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How could someone do this?

SaxMan

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Near my work there are a couple of metal recycling places. One of them takes junked cars and crushes them outright, as opposed to some of the junkyards that are nearby. Vehicles seldom last more than a day or two before being crushed into cubes like the Lincoln in "Goldfinger". Poking out of one of the piles of metal was the front 2/3rds of a rubber-bumper Midget. It's possible the rest of the car was there, just buried under other scrap.

I was dumbfounded. Who puts a 40+ year old British sports car into the crusher? I'd have given the car away before selling it for scrap value. It's just hard to imagine that not a single person along the way thought "You know, this car should not be crushed, let me see what I can do with it." Or even thing that the parts might have value.
 
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I recently sent a 1970 car body to the scrap heap. It had been very poorly repaired from an accident and rust. There was not a decent panel on it and no real means to salvage it. However, the drive train and suspension will live on in another sprite.
 
OP
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SaxMan

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I drove by again. On second look it was a rubber-bumpered MGB and not a Midget. It's further down in the pile. It is possible this car was so far gone to be useless as anything else but scrap, but the front end poking out doesn't look like it.
 

JPSmit

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I drove by again. On second look it was a rubber-bumpered MGB and not a Midget. It's further down in the pile. It is possible this car was so far gone to be useless as anything else but scrap, but the front end poking out doesn't look like it.

I also think this will be an ongoing issue - as one generation dies or gets old and the next generation doesn't want them - particularly abandoned project cars. (Going Monday to get my next one - hurray!) but not many want to buy a project.
 

LarryK

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If there was a way to get kids interested in a hobby, besides video gaming, would be a save for the old cars. I was at a car show and I let kids sit in the car, happy kids, maybe inticing their interest. Some of the displayers thought it was awful to let the kids in the car and put their slimey hands all over it. Well, how else are we going to save the hobby?
 

NutmegCT

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I also think this will be an ongoing issue - as one generation dies or gets old and the next generation doesn't want them - particularly abandoned project cars. (Going Monday to get my next one - hurray!) but not many want to buy a project.

Hey - congratulations! So you've finished renovating that garage at last!
 

nomad

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Imagine how many Datsun 5 speeds have gone to scrap! During the last run up in scrap prices all the cars that I had robbed transmissions from got scrapped. Along with many other potential rear drive 5 speed cars.

Kurt
 

JPSmit

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If there was a way to get kids interested in a hobby, besides video gaming, would be a save for the old cars. I was at a car show and I let kids sit in the car, happy kids, maybe inticing their interest. Some of the displayers thought it was awful to let the kids in the car and put their slimey hands all over it. Well, how else are we going to save the hobby?

True though I have to reluctantly admit that I am not even remotely interested in horses and buggies. :grin: Lots of kids interested in cars - just not our cars.
 

nomad

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True though I have to reluctantly admit that I am not even remotely interested in horses and buggies. :grin: Lots of kids interested in cars - just not our cars.

True, JP, but I have met lots of young folks interested in our cars as well. My fear is that we are producing kids totally unable to keep old cars on the road or drive a standard transmission. Or, for that matter, in the future, being able to afford a hobby car.

Kurt
 

NutmegCT

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True, JP, but I have met lots of young folks interested in our cars as well. My fear is that we are producing kids totally unable to keep old cars on the road or drive a standard transmission. Or, for that matter, in the future, being able to afford a hobby car.

Kurt

You mean ... gasp ... giving our kids everything they want, fixing all their problems, paying their bills, and preventing them from learning how to take responsibility might have negative consequences? Egad!

(As we say at Sturbridge Village: imagine how much more intelligent/creative/capable the farm animals would be, if we didn't corral them, keep them protected, and give them their food and water.)
 

JPSmit

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"True, JP, but I have met lots of young folks interested in our cars as well. My fear is that we are producing kids totally unable to keep old cars on the road or drive a standard transmission. Or, for that matter, in the future, being able to afford a hobby car."

