Destruction of value at car wreckers
 

Went yesterday to the car wrecker near my work to get a replacement rear wiper arm for my XC60.

When I originally saw the car from the road in passing about 2 months back it was stacked on top of another car and looked to be complete and in mint condition. When I dropped by for a snoop about a month later it was at ground level, and the interior was mint. It was a used XC60 T5 imported from Japan with a failed transmission (the infamous Ford Powershift)

When I went back yesterday I was shocked to find it had another car stacked on top of it (damaging the Thule roof racks) and that the tailgate window was smashed. (It looked like someone removing a suspension component from the car above had dropped something on it.). Now it's open to the weather I expect that it will deteriorate quickly, and that the days are numbered for the mint condition leather interior.

The older guy who served me at the yard shook his head and said that there were a few younger employees who were rough and careless, and that what had happened to the XC60 was now commonplace.

It is heartbreaking to see but the build quality of Volvo interiors means there is very low demand for used interiors from end of life cars. If it was a Ford or a Fiat it would likely have been picked over by now.

You still have wreckers like that in NZ, 'JGEM'?

We used to in the UK many years ago. One could go in with one's own tools, remove the part required from a car, often three high, and then take it to a hut surrounded by mud where a chap with a very large Alsatian would grunt "Fiver, Mate.".

Not any more. Modern wreckers have been sanitised, clinical almost. You go into the office and ask for the part. They look it up on a computer, and it is brought out to you. It will cost rather more than a fiver, and there'll be VAT to pay on top!

Progress?

Regards, John.

Progress, John, but not as we know it! Health and safety play their part too I guess. I remember climbing into a Riley (RME?) as part of removing the add-on indicators to fit to my A35 van, which had semaphore arms. I noticed the ignition key was in it and thought 'Wonder if it will start'. Not a smart move when it was on top of 2 other wrecks.

Wrecker
 

The wrecker with the XC60 is a throwback to the old days in the terms of being allowed to wander around in potentially dangerous places. When I went there and asked about the XC60 I got taken on a wild goose chase through the yard squeezing between 3 high stacks of cars. The guy who served me didn't know the difference between an XC90 and an XC60 so i got led to 2 of them first. Eventually he listened to me and took me to the location where I'd last seen the XC60 and there it was. It's not a self serve place though, there are a few of those around but the cars are all just on the ground in that situation to reduce the risk.

The thing I find is that in self serve yards people do so much damage getting to the bits they want, breaking trim, ruining connectors and cutting through cables etc, so a lot of good stuff that other people might want is ruined.

I was with a mate of mine removing some bits from a 405 that we needed for ours, from a scrapyard that was next to a railway line. Car was at the bottom, with 2 on top. Same as you, key in, so my mate gave it a turn...it was in gear and away it went. Luckily he was quick to stop and the cars on top didn't lurch too far forward, or they'd have been on the track! :shocked:

In business there are two types of owner,

1 - That'll do, over there mate!,

2 - Care of said business,


If I'd ever gone into dismantling #2 is exactly how it would be, every part including bolts would be taken off and cleaned, boxed and shelved with id for everything, the rest in the crusher asap to make room for the next pride and joys arrival,

Example,

Cus - Hello have you got a starter for a 2008 5 Series?,

Me #1 - Err I think there's one up in the far corner next to the Renault,

Me #2 - I'll just have a look onscreen, oh yeah rack 4 shelf 9 I'll be back in 60 seconds do you want the bolts as well?,


Mind you do many people enjoy a toolbox tour of a scrappy these days anyway, gone are the days of "can I borrow the lift to tug the lump" mate?.

Reading this brings back memories of me and my best mate, hunting for parts for our Minis back in the 80s!! There was a massive salvage yard, Simpson Brothers I think, out near Leeds. Most of the cars were not stacked because the place was so big - we found a tatty old Mini with engine still in and some GOLD! It had 3 branch exhaust manifold, aftermarket inlet manifold, 1 3/4 SU carb, roller rockers etc. We stripped all the good bits from the top, then flipped it over onto its roof to get the exhaust off! Nobody will be doing that these days!

We took the bits to the guy in the shed, surrounded by mud, with the massive Alsatian, and he said 'Them off that Mini?' We said yes they were and he replied "Tenner" - woohoo (well it was for a pair of skinny 17 year olds anyway).

I also remember retrieving some bits from a TR7, stacked on top of two other cars in another yard. The TR7 was missing its engine, so I climbed up the other two cars and inserted my head up through the engine bay. Probably not safe, in any shape or form.

Clearly inflation took it's toll between the '60's and the '80's, 'Markoneswift'! :regular_smile:

Regards, John.

Haha, so true every breakers yard had a big unfriendly dog attached to a chain and you were never quite sure if the the length of said chain would enable the dog's nashers to clamp around your onion bag as you tried to navigate the scaffold boards laid in the puddles of oil to get into the portacabin! I remember it well - Saturday mornings visiting the local scrappys for the parts you needed to keep your rusty heap going another a few weeks before some more bits fell off. In addition to bog standard oil changes and brake pads, cylinder head overhauls, clutch replacements and even full engine swaps were quite common DIY jobs we did on our drives in those days.

What do you see teenagers doing these days?:rolleyes: