These Retro Rides Have Been Left To Rot Thanks To A Government Scheme

It’s no secret that we lost some incredible modern classic cars thanks to the UK government’s 2009 scrappage scheme. A full list of cars ‘killed’ by the initiative - which involved trading an older car for a £2000 discount off a new one - was published about four years ago, followed up by some sad-looking pictures from one of the storage sites used for the vehicles in Bedford.

Now, a group of urban explorers have gone to that same site to produce the video above, and the footage - we warn you - may produce actual tears. The site is now dominated by newer cars, but there is still a fairly large contingent of the scrappage cars here, and many of them are gems.

There are multiple Porsche 924 and 944s, a cluster of VW Beetles, several Peugeot 205 GTIs and a lot of Land Rover Defenders. There’s even a Pontiac Firebird, for Pete’s sake. Interestingly though, some of them have now been stripped of interior parts - this was previously thought to be impossible under the terms of the scheme.

Take a look through the video, and if you can stop sobbing for a moment, let us know which rotting modern classic upsets you the most…