Scrapping memorable cars

I had to scrap the very first car I owned... It was a '76 Mini 1000. Blue, dismantled, in parts. I prepped the shell for painting. My experience with cars was about - zero. I didn't know anything about cars... But - it was a project, and I loved that car as it was going to be my first, and I would have build it myself. I was 17 at the time. One of the A-panels needed welding, so we brough the car to a Mini guy for welding.

To make it short: the shell was beyond repair. Filler everywhere, covered up rust holes - and worst of all, it was twisted. Accident damage. Beyond repair for my very tiny budget...

So there was only one choice left for me... Take off all usefull parts and scrap it.



I also bought another Mini as a parts donor which got scrapped too. Memorable? Yes! It was the first Mini with seats I sat in ;D



And well... 3 days later I bought this which I still have and which has some parts of my first Mini(s) in it to keep it on the road.





And today I scrapped a W123 estate, whichwas also beyond repair. And I've too ripped off any part in remotely usefull state It will give life to my other W123 estate.




Scrapping a car without taking off usefull bits IS a terrible waste! But if it can help to get another car back on the road - sometimes one has to sacrifice a car to give live to another. And I think in that case is very justifiable to wreck a rare, sought after or just a loved car.

my list is big, and about to get bigger this week.
I cant stand it when your trying to sell a cheap car and you get your time wasted by idiots, so if the scrap is high i just refund the tax and weigh it in.

I regret a few now, mostly a pre facelift manual 2 door 325i in white, it needed some welding.
And when my grandfather died he had 3 dollys (1 sprint) they all got squished as nobody in the family wanted them and i had no room.

This week i may be weighing in the daily audi, it has t&t, i just don't see it selling before feb.

our old mk1 mitsubishi spacewagon about 5 years ago. engine died big time and was going to be expensive to fix of course at the time it was a cheap car and not worth the several hundred in repairs (even though we'd only just spent £100 on a new exhaust).

I remember being 16 at the time begging my parents not to scrap it because I loved that car, it was the first car I ever drove (automatic) and remember nearly reversing it full power into a gate before slamming full left hand lock to avoid it lol. it was a clean car and I have vowed that I will find another and own it probably "tweaking" it a bit as well in memory of that one.

actually almost makes me cry thinking about it. family holidays up to blackpool from cornwall, driving through the worst rain and winds known to humankind (seen several cars stacked in a barrier and a couple in a river that day - particularly the honda s2000 doing 80mph in floods and seeing it half a mile down the road with back end in the barrier - associate that with the old mitsi) all my mates used to take the curse word saying it was a heap of wibblepoo but I always stood up for it, that car was part of my childhood mainly because it was the first car I ever drove.

Thats the only car we ever scrapped personally (and that was done by a mate because we couldnt bear to do it) citroen zx almost came close to being scrapped but it was bought by a friend for £100 and fixed when the headgasket went "spectacularly in a cloud of smoke through town" hence the unlove for french cars ;D

'96 Mondeo and '99 Toledo, both MoT failures. They were rubbish anyway.
I also sold a 1.8 306 I stacked for spares. The engine and box went in a 106 trackday special.
My brother's scrapped a R19 16v (gearbox went bang), a Carisma (cylinder head melted), a Mk.3 Cav (generally knackered), and a Mk.3 Fiesta (got it for free but didn't need it)

Probably hundreds, when I worked removing cars left in garages by dead owners ect, some are now in a showroom/warehouse the garage company own but 90% of the time they just went in the frag, once had to frag a 6 year old BMW 325 SE all it had was smashed window but the owner had been deported and the garage company just wanted rid of it, I did "lend" it a BMW breaker though before picking the shell up and then getting a scrap cert on it
There was a Talbot Samba cabriolet, a 6 series BM and 2 rollers, (though they ended up round the track) sometimes it's heartbreaking but there are others out there kept on the road cos of it which offsets the niggling in me heart when I frag a good car,.
TBH I allways got the twinge of guilt more for a low end oldun than a decent new car, tis why I still have the lada niva sat in a yard waiting to be saved or broken by somone who needs it instead of just fragging it but if it aint saved soon it will go in the frag although i'll take all the decant parts off as allways first (cash allways helps ease the pain) lol

this is a emotional thread

I also scrapped my 1st car a fiat x1/9 in 2005 loved it went everywhere some sweet old lady decided to park her fiesta on it had over 222.000 miles on the clock for an old fiat that wasnt bad my first taste of freedom now looking for another one as i loved it so much

I've scrapped many. Often at the time they were worthless whole and I got more for breaking even though the shell was basicaly sound.
A short list - Triumph 1500 FWD, Riley Elf ( turned out to be a "cut and shut"), MKI Cortina 1500 GT, several Carpi's (no V6 and all MKIII's), XR3i, MGB, Midget, Volvo 1800S, SD1 V8, Lancia HPE, Honda Acty (x2), Microcar DX125, Berkeley T60, 2 door Range Rover (x2), SIIA Land Rover's (x 3), SIII Land Rover (x 2), Fourtrak, Steyr Puch Panda 4x4, Marina pick-up (x2) to name some of the more interesting.

Paul H

I remember mates simply buying cossies and cav turbos to break then scrap cause they got more for them, whe the previous owners found out they wernt to happy, memories distroyed in hours by greedy money lovers, this is why cars like that are few and far between, some of us will never own some classics, cars which are repairable should be repaired to enjoy.

Had to scrap my first car which was a chevette and explains my love for these. That car was ace and in the 10 months I had it I went everywhere (well seemed like it).
I swear that it had been tweaked slightly as the previous owner only used to use it in bad weather to save his healey, and I've had two others that were never quite as fast.
Anyway all my mates had mk3 escorts and Minis but I loved my Chevette and was saving every penny for a HSR kit from Peter Maiden and also a X Flow conversion.
Then one night I got home and parked up when a passing mate asked if I could drop him home, of course I did and on the way there got side swiped by a driver with no lights on :-(.
Car was a wreck I remember walking home with just me stereo and auto lock in my hands ENX184Y the best car I ever owned.