THE INTERNATIONAL JAGUAR 'S'-TYPE REGISTER FORUM

I have a guy who lives 200 yards from me with an Austin Healey Frog eyed sprite on his driveway. It has been there for 25 years and not turned a wheel. (Possibly can't turn a wheel now). It has gone through more tarpaulin covers than I can count. Numerous people have made offers for it, I even offered to restore it for him free of charge when I finished the my S Type but he was not interested. His house is full of spare parts for all sorts of cars as he used to be a parts storeman for a local engine shop but he will not sell anything. He probably has a couple of our vacuum switches amidst all his parts but we will never find out until he dies ( he is in his eighties) and one of his relatives either sells the stuff off cheap in job lots or throws it all away believing it to be junk.

I agree, why do people let cars get to that point is beyond my comprehension.

partly is the fault of the government who encourages crushing with "cash for junkers" programs as we have seen in the USA.

There are also the opposites, people who buy these junked cars and puts them in a field. I know a fellow in Alabama who has a good number of MK-2, S type, 420, MK-X in a field but refuses to sell parts AND refuses to sell them. The cars are jut rotting away.

He should have offered the car to someone for $225 who could store it as a parts car rather than to the scrappy for crushing. As you say people think the parts are worth more than they actually are. Second hand original chrome can be more expensive than new stuff from SNG when you have to take in to consideration that it will probably have to be re chromed and straightened in places but it is possibly of better quality being original. Thing is the seller only sees what it would be worth finished and wants a big cut of that value and does not take into consideration all the work and money you have to spend to get it in to A1 condition.
Obviously I am in the UK so could not respond to this one but it is still a crime.

yes but they own the car and they prefer to sell it for $225.00 to a crusher than leave it in the backyard.

This car in particular came from Sweden, sold in Sweden too. How it ended in the USA I have no clue. But I went to see it, the owner was selling it in parts. He is from Scotland, and also had Rileys and Bentleys at his house. I bought what I could afford, he was asking $400.00 for all the dash gauges, I didn't have $400.00 dollars. He wanted $200.00 for the bumpers and $100.00 per door. I didn't have that either. I bought whatever he wasn't asking a lot for or whatever he told me I could take.

I told some guys who are looking for parts about the car, I placed ads here and in other forums. Nobody responded. When someone decided to buy the doors and the bumpers, he had already crushed the car.

with situations like these, one has to move fast, and I did what I could do, money-wise. I have been salvaging parts since 2005. Sounds like many years hunting but not many cars have been parted. I'm always checking for S types being sold as "MK-2" because people don't know what they have, at least here in the USA they don't. So they think they have a MK-2 and it's worth a fortune even if it's a rusted out carcass. Even if I show them where it says "3.8 S", they still think it's a MK-2.

So another one bites the dust.

That is criminal. No matter what the condition of the car there must have been original parts available for someone that in time will never be able to be replaced. The problem with this scenario is everyone thinks their pile of rust is worth more than it actually is. People including me want spares for the future in case something happens. A lot of the guys on the forum have a spare car in the garage which they keep for spares. I have a full set of glass, 90% set of chrome and loads of odds and sods in the attic and garage and would always be willing to take more but I do not want to pay a small fortune for them. Brackets, switches, chrome all sorts of thing wasted. I have seen piles of rust with an asking price in the thousands when it will take £20k to get it back on the road and as they get no offers it just rusts away further destroying all the spare parts that could be had. There should be a law that allows people to take spares parts from a rusty hulk for free if it is to benefit their own car which is on the road.
Yet another car gone which makes ours rarer and hopefully worth more though.

UPDATE:

car has been crushed, no more parts.

a friend is parting out a 1966 S type, he has good doors, glass, everything you don't need until you need it.

He wants a take-all offer for the 4 doors, boot lid, front and rear bumpers, located in NC.