1000s Of Rare Classic Cars Found Rotting In UK Scrappage Scheme Graveyard
Discovering one old classic car standing rotting somewhere is a real shame. But finding over a thousand, that are all likely to end up in the crusher, is a major travesty.
Video footage posted on YouTube of a location in the UK, shows thousands of rare classic cars abandoned to the elements. It appears that they’ve all fallen victim to the UK government’s scrappage scheme, which means that they’re deemed to be old scrap metal.
A small group of YouTubers from the Exploring With Fighters channel stumbled across the massive outdoor find. One of the biggest collections of rare classic cars that we’ve ever seen, on what appears to be an old dis-used airfield in the UK.
These Rare And Classic Cars Are Set For A Tragic End
The small crew of guys start filming as they approach the old airfield. You can watch as they stroll past hundreds of fairly new cars sitting on one of the strips of tarmac, to reach the treasure trove of old classics.
You can immediately tell that these guys shouldn’t be there. It’s obviously private property that they’re wandering around on, and that they’re trespassing.
As they stroll further along the huge airfield, one of them comments “This is the Holy Grail of old cars, because most of the cars are very rare, there’s old Porsches, Beetles, Minis, you have to see it to believe it”.
You can see that the old landing strip tarmac has been un-used for some time. Nature has taken its course. There are weeds and grass all over it. And it’s not long before they reach the first cluster of old classic cars.
A group of twenty-five-year-old five and 7-series BMWs are sitting next to old Porsche 944s. The Porsches are in a long line. There must be dozens of them, all similar shapes, sizes and models, covered in dust. Opposite, is a huge line of VW beetles. There’s just about every color you can imagine, most of them look like 70’s and 80’s cars.
There are lots of hot hatches scattered amongst the rows of vehicles. And the small crew hones in on some rare Peugeot 205 GTIs, VW Corrados, and what they believe is a Ford Escort RS. A long, neat line of VW Golfs stretches before them. The little sporty hatchbacks look as if they’re about to race each other, many of them are easily salvageable.
As they move in closer, they find that some of the cars have had bits stripped off them, and many have broken side windows.
There are older classics on the long stretch of tarmac too. MGBs of all different types and year, Rovers, Triumphs (saloons and sports cars), Minis, and even an old gray Pontiac Trans AM.
Then they spot a van with the words’ Dog Unit’ on the side. And they start to get very nervous. The sound of a dog barking spooks them, so they quickly shelter behind a cluster of old Land Rovers. Defenders of all different types parked bumper to bumper, next to some cool old Range Rovers. Some of them look pretty bashed up, but the majority look okay for their age.
In the middle of a tightly-knit group of cars is small cluster of Nissan SX’s and ZX’s. “Look at that, they’re all legends, that’s what I came to see” remarks the presenter. Then their attention draws to a fleet of Jaguars, also in a neat line. Saloons and sporty old XJSs, just sitting around in the sun. One at the front looks like its in mint condition.
As they’re leaving the secret location, a security guard turns up and tells them to move on. This time, they got lucky. If he had turned up fifteen minutes before, there wouldn’t be any footage.
Result Of The UK Governments Scrappage Scheme
The car scrappage scheme was originally introduced in 2009 to encourage car owners to scrap their old vehicles, in a bid to combat air pollution in UK cities. The way it works is, you agree to scrap your old car, and the government gives you a small sweetener, a discount on a more eco-friendly model.
It’s designed to be a win-win deal. We get to breath cleaner air, the government gets a pat on the back for hitting its green targets, and manufacturers get to sell more cars. If you agree to take the deal, you can typically expect to get a discount of between $1500 and $6000 on your new purchase.
The key criterion to qualify is your car’s age, and if it fails to meet European emission standards. The condition of the car isn’t really taken into consideration. It varies by manufacturer, but as an example, Toyota offers the scheme to any cars that are older than September 2012.
It’s hard to say how successful the scheme has been so far. Each town has its own set of numbers. But with fuel prices skyrocketing, and the demand for electric cars hitting an all-time high, these types of schemes are highly likely to get a lot more traction.
The End Of Some Rare Gems That Wont Drive Another Mile
There’s nothing more heartbreaking to see than a lovely old classic car going to rot. A car that you would just love to have in your garage or workshop, to fix up. So when you see hundreds, if not thousands, like this, it’s simply devastating.
The UK government needs to wake up. If all of these rare classics are part of their scheme, then technically they own them. Why send millions of dollars worth of rare cars to the crusher? They should auction them all off, at a vast profit. We can then enjoy seeing each and every one of these rare classics back on our streets. And, surely the extra cash would come in very handy to the local councils.
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