37 replies to this topic

[Mistron]

OK, the longest shot in TNF history perhaps, but here goes!

I've just established that the original alloy body for my car went to a scrap metal yard across from the ACE Cafe in North London. This was in about '73.

I know the panels won't be there now, more's the pity, but out of curiosity, I'd just like to know exactly where they ended up. Obsesive, me?

Does anyone recall a yard in that area? looking on the A-Z the area still seems to be fairly industrial, even today. Perhaps I should get Google earth!

Who knows though, maybe someone stuck it on top of a container and wrote 'SCRAP bought for cash' on it - seems to be industry standard with any interesting / wierd looking car!

I await a flood of memories alternatively, this will become a 'things I found in / sent to scrapyards thread - might be fun too.


http://myweb.tiscali...racecar/pandora

[bradbury west]

IIRC there was large breaker's yard on the N Circular Road, somewhere near where the Edgeware Road crossed it at Hendon, on the S.W side of the junction, certainly in the mid/late 1960s. The Ace was just the other way, going west towards Stonebridge Park.

RL

[Mistron]

This makes me laugh. I recon it's the longest shot, and in 14 minutes, you get directions to a scrap yard over 30 years ago

TNF is Great!

[bradbury west]

Not wishing to over-egg the pudding, IIRC it was beyond the railway sidings as you approached the Brent Cross flyover, opposite side of the 406 from where Hendon Stadium used to be. They used to deal in ex US forces stuff, step-side Ford pickups, utes etc.

RL

[David McKinney]

But that location surely woudn't be described as "across from the Ace café" - must be three or four miles between them
(OK, I know I'm not London-born, but until recently I worked near enough to the Ace to walk there for lunch occasionally)

[bradbury west]

It was the best I could think of, David, as a starter. The yard may have been on the same side of the road, but in the areas behind the Ace, so still "across from".

RL

[Mistron]

Here's the directions I have from the previous owner:

"I still regret dumping the original body in a scrap metal merchant somewhere
opposite the Ace Café on the North Circular road. Maybe it's still there!"

Opposite would imply to me that it was on the 'inside' of the North Circular.

Probably flats by now!

[David McKinney]

Originally posted by Mistron
Probably flats by now!

Directly opposite is pretty much open ground
However, I've just remembered - if you proceed from the Ace Caf towards Brent Cross but take your first right you're in Harrow Road, and there's a wrecker's just off to the right there. In the days before the North Circ was upgraded, that could have been just about considered as being "somewhere opposite"

[Mistron]

On the A-Z there is a car breaking plant shown at Willesden Junction and scrubs Lane. A quick web search shows EMR Ltd at 108 Scrubs lane.

Suppose I'll have to ring them on the off chance that "old fred, who's been here for years" might be able to help.......

[David McKinney]

That's too far away to be "my" yard
I made a bit of a slip with my earlier - it's not called Harrow Road at that point, but it is still the A404
If you take a Silverlink train from Euston to Watford, "my" scrapyard is on your left somewhere between Harlesden and Stonebridge Park stations. Road access would obviously be from the A404

[Mistron]

That would tie in with 'opposite' certainly. Another web search will hopefully get me a name.


But to check, do you mean Townsend Ind Estate:

http://www.streetmap...20560&ay=185160

[David McKinney]

Originally posted by Mistron
But to check, do you mean Townsend Ind Estate

No, on the other side of the railway

[2Bob]

Perhaps I should get Google earth!

You don't need to 'get' Google earth. It is available on web http://maps.google.com/

Somewhere here???

http://maps.google.c...053988&t=k&om=1

Can't see the car body though!

[David Beard]

Never mind the scrapyard: this wonderfully silly thread has lead me to the excellent Ace Cafe website....

http://www.ace-cafe-london.com/f1.htm

[Mistron]

silly indeed, but no tales of great scrapyard finds............

[275 GTB-4]

Originally posted by Mistron
OK, the longest shot in TNF history perhaps, but here goes!

I've just established that the original alloy body for my car went to a scrap metal yard across from the ACE Cafe in North London. This was in about '73.

I know the panels won't be there now, more's the pity, but out of curiosity, I'd just like to know exactly where they ended up. Obsesive, me?

Does anyone recall a yard in that area? looking on the A-Z the area still seems to be fairly industrial, even today. Perhaps I should get Google earth!

Who knows though, maybe someone stuck it on top of a container and wrote 'SCRAP bought for cash' on it - seems to be industry standard with any interesting / wierd looking car!

