Scrappage Scene

Let’s face it, we’ve all wandered around a scrap yard, looking around in wonderment, collecting the odd interesting badge as we go. For many of us, the scrap yard is where our automotive passion began. They’re more than yards of junk, they’re a fascinating place of learning. 

Happily, Darren Rungasamy didn’t just wander through scrap yards back in the day, he also documented them. So get ready for a jaunt down memory lane, though try not to wince too much as some of the forlorn classic metal. Darren, over to you…

Having fluked my way through a second driving test, one of the first journeys I made by myself was to a scrapyard. It was more out of necessity, as my 20-year-old VW Beetle needed a few bits and pieces and I fancied myself as a DIY’er.

At the time I was studying under the pretence of being an art student with no particular idea what I wanted to do in my life. However, as a car-obsessed teenager, I would constantly draw older cars, so logically enough I found myself wandering into a scrapyard to research a project to use as a study and inspiration.

I borrowed my Dad’s 35mm Canon AE1 and started snapping away at rotten Simcas and Datsuns. Gradually, I grew more confident with the camera and started to teach myself composition and framing.

There were four scrap yards within a 10-mile vicinity of my parent’s house. They really were rough and ready places, cars piled four high and precariously balanced. It was taking your life into your own hands, especially when you consider the careless nature of the cranes picking up and swinging cars around. Other occupational hazards were in abundance, like thick mud, sharp metal and glass absolutely everywhere. Guard dogs also made them even more daunting, but it never put me off. What was more of an issue was permission to photograph. All the yards featured in this article had at some point refused to let me photograph the cars in the yard, perhaps due to changed ownership or maybe they simply didn’t like the idea of someone snooping around with a camera. Either way, I respected that decision.

Limited by the number of exposures I had on my camera, one had to be selective in what you’d photograph. It wasn’t cheap to process either, especially as a 17-year-old with limited funds, but I persisted and continued throughout the ’90s capturing and travelling further afield to photograph old cars.

I became attracted to the serene aspect of a scrapyard too, capturing the cars last moments on earth. Some had been there for years, gradually returning back to the earth from where they came from. There was evidence of the previous owners within them, too. One VW I took parts off, had a love letter written by a recently ditched and consequently heartbroken boyfriend. Clothing, tapes, toys and in many cases household rubbish would often be seen inside them. All mixed up with oil, chemicals, mud and other unpleasant matter. I guess to some people it is difficult to see the beauty in something that is close to the end of its useful life, but I did.

I recently unearthed hundreds of my photos of cars in scrap yards in several shoeboxes, the majority of them taken in the mid-‘90s and beyond. I have placed quite a few on my website (www.reallyloud.co.uk) However, I feel these early ‘90s shots, mainly due to the subject matter, that are of interest to Car & Classic readers.

These are from a scrapyard in Sutton Wick, near Abingdon. There was a surprising number of ‘70’s cars in this place. These were ‘93 shots, the yard was closed 2 years later and has since been redeveloped for housing.

Interesting pile of mostly British metal. The then Austin Rover plant in Cowley was only 10 miles away, so there’s always been a preference for BL cars amongst the locals.

Renaults were very popular in the UK in the 70’s. They were the biggest European importer of cars in that decade. This looks like a TS model.

Sadly this VW fell into the wrong hands, I knew of the car and it was a very solid example but the owner lost interest and it ended up here.

It was uncommon to see mid ‘70s Japanese cars in a ‘90s scrap yard, most would have been crushed by the late ’80s. The moss suggests that this car had been stored in the open for a while before it ended up here.

My most regular haunt was a scrapyard in Berinsfield. I probably made ten or so visits there until the yard changed hands in the late ’90s. it was the biggest yard in the area. It has since been requisitioned as a storage facility.

Superb random selection of cars again echoing tastes of the British driver. MK3 Cortinas and Avengers were thinning out when I took this in 1993. At this point, the Y and A plate cars were starting to make an appearance.

This is the last time I saw a Simca 1000 in a scrapyard. These had a horrific rust record and many would have been scrapped by their 5th birthday.

Piled four or five cars high, this would have been a typical view. Note the white Ami with the blue stripe – might have been a van version. The silver Renault 5 was one of my cars! I was given it after it failed an MOT on rust. There wasn’t a lot I could do to save it.

This was by the main entrance of the yard, and the content was constantly changing. At the time none of these cars were particularly rare or sought after, although the Beetle was still a fashionable car. That was the car that had the love note in it!

The Datsun 260Z is the obvious standout car here, it’s a 1977/S plate model. As a sports model, it would have been worth keeping on the road longer as its value and desirability were certainly higher than the rest of the Datsun range of the same era.

MK3 Escorts while good starter cars, did have a penchant for corrosion. This picture shows the car balancing act and the potential hazards presented at a scrapyard for customers. The Polski Fiat was only seven years old.

One of my favourite images taken on my first trip to this yard. All these cars would be of interest at a classic car show today. The Toyota Crown looks like it had been there a while.

Another shot from my first scrapyard reel. Both cars were almost 20 years old at this point, so did quite well to last that long.

Another long closed yard belonged to the Passey family in Benson. It was another yard that seemed to attract older cars, although many had been sat there for quite a few years. Because the yard was so close to RAF property I was warned not to photograph any of the traffic on the airfield. The yard closed in the mid-’90s.

As much as I wanted to, I couldn’t get any closer to these cars, due to the thick oily mud. Environmental guidelines had yet to kick in when I took this shot in 1993. The Datsun Skyline would be a car of huge interest today, but back then they were simply thirsty old fashioned looking cars, but chances are that engine would fire up straight away.

A mix of three decades worth of machinery here. It’s highly likely that the Humber and the Vauxhall had been here for a while. This was my favourite yard simply due to the interesting mix.

Even then the Audi 100 coupe would have been a car worth saving and restoring. Typically, rust would have made it uneconomic to keep as values for poor ones were low.

This was actually a metal recycling plant in Boars Hill, near Abingdon. They still trade but as I discovered in the mid-’90s they do not welcome returning photographers! I managed two visits and refused thereafter. Shame really, because the photos I took here were by far the most interesting in terms of composition and content.

A mangled mishmash of cars for recycling. The turnout over was brisk in this yard, as the shredder would pulverize the cars as soon the pile reached a level. The Toyota Corolla in brown would have been scarce but certainly not a desirable car back then.

Instantly recognisable Fiat 127’s in the late ‘70s/early ‘80s hues. This place would also feature a high number of banger racing cars. Door handles and wheels help ID.

The Morris Ital looks new in this image. In those days the wheels were not generally removed before recycling. This yard always seemed to have a high BL and Ford content. And yes, that most certainly is a Mk1 Capri in the middle. If only we knew then what we know now about values!

Another general shot, with more BL stuff. The values and desirability of a Leyland car tumble dramatically once it reached 10 years old. The ’02 BMW deserved better though.

There’s something quite haunting about these images, but also something deeply captivating. It’s easy to get swept away with the notion of there being so many classics, but that’s the thing, they weren’t. They were just cars. And that makes you wonder, doesn’t it? What is out there, today, in 2019, sat atop a pile of other cars, that we think nothing of today but will lust after in years to come?