Stencils

[Tony Smith]

Originally Posted by Mike Kelly

I think that the car restoration scene has changed radically since the 1980's . These days a whole new younger generation are rebuilding the types of cars that most of us can remember being ........

...found at the local tip!

I ran my cars in the late 80's and 90's from serviceable parts scrounged from cars dumped at the local tip. In fact, my current supply of auto electrical parts are still from those days (headlights, coils, globes, relays, fuses, etc..). But it was also possible to get an inexhaustible supply of batteries, brakes, tyres and even fuel. Sounds Cheap Charlie, I know, but why spend $50 (in 1980's dollars!) on a battery when there's cars full of them about to be buried.

Nowadays, safety ( ) prevents anyone from spending an hour at the tip and filling the trailer with recovered parts, parts in years gone by that would have wound up at Swap Meets. If older vehicle parts are not turning up at Swap Meets, I don't think that it's the changing market, I think that the sources are drying up for the "bloke on the street". Someone today is not going to buy an EJ Holden for $8,000 and part out the old red engine for $100 and gearbox for $50. When "back in the day" you could spend an hour at the tip and fill the trailer with 2 engines, 3 gearboxes, a diff, a carburettor, a bench seat, 2 steering wheels, and an old Victa lawn mower and head off to the Swap and make $500 (been there, done that).

We might be again heading for another mining boom, but it won't be minerals, it will be the tons of valuable vintage car parts buried in landfill.