So Cal V8
Active Member
Recently I went to a local junk yard as a mate of mine told me he had seen an SD1 there - I figured I would scoop up the Vitesse wheels for my Wild Rover project. Unlike the UK the chances of finding any Vitesse wheels, good, bad or indifferent, are extremely slim.
Actually, I didn't think about the wheels until about a week after I got the call - if I had been thinking when my friend called me from the yard I would have asked if it had all four wheels... Anyway, I decided it was worth a punt and I headed north to the San Fernando Valley. My friend opted to ride along with me, which was a good thing because there are a ton of wrecker's yards in the area and he knew which one and where in the yard the car was.
We paid our $2 entry fee and had our tool bags checked. Shannon took me straight to the car - crap! It only had two wheels... why, I can't imagine, as it's highly unlikely that an SD1 owner in need of two wheels had pipped me to the post - although I suppose anything is possible. Here's a picture of the car as it waits to meet with it's fate. The interior is totally thrashed, but I know a lot of you SD1 lovers in the UK will be horrified to see a virtually rust free California car waiting to be crushed.
This particular yard has a bunch of unusual vehicles placed up on the walls - as "art" I suppose. Among the cars on the wall was another SD1, with two matching wheels. Now I am no mathematician, but even I could see that two wheels from one car, plus two wheels from another car equals a set of four, which equals a sale for the business.
The cars on the wall are usually totally off limits - but I figured that the white one only had two wheels, so someone had already had a go at it - and I was prepared to offer a couple of my steel wheels to replace the alloys. So I figured I would give it a shot and try to talk to someone. We waited by the gates of the locked inner yard, but on one came out - so it was off to the front and the cashier.
The first guy I spoke to didn't speak English, so I thought it prudent to check with the next employee if he "¿Habla inglés?" He replied, in pretty darn good English that he didn't speak English. Not being afraid to state the obvious I suggested to him that he had just replied to me in rather good English - it all went a bit pear shaped from there on. It might have been funny in a Python-esque manner if he wasn't such a surly, unpleasant f****r... "I ordered the 10 minute argument" "no you didn't", "yes I did".................................
Despite his claim not to understand my mother tongue we had a pretty lively, if disappointing exchange - I asked about the car on the wall, but before I could get to my suggestion that they make a set of four I could buy and I would provide a set of steels for the wall art car he just shut me down. All in all a bit of a waste of a Sunday and a shame I couldn't snag a set of Vitesse alloys as I think it might be quite some time before I get an opportunity like that on my doorstep.
Not at all like the breakers yards I remember back home. This was pretty interesting though...
Actually, I didn't think about the wheels until about a week after I got the call - if I had been thinking when my friend called me from the yard I would have asked if it had all four wheels... Anyway, I decided it was worth a punt and I headed north to the San Fernando Valley. My friend opted to ride along with me, which was a good thing because there are a ton of wrecker's yards in the area and he knew which one and where in the yard the car was.
We paid our $2 entry fee and had our tool bags checked. Shannon took me straight to the car - crap! It only had two wheels... why, I can't imagine, as it's highly unlikely that an SD1 owner in need of two wheels had pipped me to the post - although I suppose anything is possible. Here's a picture of the car as it waits to meet with it's fate. The interior is totally thrashed, but I know a lot of you SD1 lovers in the UK will be horrified to see a virtually rust free California car waiting to be crushed.
This particular yard has a bunch of unusual vehicles placed up on the walls - as "art" I suppose. Among the cars on the wall was another SD1, with two matching wheels. Now I am no mathematician, but even I could see that two wheels from one car, plus two wheels from another car equals a set of four, which equals a sale for the business.
The cars on the wall are usually totally off limits - but I figured that the white one only had two wheels, so someone had already had a go at it - and I was prepared to offer a couple of my steel wheels to replace the alloys. So I figured I would give it a shot and try to talk to someone. We waited by the gates of the locked inner yard, but on one came out - so it was off to the front and the cashier.
The first guy I spoke to didn't speak English, so I thought it prudent to check with the next employee if he "¿Habla inglés?" He replied, in pretty darn good English that he didn't speak English. Not being afraid to state the obvious I suggested to him that he had just replied to me in rather good English - it all went a bit pear shaped from there on. It might have been funny in a Python-esque manner if he wasn't such a surly, unpleasant f****r... "I ordered the 10 minute argument" "no you didn't", "yes I did".................................
Despite his claim not to understand my mother tongue we had a pretty lively, if disappointing exchange - I asked about the car on the wall, but before I could get to my suggestion that they make a set of four I could buy and I would provide a set of steels for the wall art car he just shut me down. All in all a bit of a waste of a Sunday and a shame I couldn't snag a set of Vitesse alloys as I think it might be quite some time before I get an opportunity like that on my doorstep.
Not at all like the breakers yards I remember back home. This was pretty interesting though...