True, though we might be part of the problem, I learned to tinker from my father. And yes, we are still seeing kids interested in the hobby - though many of the cars of their youth are just much much more complicated beasties. And I realize that we need to remember that the cars of our youth are "gateway drugs." - EG. The Midget was built when I was 15. The Vauxhall when I was 9 (I have no recollection of ever seeing one until the last couple of years). The Fiat was built before I was born and the Austin before my mother was born, so, it grows! Affordability is an issue though I would say there are still bargains out there - I also find that hipsters drive curious cars - 70's Mercedes sedan/ Malais era cars. Yesterday I saw a guy with an early 80's vintage mazda 323 coupe in magnificent condition - it was even brown - with a baby seat in the back!


"You mean ... gasp ... giving our kids everything they want, fixing all their problems, paying their bills, and preventing them from learning how to take responsibility might have negative consequences? Egad!

(As we say at Sturbridge Village: imagine how much more intelligent/creative/capable the farm animals would be, if we didn't corral them, keep them protected, and give them their food and water.)"


Never ever forget, they are our kids (and grandkids) we made them what they are!

Yes, I gripe too about snowflakes, but, I am continually astonished by the imagination and abilities of these kids. My daughter was judging a computer design event this week where the winning presentation was an app that could revolutionize prescription drug safety for seniors and visually impaired. Yesterday my nephew presented (with the rest of his Engineering graduating class) his research at a show - a cheap and easy test to detect septic bacteria in hospital patient bloodstreams (50,000 people die of this every year). And that wasn't even his main interest. I see kids graduating with $50,000 + debt and unable to get jobs and when they do they are contracts with no pension, no benefits and little hope.

In spite of this, the whole "maker" phenomenon is amazing and growing like crazy - just wander around youtube for a bit.

Mostly though, if we want kids in the hobby, we have to be welcoming. I love BCF, it is my favourite forum on the web, people constantly remark on the tone and welcome the receive (Thanks boss!) But millennials are not welcome here. We say they are but, almost all of our "young people" posts are some variation of "Millennials are useless (but my kids/grandkids are great!)" If I were a young person trying to get into the hobby, I would have no reason to hang around here (sorry boss)

Don't believe me - punch "millennial" into the BCF search bar and see what comes up (and full disclosure, my name comes up too).

In the church, this is a constant issue - we want young people but we really want them to behave like us and have the same values as us and most of all do things the way we think they should - and then we are surprised when they aren't interested.

Don't want to sound too grumpy on this, but, just last night I was talking with my mother and remarking that they came to Canada in part out of the hope/expectation that their children would have it better than they did. This has always been the hope/expectation until now. For the first time in literally generations, our kids will have it worse than we did - and it's not their fault.

crawls back under rock.
 

NutmegCT

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JP - this is more appropriate for Pub, but ...

"we made them what they are".

Got that right. They have well-developed brains, and opportunities abound! But let's hope they can handle daily tasks and responsibilities.

I don't recall seeing "millennials are useless" on BCF - sad if that's true.

OK - back to my cave. That rock is getting crowded.
 

JPSmit

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JP - this is more appropriate for Pub, but ...

"we made them what they are".

Got that right. They have well-developed brains, and opportunities abound! But let's hope they can handle daily tasks and responsibilities.

I don't recall seeing "millennials are useless" on BCF - sad if that's true.

OK - back to my cave. That rock is getting crowded.

always room under my rock for one more! :cheers:
 

nomad

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(As we say at Sturbridge Village: imagine how much more intelligent/creative/capable the farm animals would be said:
As a farmer I have to answer to that!
Sheep I figure have been domesticated the longest. They are the favorite of Coyotes and would all be eaten first! On the farm, though, they never require a veterinarian because they are never visibly sick....they are either alive or dead....nothing in between! The rest of the animals have, most definitely, been modified to suit man and, yes, wouldn't fare much better.

Kurt
 

pdplot

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My son, aged 48, is not mechanically inclined at all, yet he's owned a Fiat Spider, Porsche 944, Mercedes sedan and Alfa Spider. Daughter has owned and driven a stick shift VW Beetle and (new) Mini. Now leases a Subaru Crosstrek. We have no grandchildren.
 

LarryK

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I have a lot of kids that come down the street and will stare into the garage when the doors are open. Have invited some to come in, but the never come back. They could learn a lot.
 
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