I await a flood of memories alternatively, this will become a 'things I found in / sent to scrapyards thread - might be fun too.


http://myweb.tiscali...racecar/pandora

Wouldn't it be appropriate if you stated what type of car it was and whether anyone knows the whereabouts of your panels ex-breakers opp ACE???

[Alan Cox]

Those of you with memories of the ACE Café might find this book of interest, from the writer and publisher of the excellent After the Battle "Then and Now" magazines and books.

http://www.aftertheb...com/acecafe.htm

[Scuderia SSS]

This thread reminds me of the old orange vintage car that used to be stuck on top of a pilar or roof(cant remember clearly now) but it was something like an old Austin,slowly rusting away somewhere around the Lewisham-Camberwell route.
Anybody remember it?

[RTH]

Originally posted by Scuderia SSS
This thread reminds me of the old orange vintage car that used to be stuck on top of a pilar or roof(cant remember clearly now) but it was something like an old Austin,slowly rusting away somewhere around the Lewisham-Camberwell route.
Anybody remember it?

Oh , yes I remember exactly what you mean, it was high in the air on a pillar . It was there for many years from the mid sixties.

[sterling49]

Originally posted by RTH


Oh , yes I remember exactly what you mean, it was high in the air on a pillar . It was there for many years from the mid sixties.

The reason why you gentlemen remember this old car on a pillar, is because it was at a car breakers yard on the way to .........Brands Hatch, just after Ruxley Corner (Sidcup) on the old A20, if you were Brands bound it would come up on your right hand side. From memory it was "ZB Car Spares" ZB standing for Zak Barwick I believe. I think a Mitsubishi dealership is there now, but I never travel the road any more as the M20/A20 was re-routed.

Sterling

[Scuderia SSS]

Yes, you're right, was on the old route. I used to travel up to Camberwell every weekend for the "visit the relatives pilgrimage"
I often wonder who put it there in the first place.

Makes me chuckle thinking of the journey home every weekend. We used to get fish & chips and stop off in the old layby that used to be right at the start of the Sidcup bypass. My mum & dad used to call it the lovey dovey spot, as while we were sitting there munching our paper wrapped supper, the odd couple or two in their cars would be, lets say rather "steamed up" . I dont think they were eating fish & chips.

Ahh, fond memories.

[sterling49]

Originally posted by Scuderia SSS
Yes, you're right, was on the old route. I used to travel up to Camberwell every weekend for the "visit the relatives pilgrimage"
I often wonder who put it there in the first place.

Makes me chuckle thinking of the journey home every weekend. We used to get fish & chips and stop off in the old layby that used to be right at the start of the Sidcup bypass. My mum & dad used to call it the lovey dovey spot, as while we were sitting there munching our paper wrapped supper, the odd couple or two in their cars would be, lets say rather "steamed up" . I dont think they were eating fish & chips.

Ahh, fond memories.

........hmmmn, it's called something vastly different now! The other yard was LB (maybe ZB's brother?) and I travelled the road not only to work, but to see Mott The Hoople and other suchlike bands at The Black Prince at Bexley

Gigs on saturday, racing on Sunday!

[Simpson RX1]

Originally posted by sterling49


The reason why you gentlemen remember this old car on a pillar, is because it was at a car breakers yard on the way to .........Brands Hatch, just after Ruxley Corner (Sidcup) on the old A20, if you were Brands bound it would come up on your right hand side. From memory it was "ZB Car Spares" ZB standing for Zak Barwick I believe. I think a Mitsubishi dealership is there now, but I never travel the road any more as the M20/A20 was re-routed.

Sterling

I remember it well; an Austin 7 that was pretty much intact when I first went past in the late 60s, and deteriorated over the years to not much more than a bare shell, it didn't disappear until fairly recently either.

It was indeed ZB's on the Sidcup by-pass, and was situated roughly behind where the MacDonalds drive-thru is now.

I think ZB's still exists; I've got to go up that way later on, I'll have a look.

[Mistron]

Originally posted by 275 GTB-4


Wouldn't it be appropriate if you stated what type of car it was and whether anyone knows the whereabouts of yours panels ex-breakers opp ACE???

I doubt anyone will know the whereabouts of the panels 30 years after they went to the scrapyard - probably recycled into fridge freezers or cans by now!

here is how they looked then (though the nose got a bit squashed by a trailer, so prompting their replacement)



How could even a scrap man have the heart to crush such a pretty body? maybe someone did save them, or the scrap man's son got a nice garden 'gang hut'!

