Closed! DIY Parts
 

Yet another problem for us poor southerners trying to keep our old MG Rovers on the roads, both our local car breakers have now closed their doors. :eek:

Charles Trents closed their DIY parts section to the public just a few days ago after 90 years of serving us Dorset folk :eek: our other car breakers yard Avon Forest closed their doors some years ago, so Trents was our last resource for walk-in local second-hand car parts. :duh:

There has been a significant reduction in demand for self service DIY parts down here in Bournemouth and Poole, so Charles Trents are now concentrating on off-the-shelf parts, more so the newer vehicle parts. You will not find any old MG Rover parts taking up valuable shelf space, there cant be many of these vehicles left in our area any more.

The situation is pretty much due to these new modern people buying/leasing new cars and not/cant maintain their own vehicle, instead they are taking their vehicle to a local garage dealer to have new parts fitted.

The government and vehicle manufactures are getting their own way its seems.

Haven't a lot of scrappies switched to online sales as well?

Seems to be the norm, quite handy if you can find the part you want. You cant beat a good hands-on rummage through the yard though, good prices too.

Oh how I miss our scrappy "Crabmills" where you spoke to some fat bloke dragging on a fag, stubble on his chin and covered in oil even tho its 8.30 am and he hasnt done a stroke!
He points you off into an abyss of cars all piled up and in 3 foot of mud, old car mats and water. You manage to find your car and as usual its the one on the top. You clamber up the sides using door handles as leverage and finally poke your head into the footwell of the said car at the top. Your greeted with mildew more rain water and half the interior is missing and the bloke who owned the car hasnt hoovered it in 20 years. Eventually you wonder around squeezing past various DIY mechanics and "jobbers" pulling various parts from engine bays and rear axles. Finally you see a decent car and hastily walk over dodging the dog Shyyte left overnight from the huge oil covered hairy alsatian and bingo your Radiomobile 3 Watt speakers are nicely cut into the rear shelf of the donor car. You whip them out whilst gingerly filling your pockets and socks with bulbs and fuses and wonder over to the counter. "What you got there mate?" as the bloke speaks whilst still dragging on the worlds thinnest roll up and you reply 2 speakers mate.
"A few quid will do Son" and you gingerly pull a few coins out of your pocket hoping not to drag any bulbs out at the same time!
A quick walk to your car whilst trying to drag all the oil mud and shyyyte off your shoes on the rare grass verge that hasnt been contaminated in oil or other noxious substances.....
Yes I miss those Sunday mornings!:}

Gone are the days when people would swap a Cortina gearbox in the street using a set of wheel ramps and some wood chocks, or change their Marina's head gasket in their garage at home.

Very few seem to want to get their hands dirty anymore (certainly not visiting an oily scrapyard !! :eek:) - preferring to sit and drink over-priced coffee in a retail park on a Sunday afternoon, before ordering home delivery take-away from their mobile in front of a telly that's bigger than their front room window :duh:

I'm officially a grumpy old man... :getmecoat:

So true so true, the good old days. :D or were they? lol

I would climb four cars high, scramble from car to car in the mud, wind and rain, never did I hurt myself, not once. :D

It seems clumsiness comes with age, because all I do now is... bump/knock hurt myself and I'm only stood on ground bearing level dry concrete. lol I just don't get it? :getmecoat:


Brilliant! and so true. :shrug:

The only time some get dirty these days is... if they spill their Costa.

Reading that gave me a good laugh , if i had to write down my experiances in a scrappys it would be exactly the same , even down to the greasy fat bloke with his fag that was glued to his lip as he spoke. Once i walked out with the usual bulbs plus a very oily dip stick down my sock .

🤣😝🤣 ditto there was a fat bloke rough as hell fag hanging out of his gob too!

Puts me in mind of my first attempt at haggling, at the tender age of 19 or so.

I needed a fuel tank for my trusty (rusty!) Cortina MkII 1600GT. Off to the scrappy at Sunbury where I manage to find a suitable example, complete with about half a gallon of petrol swilling about in it :eek:.

I took it over to the gaffer - a very large bloke in a dirty white vest, complete with ciggy in his mouth. "Fifteen quid mate" he says. Full of youthful confidence, I looked him in the eye and told him there was a scrappy down the road that would let me have one for a tenner (there wasn't). He didn't blink, flinch, or hesitate, he just replied "Well 'eff of down there and get it then".

I gave him the fifteen quid :o.

Like others, I miss those days. Not only a good source of 2nd hand parts, but a great classroom for learning how things fit together and come apart.

Cliff

There's still a proper old school scary one in Haydock - and it is scary (or perhaps I'm just old :D ) towering piles of cars, cars swinging off cranes and being driven around on the end of fork lifts. The aroma of gear oil, genuine greasy blokes smoking fags 'Rovers is round that corner mate' etc etc



I've only ever been for a few little bits and although they have about 10 75's (and various other later model Rovers) there's nothing too special on them - it's a nice little trip back in time though :) How they are still open is a mystery though in these Health & Safety times we live in.