I'm heartbroken :(

[the-green-monkey]

I dont know if its just me being soft but I have been looking on eBay a lot recently (trying to find another moggy that runs while we fix the one we already have) and there seem to be so many, not only moggie but minis and MGs and even morris bullnoses that have been so neglected that they just look in a terrible state and it makes me want to cry. Most of them are salvageable but the seller has simply stated spares only or that if it doesnt sell it will be going to the scrapyard. Sorry if people think this topic is a waste of time but i just had to get it off my chest that it really does upset me to see so many once (and could be again) gorgeous British cars being killed off.

[SGTBILKO]

I dont know if its just me being soft but I have been looking on eBay a lot recently (trying to find another moggy that runs while we fix the one we already have) and there seem to be so many, not only moggie but minis and MGs and even morris bullnoses that have been so neglected that they just look in a terrible state and it makes me want to cry. Most of them are salvageable but the seller has simply stated spares only or that if it doesnt sell it will be going to the scrapyard. Sorry if people think this topic is a waste of time but i just had to get it off my chest that it really does upset me to see so many once (and could be again) gorgeous British cars being killed off.

I agree. Some day we will regret all that negligence, when Morris Minors, MGs etc become rare items.[frame][/frame]

[RobMoore]

I agree it does feel sad to see them in such a state, but many can be restored, the real sickner for me is the ones that are in reasonable order being srapped.

[the-green-monkey]

They are rare enough as it is but it seems the general public dont care about british motor heritage, you wouldnt see castles being knocked down to make way for a block of flats because the castle was "too old" it would be restored, pain in the A**E

I know, such as the one in the scrapyard at peterlee, i went to look at it a couple of weeks ago and was told it was for scrap and could only be gutted for parts(once they had put it on the system), it could have been easily salvaged.

[Dryad]

They are rare enough as it is but it seems the general public dont care about british motor heritage, you wouldnt see castles being knocked down to make way for a block of flats because the castle was "too old" it would be restored, pain in the A**E.

Many people seem to lack foresight. In the 1950's it was common for timber framed buildings with cobbled streets running through them to be demolished to make way for modern shopping centres etc. "Out with the old, in with the new" as the saying went, but now the buildings and streets that did survive are preserved with great care and are valuable tourist attractions (I'm thinking of Elm Hill in Norwich, which was earmarked for an industrial estate in 1952, but was saved by the Mayor's casting vote). The added problem we have these days is that nobody knows what being British means any more, and as we are still paying the price of our empirical past, we are no longer allowed to take pride in anything British for fear of being accused of being a flag waving Daily Mail/Express reader (I'm neither, for the record). The fact that there are still so many pre-mid seventies British cars still on the road is a testament to excellent British engineering - something I think should be taught in schools! Rant over!

[davidmiles]

Economic downturns always see a few more poor old ladies go to the crusher. They need a big old barn to live in while the storm passes.

[Fingolfin]

In the States we seem to have a greater following of classic cars, if only because the American cars from the '50s and '60s are dead sexy. Even into the '70s they had some style. And, of course, the US has always been a much bigger market, so there are more surviving examples of each kind of car. But with foreign cars and small cars we do have an annoying habit of shoving a Chevy big-block 350 in under the hood... So many Minors I've seen with that kind of modding. I'm okay with that in proportion, but Americans seem to want to do it to every Moggie they see.

--------------

Maybe it's not my business and maybe I can't have the proper perspective, but......why can't you take pride in your country? Even if Britain has a history that spans a millenium, and even if you at one time controlled 25% of the world's land area and now don't, that's no reason not to love the nation...just think of everything you've given the world. The Magna Carta comes to mind. You first vulcanized rubber. You invented modern association football, and the number two sport, cricket. Dare we forget the first jet engine, the first steam locomotive, or the first country-criss-crossing railway? And the list of British scientific discoveries is enormous: Newtonian physics and calculus and gravity; the periodic table; the needle seismograph; the planets Uranus and Neptune; argon, oxygen, hydrogen, helium, sodium, aluminum, and their subparticles; DNA; the theory of evolution! Cheddar cheese, without which I could not live. The first programmable computers. The World Wide Web. The pencil. The microphone. The typewriter. The first radio station. AND THAT'S JUST THE ENGLISH.

