I've just stripped a 1993 Nissan 200SX for the engine, gearbox and wiring loom and I've pretty much made my money back already (£750) by selling various body panels and other parts to the "drift" boys. By the time I'm done I reckon I should be in profit!

This got me round to thinking - which cars make the best breakers?

A mate of a mate used to buy MOT'd Corrado's and Golf VR6 for about a grand and said he doubled his money by selling them in parts. So, which models do you think currently provide the best returns? I'm not talking about megabucks late-model stuff: More the sort of thing you can pick up between £500 and £2000!

My donor was a 318is coupe for which I paid 350. In the end I only ended up using diff, driveshafts, front brakes, front uprights and steering column. I sold everything else for £900! Including sending the engine to Portugal. All the small stuff such as central locking motors etc sold really well. Another member on here did the same with an M3.

A mate of mine has stripped a few Golfs down. He loves the Mrk 2, so usually buys one for around £500, uses it as a run around. Then when it gets past the point of practical repair buys another one for £500, transfers any upgraded components (breaks, engine parts etc) from the old one to the new one. Then uses the old one for spares while gradually breaking it down and selling on the remaining good parts. Finally, he scraps the chassis and bits he couldn't sell.

He must be on his third one by now. It's a pretty good way to recycle, gives him some cash to spend on upgrades and enables someone else to buy replacement parts for their Golf that are in good condition without it costing them a fortune.

I'd look at anything that holds its value (VWs are a good shout), is a few years old (so there are plenty on the road with high mileage) and is likely to be owned by someone that isnt scared to do a bit of work their self. Perhaps a Golf, Leon Cupra etc

On a side note, went to watch a drift day a few months back... I bet they're crying out for replacement parts! Never seen so many break downs on one day. Turn up with an old supra on a trailer and you'd have sold half of it by lunch

mx5 got one for £700 used all the running gear on the exocet and still made 2k back selling off bits

Not under 2k but I broke my skyline that I couldn't sell for 5 grand. I made over 7k in the end and it only took about a day to completely strip it to a bare shell.

Bought an XE engine once from a lad who broke various Vauxhalls
He'd buy them off the bay of E, trailer them home and then break them, selling all the bits
Calibras, Astra's etc (Leather interiors were particularly sort after)

I said to him "is there any money in this then ?"

He said " you see the Evo 6 on the driveway ?, it runs that and there's some left over.."


So i reckon if you have the space and the time, there's money to be made...

Rover 75 or MG ZT some body & trim spares are starting to dry up, look for one with a leather interior. central locking and ABS faults are also starting to appear, the fuel pumps are also easy to sell as are the lower engine mounts.

A good runner with long MOT can be found for £500 at auction.


Much the same applies to S type Jags

Any more for any more?

I'm between jobs at the moment and have a double garage and all the tools. Including pit, engine hoist and air tools.

Rovers/Nissans/Sangyong

oops I miss read the question, thought it meant which cars under to grand to break/smash/destroy.

Fiat Coupe 20VT, paid £250 (it was still MOT’d) and didn’t sell that much of it. Made the £250 back and made around £300 profit. I scrapped the shell and saved absolutely loads of bits for the locost.

Not a great profit, but means I got a hell of a lot of bits for no cash.

Classic impreza turbos do well, my mate does a complete car in 2.5 days, makes a decent living out of it!