Exploring a Reliant Scimitar Graveyard in the UK

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Exploring a Reliant Scimitar Graveyard in the UK



British car manufacturer Reliant will also be remembered for its famous (notorious?) three-wheeled Robin, a car so uncool that it has since become something of a cult icon. But the company produced sports cars too, which also remain popular with motoring enthusiasts and collectors to this day.



So if you’re looking to pick up an old Reliant Scimitar, or need parts for an ongoing restoration project, this Scimitar graveyard would probably be a good place to start. Thought to be located near the Derbyshire town of Ashbourne, the facility boasts dozens of seemingly abandoned cars, some mere shells, others more complete.

Photographer ‘Nala Rewop‘ had a look around.

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Finland’s Weird & Wonderful ‘Volkswagen Museum’ (Vehicle Graveyard)



There’s no limit, it seems, to the cult appeal of the VW Beetle. From creative stone sculptures to artificial reefs, the iconic Bug has inspired all manner of projects from a modernised compact car to urban art installations made from old wrecks. So adherents shouldn’t be too surprised to discover this Volkswagen ‘museum’ (or graveyard, depending on how you look at it) in Jero, Finland.



The VW graveyard-museum boasts all manner of redundant vehicles from classic Bugs to decaying trucks and camper vans.



Many of the exhibits lack wheels, their colourful yet faded shells mounted on rusty metal stands.



There’s a sort of abandoned appeal to the weird and wonderful Volkswagen museum, an odd vehicle graveyard that’s bound to make visitors to this remote corner of Finland look twice before continuing on their way.



The cars, however, may now be off-limits. They’re believed to have been owned by a Volkwagen enthusiast who retained them for spare parts in a bid to keep his active vehicles serviceable. There were even signs directing visitors to the site, which is now said to be private.

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The Abandoned Triumph Car Graveyard at Appleton, Cheshire



Hidden away in an overgrown corner of a small private airfield lay this amazing graveyard of vintage British sports cars. Classic marques including Triumph Spitfires, TR4s and TR6s had been reduced to derelict rusting hulks after years of neglect with some being almost completely swallowed up by the surrounding undergrowth.




The story of how they came to be there is a fascinating one.




Most of the cars were left-hand drive models made for the American export market and originally shipped to the USA. During the 1990’s, however increased demand for the type led to a substantial number being re-imported back into the UK by a company that specialized in the sale of British-built sports cars.


But dwindling interest in later years resulted in the company going into administration. The remaining cars were sold off except for a small number that had significantly deteriorated. Subsequently, a new Triumph restoration business emerged from the collapsed company; the ‘left-overs’ were then salvaged, stripped of all useful parts and the chassis dumped in a small outdoor area close to the workshops at Appleton, Cheshire.



One of the graveyard’s most interesting residents was a rare racing version of the TR4. Owner and driver Mike Mueller was reportedly also the former vice-president of The Triumph Car Club for Chicago and Northern Illinois. He passed away in 2011.


Inevitably the vehicle graveyard site has since been cleared and redeveloped. All the cars were scrapped except for the TR4 racer which has been preserved as a display piece by the restorers