The Cal-look Lounge

just my thoughts ...
spent a week holiday in Portugal and did not see a single 60ies beetle
nor busses
last year in France, same
I am being told that China buys all the metal in the world
and that old junkyards get heaps of money on old cars/wrecks ... whatever
will this be the end of the barnfinds in Southern Europe ?

Over here they steal your copper plumming and wiring right out of your walls.

same here. they even risc getting 1000000000000000 volts through their hands to steal railway relais in electricity cabins... can you say fried???

There is 'Treasure' out there for sure.

 It's just obviously become less common. Remember when the days when you always came home with some jewels from a trip? ;D

 These days, you'll only stike Gold 1 in 10... Not like the good old days. :(

  I found some Beautiful old VDO Tacho's, a Rosethal Bud Vase and NOS Wolfsurg Bonnet Crest all in a Budapest Street Market. It was mostly old clothes and Replica Wrist watches?

 But the stuff turns up now in the most unlikely places and you have to be inventive nowadays.

 I've taken to scouring Car Accessory Shops over here, as they never throw anything away. I scored lots of nice small items like Key Rings, Stickers and Badges.

Don't give up the hunt.. ;)

                                 They get into the big industrial electrical here. A contractor friend of mine will tell me they couldn't work today because it was a crime scene, and they had to sweep up the pile of dust that used to be the thief.

 ;D ;D ;D

i've seen a lot of precious metal aroung the Porto area...

Gunter, I sell a fair amount of scrap metal here in the states, and my buyer told me that China has demand for approximately 2/3 of the worlds scrap steel.  I wouldn't doubt it for a second when you look at the Beijing skyline..........

I've seen some really nice cars go to the scrapper lately........a nice early Dodge A100 van, '63 Impala Wagon body, 16" DEEP  5 x 205 buggy wheels, bugs with LOTs of parts..........and no one is allowed to take parts off once the car is in the yard.

I can't speak for Europe, but here in the U.S.A, it's getting pretty tough to find gems in the rough.

........and yet, look what's turned up recently.  With the U.S. economy as it is, I expect some more good cars and parts to surface..........too bad they surface on the net!

Best to you and the gang.

I hate to ask what kind of VW parts are on the cars.

It hurts me to see it John.  Complete transaxles, Guages, beams, cases, fenders, sheetmetal.........a lot of good parts.  The A100 I saw was dead straight, had all it's trim! 

With new cars getting cheaper and even cheap parts (getting expensive now) it's simply non-economic to repair or estore a lot of older less collectable cars.

 I agree 100% that a lot of very worthy cars are going to bite the dust innext few years. It is a shame because we won't see them again perhaps.

 I worked ofr VW/Audi from 1977 to 2001 and in that time we made some exeptional vehicles. I don't see so many of them nowadays and it just doesn't add up!

These were some of the best engineered cars of their generation. Over engineered if you please.

I hope that people will start to see these everyday models as worthy of saving. I know it will cost an extra few dollars/pounds/euros to do so, but in thelong run I think they deserve it.

 I've been toying with the Idea of an Audi 200 Avant. If you get the non-quattro version it's a superb motoeway muncher that carries a massive payload.

I'm just loading up for Spa in my Mercedes C Class Estate and although it's going to take most of what I wanted to take along the Audi 100/200 would have given me room to bring some stuff home with me.  ;D

 
 

That's sad but true, I think that now people doesn't show any interest for 80 to 00 cars, only pre-80 or pre-85 cars are considered as having a "value".

And about plastic and electronic cars they built nowadays, I don't think those things will last much longer to get a historical value !

The new ranges of cars will last, but will become un-economic to repair much quicker.

 Technology outside the dealerships has not kept pace and most garages are far beind in the technical knowldege and electronics to maintain thesenew breed of cars.

   I think personally that the cars built between 1980 & 1990 showd some of the most reliable and well engineedred products we ever made.

    I will personally begin to move my vw parts towards inculding some of the rarer parts from this era.

      It stands to reason that these cars will eventually reach a status worthy of recuse.  ;)

And people now changes their car more and more often, you rarely see now someone buying a car and keep it for 10/15/20 years. But that's another problem !


I just give you 2 example because it's 2 cars I know, Alfa Romeo GTV6 and Golf GTi G60 Syncro

(http://www.thecartorialist.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/alfa_romeo_gtv6_2.jpg)
(http://golfstory.free.fr/photos/photos_golf2/golf2_G60/Golf2GTIG60synchro.jpg)

The Golf is a great car, well engineered and very tough.

It will last well, but regular servicing is the key with superchargers and the synro system. Keep them checked and you limit the risk of an expensive and probably devastating failiure.

The Alfa I've owned one of these in the 80's and it was super car to drive (fast) but as many Italian beauties, it was a little thin when it came to reliability (mostly electrics)

It would just choose to not start (at any given point) and then stop (for no reason at all...dead)

I do love the style of the Alfa, but my logical head wins out over the heart and the Golf would always be the car for me. ;)

That would be the more modern car I'd roll for pleasure, I can't find somme good "feelings" in today's car production, except maybe for the new Dodge Charger and Challenger (thought I prefer the oldies ;D).

I think you'll find that people decide to buy a new car using their heads..

 And buy an old car using their hearts.

   That's why we love VW's.

        Gotta love em........ ;)

 ;)

Our local yard has had E-type Jaguars, more 30's-50's stuff than you could shake a stick at, a RHD Type 3 Ghia, a 60's Mustang and god knows what else go over the bridge recently. One car was so old it still had wooden spoked wheels! :o Many were rough but saveable, and may not have been on a road for years, but you wonder how many were weighed in with the owners permission? Can you imagine going to your garage and finding that your 10 year project has been pinched by pickeys and weighed in for £150! >:(

It's criminal, and as Dave says, once it's weighed in you can't touch them which is the worst bit. I'd have loved to have had some bits off the '67 1500 bug they flattened last month.