Shall we go into Scottish and Welsh and Irish science? Well, Scots invented the steam engine, golf, the bicycle, the telephone, the television, penicillin, radar, insulin, the refrigerator...

What I'm saying is this. You can be aware of the shortcomings of your country, and be immensely proud of it and optimistic for its future, at the same time. We Americans learned this a long time ago, when our country was still underdog, and it took us to the top. That realistic optimism is the root of our success. It's how I feel about my country.

I'm not trying to lecture -- I'm trying to jolt...you sit upon the single largest collection of national achievements in the world, possibly excepting the Chinese, who have four millenia on you. Why on earth wouldn't you be proud of that?

[RobMoore]

They are rare enough as it is but it seems the general public dont care about british motor heritage, you wouldnt see castles being knocked down to make way for a block of flats because the castle was "too old" it would be restored, pain in the A**E

I know, such as the one in the scrapyard at peterlee, i went to look at it a couple of weeks ago and was told it was for scrap and could only be gutted for parts(once they had put it on the system), it could have been easily salvaged.

Aye that one in peterlee is just up the road from me and has been there at least a month now probably 2

[beero]

I agree, and the scrappage system didn't help.

[DaisyMayFozz]

I agree too, it really is such a shame, cars like this:http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1059-4-Door-Morri ... 1c1591681d are often just scrapped without even an attempt to restore , someone has to save that one.

[Dryad]

And the list of British scientific discoveries is enormous: Newtonian physics and calculus and gravity; the periodic table; the needle seismograph; the planets Uranus and Neptune; argon, oxygen, hydrogen, helium, sodium, aluminum, and their subparticles; DNA; the theory of evolution! Cheddar cheese, without which I could not live. The first programmable computers. The World Wide Web. The pencil. The microphone. The typewriter. The first radio station. AND THAT'S JUST THE ENGLISH.

You forgot helecopters, disc brakes, hydraulics, stainless steel, celluloid, the vacuum cleaner and the submarine. Oh, and we discovered Jimi Hendrix!

[IaininTenbury]

Saw a car sticker the other day which said "I survived the Scrappage Scheme"
It was on a G reg VW Polo on the M42, so indeed a lucky survivor! Wonder where you can get the stickers from...

[the-green-monkey]

I agree too, it really is such a shame, cars like this:http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1059-4-Door-Morri ... 1c1591681d are often just scrapped without even an attempt to restore , someone has to save that one.

I, and im sure many others on here, would gladly save that. Unfortunately there is a finite number of us morris minor enthusiasts with a very finite amount of garage space, so some slip through the net and die a death

[LouiseM]

Saw a car sticker the other day which said "I survived the Scrappage Scheme"
It was on a G reg VW Polo on the M42, so indeed a lucky survivor! Wonder where you can get the stickers from...

You can get them on E-bay: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SURVIVED-SCRAPPAG ... 2309e9eddb

[Ondergard]

Shall we go into Scottish and Welsh and Irish science?

Well, we invented the Male Voice Choir. Mountains, and Cerys Matthews.

Oh, and sheep.

[MColes]

You can get them on E-bay: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SURVIVED-SCRAPPAG ... 2309e9eddb

Brilliant So tempted

[Fingolfin]

Ondergard wrote:
Well, we invented the Male Voice Choir. Mountains, and Cerys Matthews.

Oh, and sheep.

Dryad wrote:
You forgot helecopters, disc brakes, hydraulics, stainless steel, celluloid, the vacuum cleaner and the submarine. Oh, and we discovered Jimi Hendrix!

You guys are just great! Made my day! Of course, Jimi Hendrix -- and sheep -- would qualify as the best discoveries in world history. Why didn't I think of that?

I do hope my list had more than comic effect though...