As you may have noticed, I’ve taken a bit of a hiatus from my junkyard trips. Blame it on nice weather and not wanting to spend weekends deep in the woods getting bitten by ticks and scraped by brambles! But the summer is now over and the cooler temps make it prime time for making some more trips to my local haunts. It may not be every week but I’ll try to update when I can.
As you saw in the first photo, this is a very early BMW 2002. Sadly, this was extremely rusty but still very complete, and a rare find in Colorado Orange with the classic roundie tail lights. The OEM hubcaps, wing mirror, locking gap cap and key, air cleaner and other bits were still attached, so this car stayed intact for quite some time. But once the rust took over, there was likely no saving this once-pretty ’02.
Parked nearby was this British Racing Green MG, which was definitely the remains of an unfinished project. The primered areas and collection of parts on the inside told the tale, and I didn’t see much wrong with this car other than perhaps the expiration of time and resources. The body still looked good enough for a decent project car build, and I’m sure someone might want those bumpers.
It goes without saying that Rivieras tend to end up in junkyards. I don’t know why, as they’re great looking cars and are supposedly pleasant to drive. But I consistently see Rivs get cast aside as forlorn project cars, especially once the rust starts creeping in. Perhaps it’s an issue of too much supply and plenty of options to buy a nice one if you’re on the hunt.
This late-model Beetle Convertible was quite the happy looking car despite its surroundings. Fortunately, it seemed to have a bit of a buffer around it of other late-model cars, so it will likely have plenty of time to offer up useful parts for other air-cooled owners. This car is quite rusty in the rear but still has lots of nice trim pieces up for grabs.
I believe this classic British roadster is an MG Midget, and a very presentable one at that. My suspicion is that rust is beneath the surface of this one, otherwise it looked too good to be residing in a junkyard. The windshield, wheels, front bumper and wing mirror all looked like quality used parts, but given the wide aftermarket for MGs, I suspect you can pick most of these bits up new for not much money.
And finally, one for the Credit Card Classics crowd (if you haven’t checked out our sister website, you should!) This little Mercury Capri looked like it still had some top-down summer cruising left in it, but my guess is it was living one repair away from getting donated or scrapped. Given this yard’s proximity to Newport, RI, you tend to see a fair share of “fun” cars around this lot, albeit ones without much value.
Well, that’s all for this week. I’ll be back before the end of October with another round of updates – maybe even from a new yard!
I’ll gladly take those hubcaps, bumpers and kidney grille off of that 2002!!
Hey Rich. The grill on that car was dented but I have one that’s in better shape (and the old-school metal one). Email us at Barn Finds and I’ll send you photos. I can go back for the hubcaps if you want them!
Jeff,
Shoot me pics of the grill you have. It doesn’t have to be perfect. I’d love to get those hub caps and the rear bumper if possible.
Thank you,
Rich
Rich – email the team via mail@barnfinds.com and we’ll connect over email. Thanks!
I am interested in the bug rag top.
If you end up going back and are willing to ship to canada i’d love to get that riviera badge
Where is the Riviera? What year?
Yard is in Bristol, RI.
The Riv is a ’65, tail lights are in the bumper. If I were closer…..
The exhaust on the 2002 looks OEM and brand new also…
Exhaust did look quite new; it was a Bosal unit.
As to the 2002. if the bumpers are original to the car it is a ’73. The front bumper has the ’73 rubber bumper overriders and the rear bumper has the long chrome wraparound on the side.
I should NEVER have sold my sunroof original factory air ’72 with a Gettrag 5 speed I dumped into an original slushbox Baikal Blue beauty, Just another ill considered sale when I got antsy for another plaything. Really. really stupid!
Hi Woodie Man, that’s true. I had a friend that bought a new, leftover ’73 2002 Tii, (same color as this) in early ’74, because he didn’t like the new for ’74 bumpers on US cars. Was a great car, blew the doors off my MGB, but developed oil burning and transmission issues, while the ‘ol MGB chugged along.
Hey Howard
Not only the ugly safety bumpers in ’74 but the square tail lights….kind of made the whole car look larger and ungainly. If it was me and I was nearby this poor besotted ’73, I would be stripping the tail lights and the bumpers and everything else off of it and trotting them home to store. Unobtainium.
Woodie Man,
We all have that ONE car we regret selling. Mine was a ’72 Cutlass Supreme.
Rich
If would be one thing if it was ONLY one! I have been serially stupid in retrospect. Of course the present value of so many of the cars I have owned over the last….um…four decades only testifies to my good taste and prescience in cars. :)
Rich,
Mine was a 1964 GTO, tripower, auto, air conditioning, power steering, power brakes, tilt, power windows, remote rear view mirror. I restored it from ground up in 1988 and sold it for $15k in 1989. That was a lot back then but it would be a whole lot more now.
Rich,
For my ONE car I wish I still had today, It was a ’71 Nova SS.
Gary, my best friend in high school had one of these. Good Lord did we beat the heck out of that car!!!
not interested in poison ivy, bees, and snakes either i guess. the tires with water in them would be good place for mosquitos! glad the ” jeff in the junkyard ” and CCC posts are back.
Thanks Jim! Yes, I needed to take a break before I got sick of it. My last trip in May was particularly exhausting (when I got the Recaro seats out of a car w/ a bent floor sitting 2 cars up off the ground in the woods!)
hah an Aussie made capri
yes same fate all over australia for these..if you find any [non special models] still registered they are cheap Aussie prices wise and I dont really know why as till this came along Australia [sun everyday] had few convertibles available to buy…since these came along we have been flooded with convertibles [from OS] yet these still remain unloved with no collector image..
sure not the most exciting chassis and the front profile could have been a little more flowing with the rear but as a cheap convertible they should have stayed more appreciated like the sprite/midget did. They are not butt ugly and quality issues aside their shared underpinnings would make them reasonably easy to maintain in later years.
Probably the introduction of the Mazda Mx5 [Miata] just showed how ordinary these Capris were. But still in a country with few cheap convertibles I ponder why so unloved.
Alas its a throw away society today even convertibles are not collectable just because they are convertibles, which was once the case in Australia in the 60/70/80’s because we shunned convertibles for so long there were few to restore…actually it makes sense the sun cuts into you so strongly here that a convertible in summer is murder..i have always preferred driving my various convertibles over the years in in the cooler months…
that one looks ok condition..but I think quality issues proved a death nell for them in America and I figure there is no respect for them abroad so who would save it???
note: is one of the few attempts in Australia by a major car company to design/introduce a convertible in modern times…basically the big players havent since before 1950 or so when Holden produced the last Vauxhall Caleche. Aussies correct me if I’m wrong but I cant think of any other production convertible [for the masses] by the “Big Three” other than this. So in a way its a little milestone car thats gone unnoticed..thats a shame no matter what one thinks of them. in those years we had converts from independant manufacturers [usually numbering under 10 or 20 made] but we had no real production converts from the majors.
Jeff I may be interested in that 2002 if its available, please email me directly.
Joe
Joe, email us via mail@barnfinds.com and I’ll connect with you there. Thanks!
Thanks
Joe
Joe,
Glad to see you’re thinking about saving her! I got dibs on the back bumper and hubcaps though, lol!