Wrecking yards have been part of the American culture of many, many years. Since there have been cars on the roads, there have been junkyards to serve as their final resting place and to give guys like us a shot to reuse any parts on them they still have life in them. Apparently, this wasn’t always the case in England and during the 1960s the country was suffering a significant public nuisance in the form of junk cars simply being left on the sides of the road. This video shows the problem, how it was being dealt with, and the newest technologies for getting rid of them. There is some really cool footage in this video and some that will really make you cringe.

The part that will have you yelling, “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO” at the screen involves a grapple on a crane and a 1930s Buick. As a demonstration of a new car crusher this 1930s era Buick which seems to be in perfect shape is smashed, bashed, and ultimately crushed up into something that is completely unrecognizable. There couldn’t have been many of those cars shipped to England in the first place, so it would have probably bee worth some big bucks today. The part that made us laugh is the scene from the yard where they are pulling cars apart for recycling and a guy demonstrates how they remove the interiors from these cars. The procedure involves and very liberal whallop of gasoline, a match, and a pretty violent fireball. Being that this was 50 years ago, there wasn’t anyone yelling about the fact that clearing out a car interior by completely burningit out was a bad idea. Employing this practice today would have militant “eco-warriors” up your keister in a hurry.

This is a neat peek into English life back then with a gearhead slant. Watching the Buick ket killed kind of sucks, but the rest of the video is great to watch.

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