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The End of Albert Looms Derby

Ray Clayton

Ray Clayton

Trekker
Site Donor
Hi All.

Bit sad news that was sent to me today about Albert Looms Derby.
After 104 years it’s going to close its doors.
Great service for all these years and great friends Shen we bomber car raced at long Eaton many years ago.
They have also used land Rovers for years to recover cars, vans etc.

It was always more than just a scrap yard to most of us.

Good luck to all the staff past and present and hope you all have fond memories of the great times down that yard.
A lot of history has gone through there!!!!!!

Thanks Ray
 

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I remember they had one of the airport fire tenders there many years ago - it was still a runner, as I worked for a 'trade regular' (and we used to fix their LR's) I was allowed to hoof it up & down the lane, it had something like a V12 petrol in it and was running empty - fortunately there was no oncoming traffic as the front end lifted to the point where there was only clouds in the windscreen when I booted it up towards the roundabout...
 
the sad thing is car breakers are a thing of the past. nobody wants to crawl about in the mud to get a part a bit cheaper as they cant fit it themselves. most of the ones around here have gone. the high scrap prices the eu green rules made it hard to carry on.
 
There's any number of them selling LR parts on fleabay, so there must be some sort of business model for them. I think the irresistible onward march of H&S is doing for the 'pick your own' scrapyards. Looms' used to have newly arrived vehicles available for scavenging, at some point a bloke with an oxy-acet. torch would remove the powertrain, another bloke would crane it onto a pallet then it'd head off to 'the store'. The rest would fester in the yard for a while, weekend magpies would strip it of anything useful before the mobile magnet would swing it onto the crusher pile. The whole site wasn't a place to wear anything you wanted to wear again, ankle-deep or deeper in various fluids was standard, if you were lucky, they'd lift one end or the other for you to get to the underside.
These days, they have to be emptied and decontaminated of fluids before anything is removed - they apparently make a fine profit from recovered refrigerant, coolant & brake fluid is a PITA to fully recover...
 
Mmm now how many bits can i fit in my tool box .. with out them knowing i have them .. it was so much fun back then ... i still go there for bits for my landy .. it will be carpet /sound deadening material for the landy .. but as to what car is best .. well a lexus or mercedes may be .. will end up with the carpets and boot linings being used in a landy ... who knows ...
 
Many years ago when I had American cars I used to go to a breakers over Blackwell tunnel..called Fred’s that was his name so we called it that ,there were quite a few mates back then with cars .Trans Ams,Dodges,mustangs,Cuda’s,Fred had a huge shed with all the engine parts you could think of ..blocks ,cranks ,blowers, and outside stacks of old cars being gradually stripped ..used to spend most Saturday mornings fiddling for parts for my cars ..they were great days but long gone now .😒
 
in the mid 80s I used to spend most of my free time in a breakers on the edge of Aberdeen ...Persley's (?...spelling probably wrong)
I had many many hours of fun salvaging parts and using the parts bought there to save 'injured and wounded' cars.
The one regret was leaving a 1973 Audi coupe there to die without insisting they sell it to me...not much wrong with it except a couple of holes in the sill which I could've patched. what a waste
 
I recall a pair of 2a's lying in a yard, I did a wee bit deal with the guy for the engine and gearbox in one. It had a truck cab too, was going to barter for that after.

Got there the next day, and there's no alloy panels left, just the steel parts. He's cut round the edge of the truck cab too, just leaving the rim. Was happy to tell me he'd got £30 for the alloy. Wasn't so happy when I told him I was going to offer him a ton for the truck cab complete. It was perfect too....

He had also gas axed the wheels off, because he wanted the tyres.....
 
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