Hundreds Of Amazing Modern Classics Are Waiting To Be Crushed And It’s Illegal To Save Them
BMW E24s/E28s/E30s, classic Minis, Jaguar XJSs, Porsche 924s, 944s and 928s - all can be found in droves sitting on a disused airfield in Bedfordshire. Some probably won’t take much to get back to good working order, all will have valuable parts, and none of them can be touched.
We’re talking about the results of the UK Government’s 2009 scrappage scheme, which enabled people to trade in their old car to be crushed - so long as it had a valid MOT - to get a £2000 discount on a new one. The motivation was to breathe some life into the then-troubled UK car industry, and replace old, polluting vehicles with much cleaner new ones.
The problem? Many of the 392,227 cars scrapped simply did deserve to die. A full list of the cars taken off the road for the scheme was published a year and a half ago, and while that was depressing enough then, seeing images of a lot of the cars in question is pretty hard to take. Thousands of vehicles have not yet been crushed, and an urban explorer recently snuck into a disused airfield in Bedfordshire where many are kept, posting what he saw on Facebook.
While you look through the set - and this additional one here - just remember: by law, these cars, many of which will have been perfectly roadworthy upon arrival, have to go to the crusher. Not a single part can be saved. And all so a bunch of people could get a moderate discount on a boring econobox (apparently Kia did quite well out of the scheme…).
Given the explosion in classic car prices over the last few years, a lot of the vehicles you see here gathering moss and rusting away have become extremely valuable, making it seem like even more of a waste. But there is something we can do. A petition has been launched on Change.org, calling on the government to auction off surviving cars to the public, or at the very least saved for parts. It could end up being futile, but for the sake of a few moments of your time, it’s damn well worth trying…
Source: Pistonheads
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
Comments
#savethem
SCREW THE LAW, LET’S FNF THIS.
“We’re gonna need a team…”
I call flying the plane
I got a TENK
Lets put together a HUGE I mean HUGE team and lets steal oll of those cars.
I’m going to get Trevor to deal with the cops, Michael and Franklin wilk drive the cars to the plane understood?
UK Government at its finest…
We had the same in Germany. Some older cars in decent condition were scrapped because people should buy newer cars “to lower emission and improve safety”… They were rewarded a 2.500 € discount for their new one. I know some people who now regret their decision…
Sadder than the story of UP(MOVIE)
Let’s be honest here, few things rip open hearts like UP does.
damn onions cutting ninjas again
Sad…
we need some petrol heads in governments stat
We should all sign this petition and spread the message along our fellow non-CTzen (petrolhead-)friends. Maybe the british government will realize that they can get a lot more money to reinvest in the economy by selling these classics to fools like us!
The british government wont care about what you sign. They will crush the cars along with your hopes and dreams
I thinking word you’re looking for is sub-humans.
EXPORT THEM! RHD Minis, Jags… WE WANT THEM!
Ummmm, right hand drive in the Uk, dude lol
Can I Import them here? Like I don’t know, I just want to save them :(
Tbh this is way more cruel than EPA banning race cars
Also if we, CTzens could make a petition to stop this, probably we are the strongest car community in the world
There is a petition to auction them off, not sure if it comes from CT though.