FORD CRUSHES CLASSIC HEARTS WITH SCRAPPED CLASSIC PARTS

The Blue Oval won’t be recycling valuable spare parts in its brand new car scrappage scheme

Ford has ruled out saving classic parts on any of the vehicles that go through its new scrappage scheme.

A spokesman for Ford told CCW that there are no plans to partner with a recycling company, like Vauxhall has done with Autogreen, to strip classic parts and offer them for sale to car clubs through motor factors. Vauxhall is also saving any pre-1991 classic cars.

Unlike rival schemes by BMW and Mercedes, which are only for diesels, Ford will also accept petrol cars.

While enthusiasts are unlikely to stroll into a dealership to crush their mint Escort Mk I, lower end classics and vehicles that could be saved for projects or good for parts are now at risk from now until the end of the year, when the promotion ends.

Ford said that once it receives the order to scrap a car, it legally has to dispose of it – it cannot be saved.

Geoff Lancaster, Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs communications director, says: ‘It’s unfortunate that Ford seems to be failing to match Vauxhall’s lead on committing to recycling important scarce parts. It demonstrates that all they are really interested in is selling more new cars.’

Ford’s scheme is open to any pre-Euro 5 petrol or diesel vehicle, registered by 31 December, 2009.

Scott Slavin, the administrator for Old Skool Ford says: ‘Cars from the early to late Nineties and early 2000s are still largely bumping along the bottom of the road in banger territory, so it wouldn’t surprise me to see cars like late model Escorts, Focus MkI, Mondeo, Ka and “frogeye” Scorpio falling victim to this scrappage scheme.’

Customers scrapping their cars can get between £2000 and £7000 off selected Ford models, including the recently launched nextgeneration Fiesta.

According to data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), Ford registered 19,769 Fiestas in the September plate change alone last year.

A spokesman for Ford says: ‘I know this isn’t good news for classic car enthusiasts, but this is all about getting old and dirty cars and vans off the road.

‘If you come in with a classic that is going to be worth more than the £2k discount and you still want to trade it in, I’d hope that the dealer would advise that customer to part-ex it rather than scrapping it.’

Vauxhall has confirmed that it has scrapped 20,000 cars across its 2015 and 2017 scrappage promotions, with 5500 crushed since May this year. Vauxhall would not reveal how many of those cars were pre-91 models.

A spokesman for Vauxhall says: ‘ Vauxhall has immense respect for the UK’s classic car groups, irrespective of what make or model they support.

‘Scrappage is designed to capture vehicles that are beyond economic repair and given the low value of scrap metal, recycling of parts is vital to the scheme’s viability.’