[scags]

Do we need a "cars on poles" thread? My friend, Mike, had a Pantera on a pole at his shop in NY, MD enginering. He also had a winner's trophy from one of the original Canonball ralleys.

[Paul Butler]

Originally posted by Mistron


How could even a scrap man have the heart to crush such a pretty body? maybe someone did save them, or the scrap man's son got a nice garden 'gang hut'!

Slightly o/t but referring to your rather faint hope I had a friend whose father was a scrap man (as indeed was he) and the "old guys" had no bother in scrapping anything - all they saw was the value of the metal. My friend told me of old cars being driven into the yard in perfect condition (for example 1920's and 1930's American cars) , a match was thrown into them to burn the interior out and the rest was just crushed. His own tale when he was working for his father was that a Mk 1 Lotus Cortina turned up one day which excited him but he was sent out of the yard on an errand. When he got back the car was a shell and the guys were equally as excited about the amount of aluminium they'd gotten out of the car .....

He reckons he'd be a multi-millionaire now if ......

[Simpson RX1]

Well, ZB's is still there, allbeit on nowhere near such a grand scale and with a very dilapidated sign.

[sterling49]

Originally posted by Simpson RX1
Well, ZB's is still there, allbeit on nowhere near such a grand scale and with a very dilapidated sign.

Amazing! it must be over 20 years since I have been down that road and I am local

I will go and look next week on my travels ;)

[David Birchall]

Scrap yards are such wonderful places aren't they
When I were a wee lad (early fifties) we lived in Cranleigh and I recall a wonderful knackers yard there that was full of prewar cars. My friends and I would get chased out once a week

I dumped the original body from the George Eaton McLaren M12 in the tip and also the original front body section from my Climax Special sports racer but by then they all had so many repairs you could hardly lift them!

Mistron: I think we all understand your obsession, but really, that body doesn't look that hard to duplicate.

[Mistron]

Originally posted by David Birchall

Mistron: I think we all understand your obsession, but really, that body doesn't look that hard to duplicate.

I know. and as I've said all along, I really don't expect to find it!

I know it's not hard to recreate - just expensive.....

I'm working on the body buck as we speak, and others on TNF have given me pointers to alloy body builders who are reasonably priced, leads which I am following up.

[Terry Walker]

Ace from Space:

Chances are any scrapyard opposite the Ace Cafe was bulldozed when the North Circular was widened to its present splendour. The small diagonal building with the carpark is the Ace. The narrow road in front of it is the old North Circular.

[f1steveuk]

I know I have mentioned this on another thread, but it is apposite.

When I was involved in the restoration of Sir Malcolm Campbell's 1937/8 Blue Bird K3 hydroplane, I came across a load of paperwork from Coley's scrap yard in Hounslow. Both Sir Malcolm and Donald were "sponsored" by Bill Coley, and in exchange, anything that was no longer needed ended up with Bill. For years he had complete, empty Blue bird shells, in piles! When Donald built the jet powered K7, all the old piston craft mechanics, ended up at Coleys, including three Rolls-Royce R type Schnieder Trophy engines (Rolls-Royce only built 14 of these!!) and the prop shafts etc, all marked "not worth melting down".

The area is still there, with a lump of soil in the middle, but as yet, no buildings. Last I heard all the Blue Bird stuff, including the engines, had been tipped into a hole in 1978!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Mistron]

Terry,

'David McKinneys' scrap yard is just out of shot to the left, on the north side of the railway lines.

[David McKinney]

Nope - just out of sight to the right

[Mistron]

oops, letters on the backs of my hand wore off.

Anyway, can't be sitting round here on my elbows all day........!

[dmj]

A bit OT, and not exactly near Ace Cafe...
I was asked today to help identify these sad remains of what seems to be a late-30s car, laying in the woods somewhere in Croatia. I'm at work now so don't have access to my reference books until afternoon - but so far I have no clues whatsoever. Two straps just bellow the lower window line initially made me thinking it might be a Lancia but what appears as side vents doesn't match.

Images could be seen here.

I'd appreciate if anyone has an idea what it might be and share it with me.

[Allan Lupton]

Originally posted by dmj
Two straps just bellow the lower window line initially made me thinking it might be a Lancia but what appears as side vents doesn't match.
I'd appreciate if anyone has an idea what it might be and share it with me.

I'd agree Lancia, probably Aprilia, though I can't find a photo of one that exactly matches. The very large twin rear window arrangement looks odd: pre-war Aprilias had small twin, post-war a single IIRC

[dmj]

I found what it is (or, rather, what it used to be): Steyr 220