few bits and pocketing a few as well seemed normal trade in late 60 s.
Now scrap yards have become clinical, all concrete and probably hundred times safer but never see interesting cars just the boring old stuff.
Remember a used car parts shop in Margate Kent on the sea front by police station window full of tuning parts for minis and imps plus lots of well priced secondhand spares.
Now a kebab shop i think.
Would local council even allow such a shop now i wonder ?
Old days it was classifieds either on the phone or stamped addressed envelope for reply.
Have to say ebay makes choices better on parts but the youngsters wont have that early magic rummage experience we all had.
Probably times are or have changed and those of us old enough were indeed fortunate to be scrapyard heroes.

[paul99]

May 22, 2015 9:58:18 GMT SmokeEm said:

I remember climbing 4 high at Chobham scrap yard to remove the front door window frames from a Morris Minor to aid the roof chop I was carrying out.

Is Chobham still there? Remember hacking the front off a Triumph Toledo (My first car, by then donated to a mate) using nothing but cold chisels and the heaviest mallets we could find. Still took hours..... He swore he saw a prototype TR7 with the 16 valve engine there too.....

[skylinedave]

I remember getting a mk1 fiesta to start , 3 cars up when i was 15 , for some reason it still had the battery on . Bit of jiggery pokery with a chrome strip from the ashtray and hey presto .

We used to be proper little stihs as well . We found loads of nato green paint and poured it through a ew cars rocker covers , as well as throwing rods with pistons through windows .

I used to like the stuff you found inside the cars , unused air freshners , tapes , cans of unused oil , paint etc , even found some hash !

[gazz81]

This is my local scrapyard, it was an amazing place. The further you got into the undergrowth the more interesting the finds!
But as most have said, it's no longer a place you can walk around.

www.langfordscarspares.co.uk/Tabout.html

Ive used Trents in Poole, Dorset a few times and you can pay a pound to have a walk around, but there is very rarely anything decent in there!

[richmc72]

Yes! I remember the days of just going to the scrappy on a Saturday morning for fun, just to have a poke around! You didn't always even need anything, but would still stumble across something that you just had to buy!
I don't get to go very often now, but did call in our local yard last year with my lad (he is 15) and had no problems. Even introduced him to the joy of climbing up the pile to check the harder to reach cars for bits.
Reading about the scrapyard dogs reminds me of the time I climbed to the top of a three car pile to look inside for some bits of trim and opened the drivers door to find the yard Rotty looking down at me, apparently the owner would put him in a car out of the way during the day! Yes it did make me jump and no I didn't check the interior for the piece of trim I was after!
Good times!

[mini-mad-nick]

Smiths of bloxham in banbury is a good scrap yard, the cars arnt stacked but u can wonder round and pull it yourself.

[gazz81]

I always remember everything you bought at my local scrappy was plus a couple of quid for the nuts, bolts fuses and other small items in your pocket! Nobody never complained (unless the genuinely had empty pockets!)

[mt2man]

I used to go to scrappies with my dad about 10 years ago when I was 13, I loved it! I had a mini at the time so always went looking, when he was off getting what he wanted I used to look down the back of the car seats for loose change haha. Once left a breakers yard with nearly £50! (£20 note and various change from other cars) at 13 I was over the moon!

[control67]

May 22, 2015 9:58:18 GMT SmokeEm said:

I remember climbing 4 high at Chobham scrap yard to remove the front door window frames from a Morris Minor to aid the roof chop I was carrying out.

That same scrappy kept my first three minis alive, I scored a full engine, all ancillaries and LCB/RC40 for just over a ton back in '99. Now it's a third of the size and lacking all the interesting stuff at yheback

[hillbilly]

As well as scrap yard hunting a lot of parts came from scanning the local 'free add' yellow paper. Pages of parts listed in alphabetical order. Would grab it first thing on a Wednesday morning in the desperate hunt for the GTE boot spoiler for £10. Always laughed at the adds for Fan Belt, used, £3. With no clue as to what it might fit!
Happy days! All went down hill when ebay came about. I think my best ever buy was a set of minilite wheels with tyres for £30.