Scrap attack!

[toddao]

Off we go again to the French scrapyards but this time to meet up with some other central European members of the BX Club : Carl (TB2) and Remy (BX19GTI1988).
In total found about six BXs - no Mk.1s whatsoever.

A Hurricane, first one I've ever seen



A BX Image, from which Carl removed a GTI type steering wheel



searching for the next scrappers



GSA 'Cottage' in amazing condition







H van beyond help with plants growing inside but great faded signwriting!



Lovely old Merc diesel - complete, with rusted out floor unfortunately



Here's the group shot with Carl representing Switzerland, Remy France and me Uk via Germany. Was good to meet everyone ( amazing the people you meet through this club and common interest) though time did not permit a viewing of Remy's BX brochure library! ( He's also an encyclopedia of BX trim/specs/ and paint names! And his BX Break must be the most 'specced' up example I've ever seen - time to post some photos in the gallery, Remy!)
Carl went on to more scrapyards yesterday and today as we headed up into the hills last night, so hopefully he'll have something to report later.
I got no parts but had a good time and last night sat by a fire up in the hills sucking a few French

[Philip Chidlow]

Great to see some pics from over the Channel/La Manche...

That GSA looks lovely...

But so does Carl's BX...

[TB2]

It was a good trip!

As the others had gone their ways, I went further north to Strassbourg to take a look at another scrap yard. As it was already closed of course, I went for a walk and had a look at that huge cathedral they have...

Anyways, I found 6 BXs on that scrap yard near Strassbourg in the morning, and again they were all phase II. I'll let the pictures do the talking...

Stacked BXs:



The (in my opinion ugly but) supposably rare brown interiour:



A perfectly good exhaust! Why did they throw it away?? Couldn't undo it though as it was stacked on another car...



A BX filled with BX junk:



Real lots of doors and bonnets:



And the grave yard itself:



This is what I found for myself:
The A-pillar trim I've broken myself, prettier rear lights, the two rail-things which are broken on my sunroof, a GTI steering wheel, the electric circuits and switch for an automated rise and decline of the driver side window and a few badges.



There was plenty of other stuff, but I must admit I had enough after one hour of fiddling with the sunroof-things, climbing into cars and all that. For example, there was one with a PLIP, another one had an electrical mirror on the right, stuff like that. I didn't find any special accessoires though...

[Kevin B]

Most interesting pictures, five years ago Bx's used to be that plentiful in UK scrapyards. Now its becoming a struggle to find any in my locality, so much so that I have asked all the local scrappies to give me a ring when they get any!!!!
How do the prices of the parts compare to what you would have to pay if you were to get the same parts from a UK scrapyard?

[Philip Chidlow]

Was that Cottage for sale?

[TB2]

I don't know the prices in the UK, but I paid 10 Euros for the steering wheel and 30 euros for the rest.
In total, those must have been around 12 BXs we found on a total of 4 scrap yards, and they were all Mk II. I guess it will be another 5 years and then they'll be hard to find, too.

I don't know if the cottage was for sale, but it stood around and I guess one could buy it...
That dash is awesome, isn't it



EDIT:

I just changed the steering wheel and the rear lamps. Looks a bit better in my opinion...

[toddao]

That does look good Carl. I've only ever found one Mk.1 in a scrapyard - earlier this year and I was lucky to get there soon after it had arrived and strip it ( though there were many things I should have removed in hind-sight). I only went there - to Mulhouse- because Remy had tipped me off about a Mk.1 Break, which was gone when I arrived. Problem is that they don't seem to stay there too long - like that one we saw being bashed to death on Wednesday with a huge lump of concrete!

That was the reason that I bought the TRD - as a parts car to feed the yellow beast. Problem is, it's too good to break and now I've got two of the early ones. But it's become a matter of pride to keep the yellow one going as an everyday ride.

I think that others will turn up, otherwise we must go further afield, deeper into France.

A few more pictures from Wednesday :

[demag]

I used to love looking round old scrapyards, must admit I haven't done it for years.

[CitroXim]

Had I found myself there I'd have thought I'd died and gone to heaven

That Cottage is something else... But then I have an incredibly soft spot for the GS

[mat_fenwick]

I'm suitably jealous...I miss the scrapyard I used to live near, and it's now about 40-50 miles over mountain roads to the nearest proper scrapyard

[TB2]

From my palce it's also about 90 miles to the nearest scarp yard in France, though there are a couple in the area once you're there...

There are virtually no scrap yards in Switzerland as all the cars get exported in one piece as soon as they get discarded by their owners. Cars in Switzerland don't even get the chance to be scrapped, as most of them are in a condition where they're still toally drivable but not approved by the very sctrict MOT...

Even a rattling seat is a failure, little rust spots around the wheels, leaking oil from the engine... And because garages charge a lot of money for repairs, people are often better off buying a fairly new used car instead of repairing their own.

[cavmad]

Never mind all the other stuff, look at the motoring world's finest hour resting on top of some old Citroen.

I've just changed your post a bit there to make more sense

[mat_fenwick]

90 miles? Maybe I'm not so badly off after all... What I'd really like to do is go for a short holiday (even just 2-3 days) to France and tour a load of scrapyards looking out for elusive bits and pieces. Sadly, for some reason, my wife doesn't share the same enthusiasm for such a 'holiday'.

I wonder if such a trip could be made self financing - i.e. selling off bits when you get back. I did wonder about 205 GTi drivers seats which wear out badly, but over in France the passenger seats should be in good nick, and would fetch quite a bit on ebay. If there are any left of course!

[toddao]

I've just been told off by Remy for thinking this was a Hurricane..





Remy writes

The green bx in mulhouse was not a bx "hurricane" but a bx " ourane" , really nice french limited edtion in triton green , with specific velvet inside , air conditioning and alloy wheels , only existed in turbo d model

Pardon!

Billy, I don't share your love of all things GM, especially not their modern attrocites! But would that be an 'Opel Rekord' there in that 'yard? I do like some of their previous products

[toddao]

Mat wrote

90 miles? Maybe I'm not so badly off after all... What I'd really like to do is go for a short holiday (even just 2-3 days) to France and tour a load of scrapyards looking out for elusive bits and pieces. Sadly, for some reason, my wife doesn't share the same enthusiasm for such a 'holiday'.

My wife's enthusiasm wanes after about two hours sitting in the van ( or should I say ten minutes?) waiting til I come back saying : look what I've found luv - a -dee-blah thingy! I then have to placate her with a visit to the Hypermarche - those mind numbingly huge French temples of shopping..

I suggested before a scrapyard trawl from here. Cheap Ryanair flights over then camping and boozing every evening ( why limit that to the evenings?) and parts carried in the van. Problem is getting the parts back to Uk if it's anything bigger than a piss-flap, sorry mud-flap ( couldn't stop myself)..